Vosges Haut-Chocolat - Black Salt Caramel Bar

Exquisite, exotic flavor combinations aren’t just slapped together through trial and error: They demand a muse. So is the case for Vosges’ Black Salt Caramel Bar, whose inspiration Vosges founder Katrina Markoff found in the Marchesa Luisa Casati.

“She was one of the first femme fatales,” explains Markoff. “She would have these grand parties where she would show up with live snakes around her neck.” The exotic chocolate bar, which began as a seasonal truffle, reflects characteristics of this early 19^th century party girl. Black Hawaiian salt, which gets its color from a harvesting process that involves lava salt water, is a nod to the heiress’s often India ink–adorned face.

The popularity of the Marchesa truffle, which featured salted caramel and 85 percent cacao ganache, primed it to join Vosges’ year-round line, but the process wasn’t easy. “It’s hard to get that balance of caramel and chocolate,” Markoff says of creating this particular bar, which took two years to perfect.

Having mastered one challenge, Vosges is off to the next. “We’re planting our own varietals of cacao in Belize,” Markoff shares. This bean-to-bar project is in the planting stage and will take five years to grow. An agricultural education center where visitors can see the chocolate-making process first-hand will also be on-site.

As for new flavors, Markoff says it’ll be hard to beat Black Salt Caramel, but beer lovers can look forward to the Smoke and Stout bar, which pairs smoked salt, caramel and dark chocolate with Rogue Brewery’s Chocolate Stout.—Eva Meszaros

How to Enjoy It: Throw a Victorian-era party like the Marchesa herself and share with friends, or just dress up in your turn-of-the-19^th-century duds to savor this indulgent treat.

MSRP: $8/3 oz. bar

Website: vosgeschocolate.com

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