Chapter Twenty: Strawberry Bits

Even though we’ve tasted chocolate purchased from World Market, this is our first tasting from the World Market brand.  We should note that the Dark Chocolate Dried Strawberry Bits with Pink Himalayan Sea Salt bar’s cocoa content is not listed on the packaging but we wish that it were.  This is something that we always like to know.  The box also has almost no information regarding origins, which is disappointing.  It seems that the mystery of an “exotic bar” is the main selling point, leaving you with little information about the bar.

Tasting No. :18

World Market DarkChocolate Dried Strawberry Bits with Pink Himalayan Sea Salt

Initial Impressions:

The first thing we noticed was the visible bits of freeze dried strawberry followed by the aroma of strawberries.  It smelled as sweet as the base bar, but did have a softer snap and lighter color in comparison.

Flavor Profile:

Initial – Pure strawberry

Middle – Salt, strawberry

After – Salt

Texture:

This bar had a rough texture, because of all of the added strawberry bits and sea salt.  However, the bite of it was softer than the base bar, even with the crunchy texture.

Overall:

This bar, like the TraderJoe’s Coconut Caramel and other World Market filled bars, left us disappointed on the chocolate front.  We found it to be very sweet, and would have liked larger fewer bits of strawberry in larger chunks instead sprinkled throughout so that you could differentiate between the strawberry and the chocolate.  With the ratio of chocolate to strawberry as it was, we found the flavors too overwhelming to enjoy the bar slowly. We enjoyed this bar with a very dark black tea to combat the sweetness.

Rating: 5/10

*Notes:

Purchased at World Market

Price range under $4

Next week, join us for another Trader Joe's bar.  This one is a Belgium chocolate bar. Yum!

For now savor: "What you see before you, my friend, is the result of a lifetime of chocolate." – Katharine Hepburn

Chapter Seventeen: TCHO's Chocolatey Explosion

We found this week’s bar again at World Market; we love the diverse selection there! TCHO is a brand based in Berkeley, California, and we selected the Dark Chocolate bar.  It is 70% cacao and the beans are from Ghana.  However, the package did not indicate it was single origin.  We do like that there is a ‘best by’ date on the package because stale chocolate can be a problem! 

 

Tasting No. :15
TCHO Dark Chocolate 70% "Chocolatey"

Initial Impressions:

This bar is much darker than the base bar, with brown tones.  The base bar is red toned. It smells much milder than the base bar, and is also slightly sweeter.  There is a note of acidity in the base bar that is not present in the TCHO bar.  They have almost the same firmness in snap, with the base bar being only slightly firmer.

Flavor Profile:

Initial – caramel, vanilla

Middle – musk, molasses

After – malt, musk

Texture:

Right away, we both concluded this bar has a soft bite.  There is an instant smoothness as it melts over your tongue; almost like a thick chocolate syrup.  It is reminiscent of drinking chocolate or also brownie batter. When you bite into it there is a powerful chocolate explosion of flavor in your mouth.  It bursts almost like a filled bar would.  

Overall:

Even though this bar has the same percentage of cacao, we found it to be much sweeter than the base bar.  There is no notable acidity in this bar, which makes it robustly indulgent with chocolate flavor.  It made both of our favorites list.  This bar would be an excellent choice for sating an intense chocolate craving, or might be complemented well with a citrus fruit, such as a tangelo.  We believe adding a touch acidity while enjoying this bar would enhance the flavor, although not much enhancement is needed.  In one word, it’s superb.

                                                     Rating: 9/10

*Notes:

Purchased at World Market

Price range under $4

Check back next week when we’ll be tasting another bar from Bovetti, the impressive French artisanal brand originally reviewed here.

For now savor: “Happiness. Simple as a glass of chocolate or tortuous as the heart. Bitter. Sweet. Alive.” – Joanne Harris, Chocolat

Chapter Thirteen: Passionfruit & Plantain

We’ve been eyeing these filled bars for a while now and decided to take a break from our typical tastings to try two filled bars from World Market with absolutely no idea of chocolate percentage.  Since they differ so much from our base bar, we thought it was best to compare these to one another rather than using our usual method.  The bars are Dark Chocolate with Passion Fruit Filling and Dark Chocolate with Caramelized Plantain Filling.

Tasting No.: 11

Dark Chocolate with Carmelized Plantain Filling

Dark Chocolate with Passion Fruit Filling

Initial Impressions:

Very firm snap, thick squares, the color of the chocolate was so similar that it leads us to believe that they used the same chocolate for both bars.  The plantain bar smells spicy while the passionfruit smells acidic, both have a firm bite.

Plantain Flavor Profile:                            Passionfruit Flavor Profile:

Initial – fruity                                             Initial – lemon

Middle – caramel banana bread              Middle – passionfruit

After – plantain, apple                              After – fruit preserve

Texture:

After the initial firmness of the chocolate, the filling was the consistency of fruit preserves.  The chocolate itself was smooth.

Overall:

Much like the Coconut Caramel bar that we'll review in a few weeks, these bars are more of a candy bar where the chocolate acts as a vessel or binding ingredient for the focal point, the fillings.  This was cemented by our struggle to truly taste the chocolate because the fillings were so prominent. While we enjoyed these bars, we feel they are more for nibbling and sharing with a large group of people rather something you’d eat by yourself; this is also due to the filling making these bars not an easy item to tote around.

Rating: 5/10

*Notes:

Purchased at: World Market

Price range under $3

These are good bars to have in place of a dessert; share them at a potluck or at your next gathering of friends.

Would you ever think to pair pine tree oil with chocolate?  Check in next week to read our adventures with this unique chocolate combination.

For now savor: “Strength is the capacity to break a Hershey bar into four pieces with your bare hands - and then eat just one of the pieces.” Judith Viorst – Love & Guilt & The Meaning of Life