First Posted: 4/15/2014
It may look like your typical Easter fare, an inches-high bunny with large ears just waiting to be bitten off, but if you’re noshing on one of the newest creations from Sugar Plum Chocolates in Forty Fort, well, you might be biting off more than you can chew.
That’s because Sugar Plum has a line of Sriracha-infused chocolates, and a dark chocolate Easter bunny laced with the hot stuff is just one product out there on the market. Though Sugar Plum, which has been in business for 19 years, started mixing Sriracha with its chocolate a year ago, the recently launched website srirachachocolates.com is making these products hotter than ever (pun totally intended).
“We wanted something spicy and trendy, so Sriracha was the perfect fit,” said Neil Edley, who established the company with his mom Frann back in 1995. Though its main dealings are online, orders are also available for pick-up locally.
Edley is no stranger to Sriracha – in fact, it might be hard for him to imagine food without it.
“Oh, never too much,” he answered with a smile when asked how much Sriracha is too much while making his sweet confections. “To me, it’s not spicy. I started making Sriracha matzah balls in chicken soup, I put it in my eggs, I make apricot Sriracha glaze for chicken – I put it in everything.”
The line also includes potato chips dipped in Sriracha-infused chocolate, Sriracha-dusted white and milk chocolate-covered pretzels, Sriracha nuts, Sriracha bark that includes said nuts, and Devil Whips, which are licorice pieces dunked in Sriracha chocolate.
Sugar Plum itself is also no stranger to adding some heat to its products.
“We have a whole collection of spicy chocolates, where we get the spiciness from all over the world,” Edley said. “We use Middle Eastern ingredients, ingredients from Africa. We have some products with scorpion pepper in it, which is one of the hottest peppers that comes in at over a million Scoville units.
“I made a bar where I had to wear eye protection and a breathing mask because it’s so hot it’ll burn your lungs if you breathe it in.”
Recently, Sugar Plum has concocted its own Sriracha sauce, made from all natural ingredients. When combined with the company’s vegan dark chocolate, a new, vegan, all-natural product will be made.
For those who would rather their taste buds not be tingled in such a way, have no fear – Sugar Plum chocolates specializes in so much more than hot stuff. Walking into the Forty Fort showroom is like taking a trip to the factory of Willy Wonka.
In fact, Sugar Plum has been recognized for its work in a myriad of ways, through Woman’s Day and Bridal Guide magazines, write-ups in San Francisco Foodie, an upcoming special on E! network’s “Fabulist,” and even through having its chocolates appear in an upcoming Nicholas Sparks movie (the aforementioned Sriracha bunny) and the company’s noted Zombie Bars being sold at a shop in Georgia, right where AMC’s “The Walking Dead” is filmed.
That’s because Sugar Plum churns out treats that are varied, intriguing for the taste buds, and cleverly packaged. For Easter, there are currently bars that sit atop the Sugar Plum counter called “Peep Show” and “The Brown Ones Aren’t Jelly Beans.” There’s even a Zombie Easter Bunny, white chocolate died puke-green with red accents that makes for an eye-catching basket addition. There’s also a “PMS Box” with this tagline: “For female emergency use. Break open when your other box is making you crazy.”
There’s a line of vegan chocolates called Purely, enormous gummy letters, chocolate pizzas, and Ch’up cakes, which look like a cupcake but the cake is replaced with solid Belgian Chocolate.
