Chocolate

[locke]

Just the fact that there isn't a thread just for chocolate means there really should be one.

I love dark chocolate, milk chocolate, while it can be awesome, I can ultimately take or leave.

Mostly I get my fix from Trader Joes, but I'll usually sample new fancy chocolate bars from Whole Paycheck (err Whole Foods) if it's not too outrageously priced (7.00$ for a 3 oz bar is ridiculous!) and isn't filled with ridiculous fruity/nutty mix ins that mask the quality of the chocolate. Mix ins are for Cold Stone.

of all the varietals I've found venezuelan is the best, and I'll buy just about any venezuelan bar just to taste it to compare.

this is my favorite chocolate. TJs sells it for $1.99 which is cheaper than you can buy it in bulk from chocosphere. I want to try the companies other chocolate though. Chocovic Ocumare is great for eating on its own but made the most intense dark chocolate killer truffles last fall too when I tried my hand at making candy.

My favorite article on chocolate from which I learned so much about this glorious food group.

[Rei]

I have some co-workers who occasionally shop at Whole Paycheque. I have yet to go there on a quest for chocolate, though. This talk of chocolate leaves me craving a really dark chocolate. Not much, but a bit. Or maybe a proper hot cocoa...

[zeroguy]

Dark chocolate is good, but really dark stuff is rather interesting. Like, the 50% or 70% stuff. Certainly not the taste you think of when you think "chocolate"... very odd, almost metallic. A very peculiar taste I've only tasted a few times, but I wish I had more.

[locke]

when I say dark chocolate I mean 65% minimum, ideally 68-75%. Anything less is too sweet.

[Mich]

Dark chocolate makes me sneeze, but I enjoy it. I also enjoy milk chocolate, but not in great quantities, or, at least, not great quantities of really crappy, cheap chocolate. Like Hershey's. Or certain chocolate Easter bunnies.

I'm more of a fan of chocolate if it's an ingredient in something. Like chocolate-chip muffins.

[jotabe]

Dark chocolate is bitter
I like milk chocolate! Chocolate is meant to be sweet!

Did you know that you could make chocolate sandwiches? I am totally no BSing you! Nowadays it's not fashionable anymore, but when i was a kid, the best "merienda" (the micro-meal you had at 6pm, between lunch and dinner, after getting out of school) was a sandwich of milk chocolate...
man, those were times...

[locke]

no, only bad dark chocolate is only bitter. Chocolate shouldn't necessarily be sweet, but the flavor is much more complex than just bitter, and a really great dark chocolate is almost not going to taste bitter at all.

[Eaquae Legit]

I like milk chocolate, but have been known to eat dark if it's really, really good.

British hot chocolate is far, far superior to North American, or at least any I've had yet. I'm addicted completely.

Also good with chocolate is a little bit of chili powder and cinnamon. Makes everyday brownies or cake sooooo delicious.

[Luet]

I will use this opportunity to voice my INDIGNITY that the closest Trader Joe's and Whole Foods are a solid 90 minutes away from me. GAH!

I like milk better than dark in general, and yes I've had lots of great quality dark. I also loooove mexican chocolate (with the cinnamon).

[Syphon the Sun]

Dark chocolate is good, but really dark stuff is rather interesting. Like, the 50% or 70% stuff. Certainly not the taste you think of when you think "chocolate"... very odd, almost metallic. A very peculiar taste I've only tasted a few times, but I wish I had more.

I wonder what you'd say about the 95% stuff...

[starlooker]

Today someone left a tray of Widman's chocolate at work, and I swear I've eaten half.

Yish. So much for the idea of being "healthy."

[KennEnder]

Yikes... the closest TJs is over 600 miles away! Even Denver doesn't have one yet... hmmm, can you say "potential business opportunity!?" (for them... they don't franchise, apparently)

[Mich]

We finished off the last of my roommate's Christmas chocolate today. It was cheap, but good. However, a tiny bit got, like, stuck in my throat, or something, or I forgot to swallow it, because when it melted, it burned. It burned!

[Luet]

When I was visiting my sis-in-law in CA a couple months ago, we went to TJ (of course) so I could stuff my luggage with as much as possible. And I found myself getting ANGRY at all the people nonchalantly shopping there. They have a TJ in every town! They can go at any time! They take it for granted and don't know how good they have it! Yeah, I had to take some deep breaths and realize it wasn't their fault that I don't have one closer. heh.

[Virlomi]

I'm with you in the love of dark, dark chocolate. 75% is about right for me, too much more than that and I think it takes on a slightly burnt flavor I can't really explain. I am usually a pure bar kind of girl, (although really anything with the stuff in it at all and I'm happy) but this summer I was in Brussels and splurged on a box of truly exquisite Belgian chocolates, and I discovered a whole new level of bliss.

On a side note, as a standing offer... if anyone should ever feel like making a trip to New York at some point I'll take you to the most fantastic little chocolate bar I discovered recently in SOHO, and you'll never want to leave.

[locke]

and if anyone in LA wants to know where to go for fancy chocolates I'll happily point you to Teuschers or Jin's patisserie.

