Sugar Free = Not For Me

            Oh, chocolate. I’m afraid it will forever be my downfall. Its taste is too sweet, too sensuous to simply let go and say good-bye.

            I had no intention of starting that sugar fast just yet, but today’s trip to Fowler’s Chocolates  instantly derailed any healthy-girl fantasies of an entirely sugar-free future from my semi-delusional mind.

            If you’ve never tasted sponge candy before, then simply put, you are missing out. I’m pretty sure it’s primarily a western NY thing—specifically, Buffalo, NY, where I was born and where most of my relatives still reside. And Fowler’s Chocolates, which began as a family-owned, Buffalo-based candy shop in 1910, is without a doubt the best place to purchase your first bite-sized piece of this rich, chocolatey, melt-in-your-mouth confection.

My mother adores these treats as much as I do, and with tomorrow being Mother’s Day, my chocolate shop stop was in her honor. I bought two boxes of dark chocolate sponge candy—one for her, and one to keep me (and the rest of the fam) from eating half of hers over the next couple of weeks.
            As soon as I got home, I had to break one out.
            And even though these treats are not organic, per say, the folks at Fowler’s are big into quality. Their chocolates are high on the percentage charts in pure cacao, and their dark chocolate sponge candy contains no wheat or dairy, which is good news for me. They do use corn syrup, but while this may be a shockingly sweet substance for the digestive tract to process, it is nowhere near as unsettling as the high fructose version. Considering how rarely I eat these confectionary delights, I'd say the moderation rule safely applies in this case.

            In conclusion, it is moments like these—when I am savoring a sweet treat that dates back to my childhood and is still safe for me to enjoy in spite of my various sensitivities—that I know I will never fully eliminate sweet things from my diet.

            Silly.