There's no doubt that the best chocolate brings joy, conveys love, heals heartache, and forges connections. And when it comes time to find the perfect gift, chocolate is the answer then, too. The best chocolate is rich in flavor and almost too beautiful to eat. We care about our planet, and we want to leave it in a better state than we found it. To do this, we are working tirelessly to minimise our environmental impact.

The rules are different with chocolate candies, especially truffles filled with cream-based ganache. These will generally last two or three weeks at room temperature or a few months in the fridge—though refrigeration negatively affects chocolate's flavor. (These are general guidelines; read the storage instructions for anything you buy to make sure it doesn't have special rules.) Cacao can only grow in tropical climates up to 20° north and south of the equator, but we import all our beans through sea freight, which has the lowest carbon footprint of any form of transport.Hand-painted bonbons from Petrova Chocolates are truly eye-candy. Each brilliant chocolate is meticulously lacquered with vivid colored cocoa butter to represent the filling within. But the beauty of these chocolates is not just surface-deep; each has two to three layers of jewel-toned, jammy, creamy, bold, and balanced fillings that work harmoniously with the delicate chocolate shell. A cross-section of any of these bonbons reveals a stunning composition inspired by founder Betty Petrova's childhood memories and fine-dining experiences. If you eat with your eyes first, Petrova Chocolates offers the ultimate bedazzling feast. Looking for more space themed gifts for children? Take a look at our space themed gifts for kids or astronaut costumes. Just add your choice of juice or squash, and then put them in the freezer for a few hours and you’ll be ready to take off into the summer sky. While I'm currently employed as a chocolatier, I've lived previous lives in both scientific research and recipe development. I'm a scientist at heart and a true chocolate-fanatic, so my testing approach for researching the best chocolate was both methodical and thorough. My education in the hard sciences, the savory culinary arts, and finally fine chocolatier-work has all been in preparation for the daunting task of hand-selecting the very best chocolates. I cut no corners and left no truffle unturned. You can decide if you want milk or white chocolate, a mix of the two, and even dairy-free chocolate for lactose-intolerant space fans.

I was sent some delightful Belgian chocolates from Planete Chocolat and thought what better way to celebrate the Euro Final and celebrations than to munch down on my favourites, with my favourite. Read more Created by Belgian master chocolatiers, these taste insanely good and I can honestly say that they are the nicest pralines I have ever tried. Read more Rather than fully enrobing its ganaches, Bon Bon Bon chooses to leave its bonbons topless — a very risqué move. Not only is this visually unconventional, but each bonbon is also adorned with playful garnishes to match its youthful yet adult flavors. For example, the Bour-Bon-Bon-Bon has a layer of rich bourbon ganache topped with whiskey caramel in a dark chocolate shell, appropriately garnished with a glacée orange and dark chocolate "ice cube." The Lemon Bar None is a white chocolate cup filled with a zingy lemon custard ganache on top of a layer of shortbread crust, dressed with royal icing and a dusting of powdered sugar. Whether you’re organising a space themed party for kids, looking for a gift for an astronomer or just want a cosmic treat for yourself, you’ll want to take a look through these space sweets. Allison Wignall, who updated this roundup, is a writer who focuses on food and travel. During her globetrotting, she has tasted some of the sweetest confections, from macarons in Paris to fresh gourmet chocolates in Ecuador. Her work has been featured in publications including, Food & Wine, Travel + Leisure, and Southern Living.Karen Restais a writer specializing in food culture and history, cooking, pastries, and restaurants. She's also a former pastry chef and has traveled to Paris, Budapest, and Kyiv, Ukraine, during their Fashion Weeks as a photographer and writer, always finding the best authentic pastries along the way. She now spends her free time baking at home and recommends quality ingredients within your given budget. Bon Bon Bon's truffles are a treasure trove of fun, inventive flavors; each two-bite bonbon is meticulously and playfully decorated, and wrapped in its own individual box. The best thing about this company is that they deliver all over the world! And for us in the UK we can get next day delivery! Read More Dark chocolate has three main ingredients: ground roasted cocoa beans, cocoa butter (which is the fat pressed from cocoa beans), and sugar. Dark chocolate is often classified by percentage of cacao, which refers to the proportion of ingredients made up by cocoa beans and butter. A 100-percent-cacao chocolate has only cocoa beans and butter, with no sugar at all. The higher the percentage, the more bitter and intense the chocolate flavor is. Cacao & Cardamom's chocolates are filled with intriguing flavors from unusual ingredients like chile peppers, spices, leaves, flowers, and berries.

