Guest Author - Sheryl Tilley

Have you ever liked something so much you said "That’s worth its weight in gold"? I have. I’m sure everyone has at some point. But did you really mean it? If you’re like me, not really. However, some chocolate manufacturers want you to say it and stand by your statement.

Patchi, a chocolate company in Lebanon, markets a soft leather covered box embroidered with exquisitely colored silk threads from Iran and India. Each heavy box (because of all the metal) holds 49 chocolates and each is decorated with a 24-carat gold floral motif, a handmade mini silk rose or a tiny piece of Swarovsky crystal. (If you get this stuff in your mouth, spit it out immediately!) The chocolates are separated with real silver and platinum linings. Inside the gold-plated box there is alloted space to engrave with your personal sentiments. This is the chocolate manufacturer of billionaires, kings, oil sheiks and other privileged classes.

For the price tag of only $10,000 for a box of 49 chocolates you can safely assume that these confections must be quite fabulous, right? No. Comments on these candies were surprising. Some tasters commented on the heavy slimy taste due to too much cocoa butter. Others complained of the ‘nasty taste’ because these chocolates were deemed ‘too dark’.

Patchi chocolates are available at Harrod's in London. They are now known as the world’s most expensive chocolates.

You’ll find most expensive chocolates sales are expanding the dark chocolate market. Women’s and health magazines are pushing dark chocolate because of the health benefits due ot serotonin and phenylethylamine. These substances are huge mood elevators.

You might have noticed a subtle shift in the way chocolate is now marketed. The motto now seems to be “Don’t eat more or less chocolate – eat better chocolate.” Chocolate is trending away from the mass-produced and toward more premium brands.

Is life too short to eat an ordinary chocolate bar? Not for me! Bring on the Hersheys.