I've just been browsing a chocolatier's website that I find fascinating, strange, eccentric and confusing. Care to join me? :D

Now, I've heard of edible gold leaf. But Cocoa Gourmet takes that concept and keeps running with it. They delve into edible gold, edible silver, edible diamonds, and edible gemstones.

14 chocolates with gemstones atop arranged in a handcrafted wooden box (with fancy velvet, hinges, plaque, sealed with wax and such) goes for $520.00 US. This leads me to believe the gems might contain more than just sugar, water and coloring. I mean, the box is nice, but it's not $520 worth of nice.

Okay - I can accept fancy, expensive chocolates for those with lots of disposable income and a sweet tooth. But! But! But! EXPLAIN TO ME how you can munch a precious gemstone! I'm wondering if these are simply sugar fakes (such as one used to be able to buy here), or if there's any element of crushed gemstone mixed into the concoction or what. The website isn't clear about this, and I believe deliberately so.

What thinkest thou?

Did you know that for a price, you can have a bag of M&M's packaged up with your own message printed on each candy?

Tis True! *cough* And no, I didn't just spent an inordinate amount of time playing with the customizations.

And now I go back to work on the CocoaJava.com newsletter. I'll be sending it out within the hour, so there's still time to subscribe if you don't already. Every page at the website has a sign up box near the bottom of the left side of the page. I only send this out once a month, and as I do WAY too often, it gets put off till the very last day of the month. Oh, look at the calendar. I've done it again!