What's your favorite chocolate, and why?

[LindsayAnn]

Thanks! Hope your experiements were fun at least!

I have whole foods (many of them) around here, and I am there weekly, once or twice usually. I will start looking for more diversity...who knows maybe Lindt is my fav but maybe its not! (Like you said).

I do tend to like goats cheeses and the such (bitter, sour in a way, tangyish - you get my drift) so maybe the bitterness you speak of in Lindt is what I actually like....but maybe not!>!>!>?!?!?!

Oh the wonders of chocolate! (Currently, I am a huge cheese snob/know it all/pro...chocolate is a new thing for me and I know little about it!)

Linz

[SheenaGreena]

anyone try Vosges haut chocolat? I checked this stuff out at a store in harvard square the other day and it looked awesome. I was trying to get my boyfriend to buy me a bar, but it was $7.49.

I want these

matcha

curry powder

goji berries

I'll pass on this one:

ummmmm

eta: I'm not really a chocolate snob, I just eat what I like and I like: callebaut, el rey, valhrona, and cote d'or. I love the valhrona bar with the candied orange peel in it!

Edited March 5, 2007 by SheenaGreena (log)

[miladyinsanity]

I love the valhrona bar with the candied orange peel in it!

←

The Manjari bar is one of my favorites, but for sheer chocolatey satisfaction, I prefer the Guanaja.

[phlox]

Right now I am nibbling on a Giraudi 70% bar. Giraudi is a pretty pricy Italian brand, but well worth it.

I also usually have an assortment of Guittard bars and couverture discs on hand because I think they make an exceptional product for a very reasonable price. Their single origin and blend bars are really great, and only two or three bucks a pop.

[reesek]

a friend introduced me to green & black organic 70%. i love it's rich, fruitiness. it's dark (enough for me) and has no sourness.

i want to pair it with good olive oil and salt.

speaking of - what was the milk chocolate and salt bar all about...? i love salt + almost-bitter.

edited to add: i bought a bar of michel cluizel from plantation "Maralumi." this is good. very very very good chocolate, but it was in a case in a small chocolate shop in pike place market and i didn't see the price until the woman rang me up.

as a girl on a serious budget, i should have walked away from the $14 chocolate bar. as an intrepid explorer, i had to know what a $14 chocolate bar tasted like. (research!) was it worth it? while i liked it very much, for me the answer is no. to my taste, it's not 3x as good as green and black's but is nearly 5x the cost.

Edited March 19, 2007 by reesek (log)

[The Blissful Glutton]

I like the sweet and savory combos.

Knipschildt chocolate re my number one.

Vosges--I am not crazy about their regular chocolates but their exotic caramels are divine--the campari and blood orange flavor is sublime.

Cadbury flake bars are an old childhood item I can't seem to shake.

Recently bought a box of J. Torres chocolates for my BF--the quality of the chocolates was there, but there was no hint of the ingredients.

Edited March 19, 2007 by The Blissful Glutton (log)

[NewFoodie]

I just got a chocolate bar made by Amedei (in Italy).  It cost about $9, not including shipping!  But it was worth every penny of that.

 

It was made from chocolate from Chuao in Venezuela.

 

You can get it at Chocosphere or World Wide Chocolate.  A half pound from Chocosphere costs about $50, with shipping.

[Tri2Cook]

I'm seeing a link between your "best I ever had" threads and the price of said items. That and the "newfoodie" moniker lead me to believe that you're getting caught up in associating cost with quality. While that is frequently true in the world in general, it's quite often not at all true in the food world. It's cool that you're excited about food and food quality but you need to ask yourself if these are really the best things you've ever had or just the most expensive. And I'm not suggesting they're not the best you've had, they may very well be, just be sure you're not buying into what other people tell you is the best. You might miss out on something you really like because it wasn't the most expensive option.

[GlorifiedRice]

I'm seeing a link between your "best I ever had" threads and the price of said items. That and the "newfoodie" moniker lead me to believe that you're getting caught up in associating cost with quality. While that is frequently true in the world in general, it's quite often not at all true in the food world. It's cool that you're excited about food and food quality but you need to ask yourself if these are really the best things you've ever had or just the most expensive. And I'm not suggesting they're not the best you've had, they may very well be, just be sure you're not buying into what other people tell you is the best. You might miss out on something you really like because it wasn't the most expensive option.

 

 

I agree. Plus being a FOODIE isnt all about being a gourmet, It is also about trying everything and the experiences. Foodies will eat the KOBE beef ANNNND the deep fried Kool Aid.

The foodie in me is thrilled to be in Wegmans country, but Im also so happy that we now have a new POPEYES fried chicken near me.

