Don't have chocolate sauce in the fridge? No problem. A decadent sauce is a snap to create.

Next Saturday is Valentine's Day. I know that for some people, it's a holiday about love, romance and jewelry. However, for me, it will always be a day devoted to candy, particularly chocolate. When I was growing up, my mom would always leave little baskets of treats at our places at the breakfast table, and so my sister I would start the day with a chocolate heart, along with our Cheerios. The school day would progress with a parade of conversation hearts, red gummies and more chocolate.

In honor of coming holiday, I'm going to be featuring some of the best chocolates that have come my way in recent days. One of my very favorites that I discovered last summer is Askinosie Chocolate. It's made by a man who is absolutely passionate about chocolate and who travels the world to meet the farmers who grow his beans. The resulting chocolate bars are single source and hand roasted, making for seriously intense and unique flavors. If you're shopping for a dark chocolate lover who's interested in terroir and the artisanal process, this would be an excellent choice.

I have always had something of a sweet tooth. At the age of two, I knew how to spell ice cream, foiling my parents' clever attempts to plan out treats for themselves for after I went to bed. As I got older, I was a fool for Jolly Ranchers, Sugar Daddies and Lik-M-Aid.

These days, the desire for sweet things remains, although I try to keep it in check for the sake of my dental health and waistline. However, I often find myself craving something sweet after lunch or dinner and if I'm not careful, those sugar yearnings can explode into some seriously unwise indulgences.

Thankfully, about six months ago, I discovered Sweetriot. These tiny, dark chocolate-cover cacao nibs satisfy my need for a sweet treat without blowing the calorie bank and for some unknown reason, I'm able to make a single 1-ounce tin last for weeks. There's something about the marginally sweet dark chocolate, coupled with the slightly bitter crunch of the nib that keeps my tastebuds happy.

If you're a chocolate lover who needs something tiny to keep your sugar cravings tame, I highly recommend these little guys.

At New York City's Roasting Plant Coffee Company (81 Orchard St. between Broome and Grand streets, and 75 Greenwich Ave. at Seventh Ave., 212-775-7755), they have to-die-for hot chocolate. The recipe is shockingly simple, and you can make it at home!

The secret? Gelato.

Go buy a pint of your favorite chocolate gelato (dark chocolate is recommeneded), put a scoop in a mug, and let it melt. Add steamed milk to taste. Top it with marshmallows or whipped cream and chocolate chips (right). Done! Classy, frothy hot chocolate with a divine, rich flavor.

If you want pre-melted gelato at your beck and call (pour steamed milk on frozen gelato and you get "lukewarm chocolate"), keep some in your fridge in a sealable tupperware container, and use it within two days.

[via Tasting Table]

Some associate San Francisco with Rice-A-Roni, cable cars, and the gay lib movement. I, however, take the shallow route and associate it with fine American chocolate. Between The San Francisco Chocolate Factory and Ghirardelli, San Fran is just about the only city in the contiguous United States that produces decent corporate chocolate. [Note that I said corporate; there are plenty of lovely indie chocolate shops around.]

To wit: Upon her return from the golden state, a colleague presented me with The San Francisco Chocolate Factory's new "Book Lover's Chocolate". The bookshelf-ready packaging evokes an old leather-bound novel (albeit a tiny one, at only 5 inches), and contains rounds of milk chocolate (also available in dark and dark espresso). The schpeel: "Chocolate has been proven to boost brain power, so let our luscious bite sized discs help you devour your new book while pleasing your palate." Uh, okay, whatever you say, Book Chocolate.

But lo, this book chocolate is divine! The disc shape is perfectly contoured for mindless tongue-palate melting (no impatient biting here!), and the flavor is so creamy and rich, they're like little poppable drinking chocolates. I also test-drove the chocolate's promise of enhancing any reading experience, and while they didn't make the oeuvre of Ann Coulter any more digestible, they sure make it more palatable.

