Bonbons, truffles, or chocolates?

Happy new year! I’m sure you have been busy, and so have I. December sped by as I enjoyed every minute of my job (making molecule jewelry) and my hobby (making chocolate).

For the first time, I dipped a toe into shipping chocolates to customers, not just friends and family. I hesitated to offer shipping due to my stubbornness and idealism. Those traits make me reluctant to ship via the industry standard because of my ecofriendly values. When chocolate is shipped to me, I’m amazed by the packaging involved. There’s lots of mylar and a cold pack or two. I appreciate that makers are concerned that their chocolate arrives with the same gorgeous temper they put so much effort into, and I am not judging their choices. But I would prefer not to use all this packaging, if possible. By only shipping in the cooler months, I hope to get away with minimal plastic (re-used bubble wrap) and no cold packs. But is this practical, since I also would like my chocolate to arrive in pristine condition?

The recipients of my minimally-packaged chocolates reported that the chocolate arrived in good condition, except for one box where some of the cute molded decorations came off. This is great feedback and gives me ideas for improvement. As for the chocolate itself, I was delighted (and grateful) to receive rave reviews! I appreciated a few suggestions, which I am working on now. I love that everyone identified different favorite flavors.

Flavors in box this year’s holiday box:

• tangerine-cardamom-vanilla

• Surinam cherry vanilla

• lilikoi-ginger

• Halema'uma'u (Ceylon cinnamon & Hawaiian chili pepper)

• Kuleana agricole or Kōloa rum

• mylk chocolate honu

Far from being burnt out from all of the chocolate I made for the holidays, I’m inspired by my yard of fruiting trees to make new flavors. I’m currently experimenting with lemon drop mangosteen, araza, jaguar cacao, and curry berry. Walking through the diverse array of fruits, nuts, and spices in my yard, the possibilities are limitless.

Despite authoring a book, presenting on the topic, and bringing chocolates to my local farmers market, for me chocolate has remained a hobby. This coming year I will be focusing on building it into a business, not a mega-business but a tiny one that will help pay the bills. I’ll update as I go, since I know some of you are interested in the journey.

Huge mahalo piha to all the people supporting and encouraging me! Cacao grows in community, brings together community, and inspires community spirit. I hope the chocolate and experiences I offer further this important mission.

To finally get around to the topic stated in the title of this post, I’m curious to know what you call little morsels with a flavored center surrounded by a chocolate shell? (Thank you to Sophia Rea for the jewels of chocolate phrase.) I was recently chatting with a friend who remarked that the name truffle, which is defined to be a ganache sphere rolled in cocoa powder or something similar, is now being used for many kinds of chocolate treats. I grew up calling these pretty bites chocolates, but I learned that the most correct term might be bonbons and started using that. (For my chocolate pralines may work, too, since my centers include macadamia nuts.) I find that the word bonbon confuses people at the farmers market, and I don’t like the association with “just sitting on the couch eating bonbons.” This is a phrase I heard as a child to mark someone as lazy, although I imagined someone with a tub of tiny scoops of ice cream covered in chocolate for some reason. So, my question:

Mahalo for your interest in my words and in chocolate! I wish you the very best in 2026! I would love to hear from you.

(Human-made, no AI used)