Let’s get something out of the way: I have a weakness for caramel. Not every kind of caramel, and not caramel all the time, but the right kind of caramel at the right moment will make my eyelashes flutter and my cheeks get a little flush.

A few months ago, I was at Sur La Table and discovered something utterly amazing: dark gray salt caramels from Fran’s Chocolates. I figured they were going to taste wonderful, but I had no idea they were going to taste like the kind of chocolates Aphrodite might create in her own image, to represent all she herself represents: love, beauty, and sexual rapture. The kind of chocolates that might have accompanied Venus as she was transported in her shell, pure and blushing, from the salty sea.

You think I’m exaggerating, but you haven’t tried them. Silky caramel in its perfect shell of smooth chocolate, topped with powerful, complex crystals of gray salt – a perfect balance of salty and sweet, each complementing and enhancing the other. If you only feel it in your mouth, you might want to go to the doctor.

Clearly, I love these little nuggets of joy. So I thought to myself one day, Why not tell Fran’s? And I did. A few weeks ago I sent this email. I have yet to get a response, but I don’t expect one; mostly I wanted to share with them, and now I want to share with you.

Dear Fran’s Chocolates -

This isn’t a request, but simply a thank you. I purchased a box of your dark gray salt caramels from Sur La Table a few weeks ago, and they were a revelation. I’ll spare you the details, but they wowed me and a special someone (although I must admit that, um, he only got one of the seven, but in my defense he got the last one and it really knocked his socks off).

In fact, when I went back yesterday to get more, there were only two boxes of the dark gray salt caramels left. I was going to buy both, as well as a box of the smoked salt variety (I have yet to try them and am rather excited to do so), but there was a gentleman at the register next to me who overheard me talking about them and joked about how many boxes I was buying – especially since I had jettisoned all social graces by practically crawling across the counter in front of him to try and snag the very last box. I had to explain to him that some things were worth losing one’s mind over, and that he should take the last box so he could try them too. When he asked me if these were really that good, I looked him dead in the eye and said, “Sir, it’s the most amazing thing you can put in your mouth that isn’t attached to someone else’s body.” He laughed, said, “Sold!” and took the box and bought them immediately.

Probably not the advertising/marketing campaign you were looking for, but I just wanted to tell you how much I love your product and how much joy (dare I say pleasure? because I really don’t want to sound that creepy) into the lives of many!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 13th, 2006 at 13:32 and is filed under food, personal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.