Chocolate Archives - Page 7 of 8

December 2, 2008January 10, 2021 Michael

Chunky – A Raisin-Lover’s Dream

Chocolate

Chunky isn’t sold in Canada and isn’t exactly a high-profile bar, so I hadn’t even heard of it when it was memorably referenced in an episode of Seinfeld (“I know the chunky that left these Chunkies!”). Of course, at that point I had to try it, and I do recall being somewhat disappointed in discovering that Newman’s candy-of-choice was so plain. It’s just chocolate, peanuts and raisins.

Your enjoyment of this bar is highly dependent on whether or not you like raisins. It is extremely raisiny, with a very generous amount of raisins in each segment. Also, the milk chocolate seems to be imbued with the flavour of raisins, as the chocolate itself has a fairly pronounced raisiny/fruity flavour.

There are also peanuts in there, which add subtle crunchiness as well as a slight peanutty flavour, however the star of the show remains the numerous raisins, along with the very sweet, slightly fruity chocolate. The whole thing is quite similar to Cadbury’s Fruit and Nut, though that is clearly the superior product; the chocolate is better, and it isn’t quite so overwhelmingly raisiny (okay, I’ll admit it – I’m not a big fan of raisins).

Manufactured by: Nestle
Calories (40 g bar): 190

November 28, 2008January 10, 2021 Michael

Duncans Original Ginger – An Unforgiving Assault of Ginger

Chocolate

Oh, the humanity.

First off, in the spirit of full disclosure I’m going to come right out and admit that ginger isn’t my favourite thing ever, even in savoury dishes. However, I have had the ginger/chocolate combination before, and I have liked it, so I’m not completely biased against anything with ginger. Ginger and chocolate is certainly a strange combination, however in the right proportions the ginger can give the chocolate an interesting and unique taste. In the wrong proportions… well, you have this bar.

Unwrapping the chocolate, I was hit with a rather overwhelming aroma. I don’t know how to describe the smell other than to say it is like ginger put under a magnifying glass. That seemed like a bad sign to me, but I had hoped that this would be one of those things that smells stronger than it tastes. Nope! If anything the smell was subtle, comparatively speaking.

Eating this is like a ginger assault on your tastebuds. It is like being punched in the face by ginger – not just any ginger; the Evander Holyfield of ginger. You may as well just buy a ginger root and take a bite, though I’m not sure even that would be as overwhelmingly gingery. As for the chocolate, it has an unappealingly grainy consistency, and has to be one of the least creamy chocolates I’ve ever had. It’s sweet, without much of a cocoa taste at all (though that may just be the super-strong ginger obliterating any other flavours in the bar).

I bought this at an import store for two or three bucks, and I’ve gotta say: I want my money back. This is literally the worst chocolate that I’ve ever eaten, and I say that as someone who has eaten a ridiculous amount of chocolate in his lifetime. I don’t think I can possibly overstate how gross this was. It actually nauseated me – I was only able to eat three pieces before my gag reflex started kicking in (actually that’s not true: I was on the verge of gagging right after the first mouthful. It was only after three pieces that I realized that life was too short to eat something so disgusting). It’s that bad.

Blech.

Manufactured by: Duncans of Scotland
Calories (58 g bar): Unknown, not that it matters – this is unfit for human consumption

November 21, 2008January 10, 2021 Michael

Hebert’s Fully Loaded Rocky Road Milk Chocolate Bar – A Whole Bunch of Tasty Stuff

Chocolate

Looking at Hebert’s Fully Loaded Rocky Road Milk Chocolate Bar (that just rolls off your tongue, doesn’t it?), it becomes clear pretty quickly that they’re not kidding around with the whole “fully loaded” thing: the entire underside of the bar is completely covered with chunks of walnuts, dark chocolate and marshmallow pieces. My initial impression was that the bar may just be too overloaded, with my fear being that all that stuff would overwhelm the chocolate. Happily, I was wrong.

It probably helps that, despite the thick layer of chunks on the bottom of the bar, the actual bar itself is pure chocolate. The chocolate itself is very creamy, and has a smooth, milky flavour. The marshmallows (which seem to be infused with a dark chocolate flavour) add their own taste, as well as a mild chewiness. As for the nuts, they’re slightly crunchy but otherwise doesn’t bring much to the table.

This Fully Loaded bar is definitely better than I thought it would be. It’s not overly sweet, as you might imagine it would be, and the flavours all compliment each other fairly well.

Manufactured by: Hebert Confections
Calories (78 g bar): 400

November 19, 2008January 10, 2021 Michael

Chocolove: Cherries & Almonds in Dark Chocolate – Quality Chocolate and Crunchy Nuts

Chocolate

Though the name and packaging of this chocolate are seriously hokey (there is, as promised on the packaging, an actual love poem on the other side of the wrapper – in this case, Diaphenia by Henry Constable) it’s what’s inside the wrapper that counts.

A quick peek at the ingredients finds a refreshingly simple list: dark chocolate, dried cherries, and almonds. So the first question is: how’s the chocolate? It’s good; featuring a 55 percent cocoa content, it’s not the darkest chocolate ever, and is somewhat creamy and fairly sweet. The crushed almonds, which are plentiful, add a nice crunchiness to the bar. As for the cherries, they give the bar a chewiness which contrasts with the crunchiness of the nuts (it’s kind of similar to Cadbury’s Fruit and Nut, in that sense). However, they don’t add all that much flavour, save for a few mouthfuls where you get multiple cherries. Dried cherries have a pretty strong, sour flavour, so it’s probably for the best that there’s too few rather than too many.

My initial fear, when I first saw this bar, was that it was going to taste strongly of artificial cherry. Cherry seems to be one of those flavours that science just can’t get right, and so anything with fake cherry tends to have a vaguely medicinal taste. So I was glad to see that it was real cherries in here, even if they don’t add too much to the bar (taste-wise at least).

Reasonably high-quality chocolate, crunchy nuts… it’s kind of hard to go wrong with that.

Manufactured by: Chocolove
Calories (90 g bar): 480

November 17, 2008January 10, 2021 Michael

Lindt Hot Pralines – Spicy Chocolate Done Right

Chocolate

Though the combination of chili and chocolate is thousands of years old, it’s never quite reached a wide level of acceptance. I think for most people, the idea of combining spiciness and dessert is just a little bit too bizarre. It’s too bad, because done right, chili and chocolate can be surprisingly good.

Lindt Hot Pralines consists of three different varieties: papaya and chili, pomegranate and chili, and maracuja and jalapeno (maracuja apparently being a type of passion fruit). I was going to review the three types separately, however they’re all pretty much interchangeable, with the exception of the maracuja one, which is slightly more tart and has a mild jalapeno flavour.

The three chocolates consist of chocolate mousse topped with a strongly fruity, spicy jelly, and covered in dark chocolate. The first thing you notice when you eat these is the tartness of the fruit, followed by a surprisingly strong, lingering spiciness. I’ve had chocolates like these where the heat was overpowering and mostly just distracting; that isn’t the case here. The spice does a good job of bringing out the flavours in the chocolate and the fruit, as well as adding its own distinctive appeal, without becoming overwhelming. The dark chocolate coating is quite intense with a 70 percent cocoa level, which gives these a really rich, chocolately flavour and helps to balance out the sweetness of the jelly.

Though I’m not too sure about the maracuja flavour – it’s a bit too sour, and the mild jalepeno taste is bizarre – the other two flavours are good enough to definitely recommend this, if you can find it (I bought it at a Lindt store in an outlet mall in Buffalo).

Manufactured by: Lindt
Calories (3 pieces, 37 g): 170