Hasta La Ideas

Olive oil chocolates made by a local Italian community (nuns too)

With chocolatiers known simply as “Ivan and Michele” and packaged by local nuns, Nudo‘s new olive oil Cioccolatini are a community project from top to bottom. Based in Italy’s Le Marche region, Nudo (a family-run operation itself) tapped Ivan and Michele to take their astounding olive oil in a sweet direction—but not without a few road bumps along the way.

Because the word nudo translates to naked in Italian, the nuns (based in the nearby town of Tolentino) had to receive special permission to work with the brand—which actually is named for its honest approach to harvesting olives. Known for their adopt-an-olive-tree program which gives anyone a chance to own one of their trees, Nudo oil comes from 100% Italian, hand-picked olives that go straight from the grove to pressing.

That delicious ingredient translates into handmade dark chocolate truffles filled with three flavors of ganache—lemon, mandarin and chili—which is where the oil comes in, nicely complimenting all flavors involved. Like Nudo’s other products the confections come in packaging that’s as appealing as what it contains, and the design keeps it in the family. The work of Nudo co-founder Cathy Rogers’ sister Madeleine, she’s the driving force behind the adorable paper projects at London studio Mibo.

Nudo Cioccolatini sell online where $11 gets you a box of twelve chocolates.