It has been amusing for me to watch the popularity of dark chocolate grow. Remember when you were a little kid and Mom would buy the family those bags of Hershey's Miniatures so that everyone in the family could get what they want? In most cases, the bag of Miniatures experiences the "Special Dark Effect" -- the clear plastic bag is empty of all the Krackels, Mr Goodbars, and Milk Chocolates, and the Special Dark sits there until the bloom on it turns it into white chocolate because no one liked dark chocolate. Not in my family, The Special Dark chocolates always went first because I ate them all in one sitting. All the other kids' mouths were smeared over with sickeningly sweet milk chocolate, and i was just...weird.

As an adult now, I am not so into dark chocolate, and I think it has to do with how health-trendy it has become. You see, I am allergic to trendy food, and now that dark chocolate is almost luxury item and it's "hip" to be into 60%, 70%, even 80% cacao chocolates, I am *meh* about it.

Nonetheless, I was willing to give Dove's new line of Origins chocolates a try. The line of chocolate bars and squares are 61% cacao with pure cocoa beans from Ecuador, Ghana or the Dominican Republic. I tried all three, but to be quite honest, I couldn't really tell the difference in flavors. I just sort of expected the Dominican Republic bar, wrapped in paper printed with dark fuschia and flowers, to taste like...berries.

I used to love candy -- anything sweet, for that matter -- and chocolate candy bars were something that I would eat daily. However, in recent years, I haven't been as obsessive about chocolate (I know! Someone is going to have my head for that!) I realize that chocolate now has health benefits, and no doubt, I much prefer the darker varieties of chocolate to milk chocolate, but maybe that's why it's not fun to eat anymore. The naughtiness of chocolate is gone.

For the last two weeks, I have been overdosing on chocolate. Having one candy bar a day to do a bunch of taste tests was some serious overdosage. I will talk about the rest through the week, but for this Sunday afternoon, let's dive into the newest addition to the Three Musketeers family: Three Musketeers Mint with Dark Chocolate.

Warning: the following story doesn't give you permission to start downing dark chocolate by the case.

As someone who has high blood pressure, I welcome any new news that eating certain types of food can help bring the numbers down. Of course, if I just exercised more I could lose some weight and that would probably take care of 97% of my problem, but in case that doesn't happen, I like hearing news like this. Researchers in Germany have discovered that small portions of dark chocolate might help people who are in the early stages of high blood pressure. 24 women and 20 men, aged 56 to 73, were given both white and dark chocolate over 18 weeks. The white chocolate didn't have much effect at all.

I'd write more but I have to run out to the store and get some dark chocolate.

Dark Chocolate Dipped Altoids sounded so good after reading Joe's initial review that I decided to keep an eye out for them while shopping. Target seems to be a veritable gold mine of new and limited edition candies, so it didn't surprise me when I saw a box near the checkout and picked them up.

At least, I thought I saw a box of the candies I was looking for. I didn't discover that I picked up a tin of Dark Chocolate Dipped Cinnamon Altoids instead until I took a closer look at the package later that day. I'm not a big fan of cinnamon candies in general, but I have to admit that the chocolate-coated cinnamon Altoids were pretty addictive. The chocolate was not too sweet and melted fairly easily in my mouth, cutting the normally sharp cinnamon flavor substantially and leaving behind an almost Mexican chocolate-type flavor.

I still haven't had a chance to sample the regular chocolate covered Altoids, but I think I'll be satisfied with my accidental purchase for a while yet.

Like many gourmands with a sweet tooth I'm strangely drawn toward candies that mix salt and sugar. I assume the reason that some crave what at first seems like an odd combination is because both components satisfy primal nutritional urges that are hardwired into our brains.

When it comes to candy bars, the pinnacle of salty-sweet perfection is Payday. I'm not sure why, but as a kid, I never tried one. Looking back it seems especially strange, since I loved eating Lawry's seasoned salt out of hand. These days Payday's amalgam of salty peanuts mashed together with caramel is just the thing to satisfiy my sweet and savory teeth. In the same vein, though perhaps a bit more intense, is Pulparindo. This chewy Mexican confection is not for everyone, but it hits my palate in all the right places, combining sour tamarind with sugar and chile pepper.

