Truffes au Chocolat et Piment d'Espelette

In my last post, I talked about truffles, as in tuber melanosporum and tuber incinatum, but here I'm talking about the truffle which only sort of looks like a truffle and is not nearly so rare, though occasionally just as expensive. Before my cooking class this weekend, it had not actually occurred to me that the dusting of cocoa powder on a chocolate truffle is supposed to mimic dirt.
Anyway, inspired by a dessert I got a nibble of when I went for cassoulet with La Petite Americaine a few weeks back, I decided to investigate the combination of chocolate with Piment d'Espelette, the only spice to be given is own controlled appellation of origin, similar to the designations for wines like Champagne and Bordeaux or cheeses like Roquefort and Brie de Meaux, which must follow rigorous preparation guidelines in order to maintain their identity. Piment d'Espelette is a spicy red pepper, but only in French terms of spiciness, rating a 4 out of 10 on the Scoville index of heat, with a warm, sweet aroma. The pepper is named after the town of Espelette, or Ezpeleta, in the Basque region along the border of Spain and France. It was originally brought to Spain by explorers returning from the New World 400 years ago, so it's fitting that it should be paired with chocolate, another gift from the New World. In Basque cooking, it is added to stews, omelettes, and sauces and also rubbed on roasted meats.
I added the ground pepper to the ganache for the truffles and then finished with barely a sprinkle of it on top of the truffles after dusting them with cocoa powder. I had never made truffles before, but found the recipe involving piment d'Espelette on a French health website, so I figured it was worth the trouble, since it was health food and all. The pepper is not really discernable at first bite, but if you let the chocolate stay on your tongue and melt, there is a delicious lingering warmth. I'll report back later on the reactions of mes amis francais!