Easy on ingredients, but somewhat less so on the preparation, chocolate-covered orange rinds are one classy way to say “I enjoy boning you.” NPR’s T. Susan Chang waxes dramatically:

That I could contemplate making them at all is thanks to 200 years of colonial rapacity, since neither oranges nor chocolate is native to this country.

…

In making chocolate orange peel, though, one soon finds it is the orange that is labor intensive. It has to be peeled, trimmed, sliced, blanched, drained, blanched twice more, simmered in sugar syrup and dried.

Since we will all be dead in a few short decades, due to disease, global warming, and/or a mechanized nightmare army, I am enticed to try making these treats myself, if only to have something to wail about when my incorporeal form meanders alone over this dead rock planet.

Oh, and also! NPR’s intrepid staffers recently sampled 30 types of chocolates, from delicate rarities to dollar store bargains, noting the taste, presentation, and price of each. Good data for the Valentine’s shopper.

Oranges and Chocolate: Romancing the Rind [NPR]