I can never get enough red,” says Rae Stang—and Lucky Chocolates, her organic and fair trade chocolate shop in Saugerties, glows with this, her favorite hue. The store is rich with assertive colors and bold style; red and gold walls are swirled with green, and the tin ceilings, sparkly chandeliers, and ’30s vintage graphics she uses on caps, T-shirts and gift boxes combine for a Victorian or Parisian chocolate shop feel. It’s not surprising that the décor reflects the wares sold here.

Lucky Chocolates are opinionated confections. “Our clientele loves intense flavors,” says Stang. “Our best-selling sour lemon is really sour; our salt caramel is really salty.” While she does make many fruity and more plain chocolates flavored with vanilla, mint, or cinnamon, mild milk chocolate lovers may not cotton to many of her wares. She dared customers to try her dill pickle truffle and one customer raved that it was the best thing he ever ate. But, says Stang, “It depends on the person.”

And perhaps it depends on the holiday, as well. “Chocolates are just the best gift for Valentine’s Day,” she declares. “Eating chocolate actually feels like you’re in love.” While the December festivities require a sustained, month-long push, Valentine’s Day is a “last minute holiday.” And there are more men in the shop than any other time of the year… right up until closing. Customers take time to choose the pieces that fill her red heart Valentine boxes and can tuck in a folded “Guide to Flavors” which identifies the contents and counsels ways to store them. The trays in the glass case offer a myriad of choices. A six-piece box is $12.

A Lucky Chocolate truffle requires more than one small, slow bite; the complex flavor contrasts stay with your mouth, forcing you to close your eyes, consider, and appreciate. You might not select truffles with dill pickle or with local Painted Goat peppercorn chèvre for your Valentine’s gift, but how about luxuriously dark and assertive chocolate that gives way to fillings of Chimayo chili, passion fruit, or sweet cherry with each nibble? Burst-in-your-mouth pomegranate or port-filled truffles? Smooth, serotonin-inducing squares, decorated lovingly with charming tiny leaves, stenciled designs, flecks of dried berries, or gold leaf?

In the back room workshop at the store, there’s always an intoxicating scent of liquid chocolate; warming contraptions with constantly turning paddles keep the “enrobing” chocolate ready. Each piece is hand-dunked into this dark or milk chocolate, then lifted, dripping and warm, to dry, cool, and cure in neat rows. If the pieces are to be cocoa-dusted, Stang and her workers use another small machine that shakes and evenly coats the chocolates. Finally they are all ready to be nestled into cases, onto trays, or packed into gift boxes.

Perhaps your Valentine would prefer molded, solid chocolate kittens, or Buddhas filled with dulce de leche. Soft butter caramels dotted with walnuts? Pieces of crystallized ginger or mango dipped in chocolate? My own wish list begins with dark chocolate almond bark and includes blueberry lavender bark (1/2 lb. for $10) and red wine pâté de fruits, too.

Not only are Lucky Chocolates distinctively edgy in flavor and stylishly decorated, they are also made from organic and fair trade chocolate, mainly from Ecuador and sometimes the Dominican Republic. The nuts are organic as well. Stang mixes an antioxidant-rich, 87 percent cocoa extra-dark chocolate herself and experiments with agave sweetener for some fillings. She incorporates many Hudson Valley products in her filling mixes in addition to the goat cheese truffle, such as honey from Olive beekeeper John DeGondia’s hives, Tea Thyme Farm’s strawberry preserves, local apples, pumpkins, and even Tuthilltown whiskey. A Hudson Valley assortment is available as a gift box.

Stang’s path to chocolate was a winding one. She became interested in alternative food and was even a macrobiotic cook for a time. She was also a ranch cook, and had a small restaurant of her own before she trained in pastries at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, the place where chocolate making became her passion. She supplies an occasional retail outlet such as Tenderland Home in Phoenicia and Upstate Films in Rhinebeck, but sells principally from her shop and her Web site (luckychocolates.com).

As the hats in Stang’s Lucky-wear shop declare, life is sweet. But as her chocolate arts have proven, sweet doesn’t have to mean demure. Get lucky this Valentine’s Day and make your sweetheart lucky too; wow her (or him) with a distinctive box of chocolates.

Lucky’s Agave-Sweetened Hot Cocoa
Rae Stang, Lucky Chocolates
1534 Rte. 212., Saugerties, NY 12477
(888) 582-5910; (845) 246-7337; luckychocolates.com Stang uses pure fair trade ground cocoa beans from the Dominican Republic ($6 a half pound bag) and also sells an adorable hot cocoa kit with a red mug. Ingredients:

• 1 quart 2 percent milk or almond milk


• 1/4 cup Dutch processed organic cocoa


• 1/8-1/4 cup agave syrup (generally available at health food stores)


• 1 tsp vanilla


• Pinch of salt

Method:

Mix agave syrup and cocoa together to make syrup. Add hot milk, salt, and vanilla. Whisk until frothy and serve. For an extra touch, sprinkle top with chili, cinnamon, or shaved chocolate. Stir with a candy cane or top with whipped cream or marshmallows.

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