Chocolate Review

Worth the cost?

For the past four months, I’ve been trying various “high end” dark chocolates. My intent was to provide a review as a follow up of my previous article on the health benefits of chocolate. {blush} It would be easy to spend forever consuming chocolate and never writing this. Thus I’m pushing myself today to publish something even if it isn’t as organized or complete as I’d like.

The brands I’ve focused on have been:

Aldi (“Moser Roth”) 85% Dark Chocolate has been my mainstay due to the low cost and low sugar content. As chocolate it’s nothing special, but it’s very affordable!

Argencove focuses on chocolate from Nicaragua. The flavor is very good, pieces break easily into small squares but they provide very little data (no information on sugar content).

Endangered Species is available at local stores. I have only tried their Oat Milk Coconut & Almonds as I love coconut so I knew I’d like it. The flavor is excellent but other than their sales pitch to share their profits protecting endangered species it’s hard to know if there is any special (health) quality to this chocolate.

ki’Xocolatl has become my favorite. I discovered them when I visited their museum during a photo shoot at the Mayan ruins in Mexico. The flavor is excellent!

Lily’s is another brand available at local stores. Lily’s claim to fame is not using any sugar at all, their main sweeteners are erythritol and stevia. They actually do use a tiny bit of sugar (dextrin) which is only a fraction of a gram per serving. Hershey owns Lily’s and there is concern over high levels of heavy metals.

Ritual is a company based in Utah that provides a delightful variety of chocolates so you can compare chocolate from various different places (Belize, Ecuador, Madagascar, Peru, etc).

One drawback of Ritual chocolate is that the bars are not scored to break into pieces. This is the only brand which I tried a 100% chocolate bar. No sugar, literally nothing other than chocolate. You’d expect that to be very bitter but it’s amazingly delicious.

I did also try a bar of chocolate from Japan but I couldn’t read the wrapper for any information and for flavor it was nothing special.

Cost (standardized to per 100 grams for easy comparison):

Aldi is the clear winner by a lot at $1.59 per 100 grams.

Argencove and Ritual are the high end at essentially $16.67 per 100 grams.

Endangered Species is moderate at $4.11 per 100 grams.

Lily’s is also moderate at $4.16 to $5.18 per 100 grams.

ki’Xocolatl is on the high end at $10 per 100 grams, but more reasonable than Argencove and Ritual. I’m negotiating wholesale pricing with ki’Xocolatl so potentially I could offer these at much better pricing (and they promise they will make a fresh batch for me every time I order).

Random cacao tidbit: “Consumption of 320 mg/day of cocoa flavanols for 24 weeks was also reported in a double-blind trial to improve facial wrinkles and skin elasticity, compared with placebo, in middle-aged and elderly women.” - to get this amount you would need to consume at least 50 grams of dark chocolate per day (potentially a lot more if you aren’t consuming high percentage, high quality dark chocolate).

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Details:

Ritual – “Complete Chocolate Collection”

https://www.ritualchocolate.com/shop?category=Chocolate+Bars

Ritual chocolate is made in Utah (from sources around the world)

Overall the quality of Ritual chocolate is excellent!

Each full bar is only 60 grams, thus this is extremely expensive chocolate!

Typically has 25 to 30 grams of sugar per 100 grams

Price: $9 to $16 per bar – typically $10

Après Chocolate Bar 70% - Sparkling white wine infused chocolate with dried raspberries

Excellent sweet flavor, roll it on your tongue to get very different flavors from the raspberry side vs the chocolate side, interesting crunch of the raspberries, very unique chocolate flavor, the chocolate is very smooth (aside from the raspberries), the raspberry side gives a (good) tart / sour flavor.

Clumsy to break into pieces

Bourbon Barrel Aged 75% - blend of our cacao nibs that are aged in High West Distillery bourbon whiskey barrels for several months. This process provides subtle notes of the charred, white American Oak and light hints of bourbon whiskey.

Very good, not my favorite, nothing special about this one, just great chocolate.

Belize Maya Mountain Cacao 75% - Tasting notes: Dried Fig, Cherry & Tobacco

The only ingredients are cacao and cane sugar

The flavor is deliciously “complex”. Maybe it’s the power of suggestion but the “cherry” flavor is apparent.

Dark Mocha 60% - Tasting notes: Cherry, Almond, Coffee and chocolate

Definite aroma and flavor of coffee; chocolate is smooth

Since I don’t like coffee, I don’t care for this one (but it’s still good).

