In the world of Spanish confectionery, centuries old traditions and cutting edge innovation are blended like chocolate and cream in a well-emulsified ganache. Nowadays boundaries between sweet and savory are breaking down, leading to chocolatiers borrowing ingredients from the pantry to infuse and flavor their sweet concoctions. Extra virgin olive oil, cabernet sauvignon wine vinegar, artisanal salt, popcorn, pop rocks (limón efervescente), saffron from the La Mancha region of Spain, spices like ginger and Jamaican and Sarawak peppers and even pork rinds (cansalada), are all being brought into the sweet arena.

Packaging reflects the varied styles of the individual makers, from traditional bars of chocolate wrapped in papers decorated with medieval woodcut motifs to geometric, custom made boxes, with price tags to match and creative, sometimes even poetic, text as further adornment.

Many of these modern interpretations of the chocolate maker's art are beginning to be imported, ready for sale on prime shelf space in specialty food vendors nationwide throughout the US. Side by side with the avant-garde are new renditions of old favorites based on almond and hazelnut praline.

Rabitos, Spanish dried figs, are stuffed with ganache, flavored with rum and dipped in chocolate in an obvious nod to the traditional use of native ingredients, but with a twist (available through Miguel y Valentino, among others). Choco Higos, bite sized rectangles of fig paste covered in chocolate, is a specialty of the same producer in Cáceres and also distributed through Miguel y Valentino. Pecaditos, another luscious chocolate-covered fig sweet, with a characteristic hexagonal shaped package, are a mainstay of the Matiz España brand imported by Culinary Collective (formerly Power-Selles).

With their 60 year long history, Catanias (aka Catànies) made by Cudié (imported by K.L. Keller Imports) are another example of a popular sweet. True Marcona almonds are toasted and then coated in hard caramel, then dipped into a mélange of hazelnut and almond praline, and finally rolled in unsweetened cocoa powder and refined sugar.

As seasoned as Cudié is another 60- year-old company, Ludomar, based in Barcelona that makes a large range of boxed pralines and filled chocolates. Forever Cheese is bringing in part of their line, stylishly packaged bars, called turrón, in a number of flavors, the best of which is encrusted with a generous amount of perfectly toasted hazelnuts.

In sync with their customers desires, Forever Cheese imports chocolate bars by Caro, located in Zaragoza, which have been an instant hit. Crafted from 100% Forastero cacao beans from Africa, these 68% cacao bars and their milk chocolate companions are each rustically wrapped and tied with string. There's a subtle background of spice in the dark version, suggesting hints of cinnamon and cloves, a perfect chocolate to melt in hot milk for a round cup of hot chocolate.

Given their hefty size, these chocolates might also be positioned as the perfect gift for baking enthusiasts. The milk chocolate version is very creamy in texture, somehow tasting more richly of dairy than many milk chocolates, with undertones of toffee and caramel in the finish.

Another well known producer of traditional product is the one and half century old La Casa also from Zaragoza whose chocolate praline bars boast a wide range of unique and even trendy fillings such as a mélange of Spanish pine nuts with raisins and rum, crema Catalana custard flavor, thyme and tiramisu (available through La Espanola Meats, Inc.).

With the world coming to Spain's table, demand is also growing for the purely artisanal chocolate creations of Barcelona-based chefs like Oriol Balaguer, Enric Rovira, and Michel Laline. The first two are beginning to make a splash on this side of the Pond.

A strong pedigree as pastry chef for Ferran Adrià at El Bulli preceeds Oriol Balaguer, who has now branched out on his own, opening a chocolate boutique in Barcelona and producing enough to export on a limited basis (through Culinary Collective). Some of his most popular items weathering the transatlantic journey include the Chocotube, a long rectangular confection with a demispherical shape on top which comes in two flavors, praline and turrón, and Bola-Bola, small chocolate covered bonbons shaped like piedras (pebbles) enclosing centers of candied ginger, puffed rice, pink peppercorns, and smoky pork rinds, packed in perfectly square boxes.

