{"id":354,"date":"2007-06-15T10:57:42","date_gmt":"2007-06-15T10:57:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2007\/06\/15\/alchechengi-my-introduction-to-the-winter-cherry\/"},"modified":"2008-09-01T19:45:15","modified_gmt":"2008-09-01T19:45:15","slug":"alchechengi-my-introduction-to-the-winter-cherry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2007\/06\/15\/alchechengi-my-introduction-to-the-winter-cherry\/","title":{"rendered":"Alchechengi – My Introduction to the Winter Cherry"},"content":{"rendered":"

It looked so promising, wrapped up like that. I actually wasn’t planning on buying any chocolate when I entered the store. I just wanted to know why there were so many people inside<\/strong> and what was drawing them to this corner pasticceria. Was it the coffee? There was a crowd around the bar. <\/p>\n

As I entered the pasticceria, my eyes were drawn to the left side of the room where a long counter stacked with chocolates was. <\/p>\n

Perhaps this was the attraction. Or at least, it was for me. <\/p>\n

I decided to sample a few items, but the ones that immediately caught my eye were these little chocolates with pretty green-gold leaves sticking out of the top. <\/p>\n

\n\"Wrapped<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

The woman behind the counter said they were filled with liquor. I am not a big fan of liquor in chocolate<\/strong> (though I immensely enjoy both of them separately) so I wasn’t expecting to love it, but I couldn’t resist the packaging and fell for it like a fake Prada purse on Cola di Rienzo in Rome.<\/p>\n

Of course, I wanted to see what was inside so I bit off a small piece of the chocolate. The chocolate wasn’t that good, but the color inside was shocking. Bright orange…I was intrigued. At this point, the insides, the liquor, started to pour out. I acted quick and snapped a photo. <\/p>\n

\n\"A<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

At this point, I took a bite into the bright orange fruit and…..<\/p>\n

…promptly spit it out directly into the waste basket before I vomited. And being the sadist I am, I made S try his as well to see if mine was bad, and he had the same reaction. Keeping the explanation of the taste to rated PG, it tasted of a male bodily function that I hope never to see featured in a filled chocolate<\/em>. We immediately brushed our teeth. Yes, it was that bad.<\/strong><\/p>\n

So now I need your help. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Have you tasted one of these before? The fruit inside was the Physalis alkekengi,<\/a> (alchechengi<\/strong> in Italian) also known as A Winter Cherry, Chinese Lantern Plant, Strawberry Ground Cherry….? <\/strong> <\/p>\n

Tell me in the comments how it tasted to you (especially if you’ve had it inside a liquor-filled chocolate), and if you’re very familiar with it, how it should taste. Unfortunately this experiment left a bad taste in my mouth, and I’m not so eager to keep trying to prove myself wrong. <\/p>\n

Help me redeem the Alchechengi<\/strong>! This was my last look before retiring it to my bin. <\/p>\n

\n\"Inside<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It looked so promising, wrapped up like that. I actually wasn’t planning on buying any chocolate when I entered the store. I just wanted to know why there were so many people inside and what was drawing them to this corner pasticceria. Was it the coffee? There was a crowd around the bar. As I…<\/p>\n

Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[73,100,3,2,5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-354","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-chocolate","7":"category-discovering-food","8":"category-food","9":"category-italy","10":"category-milan","11":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4uB1-5I","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":329,"url":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2007\/04\/26\/delving-into-neuhaus-chocolate\/","url_meta":{"origin":354,"position":0},"title":"Delving into Neuhaus Chocolate","author":"Sara, Ms. Adventures in Italy","date":"April 26, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Doesn't anybody want any free stuff?? Go now and comment on this post to be entered in my Ms. Adventures in Italy has moved contest - even the word \"hi\" counts - come on out, you lurkers! And while you're at it, update your links and RSS feed (be sure\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Chocolate"","block_context":{"text":"Chocolate","link":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/category\/food\/chocolate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Neuhaus Box","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm1.static.flickr.com\/133\/370952876_fcd8d5cdd1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":391,"url":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2007\/10\/01\/la-torta-setteveli-seven-veils-cake\/","url_meta":{"origin":354,"position":1},"title":"La Torta Setteveli “Seven Veils” Cake","author":"Sara, Ms. Adventures in Italy","date":"October 1, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"While I'm writing this, my hands are shaking and my heart is racing because it's a damned-if-you-do, and you're damned-if-you-don't. It's so incredibly good that I can't keep it all to myself, but I feel that if even one more person knows about it, I will have to compete with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Chocolate"","block_context":{"text":"Chocolate","link":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/category\/food\/chocolate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Setteveli - Seven Veils Cake","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1161\/1441734700_00b826c7cf.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":278,"url":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2007\/03\/15\/chocolate-tasting-party-richart\/","url_meta":{"origin":354,"position":2},"title":"Richart Chocolate Tasting Party: It’s ok to Eat Chocolate before Dinner","author":"Sara, Ms. Adventures in Italy","date":"March 15, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm back from vacation, and it's back to work work and back to the blog! Sometimes you just have to get down and dirty and do some research. I've been hard at work tasting different chocolates so you don't have to over the past months. I willing submitted myself to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Chocolate"","block_context":{"text":"Chocolate","link":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/category\/food\/chocolate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Richart chocolates","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm1.static.flickr.com\/137\/362957857_574c712624.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":396,"url":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2007\/10\/03\/frutta-martorana-marzipan-and-other-sicilian-pastry-porn\/","url_meta":{"origin":354,"position":3},"title":"Frutta Martorana – Marzipan and other Sicilian Pastry Porn","author":"Sara, Ms. Adventures in Italy","date":"October 3, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Update: We really didn't plan this...Shelley from At Home in Rome is talking about Sicilian-Swiss pastries (and frutta martorana) today on her blog, too! After I stopped salivating over the Setteveli cake at the Pasticceria Cappello, I noticed that they indeed sold other things in the pasticceria other than the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Behind the Scenes"","block_context":{"text":"Behind the Scenes","link":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/category\/behind-the-scenes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Chocolate meringue cake","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1231\/1475122060_5d759c9a94.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":361,"url":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2007\/06\/27\/valrhona-chocolate-box-and-swiss-chocolate\/","url_meta":{"origin":354,"position":4},"title":"Valrhona Chocolate Box and Swiss Chocolate","author":"Sara, Ms. Adventures in Italy","date":"June 27, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Today I'm heading to a country known for its cheese and chocolate (and not France). I'm heading to Switzerland on business. Since chocolate is on my mind (I hope at least to bring back something for the office), I thought I'd add my most recent \"taste\" of designer chocolate -\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Chocolate"","block_context":{"text":"Chocolate","link":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/category\/food\/chocolate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Valrhona Box","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1196\/635839957_53da661eb3.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1268,"url":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2009\/04\/03\/coffee-crack-druggy-delight-or-delicious-specialty-espresso\/","url_meta":{"origin":354,"position":5},"title":"Coffee Crack: Druggy Delight or Delicious Specialty Espresso?","author":"Sara, Ms. Adventures in Italy","date":"April 3, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Thanks to all that entered my Search for the Perfect Frosting Recipe giveaway! I've listed the winner at the end of this post. Sometimes the funniest language mashups are completely unintentional. Imagine my delight, when after lunch today, I found an unintentional language mashup that was just waiting to be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Chocolate"","block_context":{"text":"Chocolate","link":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/category\/food\/chocolate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Coffee Crack - the diagram of a winner","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3335\/3408784891_7a6a736695.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=354"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}