Oh Canada: Ganong Chocolatier

Life is like a box of chocolates, and sometimes you’re lucky enough to stumble a truly beautiful box! When asked if I wanted to sample a holiday box of Ganong Chocolatier chocolates, of course, I said yes. Somewhat embarrassingly, I opened it up like I was a star on one of those weird unboxing videos on YouTube. But truly, there was a sense of ceremony to the whole affair. Spoiler alert: I was not disappointed. I was surprised to hear that Ganong is actually the oldest chocolate and candy company in Canada!!! Very old, like established-in-1873-old. It’s still family-owned and operated out of St. Stephen, New Brunswick. I will have to go out East one of these days to get the bottom of these chocolates. Call it a research trip.

The collection arrives in a gorgeous turquoise vessel that brings jewelry boxes to mind, with a honeycomb-like structure to hold the goods in place. Flavours include Salted Milk Caramel, Maraschino Cherries, Butterscotch Cream, Cranberry Swirl, Fruitfull Au Chocolate Strawberry, Peanut Brittle Crunch, Peacan Caramel and Almond Caramel Fudge. While all the favours were delectable, here are few favourites of the favourites.

Flavour Spotlight

Almond Caramel Fudge - This one has it all. First, you get a hit of crunchy nuts. Then, you get a layer of satisfyingly sweet caramel. THEN, you get to a fudge centre that melts into the rest. This is all while the chopped almonds keep working their magic. Woah. Hello.

Cranberry Swirl –This treat is the box’s centrepiece and she flies solo. The white chocolate is labeled as premium, and you won’t understand the premium difference until you taste it yourself. It is white chocolate, just completely better? The whole experience is like having pasta in Italy. Sure, it’s can be really good elsewhere, but you don’t really know the pastabilties until you taste the original stuff. As you can almost see from the photo, there is a whole dried cranberry inside trying to escape into your mouth.

Pecan Caramel – This treat has a pecan flavoured milk caramel, wrapped in milk chocolate with a dark chocolate string. The taste is nutty, earthy, and almost boozy since it’s quite rich in flavour? There is a weight and complexity to this one that’s just keeps giving. It sticks to your teeth and part of the fun is just letting it melt away.

Honourable mention goes to the Salted Milk Caramel with huge chunks-o-salt. I love salt.

We’re giving away a box of these babies on our Instagram, so head over there for a chance to win one yourself. This facility is certified peanut free and gluten free!

And if you don’t win, quantities are limited this holiday season; so pick up this lovely box of chocolates at select Shoppers Drug Mart and Loblaws stores across Canada and FAST!