There's no specific definition for "gourmet," but high-end chocolate can be high-end in many different ways. It's a lot like coffee: There are many different types of beans grown in many places around the world, which can be processed, roasted, and prepared in various different ways. What that comes down to is that there's a dizzying array of chocolates out there. And that doesn't even include all the ways all those types of chocolate can be turned into truffles and other candies, or poured over fruits and nuts. Really, what it comes down to is attention to ingredients: Gourmet chocolate uses better, more special versions of all of them, and it's often made in smaller batches by smaller groups of people—sometimes by the head chocolatier themself. A sunny day might be rare in the UK, which is why you need to take the chance to make them out of this world when they do happen. But while these might bear the names of your favourite planet or galaxy, the cosmic connection doesn’t go much further.Pairing chile peppers with chocolate is not novel, but finding a chocolate that brings heat as well as depth of flavor and quality chocolate is a rare find. Heat seekers and adventure lovers will love Cacao & Cardamom. Based in Houston, Texas, founder Annie Rupani, uses chocolate as a medium to represent her South-Asian heritage and extensive travels to countries Italy, Greece, Lebanon, Egypt, China, Jordan, Pakistan, and Malaysia. She not only turns to chile peppers for intrigue, but spices, leaves, flowers, and berries as well. The stunning colors and shapes of Cacao & Cardamom bonbons rival those in our "most beautiful" category, with a sense of adventure. When choosing a chocolate best suited for kids, I sought out a quality product with approachable flavors that didn't break the bank. I also saw this as an opportunity to introduce future chocoholics to slightly more sophisticated flavors and textures, while staying in a "safe space" for young, naive palates. We tried a range of flavors to find the best chocolate from Cacao & Cardamom. The Coco Curry is a journey of flavors with velvety yet light caramel infused with coconut and herbaceous curry leaves. The Cardamom Rose bonbon leads with the warm, herbal spicy notes of green cardamom, and finishes with the soft floral touch of rose water. Finally, the Five Spice Praline delivers a robust blend of fennel, Szechuan peppercorns, star anise, clove, and cinnamon atop a base of crisp, toasty hazelnut chocolate praline. Cacao & Cardamom offers bold and exotic flavors that inspire the most seasoned of foodies to seek new adventures around the world. Texture: I considered the texture of all the chocolates. Correctly tempered and stored chocolate shouldn't melt in your fingers; it should be firm and "snap" when broken or bitten into and melt smoothly on the tongue. Space has always been a popular source of inspiration when it comes to naming confectionary, and there are plenty of sweets, candy and chocolate bars named after space out there – Mars bar, Milky Way, Galaxy, Starburst, Orbit and Starmix, to name just a few.

hand on heart and these have to be the best chocolates I've ever had, like I am currently trying to resist not eating the rest of the box which I have hidden at the top of my wardrobe. Read moreGhirardelli's individually wrapped chocolate squares are great for kids, and help introduce your young ones to more sophisticated flavors and textures in an approachable way. Caramels come in all shapes and sizes, firmnesses, colors, degrees of bitterness and butteriness, and with all types of garnishes. Setting out to name the best chocolate with caramel was no easy task, but I was up to the challenge. Fran's Chocolates caramels offer the "pull," deliberate chew, and strategic salting that a great caramel should possess. Flavor: The growing conditions of the cacao used to make any given chocolate impact its flavor, which can range from sweet and fruity, to nutty and toasty, to bitter or acidic. These can all be used effectively in different applications. However, chocolate that has gone bad or rancid will have a soapy or cheesy flavor. I looked for balanced, prominent cocoa notes with no off flavors.