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…
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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…
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…
The more chocolates we try, the more I seem to think that the further north (colder) they come from, the better the chocolate. Case in point: B.T. McElrath’s Chile Limón bar, from Minnesota. This is a chocolate bar that wants to be a truffle. In terms of our rigid criteria in meeting awesomeness, this one…
I can’t say that I have ever had a chocolate from Dagoba that I didn’t like. And here I find another flavor of theirs that I have not had tried! Dark chocolate – 74% cocoa – with cherries and cranberries. Simple, elegant mix of sweet, and bitter dark chocolate. Just throw in some pop rocks……
Another fantastic Belgian chocolate, this time a dark – 52% cocoa – from the Belgian chocolatier Dolfin. This one is purely pink – peppercorns, that is.
Another interesting chocolate we picked up courtesy of our friends at Chelsea Market Basket in NYC. It has ginger flavor, and, unexpectedly, guarana extract. Yes, it’s Red Bull in a chocolate.
