Canadian Chocolate – Rogers Chocolates: 54% Peppermint in Dark Chocolate

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Canadian Candy, Canadian Chocolate, candy, chocolate, chocolate bar, dessert, food, mint, mint chocolate, Rogers' Chocolates

Part of my Canadian Chocolate haul from DragonCon last month (holy damn, it has been a month already‽‽‽)  My friends know how much I love mint chocolate, and this bar is super minty.  There was something else that my British friend had brought to the con that was full on mint, and he made a comment about American’s not being big on strong mint flavors, and for a moment, I thought he may be correct, but I think it is more that we are just not used to it.  The first few bits of this bar, I did not really like it, the mint was too strong, but it has grown on me.

I noticed a strong smell of peppermint the moment I opened up the black wrapper.  I have to say, the black wrapper did appeal to my goth side.  😉 The first taste threatens to be overwhelming, but it is not bad at all.

The thing that is hardest to adjust to with stronger mint flavors, I think, is the slightly bitter aftertaste that it leaves.  Mint chocolate in the US is usually overpowered by sugar, so you do not really experience that taste.

Packaging:  4/5 – Standard, but appealing
Chocolate Presentation:  4/5 – I like the symbols on the chocolate, and I like the bite sized pieces.
Taste:  3/5 – Still strong, but still growing on me.
Extra Points:  0

Total:  11/15

Afterthought:  Hey, Nico, that is three posts since DragonCon, I want my Truffle Pig. 😉

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Trader Joe’s 72% Dark Chocolate

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candy, chocolate, chocolate bar, dark chocolate, dessert, food, Trader Joe's

For the past year, I was forced to resort to a fallback job, serving.  Being a server is very difficult work.  You’re schedule is all over the place and you generally do not receive it until a few days before the work week begins so forget making advance plans, you are on your feet all day, running around at your guests whim, handling their half-eaten food, and at the end of the day, they determine your income, not your boss, your guests (If you are misinformed in anyway, servers make nearly half of the legal minimum wage in the U.S., in Illinois, the minimum wage is currently $8.25, as a server I make $4.95.  We also do not keep 100% of your tip, a percentage (generally around 5% OF YOUR BILL) is given to the support staff.  We cannot falsify this, the computer keeps track.).

Anyhow, I do not mean to be on a soapbox here, serving can have benefits as well.  If there are things you need to do during regular business hours, you are not always tied to a desk job, you CAN make some good money, and you meet a lot of interesting people.  With my tables, the fact that I am a chocoholic comes up, and I will add weight to the title by telling people that I have this blog.  Occasionally because of this, people will also make recommendations for me.  One of my recent recommendations was Trader Joe’s 72% Dark Chocolate.

This came from a table that also knew about my desire to be healthy, which obviously, Trader Joe’s excels at.  I had told them my current favorite chocolate bar, Chocolove, and they suggested this.  I was a little hesitant to begin with because it is 5% less cacao than Chocolove, but I decided to give it a try, because it is still above my cacao minimum.

Trader Joe’s 72% comes in either a very large block that you can find on the candy shelves over the frozen aisles, or in smaller bars (pictured) found with the candy around the cash wraps.

Taste wise, this is actually a little more bitter tasting than the Chocolove 77%, which is disappointing considering the lower content.  I could eat this as a mid-day fix just the same, but it is not quite as enticing.  Still, if unable to purchase Chocolove, this would be an acceptable substitute.

A Collage of Missed Posts

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cake, Canadian Chocolate, candy, caramel, Cereal, cheesecake, chocolate, chocolate bar, cookies, Count Chocula, Crepes, Cupcakes, Frosting, ice cream, mint, Oatmeal, peanut butter, Swedish Chocolate, Sweet Steam, Toblerone

I know, I know, I have not posted a lot lately.  That does not mean I have not been taking pictures and intending to post, and it most definitely does not mean I have not been eating chocolate.  My dropbox is full of pictures waiting to be posted to here, and rather than try to go back and cover everything, I am posting a collage of the pictures, and I will go back and cover the standouts eventually, but this way I can start fresh for the new year.  For now, enjoy some of the chocolate I have been over the last few months.

Chocolate Entry #50: Canadian Chocolate – Waterbridge Mountain Range 74%

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Canadian Chocolate, candy, chocolate, chocolate bar, dark chocolate, dessert, food, Waterbrige Mountain Range

Originally, I was going to judge this a little harsher, but I had not noticed at first that this bar was 74%.  With that in mind, I do not judge it quite as harshly.  The taste of this bar was very similar to my beloved Chocolove 77% bar.  Obviously I would always prefer the Chocolove for the higher percentage, but this would be a very worthy substitute.

