rickster wrote:

Trader Joe's also has that same chocolate in a smaller 3-pack form. It's three 1.65 ounce bars.

I buy the small 3 pack often, and I know the milk chocolate version is labeled as Swiss chocolate, different than the Pound Plus Belgian milk chocolate. I'd assume it's the same for the dark but am not certain.

I am looking at a 3-pack right now and it is labelled, "72% Cacao Dark Chocolate Imported From Belgium" No mention of Switzerland whatsoever.

Trader Joe's changes suppliers and formulations all the time (so they can save .001% margin). That could be the issue.

The TJ Pound Plus 72% Belgian grew on me quite a bit over the two weeks it took me to finish it. (No pun intended.) By the end I was no longer sure that I preferred the Sirius Icelandic 70%. I really will have to do a more scientific comparison. I also found the "intractability" of the thick bar less and less a problem over time.

Picked up an 85% Lindt bar yesterday and tried a couple of squares. Will I fail to finish it? Don't be crazy! But it's a little too dark (more toward the medicinal than the hedonistic) for my taste.

sarcon wrote:

rickster wrote:

Trader Joe's also has that same chocolate in a smaller 3-pack form. It's three 1.65 ounce bars.

I buy the small 3 pack often, and I know the milk chocolate version is labeled as Swiss chocolate, different than the Pound Plus Belgian milk chocolate. I'd assume it's the same for the dark but am not certain.

I am looking at a 3-pack right now and it is labelled, "72% Cacao Dark Chocolate Imported From Belgium" No mention of Switzerland whatsoever.

i'm a big fan of TJ's pound plus milk chocolate bar. but wanting something smaller, last week i bought the TJ 3-pack, as well as a bag of mini milk chocolate bars. the 3 pack bars were delicious. the minis were inedible. i emailed TJ's corporate to share my opinion, but it wasn't worth my time to return them to get my 99 cents back. i realize one can't expect much for 99 cents, but either make something cheap and tasty, or don't make it at all. justjoan

Did another trial of a few cheap bars. Baron brand. Usually around a buck for a 100g bar. I had a Baron milk choc bar before, and I didn't care for it, but I thought I'd give it another try and give it a description. These are on sale this week at Shop And Save for 79 c if anyone is a fan.


The milk bar is too sweet for me. It's rich, and smooth, but the flavor, imo is not chocolatey enough, and it almost has a coconut flavor to it. With my disaster zone of a palate, however, this might be a fancy chocolate lover's dream. Not so much for me though. Too sweet. Definitely rich, and refined, but I'd rather have a bigger chocolate flavor.

Since they were 79 cents, I figured I'd give the dark a try:

This was a hint past too sweet for me as well, but I kinda dug it compared to other cheap dark bars I've tried. Actually, I liked it a bit more when I was hungry before dinner. Now that I just had a square after dinner, it's striking me as a touch better than Hershey's "special dark." Definitely smoother, but there is no real good richness like you get with better bars. The chocolate flavor quickly dissipates from my mouth after chewing. Letdown. Oh, don't get me wrong, I'm still gonna eat it though.

Has anyone else had the Lindt-with-touch-of-Sea-Salt bar, available at Walgreen's? I had one a while back (and posted about it in another thread) and thought it quite good. I looked at one yesterday while there to pick up a prescription, and even though there's no "percentage" on the front of the packaging, it appears from the ingredient list on the back to be a 42%-er. Anyway, if you haven't had it, I recommend it for two reasons: 1) I think you'll like it (I found the salt really bringing out the flavor of the chocolate), and 2) I'm interested to hear your take on it.

I've never tried that bar, but I did go through a phase of sprinkling a touch of kosher salt on top of my Aldi minis. Worked best with the milk, though I prefer the dark generally.

riddlemay wrote:Has anyone else had the Lindt-with-touch-of-Sea-Salt bar, available at Walgreen's? I had one a while back (and posted about it in another thread) and thought it quite good.

I brought home my second one of these the other day, and, I don't know...it's not "doing it for me" like the other one did. I wonder if Lindt changed the recipe of this bar as they did with their 70% one.

Nothing wrong with the chocolate bars from Blommer Chocolates. I really like the dark chocolate variety.

Lately I noticed the commercials for aerated Hershey Kisses. I see aerated bars everywhere, especially in stores that sell foreign stuff like Fresh Farms. I think I tried an Aero once and hated it, but that was years ago.

Would someone explain the appeal of aerated chocolate? Seems to me there could be actual chocolate where all those holes are. Are we getting a less-chocolate airhole discount?

-Confused in Chicago

Per one Canadian: "they used to be OK, these days they're awful. you let them dissolve on your tongue."

I couldn't get a better description of what made them good, and I couldn't find any Canadians (in asking around for a few minutes) who would admit to liking Aero bars as they currently exist.

I was near an Aldi yesterday, couldn't remember the Choceur variety that had been mentioned here, but bought their Dark Chocolate bar. It's fabulous. It has less cacao content than I'm used to seeing in other dark chocolate brands (45%), so I'm not sure it even qualifies as dark, and in fact the taste and color are closer to milk chocolate, but dark is what it was called. I don't have the wrapper anymore (after eating two squares of it when I got it home, I transferred the rest to a ziploc bag), so I don't know if it was from Austria, England, or where. Anyway, my taste buds say "mmmm!"

Aha! Now the final piece of the puzzle has fallen into place. Every year I buy bags and bags of Fun Size bars for trick 'r treaters and then the little bastards always skip our house. I'm tired of eating the same ones all the time, so now I've been reminded to swing by Aldi and pick up some Choceur bars. Whatever's left is mine, all mine!!! Muahahahaha!

