Tag Archive: chocolate bars
The Lindt A Touch of Sea Salt chocolate bar is a new addition to the Lindt & Sprungli Excellence line of chocolates. Dark chocolate (47% cocoa solids content) is enhanced by adding Fleur de Sel, a French sea salt.
Adding salt to any food makes the flavors “pop.” This phenomenon happens to chocolate, too. Some of the complex cocoa notes, that are normally too subtle to detect, will jump right out at you after adding a pinch of salt.
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Every now and again you will come across an article, a chocolate bar, or a chocolate company that will draw attention to Bean To Bar processing.
Bean to bar means quite literally that the product was manufactured from the roasting and grinding of the bean to the tempering and packaging of the chocolate.
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I am hard pressed to think of a box of chocolates that claims to be everything to everyone, but I may have hit the jack pot with Green and Black’s Miniature Bar Collection.
The collection contains milk chocolate, dark chocolate, almonds, butterscotch candy bits, crystallized ginger, dried sour cherries. Everything’s organic. The tasting samples are the perfect size. Also suitable for vegetarians. Did I miss anything?
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In Devon England, Willie’s World Class Chocolate makes their chocolate the old fashioned way - the one hundred year-old way.
According to their website, www.williescacao.com, the equipment used to make their chocolate bars are antiques from the early 1900’s.
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I have friends who are often reluctant to spend 10 dollars or more for a 100 gram chocolate bar. I can understand that. They wonder if it is worth it.
Here’s the thing; in the chocolate world, you get what you pay for!
There is an obvious taste and quality difference between a $0.79 chocolate bar and one that costs $1.99. All my friends get that. Also, there is a significant distinction between one priced at $1.99 and one for $7.99. Most of my friends get that. Where I lose almost all of them is anything above the magic $8 mark. Are the flavor differences that occur in this price range really worth the extra dough, they ask?
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Happy Earth Day!
Just in case you haven't guessed the obvious... I enjoy eating chocolate, and I want chocolate to continue to be part of my world!
According to the International Cocoa Organization, 2.5 million farmers produce almost 90 percent of the world's cocoa on about 5-10 acres. Most of the world's cacao is grown on the small family owned farm. The best chocolate comes from shade grown cacao managed by farmers using small-scale, low-impact techniques.
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Green and Black's Organic Chocolate. Have you seen these chocolate bars in the stores and pharmacies of your neighborhood? Green and Black's is definitely all over London! G&B is an English chocolate company started in 1991. The founders "set out to bring to the masses the world's first organic chocolate." You can visit them at www.greenandblacks.com.
The Green and Black's 70% Organic Dark Chocolate was the first on the scene. Since then, the product line has expanded to include more varieties of chocolate bars, baking chocolate, hot chocolate, and ice cream.
Yes - Ice Cream!
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The bright purple wrapper of Trader Joe’s Organic Super Dark Chocolate and the equally bright pink packaging of Trader Joe’s Swiss Milk Chocolate certainly catch the attention of shoppers lining up in the check out lane. But what really got MY attention were the claims on the label.
The organic, 73% super dark chocolate bar reads “this bar is not for the faint of heart.” The Swiss milk says “incomparable flavor!”
Hmmm. Sounds like challenges I can’t ignore!
In order to collect as much data as possible, I took the bars to the office and shared the tasting experience with my work mates.
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I dislike grocery shopping. Yet, once in a while, I do have brief feelings of enjoyment when I discover something unexpected.
During my most recent trip to the store I found myself downright giddy. My thrill came from a new addition in the candy/chocolate aisle – a line of chocolate bars from Valrhona. It was like finding gemstones among rocks.
Valrhona is known as a top leader in the world of chocolate, Le Grand Chocolat. They were founded in 1922 in France. They have a reputation for supplying the finest chocolate ingredients to restaurants, bakeries, and chocolate shops.
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I recently taught a chocolate and wine tasting seminar. We tasted delicious, hand-made chocolates from local chocolate shops. Afterward, one of the attendees took me aside and made a confession...
She said I did a great job pointing out the reasons to fall in love with gourmet chocolate, but that sometimes she just wants a big handful of M&Ms. She wondered if something was wrong with her.
Perhaps there are many things wrong with her, but I don’t think craving M&M’s is one of them! 🙂 A large part of enjoying chocolate involves memories of our early chocolate experiences. Children as young as age 9-11 start to prefer chocolate over other candy.
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