Chocolate
This (Christmas) time of year, many think to their favorite things, among them in the food world, chocolate.
In February, 2005, I began exploring different brands of chocolate to discover my personal favorite. I reported elsewhere on this project, but thought I would revisit some interpretations as a short-list guide for those of you choosing your chocolate.
Amedei is a Tuscan, Italian chocolate. The packaging was first-rate. The taste was good, if not a tad too sweet. It didn’t have an ultimate aroma and wasn’t entirely smooth in mouth-melting.
Hachez I don’t care for this brand of chocolate. It reminds me of some Starbucks-brand coffee: too dark, too roasty.
Cluizel makes some nice chocolate, known for melting smooth. The bars never snap really hard. Flavor notes are interesting, but not first-rate for me. Sometimes their lesser percentages can be a bit too sweet.
Chocolove
This was a real treat. I didn’t expect it to, but it had a nice balance of flavor, aroma, and sweetness. A nice snacking chocolate.
Valrhona
This is good chocolate. It’s rich beyond good words, never too sweet, and comes in typically crisp, hard-cracking bars. I prefer a chocolate that melts a bit easier, but this line has flavors rooted in deep cherry and other earthy notes. Well-recommended.
El Rey
The Messy Chef favorite. Inexplicable flavors and depth. The right type of smoothness, melt, and break in the bar. This is the world’s finest chocolate, I might add, from my experiences. Most enthusiastically recommended.
Scharffen Berger
Not a real favorite. I want to like this chocolate, but it lacks great aroma. No doubt you can make excellent desserts with it, but for a snacking chocolate, I like more aroma and depth.
No Responses to “Chocolate”
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.