There I was last week at Rewe, zoning out in the candy aisle while Max tried to get some checkout girl to answer his question about the pots he's become obsessed with when my eyes caught a row of assorted candy all labeled with a sign that said "Aus unserer Region". Well, that's it, I thought. The locavore movement has finally jumped the shark.
But then I looked a little more carefully at the candy selection and saw, between Schokolinsen and Pralinen, a little rectangular package with a sweet, retro design that looked like it hadn't changed in half a century and that magical word that just gets me every time: krokant. And in this case, Haselnusskrokant, hazelnut-studded toffee enrobed in bittersweet chocolate.
Argenta, Max explained to me, was one of those rare East German companies that didn't go out of business after the fall of the Wall. (Rotkäppchen Sekt is another.) I wonder if I'll offend anyone by saying that East Germany's chocolate doesn't have much a reputation in this household (Max's mother grew up eating it and loathes it to this day), but I couldn't help myself, I had to try the Brockensplitter. I mean, could you have just passed on by?
I'm very happy to report that Brockensplitter are indeed tasty little things. In fact, they're a little too easy to crunch away at. I try to limit myself to three at a time. And, incidentally, the chocolate is just fine. It's no Sawade or Hamann, don't get me wrong. But for a thrifty, pint-size gift to bring as a fun memento from Berlin, Brockensplitter are pretty great.
