Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Caramels
December 14th, 2009 by Rosa
Since we don’t have Trader Joe’s in Rochester, I like to make it a point to shop there and check out their candy selection when I visit my boyfriend in Boston. I picked up a few things over Thanksgiving, including this box of their Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Caramels.
They’re promoted as “buttery smooth caramels drenched in Belgian chocolate, then sprinkled with crunchy rock salt from the Dead Sea”. Each box contains 12 square chocolate-covered caramels, all generously sprinkled with sea salt (some more generously with others).
The dark chocolate shell is thick and snappy and is juxtaposed against a gooey, liquid caramel that has a barely noticeable grain.
The caramel is too sweet for my tastes, for me akin to eating brown sugar. Its strong flavors overwhelm much of the cocoa flavors of the chocolate shell, but the chocolate does have some fruitiness, before turning dusky at the end.
For me, the chocolate and caramel are too sweet. Normally, a sprinkle of salt can offset such sweetness, but I think these guys were overly salted and lent a sourness to the sweet. Each salt crystal was quite large, so it packed quite a wallop.
These aren’t something I’d buy for myself again, but when I shared the caramels with friends, the remainder of the box got quickly gobbled up. An O from me, with the caveat that my friends gave them rave reviews.
If you want another opinion, here’s Cybele of Candy Blog’s take on an earlier version with different packaging.
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This entry was posted onMonday, December 14th, 2009 at 8:00 am and is filed under O, Trader Joe's, caramel, chocolate, review. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
December 14th, 2009 at 7:18 pm
Thanks for this review, I love caramels and have been tempted by this one (Yay, TJ in my ‘hood), but now I know this one is a no go. I think the TJ candy kitchen is going a little crazy with the salt; we got some of the sea salt dark chocolate coated almonds, WAY too salty. Or maybe I just haven’t eaten a potato chip in so long, I’ve forgotten the point….
December 14th, 2009 at 9:04 pm
Interesting. I’m intrigued by these fellas!
It’s a shame there’s no TJ’s near me any more.
December 20th, 2009 at 12:15 am
Well phooey. At the beginning of your post I was all set to buy some but now I don’t think I will. Thanks for the warning.
January 11th, 2010 at 2:46 pm
These are FABULOUS. How can I purchase online?? Quick.