Vosges Haut-Chocolat: Surprised by Ice Cream

When was the last time you were sur­prised by ice cream?

Last Sunday, in Whole Foods, I noticed a sale on Vosges Haut-Chocolat ice creams. I’d never heard of it before (I typ­i­cally go for Ben & Jerry’s Chunky Monkey), but the exotic fla­vors caught my atten­tion. I picked up a pint of Wattleseed (Australian Aboriginal wat­tle­seed + roasted & salted macadamia nuts) and a pint of Naga (Sweet Indian Curry and Fresh Young Coconut).

One of the things I most like about shop­ping at Whole Foods is that the nat­ural food indus­try knows some­thing about design. It’s the pack­ag­ing I love, and I often wan­der the aisles perus­ing boxes and cans and bot­tles and bags as if they were books. Vosges doesn’t disappoint.

Within a bite, dis­cover a cul­ture through choco­late, be pro­voked to be in the NOW, a place where all thought ceases and all that exists is the sense and feel­ing of being in the splen­dor of the moment.

The ice cream didn’t dis­ap­point, either. It was smooth and sub­tle and fab­u­lous (my wife’s word).

Vosges Haut-Chocolat owner and choco­latier, Katrina Markoff, proves the ordi­nary can be trans­formed by cre­ativ­ity. According to Wikipedia , the first use of choco­late pre-dates the Mayans. So why did it take so long for some­one to make Mexican ancho chile pow­der & chipo­tle chill­ies + Ceylon cin­na­mon + dark choco­late (62% cacao) candy bars?

Whatever your cre­ative medium, you might also enjoy watch­ing Katrina talk about her cre­ative process, recorded at Taste3. She’s an artist, a designer, work­ing with choco­late and draw­ing on cui­sine and cul­ture and music and causes for her inspi­ra­tion. It all begins with falling in love…