 

Everyones tastebuds are diferent. What might be YOUR fave chocolate might not have been say Julia Childs fave.

Take for instance GODIVA. A lot of people think Godiva is high class chocolate, but its made by Campbells Soup Company, I hate it.

 

My 3 fave chocolates are

Aldis House Brand "Moser Roth" 70%

Droste Pastilles

and

Anything from Ashers Chocolate Factory (the oldest chocolate company in the USA)

 

I also have a secret stash of the old fashioned candy "ICE CUBES" in my freezer. Ice Cubes had hazelnut before Hazelnut was "cool"....

 

I have a lot of European friends who LOVE Lindt Truffles, yes they are sooo creamy and good BUT they are not real truffles, they are all palm or coconut oil.

A lot of expensive chocolates taste, TO ME, like they have grain alcohol flavoring extracts, like Starbucks coffee tastes like that to me too. They dont have a pure chocolate

flavor to me... and that is exactly why I adore Droste Pastilles or Moser Roth 70%  or Ashers Almond Bark... its good simple chocolate flavor. TO ME

and none are very expensive.

[SylviaLovegren]

I LOVE Ice Cubes.  You hardly ever see them any more.

 

Also, I love American Hershey bars when I want a particular kind of hard chocolate hit.  (The Canadian version doesn't have the same harsh flavor.)  Other chocolates may be "better" but there are times when only a Hershey will do.

[cdh]

My absolute favorite chocolate is sadly no longer available... the company that made it seems to have gone belly up... The Swartenbroeckx 66% bar with cacao nibs in was a wonderful thing.  Found it at Zabar's in the late 90s.  Then the supply dried up.  Cheap in comparison to Michel Cluizel and whoever else Zabars was stocking at the time too.

[Shel_B]

It was made from chocolate from Chuao in Venezuela.

 

 

Now you should start tasting the many chocolate options from Latin America, including Venezuela.  There are many, many options for far less than $9.00 a bar, and many can be readily purchased through local markets and mail order. 

 

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-22733002 (Home to the world's best chocolate?)

 

Perhaps now you should consider what you liked about the chocolate that put it above other chocolates that you've had, and look for other varieties that have similar characteristics.

Edited September 4, 2014 by Shel_B (log)

[gfron1]

I'm still partial to Patric 70% blend, but then there's Pralus...oh wait, Cluizel...and also...

 

There's no best chocolate.  There are many amazing chocolates, some cheap, some expensive, all with a place and time for perfection.

[cdh]

And keep in mind that in chocolate styles and tastes do vary independently of price.  I am not a fan of the French style of chocolate that Valrhona exemplifies.  I like the Belgian style instead.  I find it less sharp and more smooth, both in texture and in flavor.  I'm not a fan of sharply fruity notes in chocolate... though I love that in coffee.

[GlorifiedRice]

And keep in mind that in chocolate styles and tastes do vary independently of price.  I am not a fan of the French style of chocolate that Valrhona exemplifies.  I like the Belgian style instead.  I find it less sharp and more smooth, both in texture and in flavor.  I'm not a fan of sharply fruity notes in chocolate... though I love that in coffee.

 

CDN? you know the worst thing was that Valrhona chocolate beverage they put out 18 yrs ago. UGH.  I dont know what they were thinking

 

[NewFoodie]

I'm seeing a link between your "best I ever had" threads and the price of said items. That and the "newfoodie" moniker lead me to believe that you're getting caught up in associating cost with quality. While that is frequently true in the world in general, it's quite often not at all true in the food world. It's cool that you're excited about food and food quality but you need to ask yourself if these are really the best things you've ever had or just the most expensive. And I'm not suggesting they're not the best you've had, they may very well be, just be sure you're not buying into what other people tell you is the best. You might miss out on something you really like because it wasn't the most expensive option.

 

I categorically deny this.  That is NOT the way I think.

 

 I am not a fan of the French style of chocolate that Valrhona exemplifies.  I like the Belgian style instead.

 

I don't know anything about the French or Belgian styles of chocolate, or the difference between them.  What can you tell me about them?

[NewFoodie]

Now you should start tasting the many chocolate options from Latin America, including Venezuela.  There are many, many options for far less than $9.00 a bar, and many can be readily purchased through local markets and mail order.

 

Any suggestions?

 

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-22733002 (Home to the world's best chocolate?)

 

Interesting article.