It was bitter, but not so much so that it was unpleasant to eat on its own (unlike many dark chocolate brands in the US).  I also enjoyed the inner presentation.  The inner foil had a lovely fleur de lis pattern.

Packaging: 4/5 – For the Fleur de Lis.
Chocolate Presentation: 3/5 – Standard bar.
Taste: 4/5 – I would still prefer Chocolove.
Extra Points: 0

Total: 11/15

Chocolate Entry #49: Canadian Chocolate – Truffle Pig

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Canadian Chocolate, candy, chocolate, chocolate bar, dark chocolate, dessert, food, Hagensborg, mint, mint chocolate

Truffle Pig, oh Truffle Pig!  I love you so!  I was not sure what to expect with this little chocolate bar.  The pig theme was…curious….but the package advertised mint, and I LOVE mint chocolate.

The pigs…did not entirely survive transport to the US.  The chocolate comes as one long bar with a raised interlocked pig design.  The chocolate itself was dark chocolate (which was likely in a percentage between 30-50%), but the bitterness of the chocolate and the subtle hint of mint were a perfect pairing.  I think I ate the whole thing in one sitting and I was still craving more.  Definitely the favorite of the Care Package.

Of course, they also have other flavors on their website.

Packaging: 3/5 – Nothing spectacular.
Chocolate Presentation: 5/5 – I liked the interlocking pigs…even if I do not understand why they chose pigs.
Taste: 5/5 – AWESOME!
Extra Points: 3 – Bonus 3 points for being the favorite.  😀

Total: 16/15

Chocolate Entry #47: Canadian Chocolate – Laura Secord Premium Milk Chocolate Bar

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Canadian Chocolate, candy, chocolate, chocolate bar, dessert, food, Laura Secord, milk chocolate

I knew it would happen eventually.  I accidentally deleted my photos of the Laura Bar, so the only photo I have left is the preview photo.

Not the best of photos.  If I uncover the photos hiding somewhere, I will post them, but they are not in my Dropbox or on my camera.

The Laura Secord Premium Milk Chocolate Bar was good.  I ended up finishing it in about half the time I had originally though I would.  The chocolate was a very generic tasting milk chocolate though, it was not particularly unique.  It would be good to pick up on a whim to satiate a chocolate craving, but I do not think I would ever go out of my way to purchase one.

Packaging: 3/5 – Standard bar packaging.
Chocolate Presentation: 3/5 – The chocolate was divided up into typical squares.
Taste: 3/5 – Average.  Good, but not unique.
Extra Points: 0

Total: 9/15

Chocolate Entry #44: Canadian Chocolate – O&B Artisan

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Canadian Chocolate, candy, chocolate, chocolate bar, dark chocolate, dessert, food, milk chocolate, O&B Artisan

O&B Artisan Chocolates is actually and affiliate of Soma.  According to their website:
“Oliver & Bonacini is proudly affiliated with Soma Chocolatemaker. Artisan chocolate maker David Castellan started out with O&B as the Pastry Chef of Canoe, eventually being appointed Corporate Pastry Chef of all O&B restaurants. Peter and Michael still recall the fateful day David headed off to his first chocolate making course in San Francisco. Now David’s exquisite, hand crafted chocolates are considered among the very finest in North America.”

These are simple bars, one milk chocolate, one dark chocolate, but a large flavor gap between the two.  I wanted to eat these at the same time so as to compare the flavors, since they are otherwise the same.  The dark chocolate was a bit bitter, while the milk chocolate was a bit processed.  I would love a happy medium between the two, but if I had to choose one, I would choose the dark chocolate.

Packaging:  2/5 – Simple, and not very informative
Chocolate Presentation:  4/5 – I liked the design of the bar, still sectioned, but it was unique
Taste:  3/5 – Want a happy medium
Extra Points:  0

Total:  9/15

Chocolate Entry #43: Canadian Chocolate – Soma Bar

Tags

Canadian Chocolate, candy, chocolate, chocolate bar, dessert, food, Soma Chocolate

My friend Nico (the token Canadian), absolutely LOVES this chocolate.  In her words: “I lurve soma. I’ll gorge myself sick on em” (direct quote taken from google chat).  With such a glowing review, I was very curious to try Soma.

