LeSaint French Chocolate, specializing in gourmet dark chocolate confections reportedly emphasizing high-quality ingredients, intense flavors, and minimal sugar, announced it has won the 2024 Americas Silver Award from the International Chocolate Awards for its Orange Hazelnut Luck Pavés. With 12 awards to date, this achievement showcases the chocolatier’s continued commitment to excellence in small-batch handcrafted chocolates.
Thegourmet chocolate company based in Pennsylvania is led by Stéphane Lesaint, a French chocolatier with over a decade of experience. LeSaint Chocolate's gourmet chocolate assortments are crafted with the highest quality, beyond fair trade ingredients, the brand says. It also offers vegan and nut-free options.
All of the brand's luxury chocolate collections are made in fresh small batches to offer customers a selection of truffles, bonbons, pavés, and pralines. The award-winning chocolatier and founder of LeSaint Chocolate, Stéphane Lesaint, states, “I love cooking, and I especially love pastry and chocolate. Growing up in Normandy, my father was a charcutier and later a chef in our town’s local hotel. My dream was to be a chef, like my father.”
The company's gift collections feature hand-wrapped traditional French ballotin boxes with a silk ribbon. Every order has the option of adding a note printed on stationery for meaningful personalization.
Some of the chocolatier’s chocolate gift collections include:
- Passionfruit Ganache BonBon: A recipient of two awards, the 2019 Americas Silver and World Silver, LeSaint Chocolate’s Passionfruit Ganache BonBon offers a blend of passionfruit and white chocolate.
- Arancia Orange Truffle: A 2021 Silver Americas winner, this classic flavor combination uses Arancia paste ("orange{ in Italian) from Corsiglia, Italy, to perfume the 68% Bolivian Criollo dark chocolate truffles.
- Calvados Caramel Bonbon: Earning bronze in both the 2022 Bronze World and Americas awards, this hand-painted gourmet dark chocolate Bonbon is filled with chocolate-blended caramel and Calvados, an apple brandy.
- Dulce-de-leche Hazelnut Pavés: Winning Bronze in the 2022 Americas, the Dulce-de-leche Hazelnut Pavés offers fine milk chocolate infused with hazelnut paste layered with fresh chocolate caramel.
- Almond Praline Pavés: A recipient of the 2021 World Bronze and Americas Silver, LeSaint French Chocolate’s Almond Praline Pavés features hand-ground almond paste mixed with 45% milk chocolate to make a praline filling that is finished with gourmet dark chocolate and with a whole roasted almond corone.
- Yuzu Pavés: A winner of the 2021 Bronze Americas, the chocolatier’s Yuzu Pavés includes a lemon-lime-orange flavor from Yuzu and a mix of milk and dark chocolate.
- Moroccan Mint Dark Chocolate Paves: Earning Silver at both the World and Americas awards, the treat includes artisanal French-Moroccan gourmet mint and 68% Bolivian Criollo dark chocolate pairing.
LeSaint French Chocolate has recently announced three new products, as well:
- L’ Espresso Dark Pavé: A blend of coffee and dark chocolate, crafted with freshly ground fine espresso powder and 68% Bolivian criollo gourmet dark chocolate.
- Salted Pistachio Orange Bark: This orange chocolate bark is available with either Milk Chocolate or Vegan Dark Chocolate, and is studded with crunchy, salted premium pistachios.
- Essential Chocolate Gift Box: The chocolate gift box features a six-pack of the brand's Art Deco Craft Bars, three Dark Chocolate Bars, three Milk Chocolate Bars, and two specialty handmade hot chocolates, Cinnamon Mocha and Pure Dark.
The brand offers a no-melt shipping guarantee to ensure chocolates arrive in immaculate condition and a seamless process to schedule deliveries easily, it says.