But when I'm feeling especially decadent and craving something salty and sweet I forgo candy bars. Instead, I whip up some chocolate bruschetta. Simply cut small pieces of bread as you would for bruschetta; top each with a small chunk of good dark chocolate; and toast until the chocolate melts, but hasn't lost its shape. Take them out, and finish each with a sprinkle of fleur de sel. In case anyone's wondering, I've yet to try chocolate-covered potato chips, but they're on my short list.

Dark chocolate seems to be more popular than ever before, but are you eating more of it? For all the statistics that indicate consumers are switching to dark from milk chocolate, it still seems that many - if not most - people will choose a piece of milk chocolate over a piece of dark when offered.

Milk chocolate may be slightly less popular than it once was, but it is still a huge favorite with chocolate lovers. It tends to be creamier and sweeter than dark chocolates, and the milder flavor plays a big role in why people love it; it is the same reason that many choose to have cream and sugar in their coffee. Some will say that "graduating" to a higher cacao percentage, to a darker chocolate, is a sign of a more refined palate, but it is really just another indicator of personal preference. Quality chocolates can be found in milk and dark varieties, mild and strong. Even the cacao percentages, which are definitely more commonly seen on dark chocolates, are being added to milk chocolate labels.

Which do you prefer - the trendier dark chocolate or the much-loved milk chocolate? Are you opting for dark more often now than, say, a few years ago?

Ad Age reports (subscription) that sales of dark chocolate are up 40% this year, in increase leading to $1.62 billion in sales, after only a 29% increase from 2003-2005. One of the reasons for the increase is the fact that this past year has seen many reports that dark chocolate and cocoa are good for your health, in addition to chocolate bars promoting themselves as health foods. All the media coverage of the subject, on top of companies continually rolling out new dark chocolate products, has really made consumers more aware of dark chocolate and more willing to try it.

Any health benefits aside, consumers are learning to appreciate chocolates in the same way that they learned to appreciate different coffees so many years ago. Chocolate has nuances and the fact that people want to taste and learn about them is evidenced by the fact that more and more chocolates are stating their cacao percentages and countries of origin on the label.

• Figs are an often neglected fruit. Why is that? Check out this recipe for Pork Chops with Red Onions and Figs, and this one for Arugula Salad with Figs.
• Espresso fanatics head for Boston and New York for the perfect cup (also check out the audio slide show on how to make the best espresso).
• And if you drink espresso or coffee, what's the best dark chocolate to have with it?
• What, you don't drink coffee? Me either. So check out tea! It's not just for breakfast anymore.
• How to live with a gluten-free diet.

Mars is using the force in an effort to recover from declining sales. That is to say that the confectioner is rereleasing the dark  chocolate M&M's that it rolled out a year ago to commemorate the Star Wars film Revenge of The Sith. Mars will rerelease the flavor later  this year.

The company also decided to axe Aquadrops mints, Pop'ables candies and Cookies &. By the way, if anyone can explain the corporate relationship between Mars and Masterfoods, I might just be persuaded to send them a bag of the dark variety. Ten minutes of looking at the Mars Web site and I'm still clueless as to which is the parent firm.

[photo: Candyblog]

How much cocoa in a chocolate bar is too much? I remember vividly as a child the first time I learned that real powdered cocoa, while it smelled divine, was no fun to lick off your finger. But times have changed and my palate has matured. I've recently become a fan of high cocoa content chocolates, generally those hovering around the 70% range. Rich and just a tad sharp they are definitely to be eaten slowly and savored. Recently, I took the next step up, to the 85% cocoa Lindt bar. Like the first time I had a martini, my initial reaction was to think I didn't like it. It's a bit too bitter to just chomp away on. Like a martini, it needs gentle handling and time to become accustomed to the taste, in this case, small bites and a long time to melt in the mouth to reveal its sweetness. The good thing about it is that unlike milk chocolate, that lends itself to easy snacking, you won't find yourself mindlessly noshing away on the 85% which makes it good for satisfying a chocolate craving while on a diet (no wonder it's listed on all the low carb and sugarbuster forums). I'm not sure I'm ready to go for the full 100% yet. The Seventy Percent forum has great resources on what to choose if you're ready to step up to the 99% or the pure unsweetened.