Enric Rovira is another name to keep an eye on. He's an artisanal chocolatier, the scion of a long line of Barcelona-based pastry chefs, who is inspired by the art of late 19th-early 20th century Catalan artist/ architect Antonio Gaudi with chocolate bars (rajoles) in various flavors imprinted with architectural motifs. Around the holiday time, he turns out carefully crafted chocolates emulating the mosaic pavement lining the streets of Barcelona. At once serious and playful, he also produces bite sized Bombolas in 16 different flavors, from violet to pumpkin seed, and from corn to hazelnut, all of which are coated in an intense 70% dark chocolate. Duff Anderson, the "chocolate lady" and buyer for Zingerman's Deli, Ann Arbor, MI, reports bang up business with these products and is working hard to ensure a steady supply. She says, "We are always on the lookout for full-flavored traditionally made confections. We are happy to work with people with limited production capabilities. Running out of product only builds more interest in the item. Rovira's reputation has grown so meteorically, we are now buying his chocolate a la taza, bar chocolate traditionally broken up in hunks and melted in hot milk for an indulgent morning or afternoon pick me up, and featuring it in our café."

Steven Jenkins, buyer at Fairway Markets, NY, is similarly enthralled with Spanish innovation on the chocolate front. "We are seeing the best chocolate makers are no longer the Belgians and the Swiss; up to now, they have ruled the market. Now it's Spain's turn to harness tremendous creative energy and know-how. Products from Balaguer and Rovira are flying off the shelves at our stores." Thanks to so much interest in the Fairway stores, he imports in quantity direct, consolidating shipments of specialty foods from Italy, France and Spain, which leave through a warehouse south of Paris and onto Le Havre for the transatlantic crossing.

Not yet freely available to retailers in the States are the whimsical products by Laline, the Belgian born chocolatier and entrepreneurial spirit behind the Chocolat Factory, a chain of retail shops throughout Spain. His range of items, where every step of the chocolate making process is by hand, from single origin bars to vases made of chocolate and a suite of items under the name of Five Feelings in a pyramid-shaped box, are bound to be hot come holiday time. So look out for them.

Don Harris at La Tienda has ferreted out a truly artisanal maker, La Cuna, from Toledo, who fashions distinctive milk and dark chocolate bars enveloped in brown tissue paper and over wrapped with a striped metallic colored kraft paper, tied with raffia and sealed with a dot of red wax. This company, whose name translates as "the cradle" in Spanish, was so named by the two owners as an homage to the love they felt for the foods of their homeland from a young age, each spending their happiest times as children in the kitchen. You can taste that exuberance in their products.

Available through Culinary Collective is Blanxart, a legendary artisanal producer from Barcelona, which was founded in 1954. They are one of the largest producers of hand made chocolates in Catalonia. Blanxart chocolates are characterized by their traditional texture. Their organic line includes a 72% cacao bar that is remarkable for its creamy mouth feel, with a dark color and rich background notes of cocoa.

Miami, Florida-based Chocolates Valor USA distributes the full line of chocolates from 125-year-old Valor, based in Alicante. They feature chocoperlas (Marcona almonds covered with chocolate), gift boxes and bars (including sugar free, premium, beverage) of all sizes, both for cooking and for eating out of hand.

Barcelona-based Amatller distributes its products through Yaya Imports. Standout items include praline almonds dipped in white chocolate, rolled in cocoa, and nicely wrapped dark chocolate bars at 50% and 70 % cocoa solids, as well as two forms of chocolate for Spanish style hot chocolate from Simon Coll, a company now run by the seventh generation of the Coll family.

With all of the creative ferment bubbling over in the current Spanish gastronomic scene, it's no surprise that demand is rising among specialty foods wholesalers and retailers in America for the handiwork of the country's best chocolateros.

At issue is their need to balance demand against the desire to remain small enough to control all phases of production and yet keep the quality high. Wishing to meet increased demand, they contemplate expansion and incorporating more mechanized production without sacrificing the handmade feel of their products. So for the moment, US distributors are bringing limited amounts of these trendsetters' products onto American soil. In the meantime, however, it's one sweet pleasure after another waiting for things to settle.

Robert Wemischner is author of three books with a fourth, The Dessert Architect, a professional pastry book, due out early in 2008. He teaches pastry at Los Angeles Trade- Technical College and has written widely about food related subjects.