[heidih]

As I said on Sept 1 in the topic you started on Chartenais melons

 

"Kim Severson discusses this in her memoir Spoon Fed "You have to build a catalogue of food memories. To understand good chocolate, you have to know bad chocolate and you should experience then side by side."  She goes on to discuss , for example, how a Hershey bar next to a perfect Michel Cluizel chocolate tastes like sour, grainy earwax - BUT that she loves a cake her mom makes with broken Hershey bars and that for her fine chocolate does not work in that application. Sort of the same concept we discuss whenever someone posts a "top 10" sort of list. Taste is not a black & white simple formula as applied to different individuals. The chemistry can be formulized, but the experience incorporates memories that vary from person to person. "

[Shel_B]

Shel_B, on 04 Sept 2014 - 07:46 AM, said:

Now you should start tasting the many chocolate options from Latin America, including Venezuela.  There are many, many options for far less than $9.00 a bar, and many can be readily purchased through local markets and mail order.

Any suggestions?

 

 

 

Not specifically.  Just check around and see what's available.  Dagoba comes to mind - I believe they use exclusively LA chocolate, and they have a variety of styles.  http://shop.dagobachocolate.com/?gclid=CL2ioIudycACFScV7Aod4QMATA

 

Endangered Species chocolate is another possibility:  http://www.chocolatebar.com/

 

To be honest, although I love chocolate, I'm not real fussy about it.  I like just about all real chocolate, from the highest of high-end to Hershey bars.  I've proffered a start ... the rest is up to you.  Google is your friend.

[Tri2Cook]

I categorically deny this.  That is NOT the way I think.

No problem, wasn't accusing... it was just coming across as a possibility based on your posts. I just thought there may be a chance that, in your new-found excitement over the food world, you may have been letting google tell you what's best. No insult was intended.

 

[GlorifiedRice]

I LOVE Ice Cubes.  You hardly ever see them any more.

 

Also, I love American Hershey bars when I want a particular kind of hard chocolate hit.  (The Canadian version doesn't have the same harsh flavor.)  Other chocolates may be "better" but there are times when only a Hershey will do.

 

Sylvia?

http://www.amazon.com/Alberts-Chocolate-Ice-Cubes-100/dp/B00A4BRAE4/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1409914613&sr=8-14&keywords=ice+cubes

They also have a DARK Ice Cubes

http://www.amazon.com/Alberts-Dark-Chocolate-Ice-Cubes/dp/B002H0PFUG

 

Rite Aid has em near the cash registers

[cdh]

I don't know anything about the French or Belgian styles of chocolate, or the difference between them.  What can you tell me about them?

 

Verbal explanations just don't cut it when direct sensory experience can be substituted for a negligible investment of time and expense.  Go get yourself a Valrhona bar at your local Trader Joe's at  Meadow Rd and Route 1 in Princeton.  Also pick up one of their Belgian chocolate 3 mini-bar packs.  Both are usually available at the checkouts.  Aim to keep the %cacao in the bars somewhere near the same, e.g. if you grab a Valrhona 54% bar, don't pick the 3-pack of 72% to compare. .  Don't compare milk chocolate to dark chocolate.  Try them side by side.  Observe both the texture and flavor notes.  You'll understand what I'm talking about.  And then you can generalize that experience out to other brands from the same countries... A Michel Cluizel bar will have more in common with a Valrhona bar than a Cote d'Or bar, etc. Determine what you like, and explore in that direction.  Sometimes the marketing and branding obscures the origin of a particular bar... you'll learn through taste and experience that, say, Chocolove, while it says it comes from Colorado, is Belgian chocolate.

[Beebs]

A locally-made chocolate recently won a "Top Chocolate Bar" title at the 2014 International Chocolate Salon - link.

 

Not being much of a chocolate lover, I'm not familiar with neither Mink Chocolates nor the International Chocolate Salon.  The chocolate bar does sound intriguing though - it's a 70% cacao, with burnt caramel, fleur de sel, and rosemary - will have to give it a try.  Don't know how it'll rate as best chocolate I've ever had, but then again my standards are pretty low (Cadbury's Nut & Fruit Bar, FTW!).

[gulfporter]

The absolute best (and rather cheap) chocolate we've ever had was in Guatemala.  Specifically Antigua Guatemala where there are a number of high-end chocolatiers (again, not expensive); also, the local dark chocolate bars are excellent (and dirt cheap).  I've never tried to order them, but plan a return visit and will bring a LOT more home.  

[Ttogull]

I eat a lot of dark chocolate. One of my favorites is the Taza Stone Ground 87%. I hadn't heard of it until I read about it in 50 Foods: The Essentials of Good Taste. I love the texture. The endangered species 88% is good, and I look forward to trying the Dagoba Extra Strong suggested above. I've eaten the Dagoba 100% and liked it.