Ecuador Camino Verde 75% - Tasting Notes: Graham Cracker, Honey & Fudge

Good, some hints of interesting flavors, melts nicely in your mouth.

Ecuador Camino Verde 85% - Tasting Notes: Honey & Fudge

Very similar to the 75% but not quite as sweet; perhaps a bit “grittier”

Only 15 grams of sugar per 100 grams

Fleur de Sel 70% Dark Chocolate with Sea Salt - Tasting Notes: Strawberry, Fudge & Sea Salt

“Flower of Salt” – the touch of salt adds sensory diversity that really wakes your tongue up, after the salt is gone you are left with a smooth delicious chocolate that too me tastes close to “milk chocolate” (even though there is no milk in it).

Honeycomb Toffee 75% - Tasting Notes: Honeycomb, Dark Chocolate

The toffee flavor is excessive for me, too much like eating candy. When the hint of honey comes out, it is very delicious.

Juniper Lavender Chocolate 70% - Tasting Notes: Lavender, Juniper, Pine, Citrus, Floral

Since I’m not a fan of “floral”, I didn’t expect to like this chocolate. The floral and other flavors are far milder than I expected, barely detectable. Smooth basic chocolate, it tastes almost too much like milk chocolate to me. I’m not a fan of this flavor.

Madagascar Bejofo Estate 75% - Tasting Notes: Raspberry, Citrus & Peanut

Leaning toward bitter. Not particularly enjoyable.

Mid Mountain Blend 70% - Tasting Notes: Strawberry, Fudge & Graham Cracker

Good basic chocolate. I’m not sure where they imagine the “strawberry” from.

One Hundred Percent 100% - Tasting Notes: Fruity, Earthy, Cacao

It’s hard to “like” pure cacao, but as far as pure cacao goes, this is excellent quality. I’d recommend pairing it with something rather than just straight eating it. This is tops for health! (zero sugar!) If it wasn’t so expensive, I’d definitely buy more of this!

Peru Maranon 75% - Tasting Notes: Toasted Peanuts, Marshmallow & Apricot

Good, smooth, not bitter

THE NIB BAR 70% - Tasting Notes: Dried Fruit, Berries, Nuts

Excellent! The overall flavor is excellent. The nibs add texture, but not much flavor on their own.

Pine Nut Chocolate 55% - Tasting Notes: Nutty, Pine-y, & Earthy

Oddly for such a low percentage of chocolate it has the dark chocolate bitter aftertaste.

Initial flavor is a bit tangy, which melts into a smooth beautiful taste and then leaves with a bit of bitter cacao flavor.

S'MORES BAR 70% - Tasking Notes: Graham Cracker & Carmelized Sugar

I’m not a fan of “s’mores”, however I do like graham cracker. This chocolate bar has a lot more ingredients that Ritual’s other chocolate bars. The flavor is complex, the graham crackers give it texture, the chocolate is smooth. Good, but nothing special. Seems to leave a dry and very slightly bitter aftertaste.

Vanilla Bar 70% - Tasting Notes: Vanilla & Floral

Made with bourbon vanilla from Madagascar. The vanilla is so subtle as to be virtually imperceptible. This is good smooth chocolate. No bitter after taste.

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Argencove – “A World of Flavors”

https://argencove.com/products/a-world-of-flavors

Argencove’s website doesn’t provide a lot of information. All of their chocolate tastes good and easy to break into small squares.

Apoyo 70% - Nicaragua - $10 - “Significant fruit acid flavor with fresh berries, red fruits, and citrus notes and an elongated finish.” After the first few Ritual chocolate bars this one almost tastes “boring”. Excellent flavor though! There is a sweet fruity flavor that doesn’t hit you at first but develops very nicely a you savor it. Very nicely designed for breaking off pieces!

Masaya 70% - Nicaragua - $10 - “Delicate citrus character, not too bitter, well-balanced dark chocolate with a smooth and creamy melt. Slightly creamier than its counterparts with the addition of a small amount of cacao butter.” Good, melts very nicely in your mouth to provide long lasting flavor

Cocibolca 70% - Nicaragua - $10 - “Smooth texture, flavor notes of cardamom, Turkish coffee, cherry, and brown sugar with a mild tobacco finish.” Good, smooth, enjoyable hints of many flavors

Mombacho 70% - Nicaragua - $10 - “A slow melt-developing flavor, dark and finely balanced it possesses notes of ripe fruits, raisins, and cranberry with a peppery body and blackberry finish.” Smooth, good chocolate. As with the other 70% chocolates, this is not particularly “dark” and thus no hint of being bitter.

