Chocolate Moonshine candy store coming to the Jersey Shore

Sarah Griesemer, Asbury Park Press
·2 min read

Chocolate Moonshine, a company known for its gourmet fudge and hand-painted truffle bars, is coming to the Jersey Shore Premium Outlets in Tinton Falls.

John Mattsson and Caterina Bassani of Freehold Township are the couple behind this location of the sweets business, which is based in Grove City, Pennsylvania, and has nearly a dozen stores between its headquarters and Texas.

Mattsson and Bassani plan to open theirs at the end of October.

It is the second Chocolate Moonshine in New Jersey, as there is also a seasonal store on the boardwalk in Ocean City.

A variety of truffle bars from Chocolate Moonshine, opening this fall at Jersey Shore Premium Outlets in Tinton Falls.
A variety of truffle bars from Chocolate Moonshine, opening this fall at Jersey Shore Premium Outlets in Tinton Falls.

"We started out last holiday season in Macy's in the Freehold (Raceway) Mall," Mattsson said. "We've been doing events, festivals at Monmouth Park (Racetrack) and Laurita Winery, town days (like) Freehold Day and Manalapan Day. Everyone was asking us 'Do you have a store? Do you have a permanent location?' We finally found one at the Premium Outlets."

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Shoppers can expect fudge, which is made in small batches from a decades-old recipe, in flavors like chocolate cheesecake, chocolate peanut butter, Rocky Road, pecan turtle, cotton candy, dark espresso, bourbon sea salt, bananas Foster and crème brûlée.

"We carry over 50 flavors of fudge," Mattsson said.

Chocolate Moonshine in Tinton Falls will sell more than 50 flavors of fudge.
Chocolate Moonshine in Tinton Falls will sell more than 50 flavors of fudge.

The truffle bars, painted with colored cocoa butter and filled with ganache, come in flavors like latte macchiato, chocolate-covered strawberry, dark espresso, hazelnut, Viennese almond, and amaretto.

These sweets, plus chocolate-dipped gummy bears, pretzels and Oreos, and "so many different flavors of bark candy," are made in Chocolate Moonshine's Pennsylvania factory, Mattsson said.

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In Tinton Falls, he and Bassani plan to offer additional treats like chocolate-covered strawberries, flavored teas and sipping chocolate.

"(Those items) are going to be a nice addition to the chocolates that we have," Mattsson said.

Go: 1 Premium Outlets Blvd., Suite 852, Tinton Falls; 732-567-4191, letsfudge.com.

Sarah Griesemer joined the USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey in 2003 and has been writing all things food since 2014. Send restaurant tips to sgriesemer@gannettnj.com and subscribe to our Jersey Shore Eats newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Chocolate Moonshine to open at Jersey Shore Premium Outlets