Fine Chocolates Make Sweet Gifts

Grab a box of fine chocolates at candy shop on Waseca Avenue and owner Bob Sullivan guarantees that your Valentine’s Day will be sweet.

But make sure the chocolates are creams or truffles – the softer centers – if you’re buying for your wife or girlfriend. Guys prefer nuts, such as almonds or cashews, and caramels.

And if you want to give the healthiest chocolates possible, Sullivan said: “Grab a box of dark chocolate with almonds. They’re the best.”

Sweet Lorraine’s carries only the highest quality chocolate candy on the market, said Sullivan, including Garrison candies of Central Falls, Sweenor’s candies of Wakefield, and Hauser candies of Westerly. Note that all of his chocolate is made in Rhode Island.

“We only buy from Rhode Island companies,” he said. “Fortunately, they are some of the best in the world.”

It’s the quality of his chocolates that makes them great Valentine’s Day gifts, he said. But no matter where you shop, check to make sure that the chocolates include cocoa butter.

“Typical boxes you’ll find in a drugstore or a discount store may not have pure ingredients,” he said. “The cocoa butter is replaced with vegetable oils or emulsifiers. You need to look for the cocoa mass if you want high quality chocolates.”

And if you are calorie-conscious, dark chocolate is healthier than milk chocolate because it has no milk, he said.

“There is less cholesterol and fat,” he said.

Dark chocolate also goes really well with red wine.

“They both have complex flavors,” he said. “Get dark chocolate and a red wine and you’ll be all set.”

You will have to spend a bit more to buy quality chocolates. A box of typical chocolate candy in a drugstore or discount store will run you about $20-$25 a pound. Sullivan’s chocolate candies will run $3 to $4 more a pound than the cheaper candy.

But the quality of the chocolate will mean you get the same “kick” for a much smaller piece and it will last much longer.

“So it’s really not that much more for a quality chocolate,” he said.

Of course, Sullivan expects to sell a lot of chocolate this week and especially next Monday afternoon, Feb. 13.

“That’s when all the guys will come in looking for last-minute gifts,” Sullivan said.

To help them out, Sweet Lorraine’s sells heart-shaped boxes filled with some of the store’s favorite selling chocolates.  Nuts and creams, generally, Sullivan said.

“They can grab and go,” he said.

And Sullivan guarantees that your Valentine’s Day will be much sweeter for it.