Safeway Select Dark Chocolate with Lemon & Pepper
March 24, 2011 - chocolate
We’ve noticed lately hints of trends: supermarkets venturing into house branding their own chocolates; and more adventurous mixing of fruits and spices into chocolates (read: line extensions to take up more shelf space). This is an interesting chocolate bar, for several reasons. The first two of these is that this is a house brand (Safeway Select, started by the chain in 1993, and found in its namesake stores as well as Genuardi’s, Carrs, Dominick’s, and others), and that it’s a lemon and pepper variation. Another? It’s swiss chocolate, not belgian, dutch, mexican or american. So it’s made in Switzerland, but not by a brand manufacturer, like Lindt.
Let’s discuss the chocolate itself: it’s good; not bad, not great, just good. It has a decent mouthfeel and consistency. It’s a little crisp at first, then gives in and dissolves; the flavors are strong at first, but fade too quickly. In our opinion, there’s not enough lemon to offset the black pepper, and the result gives a very slight, but weird, aftertaste – much like we have from the Cafe Tasse chinese pepper, but nowhere near as dominant and overpowering.
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