One of the things we wanted to do while we were on Deer Isle was to hop on a boat and head out to ANOTHER island - Isle au Haut. This tiny island is about 10 km off of Stonington and is famous for its hiking trails and kayaking. Even though the fog was still bad enough that kayaking was out of the question we figured that by hoping on the mail boat we might escape it for awhile.
When we got to the dock to board the Miss Lizzie the fog was still pretty thick. So much for escape.
It got worse as we headed to the island. Miss Lizze was making her way through the hundreds of islands which make up the Stonington archipelago but all that you could see was fog. Thank heavens for GPS!
The 79 people who live on Isle au Haut year-round are a hearty lot. Sure they are connected to the mainland by a fairly regular boat but for the most part it is just them, the trees, lobsters, and birds. We did discover that there were some cars on the island even though there was only one very rough road. Most folks walked where they needed to go.
Shortly before we left for Maine we developed a second reason to head to Isle au Haut - a short feature in the June 2009 Gourmet magazine:
On a remote island off the snaggletoothed coast of Maine, the only edible luxury you would expect to find is lobster. Last summer, however, I hopped the mail boat to Isle au Haut–a sprawling hump of spuce-covered granite with just 65 year-round residents–and found a crooked sign at the edge of a dirt road leading, improbably, to chocolate truffles containing orange-blossom nectar and ganache infused with Earl Grey tea.
The feature writer stressed that the chocolates she found at Black Dinah's Chocolates were so good one had to make the trek. Never being ones to avoid fine chocolates we added this to a brief list of 'things we wanted to do in Maine'.
Once we got off the boat we headed down the road.
We met some real characters as we walked along - the sort of characters you would only find on a small windswept island well off of the coast . . .
Finally we saw 'the' sign . . .
Stepping into the cafe we were immediately transported to a 'happy place'. We knew that whatever we tried would be amazing - and it was!
The staff apologized that the selection of baked treats was less than normal - apparently the entire island had been up all night - a house under renovation had been struck by lightning and everyone had come out to help out. Only on a small island . . .
Nonetheless we got drinks and some delicious cookies.
When we were ready to head out I had a challenge trying to decide what chocolates to buy. Their spring collection featured such treats as rhubarb, wild raspberry, maine mint, strawberry balsamic, blueberry black pepper, and chevre and cocoa nibs. What a struggle. Finally they wrapped up my selections (beautifully, I might add) and we headed off to explore the island some more.
When we got home to Burlington we finally opened the box and had a nibble.
WOW!
These were some of the best chocolates we had ever enjoyed (and we have enjoyed a LOT of chocolate over the years).
At Black Dinah, they make their ganache by infusing locally produced cream with a wide variety of locally grown, organic herbs, flowers and fruits, and whole spices. After carefully straining these out, they add locally produced butter and the very best Belgian, Venezuelan, and rare Peruvian chocolates. The result is a very smooth, appealingly firm ganache that is then enrobed or molded with hand-tempered chocolate into beautiful shapes.
Because the very best chocolates deserve the very freshest, tastiest ingredients, they buy from local farmers and producers whenever possible. And because they believe in sustainable agriculture and feel strongly that farmers of the best cacao in the world should get an above market price for their products, theyuse single-origin Venezuelan couverture that has been fairly traded and grown with respect for the land and the human and animal communities that live there.
Finally, amazing delicious with a soul!