Banana, Cinnamon and Clove 70% - Nicaragua - $13 - “Single-origin handcrafted 70% cacao dark chocolate combined with the warm flavors of banana and spices of cinnamon and clove.” This has fairly large bits of banana embedded in it giving a bit of a chewy element to this chocolate. The flavor is good. Hints of the cinnamon and cloves are detectable. I’m not sure I like that as I don’t care for the flavor of cloves.

Saffron 70% - Nicaragua - $13 - “Single-origin handcrafted 70% cacao dark chocolate with a subtle hint of exotic saffron spice. Spicy, subtle, and something a little different for discerning tastes. ” The saffron doesn’t appeal to me, but gets better after the first piece. This is a smooth chocolate.

Carmelized White Chocolate & Almonds 35% - $14 - “Roasted almond slices give the perfect addition to this decadent caramelized white chocolate bar.” (no nutritional data available) This is not my idea of chocolate, it’s basically expensive candy. Without nutritional data we can assume the sugar content is high and this isn’t healthy.

Pecan Pie 35% - “A mosaic of roasted pecans and thin shards of panela combine with caramelized white chocolate to give the rich indulgence of Pecan Pie.” Another low cacao bar. This is candy not chocolate. Very sweet flavor.

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Endangered Species

Oat Milk Coconut & Almonds + Dark Chcolate 75% - $3.49

Flavor is excellent (to my tastes: I love coconut) Nice large blocks that it is breakable into.

Although “Endangered Species” promises 10% of profits go to protecting endangered species (a wonderful cause) this doesn’t mean the quality is any better and the price may be inflated to cover their “charitable” donations which probably is very profitable to them to have a good image. Nothing on the packaging says anything special about the quality of the product.

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Lily’s

is made by Hershey

Original Dark Chocolate 55% (no sugar) - $3.99

The entire bar (85g) has 1 gram of sugar (dextrin) has dextrin, erythritol and stevia.

Good flavor but after trying the Argencove and Ritual chocolate, this almost has to be considered a different product. In a way, they aren’t even comparable.

Best benefit of this is “no sugar”, however dextrin is questionable, it’s a natural substance which is a polymer of glucose and “resistant” forms serve as prebiotics and thus are healthy.

“Extremely Dark Chocolate” 85% - Amazon pack of 12 for $44.90 ($3.75 for a 80g bar) - Unsweetened Chocolate, Erythritol, Cocoa Butter, Inulin, Stevia Extract, Organic Soy Lecithin, Vanilla

“Intensely Dark Chocolate” 92% - Amazon pack of 12 for $39.99 ($3.33 for a 80g bar) - Unsweetened Cocoa, Erythritol, Cocoa Butter, Stevia Extract, Vanilla Extract

“Coconut Dark Chocolate” 55% - Amazon pack of 12 for $52.68 ($4.39 for a 85g bar)

Unsweetened Chocolate, Inulin, Dextrin, Erythritol, Cocoa Butter, Organic Coconut, Milk Fat (rSBT Free), Organic Soy Lecthin, Stevia Extract, Vanilla, Natural Flavors

The flavor of Lily’s Coconut Dark Chocolate is excellent (probably because I love coconut). It has a delightful texture (coconut bits) and is otherwise smooth and sweet.

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ki’Xocolatl (Mexico)

Website recommends storing below 85 degrees – boxes recommend 50 to 65 degrees

Dark Chocolate with Cocoa Nibs – 85% Cacao

Each bar is 2.82 oz = 80 grams

Excellent breakable pieces; Excellent flavor; nice crunch from nibs

Pros:

• Organic

• Criollo Cacao (certified source of cacao can be traced)

• “well paid farmers”

• Heavy metal free

• Gluten free

• One of the top ten world “best”

• Gold medal for the Best Chocolate of Origin in the world, in the International Chocolate Contest

Dark Chocolate with Lima Lime from Campeche and Almonds – 75% Cacao - Nice crunch, excellent flavor with a hint of sour taste from the lime.

Dark Chocolate with Endemic Honey from the Jungle – 75% Cacao - Nice mild crunch, flavor is a bit flat.

News:

Consumer Reports finds more lead and cadmium in chocolate, urges change at Hershey

Hershey dark chocolate products have excessive heavy metal content. This is one really good reason for buying some of the high end brands.