This post’s title has set the stage for a not-so elaborate but somewhat linguistically-diverse pun. Maison Bouche is a chocolate company run by proprietor Diane Beaty out of Oakland, California. An apparent Francophile, Beaty adapted her name Maison Bouche from the Bouches du Roi, who were the king’s kitchen servants in olde tyme France.
For those of you who don’t speak French, maison=house, bouche=mouth, roi= king, and moi=me. And no, ‘Mouth House’ doesn’t sound very tasty to me either, while ‘Mouths of the King’ implies some sort of contagious orofacial disease. But that is why French is a beautiful language – say these words in French, and they sound downright divine.
So, on to what the Mouth of Me has been tasting lately.
If you were reading this blog last summer, you may remember the joy I expressed at visiting Sugar Sugar Candy in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
A few weeks back, I convinced my mum that it would be a wise decision for her to return to Sugar Sugar, for her own wellbeing, of course. I may also have mentioned that she should buy me as much tasty chocolate as she could afford and send it to me immediately. As an aside, “doesn’t play well with others” may have been mentioned once or twice on my childhood report cards. But I digress. This post isn’t called bouche du you, after all. Boosh!
So my mum delivered, like she always does. An Easter-appropriate package arrived at my door, and inside – along with daily cutouts of my favorite comic Cul de Sac (enough with the French already, you’re likely thinking) – were three arty bars from Maison Bouche.
The Croissant aux Amandes is a 40% milk chocolate bar flavored with roughly chopped almonds, vanilla, and almond extract. Interestingly, the bar warns that it “may contain traces of nuts.”
The predominant flavor is of the almond extract. The chocolate is creamy and tasty, with the nicely-dispersed traces of nuts adding an excellent crunch. For those who aren’t almond fans, this one is not for you. For those of you who are croissant fans, I’m not sure where the croissants are supposed to be hiding – I surely didn’t taste them. But overall, this is a nice candy bar that is almost too easy to eat.
The Violet bar, adorned with two sad-looking chicks dwarfed by a mysteriously giant and flower-covered egg proclaiming a message of Easter goodwill, is made with a 55% dark chocolate base.
It contains ‘violet flavor’ and vanilla, and gives off an aroma of spiced flowers. I was glad to see violet paired with a darker chocolate, and it works well in this bar. The violety nature of the bar is far from overpowering, but it is ever-present. The smooth texture of the chocolate and the soft violet essence combine with the dark cocoa to create a mouth-wowing cooling sensation.
Dark chocolate bars often focus on bringing out chocolatey notes while dialing down the added flavors, but that is not the case here. This is still candy bar territory, simply darker in tone.
Lastly, my favorite of the three bars. The Crêpes Suzette, or Suxette as it’s spelled on the packaging. May contain traces of suzette.
The milk chocolate bar is flecked with crêpes nibbins, and contains ‘crêpes suzette flavor.’ That means Grand Marnier, the liquor I can never seem to escape – in a good way.
This is like pure candy, and the chocolate is so soft and smooth and easy to devour that I had to hold myself back from eating the whole bar in a few bites. The crêpes pieces create a delightful texture that reminds me of the Nestlé Crunch bars of my youth (eaten hurriedly out of my Halloween pumpkin pail), but a world apart in taste.
If you like orange (and even if you don’t, because nothing about this truly screams orange to me), treat yourself to this chocolate, stat.
Email chocolat@maisonbouche.com or call 510.387.8695
Beaty’s handmade bars are available from these purveyors.
Follow Maison Bouche on Facebook.
And while you’re at it, how about doing me a solid and following of agates and madeleines on Facebook? Receive post updates and more from me there!
of agates and madeleines 
I think I’ve had Maison Bouche chocolates before but not such fancy flavours! Do want all three of them. Particularly intrigued by the violet one.
She makes so many more flavors, too – so much to try.
The Violet was tasty, although since I was in heavy-duty snacking mode I preferred the milk chocolate bars;)
Ooh, they all sound delicious. What a doting mother you have!
Understatement! She is the best:D
“I think it’s windy for that.” – glorious.
Violet and chocolate sounds amazing and your mom is sounds lovely.
I’ve been ‘testing’ more chocolates lately and I feel like it’s something I could for sure get on board with. I need to venture out in the desert to see what chocolate wonders are to be found. There used to me an entire restaurant devoted to chocolate, but they went under, very sad.
Pretty silly show, huh? Gotta love nonsensical cartoon characters and gratuitous swearing.
