Calabria is Southern Italy's center of citrus. If you're like me and avoid most fruit-flavored chocolates because of their chemical aftertaste, these are for you.

For fifty years the folks at Dolci Pensieri di Calabria have been preserving great citrus. We found them half a decade ago, long after they had mastered the technique. They start with fresh, aromatic Calabrian oranges. The peels and pith are removed by hand, and the peels are cut into strips. Then they're candied in a sugar bath and put in an oven at low heat for hours to slightly caramelize. Finally, they're hand dipped into a bath of 40-percent cacao chocolate and laid out to cool.

The result is one of those sweet treats that looks simple but has a complex, lingering flavor that haunts you for hours. The slight bitterness of the orange peel is tamed by the smooth coat of chocolate, leaving a clean, fruity finish in your mouth as the chocolate melts.