chrisurban.com » almond

Hägeland Dark Chocolate Pear & Almonds

Chris Urban — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 01:19:29 +0000

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. Then the almond’s middle kicks in, matching well with the bitterness. It’s a nice little harmony going on in here.
A little side note – one which we do not find well explained on the packaging – is that Hägeland is a well-known fruit producing region of Belgium. Known for pears, apples, and strawberries, the region also produces wine!
Getting back to the wine, um, I mean chocolate, this is tasty dark fruity chocolate, without being too fruity or too sweet. I’d be interested to see if there’s a pepper and strawberry version…

Chocolove Cherries & Almonds in Dark Chocolate

Chris Urban — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 23:52:57 +0000

So I’m not a huge almond lover – not in my top ten favorite nuts – but in this chocolate bar, I think it works wonderfully. You try to break off a piece of this bar, and you can see almonds, but you can’t get to them because the dried cherries are keeping everything together – literally.

Smack in the middle of the cocoa bean spectrum from Chocolove (Boulder, Colorado) this 55% dark cocoa chocolate is pretty good. Made with Belgium chocolate, there’s really not too much more to this than that, the Michigan cherries (are Michigan’s cherries any better than say, Pennsylvania’s or New York’s? Are there cherry aficinados that can tell where a cherry is from? Are these all nearly homogenized like apples?)

Back to chocolate – this is good, solid bar. Nice, worth trying, especially if you like cherries.

3400 Phinney Fig and Fennel Dark Chocolate

Chris Urban — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 02:03:52 +0000

Sweet figs and dark chocolate: yummy. Another interesting contrast in taste and mouthfeel, subtle hints of almonds between fennel and figs in 65% cacao dark chocolate. These guys (Theo Chocolates) in Seattle have an interesting view on chocolate. This 3400 Phinney line is certified organic and fair trade, and must enjoy concocting some of these combinations. Figs taste good, but the seeds are a tiny bit annoying.

Lake Champlain Organic Bars: Milk Sea Salt & Almonds

Chris Urban — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 02:07:13 +0000

As Lake Champlain Chocolates puts it, “let chocolate change your world,” and their organic bars are an excellent starting point for your chocolate travels. With a subtle touch of crunchy almonds, the gray sea salt adds just the right amount of savoriness to a creamy smooth milk chocolate bar. The label says 38% cocoa content, but it tastes like more, a credit to Lake Champlain’s craftwork.

It’s an interesting combination of the almonds and sea salt, pockets of saltiness forming in your mouth and as you chew down you get the crunch of the almonds. We’re not talking about an Almond Joy bar, overwhelming amounts of large obnoxious almonds, it’s much more elegant, smaller, tasty morsels of nuttiness.

Finally, a reliable measure of how good a chocolate bar is how a four-year-old likes it: “Salty tastes a little bit crunchy. Lightish hostess, tastes a little different than peanuts, a good taste, but I don’t know the taste.” And from the two-year-old: “Elmo! Cookie tastes like.”