Our Mendiant mixed box, left to right:  Nougat in dark chocolate; Australian ginger, Marcona almonds in milk chocolate; Strawberry pâte de fruits/Meyer lemon in Dulcey white; and Organic grapefruit with nuts in dark chocolate.

The August heat is a great match for French Mendiants that focus on citrus and fruits, the essence of summer ingredients.  We have just created two where chocolate binds more than dominates.  The first is made with Dulcey, a superb caramelized white chocolate by the French Valrhona, one of the best chocolate companies in the world.  It holds a little slab of pâte de fruits made with our recently picked Maxwell Farms strawberry.  On the reverse side are three pieces of candied Meyer Lemon which we get from a little organic farm near San Diego.  The second mendiant is a Montelimar nougat in 72% dark chocolate.  It contains hazelnuts, pistachios, Marcona almonds, Turkish apricots and Meyer lemon.  We will have them for just a short time, so stock up!