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John & Kira’s Urban Garden Bars: guajillo chili pepper + almonds

April 5, 2013 / 0 comments

For the uninitiated in the spicy pepper universe, guajillo peppers are pretty mild, usually reserved for preparing salsas and sauces. So before we pop a piece into our mouth, we are already anticipating some disappointment in the heat category. However, the wonderful folks at John & Kira’s (from Philly, yo!) have partnered with a couple…

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Trader Joes Chocolate Passport

December 23, 2012 / 0 comments

In a word: yummy! In two words: yum-my! An attractive, blue box with eight small (45g) bars of single origin chocolates, to serve as an exploration of tastes and textures from a wide variety of cocoa-producing regions: Ecuador, Guatemala, Venezuela, Peru, Dominican Republic, São Tome, Tanzania and Papua New Guinea are the chosen representatives.

Oro Maya Artisan Mexican Hot Chocolate

July 21, 2012 / 0 comments

Another chocolate bar – ok, not really a chocolate bar for eating, but for melting – for hot chocolate preparation. Of course! Hot chocolate is probably the first relaxing, soothing drink you think of when you’re in Cancún, Playa del Carmen, or other Mexican beach resort, right?

Nói Síríus 45% Semi-Sweet Pure Icelandic Chocolate

June 12, 2012 / 0 comments

It doesn’t have chili or heat. It isn’t that dark. But let me tell you, this is one of the flat out, best freakin’ chocolates you will ever try.

Salazon organic Dark Chocolate with Natural Sea Salt

April 24, 2011 / 0 comments

From Maryland, and Salzon Chocolate, we try one of their four dark chocolates that are all flavored with sea salt. We’re not one to turn down a chance at savory, and this fills the need for this trending flavor nicely. The others are additionally flavored with coffee, cane sugar, and the next we’d like to…

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Gertrude Hawk dark chocolate

April 5, 2011 / 0 comments

It’s dark, it’s 70%. It’s from Gertrude Hawk, the maker of quality chocolates in Dunmore, PA, who also happens to supply chocolate to the likes of Hershey’s and Nestle.

Safeway Select Dark Chocolate with Lemon & Pepper

March 24, 2011 / 0 comments

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).

Chocomize Dark Chocolate with Cayenne and Mini Chipotle Peppers

March 13, 2011 / 0 comments

Hats off to the folks over at chocomize.com: they’ve developed an online chocolate ordering tool to allow customers to create custom made chocolate bars. And they’re local too, located just across the river in Cherry Hill.

Trader Joe’s: The Dark Chocolate Lover’s Chocolate Bar

October 19, 2010 / 0 comments

Readers, if you’ve read any of the other posts here, you will be familiar with our occasional rantings about finding that sweet spot with dark chocolate. It is, in our humble opinion, somewhere around the 60 percent mark that one is more likely to encounter such well composed chocolates.

Chuao Panko

October 19, 2010 / 0 comments

If you want to pick a random chocolate bar the next time you’re in the store, and that store happens to carry Chuao chocolates, just pick one. Any one will do. That’s what we did, and this time we picked the Panko.

2 Chicks with Chocolate – Cocoa Tiles and Chocolate Pops

August 5, 2010 / 0 comments

As regular readers are probably aware by now, I’m on a simple quest to try and find the best spicy chocolates I can find. Dark, milk, whatever, as long as it’s gots some of dat heat!

Hägeland Limited Selection – Costa Rica 71%

June 17, 2010 / 0 comments

If you’ve read any of our other reviews, you may be familiar with our thinking about dark chocolates: in general, we believe the sweet spot for dark chocolate is somewhere between 60% and seventy percent. Here then, is a chocolate that makes a strong case for one just outside our sweet spot spectrum.

Hägeland Dark Chocolate Pear & Almonds

June 17, 2010 / 0 comments

One of two dark chocolates made by Hägeland that we’ve tried, this is a middle-of-the-road 57% dark Belgian chocolate. Mixed in we find pear granules and almonds, an interesting combination of notes for this chocolate. The pear hits a clear, high note, nicely complementing the sweetness in bittersweet chocolate.

Dagoba Lavender Blueberry 59% cacao

May 3, 2010 / 0 comments

I tell you folks, if you’re in a store somewhere, and they sell chocolates, and they carry some or all of the Dagoba line, you need to pick one and try it. I happened to be in the Hershey’s store in Times Square (yeah, I know, but that’s another story) and quietly hiding on an…

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Noi Sirius Pure Icelandic Chocolate

February 22, 2010 / 0 comments

When tasting dark chocolate, and we’ve tasted a lot – we seek a flavor and mouthfeel experience that tries to hit all the right buttons: The chocolate should be creamy, but not too creamy. It should have the consistency as it melts on your tongue that is not too crunchy or crumbly, but should not…

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