Kettle Confections Orange Almond Nougats

From Kettle Confections comes this red box of Chocolate – Orange Almonds Nougats. I’m loving the Minnie Mouse style it imparts, as well as the fact that it is tied, once again, with a real fabric bow. What we have inside are (I think) a dozen nice-sized pieces of nougat. An outer wrapping of clear plastic compliments a handmade touch. Twist that wrapping off and you’ll find another tightly holding onto the rectangular bodies of the nougats. We all have our slow moments: after reading my warning in more than one place, I started to try to peal this wrapping off. I thought, this is horrible, they can’t all be this hard to unwrap. Then I remembered the truth of the matter. Oh, yes, this is rice paper — no need to unwrap it. I knew that.

Of course, the rice paper is used to prevent just such a scenario occurring with an inedible wrapper; it also makes these nougats that much more entertaining. Bite into the crinkly wrapper, and behold, it disappears. It’s like magic.

Moving along, nougats like these were very welcome to me. I can’t think of a single time I’ve seen (in person, that is) or tasted nougat outside of a candy bar. Milky Way and 3 Musketeers are all good and well, but not so much as these. The flavor here is much fresher, the texture more lively. More chewy and gummy than just fluffy and squishy. There is a good amount of slivered almond in here, adding to the texture fun. Almonds aren’t my nut of choice (it’s the hazelnuts I go for), but these are wonderful.

At first, I didn’t notice either the chocolate or orange tastes. Then, as I was trying to describe a tangy or fruity taste, I saw I’d found the orange. Coming from orange oil, it avoids the artificial, but is kept with a minimum influence. It just adds a nice spritz to the flavor. The chocolate is even harder to detect. I’m sure the difference would be apparent side-by-side with a non-cocoa nougat, but as it is, I think there is more a simple chocolate feel alongside the sweetness.

Kettle Confections also has a couple more flavors, with a new Chocolate-Covered Pistachio Cranberry, and plans to have the Chocolate-Covered nougats available in bar form, as well. Despite their handmade feel and preservative-free state, the shelf life of these nougats is three months. That’s great, only I don’t expect mine to last the day, let alone three months.

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