Mayana Chocolate affectionately refers to their Vanilla Nougat Caramel Bar as "The Space Bar." That may be because they say you'll probably want some alone time with it, but we also like to think it's because this chocolate bar truly is out of this world.
Love is a beautiful thing. It’s an especially beautiful thing when it begets chocolate, which is the love story of Daniel and Tamara Herskovic – the minds, hands and hearts behind Wisconsin-based Mayana Chocolate. It was conceived when Daniel, a restaurant chef-turned-private caterer met Tamara, an interior architect-turned-event planner behind the scenes at a function and fell hard for her beaming smile.
The pair married and started a business planning and executing elaborate dinners for high-end clients in Chicago. Daniel began making chocolates for the guests to take home as edible favors and became intent on mastering chocolate’s inherent fickleness. He turned to the pros, apprenticing under a half dozen chocolatiers in the U.S. and France. With his techniques and flavors refined (and his truffles no longer the size of golf balls), he tapped Tamara’s talent to make them as beautiful as they were tasty.
Daniel and Tamara took no shortcuts with their amazing bars. Each seemingly small refinement adds up to one big flavor bang. Lucky for us, it’s a celestial body available right here on earth.
Cut it in half (not necessarily to share, but to behold the beauty that lies within) and you’ll see a layer of gooey caramel perched atop a snowy white bed of nougat studded with nuts, all wrapped up in 66% dark chocolate.
Explore further and you’ll find that the caramel is salted with fleur de sel, the nougat made with real vanilla bean and that the almonds have been lightly toasted.
The box that houses this otherworldly bar is so appealing, it would make a fine present to anyone deserving of a delicious thank you.