Why are these apricots darker than typical dried apricots?

These are dried without sulfites, which normally preserve the bright orange color and sharper tartness. Without them, the apricots darken naturally and develop a deeper, caramel-like sweetness with honey undertones instead of the lighter, more acidic profile sulfites maintain.

How thick is the chocolate coating?

The chocolate coating is built through about 160 layers of panning, resulting in a ratio where the chocolate weighs about the same as the apricot center, or up to one-and-a-half times as much. This creates a substantial shell that snaps cleanly rather than a thin glaze.

What does single-origin chocolate mean for the flavor?

Single-origin chocolate comes from cacao grown in one specific region—in this case, Ransiki in Indonesia. This particular cacao was selected for its raisin and dried-fruit notes that complement the apricot's caramelized sweetness and floral character, creating a more intentional flavor pairing than generic chocolate.

Are these soft or chewy inside?

The apricots inside are chewy and dense, not soft or candied. The drying process without sulfites concentrates the fruit into a firmer texture that holds up against the thick chocolate coating, giving you a substantial chew rather than a quick dissolve.

Chocolate-Covered Apricots

Organic

The 3-second version

Organic apricots dried without sulfites for concentrated honey-caramel flavor
Indonesian 70% cacao with raisin notes that complement stone fruit tang
Built through drum panning to a 1-to-1 or 1.5-to-1 chocolate-to-fruit ratio
70% dark chocolate—not sweet or milky
Unsulfured apricots are dark and caramel-forward, not bright orange
Thick coating means a bold chocolate presence in every bite

Why it's on GiftsFeed

Chocolate-Covered Apricots in Single-Origin Dark Chocolate

Most chocolate-covered fruit uses compound coating or a thin shell that cracks away from the center. This version pans the apricots through 160 layers of single-origin chocolate, building a coating heavy enough to equal the fruit by weight and matched in flavor intensity. The unsulfured drying process concentrates the apricots into caramel-dark sweetness instead of the bright, sharp tang sulfites preserve, so the pairing works as a dialogue between two equally bold flavors rather than chocolate rescuing sour fruit. Worth it if you want both components to register fully in the same bite.

Good gift when

People who prefer dark chocolate with fruit notes over milky or sweet styles
Snackers who want both textures distinct rather than fruit candied soft
Anyone avoiding sulfites in dried fruit
Fans of single-origin chocolate who want a confection that highlights the cacao

Skip it if If you prefer milk chocolate or expect a thinner coating, this will feel too intense and the shell too thick for a quick melt

Specs

Chocolate Origin: Ransiki, Indonesia
Cacao Percentage: 70%
Apricot Source: Organic Goldensweet apricots from Frog Hollow Farm
Sulfites: No sulfites added
Coating Method: Drum panning (approximately 160 layers)
Chocolate-to-Fruit Ratio: 1:1 to 1.5:1 by weight

If you're giving it

No sizing to guess
Arrives ready to give

Arrives in branded packaging suitable for gifting directly.

The maker

Dandelion Chocolate sources cacao from single origins and roasts it in small batches to bring out the distinct character of each region. Their confections team uses traditional panning techniques—tumbling the centers through a rotating drum while adding thin layers of tempered chocolate—to build coatings that match the intensity of the fillings rather than simply covering them.

For these apricots, the team works with organic fruit from one California farm, dried without sulfites so the natural sugars concentrate and caramelize rather than staying bright and tart. The chocolatier selects a specific origin—Ransiki, Indonesia—for its raisin-forward profile that echoes the dried apricot's own depth. The panning process takes about 160 passes to reach the target ratio, where the chocolate shell weighs as much as the fruit center and delivers its flavor in equal measure.

The approach treats both components as primary ingredients rather than treating chocolate as a coating for fruit or fruit as a filler for chocolate. The result is a confection where you taste both the stone fruit's preserved complexity and the cacao's darker dried-fruit character in the same bite, neither one receding into the background.

The details

These are dried apricots coated in dark chocolate, built through drum panning—a technique that tumbles the fruit through repeated layers of tempered chocolate until the coating reaches equal weight with the center. The result is a thick shell that cracks cleanly and releases the chewy fruit inside.

The apricots come from a single farm's organic harvest, dried without sulfites so they darken and concentrate into a dense, honey-forward sweetness with caramel undertones. Because sulfites preserve the bright orange color and a sharper tartness, leaving them out means the fruit finishes darker and the flavor finishes deeper.

The chocolate is a 70% cacao from Indonesia's Ransiki region, selected for its raisin and dried-fruit notes that echo the apricot's own caramelized sweetness. It balances the stone fruit's lingering tang without burying the floral edge that survives the drying process.

The panning technique involves about 160 passes through the drum, each adding a thin layer of chocolate. This builds to a ratio where the coating accounts for half to two-thirds of the total weight, so every piece delivers both textures in proportion—the snap of the shell and the pull of the fruit—rather than chocolate that merely films the surface.

What you taste is the interplay between the apricot's preserved acidity and the chocolate's darker dried-fruit character. The coating is thick enough to carry its own flavor forward rather than dissolve immediately, and the fruit is dense enough to resist being overshadowed. These are not candied or glazed; they are fruit preserved through drying and finished with chocolate that treats the apricot as an equal ingredient rather than a vehicle for cacao.

Dandelion Chocolate

Chocolate-Covered Apricots

Organic dried apricots enrobed in 70% Indonesian cacao through traditional panning

$20–$62at dandelionchocolate.com

Choose an option

Quantity

Ships and sold by Dandelion Chocolate. About this merchant

The 3-second version

Organic apricots dried without sulfites for concentrated honey-caramel flavor
Indonesian 70% cacao with raisin notes that complement stone fruit tang
Built through drum panning to a 1-to-1 or 1.5-to-1 chocolate-to-fruit ratio
70% dark chocolate—not sweet or milky
Unsulfured apricots are dark and caramel-forward, not bright orange
Thick coating means a bold chocolate presence in every bite

Questions

Why are these apricots darker than typical dried apricots?: These are dried without sulfites, which normally preserve the bright orange color and sharper tartness. Without them, the apricots darken naturally and develop a deeper, caramel-like sweetness with honey undertones instead of the lighter, more acidic profile sulfites maintain.
How thick is the chocolate coating?: The chocolate coating is built through about 160 layers of panning, resulting in a ratio where the chocolate weighs about the same as the apricot center, or up to one-and-a-half times as much. This creates a substantial shell that snaps cleanly rather than a thin glaze.
What does single-origin chocolate mean for the flavor?: Single-origin chocolate comes from cacao grown in one specific region—in this case, Ransiki in Indonesia. This particular cacao was selected for its raisin and dried-fruit notes that complement the apricot's caramelized sweetness and floral character, creating a more intentional flavor pairing than generic chocolate.
Are these soft or chewy inside?: The apricots inside are chewy and dense, not soft or candied. The drying process without sulfites concentrates the fruit into a firmer texture that holds up against the thick chocolate coating, giving you a substantial chew rather than a quick dissolve.