Vermont is awash with candy possibilities for Halloween. It doesn't take much planning to find some local treats, from pumpkin cupcakes to maple candies to fine chocolates. But, to focus on the candy is to forget an important part of food on Halloween - the journey to find it. Now, the traditional approach would be to walk through the neighborhood knocking on doors. At DigInVT, we offer tools for planning grander travels, entire trails of food exploration. . .what should our Halloween trail look like?
One of our first stops on a trail that enjoys the sweet life is Lake Champlain Chocolates. This is a place full of chocolates, truffles, and seasonal treats. Lake Champlain Chocolates hot chocolate reigns supreme and their ice cream was just named the 2018 Best Housemade ice cream by Seven Days. Take a tour at the factory store and be sure to stop in for that hot chocolate at their other stores.
Let's also include places that offer unique takes on sweets. There is the goat's milk caramel at Fat Toad Farm in Brookfield that follows the Mexican cajeta tradition. Or pay a visit to Honey Road and just order off the dessert menu for sweets with a middle eastern flair. Or the fun flavor combinations of a chocolatier like Nutty Stephs in Middlesex, where you can buy chocolate bars like the Love bar which combines white chocolate, raspberries, and peppermint or the Revolution bar which combines 72% dark chocolate and a liberal amount of salt.
And of course Vermont's classic maple sugar candies, available from sugar makers around the state. Want to make your own? Here Vermonter Dan Harlow shows Martha Stewart how it's done.
You can also create your own pairing trail. The Vermont Grape & Wine Council has a winter Wine & Chocolate weekend in February, but why wait? Search for Wineries & Distilleries to see open hours, and then check out the confectioners and bakers nearby.
We're just scratching the surface here. If you put together a Halloween Trail, where would you go? Collect your places on our site, and build your own very sweet trail.
This is a re-posting of an article that appeared at Halloween time in 2016; Happy Halloween!
