New Hampshire has come up with a tasty way to spend a day or two through their beautiful state. How does a tour sampling the tastes of the state’s best chocolate and best martini’s sound? I think it sounds a perfect way to spend a few days.
The travel and tourism office of New Hampshire has posted great itineraries of some great foodie tours. They offer the standard wine and cheese and the farm market tours but a chocolate and martini tour sounds like a winning combination. They say ‘You’re going to love it here.’ Yes I think I may.
Imagine sampling the tastes of skilled chocolatiers interrupted only by the sipping of a few great martinis in the local drinking establishments. Am I in heaven? Sign me up! Here’s a few of the chocolate stops on the tour.
First up is Byrne & Carlson, fine artisans and makers of specialty chocolates. Check out the photos on their website. It’s a menagerie of artistic chocolate bars that include nuts, fruit and pansies. Yes, I said pansies as in flowers and they are included in these works of chocolate art.
Next stop they list is the Van Otis Chocolate Factory. They offer up award winning fudge and other chocolates. If you can’t decide on one type of fudge, you can make it simple with a Swiss fudge sampler. They must be good given they’ve been around since 1935.
Continuing on, you’ll arrive at Burdick Chocolates. They not only offer chocolate but if you have a few extra days, you can also attend their four-day chocolate making course.
The next stop they list is not a chocolate shop but a bakery. The Bellows House Bakery qualifies though with home baked chocolate goodies including soft chewy cookies, scrumptious brownies and their famous whoopie pies. What’s a whoopie pie? Not to be confused with a whoopie cushion, they say it’s two pieces of rich chocolate cake with creamy vanilla filling. No preservatives or artificial ingredients here!
The last stop on the shorter tour is Unbridled Chocolates where they offer Belgian chocolates including some of the aphrodisiac kind. Depending on your timeline there’s lots more chocolate shops to check out. The others listed on the itinerary include Ava Marie Handmade Chocolates, Granite State Candy Shoppe, Swan Chocolates (amazing looking truffles), Kellerhaus and Chutters with the world’s longest candy counter.
And don’t’ forget in between all these chocolate shop stops, you refuel with martinis. A recommended stop is at the Wentworth dining room for their Chocolate Raspberry Eclair martini – Stoli Razberi Vodka, Chambord and Godiva White Chocolate Liqueur. Pair it with their molten chocolate cake dessert made from Valhrona chocolate. Yes that would be heaven.
All this talk about chocolate and martinis is making me thirsty. Time for a martini. Remember to bring along that designated driver. Times like this I wish I lived on the East Coast. New Hampshire – I’m sure I’d love it there.
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