Dove Originals: Ghana (another “rich, dark”)
September 9, 2008 - chocolate
We’ve been a bit remiss lately – I know for a fact that there were at least three other chocolate bars lying around our high-tech chocolate FATLab (facility for analysis and testing laboratory), including a caramel-filled dark chocolate that was yummy… but that was two weeks ago, and these chocolate bars have a nasty habit of meandering away from their assigned parking spaces…
So, what’s left to analyze? This interesting bar from Dove. You’re astute enough about chocolate to be wasting precious free time reading this, so you’re probably also aware that Dove is to M&Ms as Lexus is to Toyota. I have to admit, that for a mass-produced boutique-style chocolate, it is not too shabby.
There is a subtle amount of roasted nutty bitterness, but it’s masked with just enough sweetness to make it “rich.” Like a good coffee, this has a nice spectrum of flavor and aroma (i.e., mouthfeel) that really presents itself once the chocolate has melted in your mouth. Ha! I’m reading the inside wrapper: “…[imagine] that you are strolling through an exotic West African bazaar.” Right! Just what I think of when I taste chocolate. Lots of flea-covered camels spitting over dates and nuts that have been sitting out in 100° sunshine for a week. Yummy.
Back to the chocolate in mouth: this is pretty good, but still not as intense or as complex as some of the better examples we’ve reviewed. Careful review of the label discloses no specific percentage of cocoa, which is also interesting: does this mean it’s embarrasingly low, or that Dove feels it’s not important enough (not enough room on the label, says Marketing) to list?