I wouldn’t bet my life that this is the most expensive chocolate in the world, but imagine paying $250 for one piece of dark chocolate and close to $3000 for a pound of it! From the Delud Luxury weblog, check out Knipschildt’s “La Madeline au Truffe” Sounds like foreign film I’d never watch. From the Luxury Blog site:

This chocolate with a French black truffle inside is made of 70% Valrhona cacao, which is blended into a creamy ganache with truffle oil. The truffle is then hand-rolled with a dark truffle on the inside and dusted with cocoa powder. Finally it is packed in a silver box.

Boy am I lazy today. Thats why I’ll never pay a dime for chocolate like that. Not worth my 2 months salary. I’ll stick to a $3 bag of Dove Dark thank you very much. Cacao is something I will report on in the future though. Lot’s of benefits to it from what I hearing.

This story from Yahoo! News talks about the increasing popularity over niche drinks. These are the already bottled or canned drinks you’d buy at the store such as specialized teas. I’m not really surprised by this news by any means. The selection at Whole Foods for drinks and many other snacks has twice the variety or more. Most would see this as a good thing. I say, just don’t forget about the snacks and drinks you can make yourself. In Japan, the drink vending machines have a smaller selection of sodas and more teas, hot and cold coffee and sports drinks than you typically might see in an average vending machine. Even the vending machines in more rural areas have a big selection.

Coolhunting reported on some of the male / female snacks in Japan. As always, the beat me to the good stuff. But while in Japan, I’ve been chewing on Black Black. Like most snacks in Japan, the name is just slightly strange. The gum is black yes. It has a strong minty flavor, one that burns into your nostrils like wasabi. That might be why it’s so popular here. What I like about it is the large container it comes in. The family size Black Black comes in a cylindrical plastic box with a spring-loaded flip up lid. It fits perfectly in your cup holder. I like it because you get a lot so you can share with everyone on trips with plenty to go around. We picked up a container at Costco here in Japan for about $6.50. I think at most places it’s $7-$9. Ouch that’s a lot for gum, but as I said, you get a lot. I’ve been told it has caffeine in it, but haven’t noticed. My absolute favorite thing about it. The tagline. “Hi-Technical Taste.” Um Okay.

Read the coolhunting article on the whole sexist gum and snack thing. Japan is the best place in the world for snacks. Want a snack with your beer? No not peanuts. In Japan you’ll have the squid jerky instead.