I went to TJs today, but I managed to avoid buying chocolate, which is always a triumph. There's actually three trader joes within about five miles of me, and I'm annoyed there's not one close enough to bike to. :p There really should be one in Marina del Rey, ralphs and Pavilions do not cut it, though the Gelson's is a pseudo acceptable substitute (but sometimes seems more expensive than Whole Paycheck)

Unfortunately I'm probably going to Milk for supper, so that negates the whole not buying chocolate thing from the grocery trip :p


82% or 85% are the darkest eating chocolates I've sampled, and the problem is that the texture falls apart above 80% because of the lack of cocoa butter, and yes at that percentage the bitter starts to overwhelm.

Really anything about 75% is baking chocolate.

[Dr. Mobius]

I'll eat just about any chocolate - milk, dark, whatever - so long as it's real chocolate. That "chocolate flavored" crap some of the cheap knock-off brands use is nasty.

[zeroguy]

I wonder what you'd say about the 95% stuff...

I remember having unsweetened once. I don't have a lot to say about it... it's not like I'd never try it again.

I was also half making up the percentages. I thought I remembered having something like 85%, but the percentages on the wikipedia page on dark chocolate made me think that was too high. Is there a classification for the terms; mapping to percentages or something?

[locke]

I'm going to have to recant somewhat on the no higher than 75% rule. Theo chocolate makes a 91% Venezuelan bar that has no burnt-bitterness whatsoever. It has the most intriguing and subtle flavor, somewhat bitter but it's a flat bitter not a sharp bitter. and oddly it's not the intense chocolatelyness you would expect. Texture is so unlike a high percentage bar it's very disconcerting. it's smooth, almost too smooth, but it's not dry and chalky like a lot of chocolates that are this high in cocoa percentage. you really have to hold it in your mouth for a while and let it melt to really taste the chocolate, otherwise you won't taste much at all. Very interesting an absolutely unique chocolate, but one I probably won't buy regularly. I think it just needs a hair more sweetness because it's just a bit too close to tasting unsweetened cocoa, 87% or so might be perfect. there's an interesting tang on the third or fourth tasting note, and the fruit/mango second note is all too brief.

Santander puts out a unique origin bar that has coffee flavor mixed in, it's got a really sharp almost bubbly flavor that dances across your tongue I haven't seen it at whole foods for a couple years, and was excited to see it again because it's one of the cheapest chocolate bars they sell (1.99). Santander's regular milk and dark chocolate bars should be avoided though. Lame. Get the kind that's not in a paper wrapping but in a box that says single origin.

Oh and the Bread and Chocolate bar from Theo is absolutely awesome, much better than a crunch bar. Theo's Curry and Coconut is certainly unique but the tumeric flavor overpowers the chocolate flavor, I'd rather have a hint of tumeric enhancing the chocolate rather than not being able to taste the chocolate at all.

[Darth Petra]

I love chocolate in any way, shape and form. But then, I love sugar, no matter how it's packaged.

[jotabe]

So... am i the only one who prefers white chocolate?



x_x oh wait, mistake! I was talking about the other kind of white chocolate

[Luet]

White chocolate is a lie! There is no chocolate or cocoa in it at all, thus it is is a lie. Oh, and I don't like it.

[Eaquae Legit]

I suppose this is as good a place as any to post this:

[Mich]

It's perfect! No matter how many of them you'll eat, there will always be some more to come and try to kill you!

Also: it talks? Man, they come up with some crazy chocolate, nowadays.

[Ela]

when I say dark chocolate I mean 65% minimum, ideally 68-75%. Anything less is too sweet.

I totally agree.

[Rei]

The Easter Dalek will EXTERMINATE!! you.

[locke]

I'm still hoping to see the Easter Beagle some sunday morning.

[Rei]

Little would fill my heart with joy as much as seeing the Easter Beagle.

[zeroguy]

The Easter Dalek will EXTERMINATE!! you.

Or perhaps your hunger? Your diet? Your general health? With its fierce arsenal of.... chocolate!

[fawkes]

... Where can I get this? I must have it!

[Eaquae Legit]

Marks & Spencer. I haven't seen them anywhere else, so I think they might be exclusive.

[locke]

[Valentine]

Hahaha, Kawaii

I hate white chocolate, jotabee. It's too sweet for my taste.
I'm a dark chocolate person, myself. Milk is alright if I'm just snacking, but dark chocolate is just amazing.
And I don't like nuts in anything.
Mmmm, though, there's a Swiss Chocolate maker - Teucherr - that does the best champagne truffles in the universe. Every one is like heaven in a bite...

[Petra456]

I haven't found a chocolate that I haven't liked. I love the really really dark stuff all the way up to white chocolate.

Hmm, i've never been to a Trader Joe's, and when looking it up I found one that's about half hour away.

[BonitoDeMadrid]

Sadly, I love all chocolates, except for the dark ones who are too dark (not enough sweet). Chocolate is like drugs for me: once I start eating even a tiny cube, without enough self-restraint I can go up to 2 large bars (the ones with 18 or 24 tiny pieces) together.

Though, the last time I had chocolate was when my folks returned from Nice- and even then I managed to eat only 2 little pieces (luckily).