I like chocolate.
I like chocolate. More than I like pie. As I have aged, my preference for increasingly darker chocolate has deepened (not that I'm old, of course). It's almost to the point now that milk chocolate has to be extremely pleasing for me to have a second taste. I'm terribly happy with the current trend toward 60-70% cacao chocolates.
While watching vapid TV this week, I learned of a new-to-me candy bar from Australia called "Violet Crumble". I also learned that it could be acquired at World Market. Being easily influenced, I toddled off to the local shop to browse the fru-fru chocolate bar aisle. I found what I was looking for and also swooped up some new-to-me Ghirardelli iterations. So, now I'm in love with their Citrus Sunset. It is 60% cacao dark chocolate with orange bits and carmel crunch. Yummy. I love the Ghirardelli, so I also got the Twilight Delight, but I haven't cracked it open yet. Moderation is a good thing, right? Which leads me slowly to my point.
I'm looking for interesting chocolate bars. Every year for Christmas I follow a formula for stuffing stockings. One of the items on my list is a candy. I try to get interesting or really nice stuff. I have the Violet Crumble and Citrus Sunset in for this year, but I need 6 more (two of the recipients are 3.5yrs and undiscerning of their sweets). Tell me what other new and exciting chocolate bars I should try so I can add them to my cache. What do you like?
As a side note, I'm going this weekend to my local chocolatier, Blue Frog Chocolates, if I can find parking on Magazine Street (the horror). Perhaps I'll find something interesting there.
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If you like really dark chocolate, you have to check out Dagoba Chocolates. They're actually based in Medford, Oregon, which is one county over from where I live. My favorites from them are the Xocolatl (dark chocolate with cocoa nibs and chilies), Roseberry (dark choc. with dried raspberries and rosehips), and Lavender (dark choc. with lavender and blueberries). If you can afford to drop $36, get their 12 bar Alchemist's Blend - it's a selection of some of their best bars, including the ones I've mentioned and the Eclipse, which is their darkest bar at 87% cocao.
$36 may seem like a lot, but one bar will last a loooong time, even at only 2 oz each.
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Cote d'Or is by itself way better than most if not all chocolate brands you've got over the pond, but their finer, more exclusive subbrand is near perfection. So creamy, with the taste of pure chocolate. Damn, now I'm drooling all over my keyboard. Thanksalot!
And of course, Belgian chocolates are the best. Duh.
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Yeah, you can't really argue with a Belgian when it comes to chocolate
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I'm a big fan of Belgian chocolates, but I can't eat the full range due to the use of butter oil in many of the brands. (Luckily, I don't have to pass the Leonidas shop in DC regularly, or I'd be sick but happy. Leonidas is the best.) Anyway, for good American chocolates, I second the Dagoba recommendation. I'll also suggest Scharffen Berger, an excellent company that uses small batch early 20th century German machines and single-source cocoa beans to really bring out the flavors in darks.
But there is no substitute for the local Belgian chocolate shop. It's what an American would describe as a delicatessen, but instead of meats and cheeses, the cases hold chocolates, with employees at the back counter busy un-molding and packing batches, while the tempering vat simmers quietly. You get a nice box and your chocos are loaded up and sometimes wrapped in paper as well. It's hard to explain the sensation of a chocolate filled with fresh hand-whipped flavored cream.
When we visited friends over there, the box of chocolate came out after each dinner. Amazing! With that, the beer, the wonderul meat and seafood dishes, the artisan breads, hot pot dinners and frits - oh, man, the frits! - I'm always shocked to see how thin most Belgians are. Belgium is a great country for quality of life, in my opinion.
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Amen bro, aaaaamen. If only more Belgians would realize that...
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I just like Hershey Special Dark bars... Might be because Hershey, PA is about 20 miles from my house
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I work for the company that owns Cote d'Or. We have some downstairs at the store. If you're interested and can't find it nearby, PM me and I'll see about mailing you some. I think we have the subbrand down there, too.
Edit: speaking to Quicksilver, not dejanzie. No intercontinental posting for me:)
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Violet Crumbles, according to wiki, are very similar to Cadbury Crunchies. The first time that I went to England, when I was in high school, I fell in love with Crunchies, eating them at every opportunity (and believe it or not, I was thin), right up until the point where I never wanted to eat another one. That was 13 years ago, and the thought of eating one still isn't that appetizing.
That's probably the only time I've found myself particularly obsessed with chocolate/candy, ever. But you people do make me curious to try some of what you're having. I too have found that I appreciate dark chocolate more as I'm getting older (I hated it in my youth).
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Also, the Crunchie page of wikipedia is currently the victim of someone's NSFW editing, as I have just learned to my shock/mild amusement at sophomoric humor.
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I went to the Cote d'Or site and drooled a bit. I wonder if the World Market has them, too. It's hard to go into 'generic mark-up store' and know what's good and what's just expensive. What is the subbrand, so I know what to look for? Of course, Bill, if you want to mail me chocolate, I won't complain. It might still be a little too hot here to randomly mail good stuff.
