Thursday, August 4, 2011

Chocolate

One of the other interns told me about this great chocolate shop near the center of town.  Zotter.  Or as I call it, the most dangerous shop in Austria.
The stuff they sell is sooooo good.  They do have some very unusual flavor combinations.  Rose and basil?  Pineapple and cashew?  A bacon chocolate bar? Rose flavored chocolate? But there are also more traditional flavors like hazelnut or rum coconut chocolate.
Those are the handscooped chocolate bars they sell.  For different seasons they bring out different and limited edition flavors.  I was there for the Easter flavors.  There was one with strawberry ganache and strawberry chocolate.  The best one was called (English translation) Easter Fire.  It was dark chocolate with eggnog flavored filling with chili peppers.  AMAZING.
Okay not everyone liked it.  But hey that's life.
One of the things I really liked about the bars(other than the chocolate itself) was the artwork on the wrapper.  I have some shots of them.  Fun and attention getting.  Although if you don't speak German and you haven't tried that one before it could be risky.


They also make handmade chocolates and have something called a ChocoShot(it's a syringe filled with chocolate) for those days when you really need a pick me up.
And the best part about Zotter? Two words...free samples.  Ah, Zotter. 
And they are very conscious about the whole fair trade deal.  They say they buy right from the farmers mostly in Latin America and also use other organic products to make their chocolate products.  That's very typical in Austria.  The very organic and local mindset about their food.  They have 2 markets in Salzburg.  The main one near Schloss Mirabelle and the Green market near the University Square.  Two farmer's markets everyday!  Except Sundays.  It's great.  I realized it can be very easy to be vegetarian in Salzburg because of that.  Lots of fruits, nuts and veggies of all kinds.  Cheeses and breads fresh made and in the case of bread still warm.  But that's another story...

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