My mum is the loveliest, and I get to see her soon, YIPEEEEE!
I don’t know much about your region, but I actually have an Arizona-based bar that I plan on discussing here soon – stay tuned:)
Lovely post, dahling…oh why didn’t I get any for me? I guess because when I woke up that morning, you were on my mind…:-)They all sound fantastic! So many almonds, so little time…mmmmmm…violets…Grand Marnier…mmmm…
I dunno why you didn’t get any, this is the kind of chocolate you adore!
Jhrmm jhrmm jhrmm jhrmm JHRMM! Can you guess what that was? It was the drum introduction, of course. Look, a live recording – they all look insanely happy:)
Thanks so much for the trip in the way back machine…I just love her voice…and she’s as cute as a bug’s ear! They said that they only recorded for two years, what a shame. It is really amazing what can be found on utube…
I wish I could a) be in a happy fun music group, b) dress in happy fun cute dresses and have happy fun haircuts, and c) make such happy fun videos to look back and smile at down the road:)
Ditto:-D
Never heard of this chocolate but always very happy to add another brand to my list of chocolate alternatives! I’ll be excited if I come across it.
There’s nothing like a never-ending list of chocolate alternatives to bring a smile to my face!
Methinks the US may win the ‘where do we go next’ argument simply because of all the fabulously divine artesian chocolates available …
Oooh, good argument for the argument! I’d like to have that kind of argument on my radar, but I need to kick my rear in gear and find employment before I can find a vacation;)
In the interests of full disclosure the next big trip we take probably won’t be until at least 2014, but that doesn’t stop me from planning in the meantime! :)
Oh, definitely not:) That’s the second most fun part!
The bars look and sound great! I’m not sure if I like the packaging (somehwat oldfashioned French inspired… if I think about it a little like the Teuscher bars, and when visiting that shop I have to conquer my aversion to kitsch).
Yeah, the packaging’s a wee bit kitschy for me too, some of the other bars have people in wigs on them, and that’s pushing it for sure. But I like the ones I was gifted quite a bit, not too over the top but definitely seasonal:)
Ah, the French language! So playful and poetic. That said when I was learning Spanish one of my favourite things was that their phrase for sunbathing translated to ‘drink the sun’. Although I suppose bathing in the sun is relatively poetic itself.
Violet is such an underexplored flavour, I wouldn’t even know what it is supposed to taste like. I love the flower itself though, and am rather taken by the giant floral egg on the packaging!
I drank up some sun the other day, with the specific intent of getting my nice first burn of the season. I normally burn quite awfully, but it’s already looking faded, so I guess I had more of a slurp than a drink.
I guess I’m not sure what I would expect of violet either, were it not paired with lots of sugar and in a somewhat artificial form. I think that giant egg is rather special;)
Bahaha, you *say* that and yet even the smell of Green and Black’s Maya bar makes me nauseous, while other people stand there saying they can’t even taste the orange.
I will take doubles of the violet instead, thank you.
P.S. Your mama be the greatest.
Oh, Green and Black’s, Schmeen and Schmack’s is what I always say. The Maya bar seems orangeish enough in nature. And yes, I’m sure you would have a problem with the crêpes suzette bar. But I’m not allllways writing about orange chocolate bars with you in mind.
Or.
Am I?
P.S. She is!
I was kind of excited for chopped up bits of buttery croissant in there… sigh. But oh how I miss les croissants aux amandes, croissants au chocolat, croissants au— somebody stop me.
“doesn’t play well with others” … hee hee, oh Emma. :)
Yeah, I wish there had been a noticeable croissant component. And oh man, do I miss my daily pain au chocolat like crazy:)
I’d like to play well with others. Others? Give me a chance?? ;)
Emma, why do I make myself crazy with hungry ( and a little drool) reading your posts before breakfast. Crepe Suzette that could pass for breakfast food right? And chocolate is full of anti-oxidants. Hmmmm… I think you can see where this is going:)
xo
E
Get this woman some breakfast!
I see where you’re going with this, and I like it:)
I need to find some violet-y chocolate because I really don’t know what that’s like. Part of my brain keeps going to lavender, while the other tells it it’s a dummy.The others definitely sound tasty, though!
I was totally expecting that Boosh link to go to a Mighty Boosh clip. And I just liked your facebook page! woo!
That’s a good thought about the lavender, since it’s purple too. But umm, hmm. How to describe violet? You’ll just have to find out on your own:)
Mighty Boosh, how very British of you;) But, alas, just a creepy cartoon. YAY, thanks for the interwebs love!