The flavor of the chocolate is very similar to that of the 77% Chocolove bars that I love so much.  You would think this is a good thing, until you look at 53.8% on the Soma bar.  For containing 23% LESS chocolate, I find the bar too bitter really.  Plus remember, to receive health benefits from chocolate, you really need to aim for above 70%.  It is tasty, but could be tastier.  It is healthy, but it could be healthier.  I would have liked one of those two things to be higher.

Beyond that, it was good chocolate, I liked the bite sized sectioning, and I absolutely love that they advertise as being good for low-carb diets and diabetics.  I do not need either, but I am sure if I did, it would be nice to have those specific things advertised and tended to.

Looking at their website, they have a very extensive list of items that I would still love to try.  Stand outs include: Abstract Chocolate Science bar, Dancing in your Head bar (cause, dancing!), Old School bar, microbatch Exploration Box, Truffles (Caramel Cream Kiss especially), Pralines (Butter Caramel with Fleur de Sel, Cacao Bean-Roasted, Feuilletine Caramel), four of their elixir collection (A la Taza Hot Chocolate, Dark Side of the Mug Hot Chocolate, Gianduja Hot Chocolate, or Malted Milk Hot Chocolate), Baci di D’ama, Baci D’Allassio, Biscotti, Chocolate Shortbread, or English Toffee.

Wow, that is a long list (see their pdf for a complete list).

Packaging:  4/5 – Simple yet informative
Chocolate Presentation:  4/5 – Liked the sectioning
Taste:  3/5 – Good, but could have been better.
Extra Points:  0

Total:  11/15

Chocolate Entry #36: Canadian Chocolate – Russell Stover Billion Dollar Bars

Tags

Canadian Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate bar, dessert, food, milk chocolate, Russell Stover

I was a bit torn on whether or not to include these in my massive six month Canadian Chocolate review, but I thought the reason I considered not doing so was interesting enough that I should.

Anyone living in the United States is likely familiar with Russell Stover Chocolates.  Russell Stover makes a great deal of holiday related chocolate, and you can pick up a box of Russell Stovers in pretty much any grocery store.  I found it interesting that they made a Canadian Chocolate bar, though I was amused by the fact that it seems they do holiday chocolate there as well.  Then, I turned the package over.

You may not be able to see in the smaller view, but if you enlarge the above pictures and read the information, these are produced in the United States.  Now, obviously they would have to be made to Canadian standards to be sold in Canada, but still.

As far as the chocolate itself, the design of the chocolate itself is cute, and is made to look like a real monetary note, short of having an image in the center.  I think I may have to steal the saying from the bar however: “In Chocolate We Trust.”  The taste is decent.  Much like Russell Stover sold in the United States, it is slightly better than the regular commercial chocolates, but no where near boutique chocolate standards.  I ended up eating these a little quicker than I should have (three days instead of seven), but that was more because eating a quarter of the bar did not leave me feeling chocolate satisfied, not because they were overwhelmingly delicious.

I keep wanting to score these, so I am going to start attempting a scoring system (this may evolve over time, but you have to start somewhere):
Packaging:  3/5 – Attractive packaging, but nothing unique.
Chocolate Presentation:  4/5 – Still a standard chocolate bar, but a cute design.
Taste:  3/5 – Mid-grade chocolate.
Extra Points:  0

Total:  10/15

Canadian Care Package

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Armani, Armani Dragees, cadbury, candy, caramel, Chocolat Au Lait, chocolate, chocolate bar, Chocolaterie Bernard Callebaut, Coppeneur, Curly Wurly, dark chocolate, dessert, Disney, Dragees, food, godiva, Hafergebäck Vanille, Hagensborg, Kinder, Laura Secord, Lindt, Mendiant, milk chocolate, Milka, Milkinis, Minnie Mouse, mint, mint chocolate, Moroco, Mountain Range, Nestle, O & B Artisan, PEZ, PEZ Chocolate, Ritter, Ritter Sport, Rogers' Chocolates, Russell Stover, Smarties, Soma, Soma Chocolatemaker, Toblerone, Truffle Pig, truffles, Tumbled Almonds, Waterbridge, Waterbridge Swiss

Today, I received a package in the mail.  My second Canadian Care Package from my friend Nico up in Toronto.  She feels bad about me being unemployed most of last year, so she sent me some chocolate to cheer me up….because she is awesome.  After weeks of hearing updates about it, she shipped it out Monday and it arrived today.

4.5lbs of Canadian Chocolate!

Boy do I have some blog posts in store for this year.