When Hershey's and Cadbury Simply Won't Suffice

Chipotle peppers and balsamic vinegar are the last ingredients you'd expect to find in chocolate, but one local chocolatier is combining such exotic spices and infusions with fine dark and milk chocolate.

Tschudin Chocolates & Confections in Middletown has combined Main Street's penchant for eateries offering cuisines from around the world with the distinctive flavors each showcases.

Owner, Glastonbury attorney Roberto Tschudin Lucheme, uses special spice blends in his confections. Lucheme sources his old-fashioned, stone-ground chocolate from E. Guittard, and milk chocolate from Valhrona.

Lucheme, formerly an East Haddam resident, says he once owned the historic Champion House overlooking the Connecticut River and worked as a training officer for the East Haddam Fire Department for 15 years.

The O'Rourke, named after the historical diner in Middletown's North End, is dark chocolate ganache with Bailey's Irish Cream. Once a year, Lucheme says, owner Brian O'Rourke cooks up corned beef, dries it into a jerky, delivers it to Tschudin, who chops out medallions shaped like shamrocks and covers them in chocolate.

The Amici, named after Main Street's Italian grill, is milk chocolate ganache with almond paste and amaretto, covered in dark chocolate and pine nuts. The Brew Bakers is Bustelo espresso coffee and Kahlua.

The Garam Masala just won a second-place critics award  at the American Red Cross Chocolate to the Rescue! fundraiser in Westbrook, Production Manager Lesley Werblin says. It is a white chocolate ganache with Coco Lopez, garam masala (a special blend, according to Lucheme, with black tumeric and cardamom) and dark chocolate. It is served in honor of the Indian restaurants in Middletown.

Iguanas Ranas, inspired by the taqueria on Main Street, is dark chocolate ganache with chipotle peppers and Tia Maria liquor, a coffee and vanilla-flavored spirit.

Chocolates range in price from $1.50 to $2.25 each and special Valentine's Day lollipops are $3-$5. Tschudin Chocolates is open seven days a week. For information, call (860) 759-2222.