The Dagoda Chocolates are intriguing. I think once herbs and other botanicals get mixed into chocolate, it come closer to the original preparations that were ceremonial and medicinal. You can taste the chocolate, not just the dairy cream. On a selfish note, I don't know if I want to order in a complete set of Dagoba's finest and give half of them away without being able to taste them. Maybe that'll go on my Valentine's request this year instead of my custom box from See's (ummm, chocolate covered, candied ginger).
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The chocolate snobbery can be every ounce as ardent, vocal, and uppity as the beer snobbery. I wonder which one has an upper hand in a battlefield where there're fair bits of both, such as Belgium?
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Completely off topic, another item on the stocking stuff list is a personal care item. The box from Soapy Hallow just arrived at my door. It smells divine. Thanks, Deva. I'm going to have to put the soap and the chocolate as far apart from each other in the stockings as possible. As yummy as the soap smells, I don't want that to flavor the chocolate. Life is so complicated.
I looked, Magnus, and the closest IKEA to me is in Houston. Rats.
The right chocolate and the right beer can be a devastating compliment to each other. I can't think of a better intoxication.
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I think this warrants a trip to Belgium in order to find out.
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dejanzie, is the subbrand you're looking for Degustation?
If so, there's lots of stuff here for that, with 86% cacao being the darkest, and a few different varieties (including an orange and a raspberry).
I used to like Milka (which we do as well), but that's more milk chocolate and not up your alley.
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If you want to slum it alittle try a Coffee Crisp. It's like a big Kit kat that coffee flavored. Best candybar ever.
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I cannot resist the combination of peanut butter and chocolate, but to all the naysayers out there.... I must inform you:
PUMPKIN PIE rules all.
It is also in-season. Irongut is very happy and soon to be plump.
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Amen! There will be Belgian beer and chocolate for all!
And there really is no beer or chocolate snobbery here in Belgium. Except against Heineken and other Dutch sewerpipe fluids, but that's not snobbery that's Honest TruthinessTM. We take our choc and beer pwnage for granted, if anything we're not proud enough of what makes us stand out. False modesty is typical for us Belgians.
Dunno. It has a yellow paper-like cover with curly letters on it. Ya know, for style.
Roo: "Just to cheer you up if any of the above made you sad: Boobies."
Koning_Floris, on my online 'skills': "Stinking is a skill too!"
I'm going to go against the tide here and suggest that Americans actually make the best chocolate. I'll have to agree with Robear that Scharffen Berger is the best in America. I'd even go as far as to say that if it isn't the best, it is certain one of the best in the world.
Behold the awesome power of American capital markets. The best of anything is usually the best in America.
There is only an up or down--up to a man's age-old dream, the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with law and order--or down to the ant heap totalitarianism,... those who would trade our freedom for security have embarked on this downward course.
*adds Scharffen Berger to list of things to look for*
The opposite of Love is not Hate, it is Fear.
I've never been exposed to a lot of the "classier" sweets in my life, but I do know that I love white chocolate with an unbridled passion that make some of my friends think I'm crazy. For you white-lovers, what is the one candy you suggest to me so my taste buds can find Valhalla?
Oogaba.
White chocolate makes me kinda sick to my stomach. I don't think I can help you here, as I have disavowed the white stuff as non-chocolate. Though, it sounds a bit snobby when I say it that way.
The opposite of Love is not Hate, it is Fear.
I love it, but my wife has the same problem with white chocolate that you do. She chalks it up to some kind of food allergy.
Fedaykin98 wrote:
I love chocolate, but not that froo-froo milky stuff. I want dark, dark chocolate. Valhrona's my favorite. Scharffenberger and Dagoba are great, too. There are some local stores that are selling single origin chocolates (not blends), and I can't remember the various brands but they are awesome. If you can get your hands on anything single origin, I highly recommend it. It seems to be a new trend, and the chocolate varieties that result are much more flavorful and distinctive. And expensive.
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Can we add these to the cook book? I only skimmed due to lack of time but I am so hungry right now for chocolate.
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I'm a big fan of Violet Crumbles.... was introduced to them by an Australian co-worker of mine...
I have to say it's a much better recommendation than Vegemite.
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I finally cracked open the Twilight Delight, 72% Cacao dark chocolate. It was OK. It had just the right finish, but I've learned today that I like bits in my dark chocolate. Be those bits dried cranberries or almonds or lavendar. I might have to step up my campaign for the Dagoba box set... I think the unadulterated version of 72% cacao would be an excellent candidate for my vicious dark chocolate and pecan cookies. I think I'll mix up a batch tomorrow and see. I have to take two dozen of something to a meeting Wednesday. I wonder if the ladies will appreciate the effort I went through, tasting all those chocolates, to find just the right combination. I want to work for a test kitchen, in the baking division. Is it too late to be a guest judge at Yoyoson's Iron Chef competition?
The opposite of Love is not Hate, it is Fear.
People who like milk chocolate often have other disgusting habits like putting milk and sugar in their coffee.
There is only an up or down--up to a man's age-old dream, the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with law and order--or down to the ant heap totalitarianism,... those who would trade our freedom for security have embarked on this downward course.