Norman Love Chocolates #15: Pumpkin

It's winter in New England, and while I may not be craving mango, this is normally the time of year that I crave pumpkin. When I was in college, it never failed that if it was fall or winter and I saw a jar of something pumpkin-y, I would buy it. My craving has curbed a little bit since then, but I still love pumpkin pie (doused with whipped cream, of course). So, a pumpkin chocolate? Sure, why not! I'm up for it.

Another thing I do every year is to buy a pie pumpkin (or "sugar pumpkin") in anticipation of making a pumpkin pie completely from scratch. Of course, the pumpkin ends up becoming a decoration in my kitchen and usually sticks around for a period of time well past winter, and then I throw it out because it's bad. I've done this at least three times already--seriously, I am a huge impulse food shopper, especially when it comes to kitschy farmers' market items.

To be honest, I wasn't all that impressed with the flavor of this chocolate. It tasted more custardy than pumpkiny (even looked like it, from the inside), with a strong nutmeg aftertaste. The pumpkin did not mask the flavor of the white chocolate shell, so I had that to deal with too, which is probably why this chocolate was not one of my favorites. One of the things I like about pumpkin pie is that it's creamy and not so sweet (especially because I build an igloo of whipped cream around it), but this chocolate was just too sweet and not that pumpkiny. In the mean time, I'll just stick to my pie.