Askinose has been consistently blowing my mind. Very complex, deep flavors, crazy good. Not cheap!
http://www.askinosie.com

I just bought a Hagensborg Truffle Pig Orange Noir bar at Whole Foods (impulse check out counter buy). Its motto is "Wallow in European dark chocolate truffle heaven". Thanks. I think I will. It's very good! A perfect blend of smooth dark chocolate and orange flavor. I didn't look at the price and that's probably for the best.

Pie lady-
Tony's has the E.Wedels for 88 cents until Wed when the new sale starts. I popped in today to try the Jedyna bar mentioned as a favorite upthread, and it did not disappoint. I'd still go for milk, but for a darker bar, it was well worth the small price tag.

jmc wrote:Askinose has been consistently blowing my mind. Very complex, deep flavors, crazy good. Not cheap!
http://www.askinosie.com

Love Askinosie and Andy's Frozen Chocolate uses their chocolate for an Askinosie Concrete

seebee wrote:Pie lady-
Tony's has the E.Wedels for 88 cents until Wed when the new sale starts. I popped in today to try the Jedyna bar mentioned as a favorite upthread, and it did not disappoint. I'd still go for milk, but for a darker bar, it was well worth the small price tag.

Thanks! I think I saw that Lincolnwood Produce has the Jedyna bars for 89 cents too, if you're in the area.

Hurdler4eva wrote:

jmc wrote:Askinose has been consistently blowing my mind. Very complex, deep flavors, crazy good. Not cheap!
http://www.askinosie.com

Love Askinosie and Andy's Frozen Chocolate uses their chocolate for an Askinosie Concrete

I like that they named a concrete after Rico Suave.

Relating to the fact that Aldi's Choceur "dark chocolate" bar is only 45% cacao, which is less than I associate with dark chocolate: I just went on Wikipedia, and the European requirement for dark chocolate is that it contain a minimum 35% cocoa solids, so the Aldi bar qualifies. (The U.S. has no official definition for "dark chocolate" at all.) In any case, the product is delicious.

(Another random fact: Idly curious, I asked my next door neighbor, a high-school French teacher who travels in France extensively, whether there is such a word as "choceur." Non. Obviously Aldi has created a neologism between "chocolate" and "connoisseur.")

The dark chocolate bar at Aldi's is Möser-Roth. It is very very dark, indeed. Mmmmmmm.

Geo

Well, I bought a Mint, Orange & Almond, and 70% Dark Möser-Roth for myself, and I saw one Austrian milk chocolate Choceur, but no British imports or other Austrian flavors. They do have Dark, Milk, and Hazelnut Milk Choceur mini bars (1.4 ounces) and 7.5-ounce bars of many flavor varieties from Germany. I picked up 5 mini packs (5 bars each) and a milk chocolate Raisin & Nut bar.
This was all at the Aldi next to Marketplace in Skokie. I also picked up a Schogetten (65% dark), also from Germany.

The prices here: Möser Roth - $1.89 each
Choceur Mini 5-bar packs - $1.99 each
Schogetten - $.99 each
Choceur 7.5-ounce - either $1.89 or $1.99 each

I'll report back soon.

I have just tried the Trader Joe's fair Trade Organic 72% cacao Belgian dark chocolate bar and I am very happy to report that it is, to me at least, as good if not even more satisfying than our old "intense" Lindt 70% that was made in France and disappeared from the US marketplace a year ago.
Its structure is firm, and not "fondante" ( smooth) as the new Lindt is. The aroma is really intense and clean. And the finish, totally dry and not sweetish, is long in the mouth.
At $ 1.99 a 3.5 oz, it seems to me a much better deal than the other replacement products mentioned up thread.

Pie Lady wrote:They do have...Milk...Choceur mini bars (1.4 ounces)...from Germany. I'll report back soon.

Wow, this stuff's as smooth as a 5th Avenue pimp. And not too sweet either. I only wanted to taste it...I had leftover cupcakes to polish off...and I really had to restrain myself from eating the whole thing. I think I'll keep another bar to the side and try it as hot chocolate.

The beauty of the mini bars is that you can finish the whole thing, with a minimum amount of guilt.

Unless you eat them twice a day, every day, like...some people I know.

Suzy Creamcheese wrote:The beauty of the mini bars is that you can finish the whole thing, with a minimum amount of guilt.

Not if you're planning on two cupcakes too!

I'm also in the two-bars -at-a-time group.

After having discovered the 72% Belgian dark chocolate at Trader Joe's that I described up thread last Wednesday, I made a new discovery at Fresh Farms on Touhy in Niles late last week:
Lindt has introduced a new "intense" dark 70% chocolate bar called "nut crunch". Same size, same weight, same price of $2.49 a bar, than the old intense 70%. This one, like our beloved lost 70% intense dark, is made in the French Lindt factory, and it taste like the old intense. The difference is that they added tiny pieces of crunchy caramelized walnut and hazelnut.
The result nevertheless is very exciting. I love it.

I believe we had two trick or treaters. I am officially done. These bars are all mine!

I was at Whole Paycheck the other day and saw the Vosges bar with mushrooms. I had to do it. I'll have to report back when all my cookies are gone.

http://www.vosgeschocolate.com/product/ ... -chocolate

Pie Lady, between this and your earlier holding off on a chocolate bar in favor of cupcakes, I'm starting to doubt your level of commitment.