ZOMG, Candy!

Missed the chance to throw your own Hershey’s Bliss party? Their website has a $1 off coupon so buy it for yourself at a discount. I’ve never tried Bliss (and did not get selected to throw a Bliss house party) and am not planning on going out of my way to do so based on this tepid review from Candy Addict.

And don’t forget to enter my Junior Mint Giveaway (helped along by wholesale candy store Candy Xpress) by 9 PM EST on Friday!

After the success of my first chocolate tasting (notes here), I held a second one with the extra bars. Unfortunately, by the time the second tasting rolled around, most of the bars had bloomed thanks to New Haven humidity and temperature fluctuations and a lack of air conditioning. The Vosges chocolate bars were the only ones that survived because their wrappers are airtight. We tasted them anyway, and all the flavors were there; it’s just that the textures were all wrong. Sadness. Here’s what we tasted, with my notes:

• Green and Black’s milk, 34% - sweet, yogurty flavor; tastes like a Cadbury mini-egg. Thick texture.
• Dagoba milk, 37% - slightly fruitier than the Green and Black’s with a dusky finish.
• Vosges Macha (Japanese macha green tea in 41% deep milk) - woodsy dirt flavor, brittle texture. Tastes like green tea, as it should. I don’t like the taste of green tea, but if you do, this bar is true to its name.
• Vosges Woolloomooloo (roasted and salted macadamia nuts, Indonesian coconut, hemp seeds in 41% deep chocolate) - I’ve reviewed the truffle version of this bar. Nicely nutty, smells of coconut.
• Vosges Goji (Tibetan goji berries, pink Himalayan salt in 41% deep milk) - fruitiness to the bar; goji berries just taste like red berries. Saltiness works, I think.
• Vosges Mo’s Bacon Bar (applewood smoked bacon, alderwood smoked salt in 41% deep milk chocolate) - I bought another one of these bars because it’s such a great conversation piece for tastings.
• Chocolove dark chocolate, 55% - nuttiness to the flavor, which starts off sweet and has a long finish. Vanilla notes? Thick texture.
• Nirvana Single Origin Granada, 60% - fairly straightforward cocoa flavor with a strong roasted taste.
• Scharffen Berger 62% semisweet - fruity notes, sweet finish

• Vosges Calindia (Indian green cardamom, organic California walnuts, dried plums in 65% Venezualan dark chocolate) - strong spice flavor. Can taste the sweetness of the plums and feel where it adds texture.
• Nirvana Single Origin Santa Domingo, 67% - strong earthiness, dirt flavor. Not at all well received (the wrapper promised herbal tones, which must have been the dirt flavor people complained about).
• Green and Black’s Maya Gold (orange and spices) - on first taste, strong notes of pepper with a light orange finish. On second taste, orange flavor stronger. Many people said the bar tasted like marmalade.
• Scharffen Berger 70% bittersweet - super fruity with a cocoa finish
• Dagoba Conacado, 73% - nutty
• Dagoba New Moon, 74% - sweeter than the Conacado with a dark fruitiness
• Dagoba Xocolatl, 74% with chilies and nibs - slight fruitiness to the chocolate. STRONG chili flavor that wallops your taste buds on first impact. Not the way I like my chili chocolate.
• Endangered Species 88% Extreme Dark (panther) - vanilla scent with a nice smoky flavor.
• Ghirardelli 100% baking chocolate - completely dries up the mouth. Worse than the 100% La Maison du Chocolat bar.

Before your regularly scheduled candy review, a plug for my personal life. Tomorrow (Tuesday), I will be conducting the Yale Precision Marching Band LIVE! on ESPN’s First Talk. We’re scheduled to go on at 10 AM EST (note time change from original posting) for a quick performance of our fight song.  First Talk airs on ESPN2 and ESPNHD Live from 10AM-Noon, EST, and the day’s episode is then rerun from Noon-2PM EST. We’re also shooting a bit of a “This is Sportscenter” commercial that day, which should air sometime in the future. Hope you get the chance to tune in! And now back to candy.

I have been sitting on these tasting notes for ages. Like most of my notes I guess. I bought these four Joseph Schmidt truffles last winter when I was in California. Joseph Schmidt used to be an independent truffle maker; now they, along with Dagoba and Scharffen Berger, are owned by Hershey’s Artisan Confections subsidiary. I was able to buy these at the Scharffen Berger factory.

Joseph Schmidt truffles are of the molded variety, as their smooth, glossy, perfectly formed dome/cone shapes indicate. The outside shell of chocolate is thicker than I expected, with a great snap that shows that the chocolate is well-tempered. The creamy ganache inside is extremely smooth on the tongue and fairly flowy. They come in regular and mini sizes. The mini truffles are pretty standard-sized, while the regular ones are ginormous and are too big to be eaten lightly.

Pomegranate mini truffle (right)

The first hit of flavor was lightly sweet and fruity. It then suddenly takes on a very intense pomegranate sweetness that pretty much tastes generically like berries. Nicely flavored and gorgeous to look at. Way to jump on the pomegranate bandwagon! An OM.

Mexican chocolate mini truffle (left)

Upon biting into this chocolate and broaching the shell, I can smell the chili before I can get around to tasting it in the ganache. Once you get to the ganache, the chili adds a slight burn and tingle. It’s a nice amount of heat that makes itself present but isn’t painfully strong. I looooove well-done chili and chocolate. An OMG.

Vanilla cognac (left) and lemon meyer (right) truffles

Sooo… I didn’t eat these myself. They were just too big and daunting to take on, and I ended up giving them away.

These truffles would make an impressive gift, and they’re not too expensive for fancy well-made and well-flavored chocolates. I personally prefer truffles with thinner hard chocolate shells that are easier to eat, but I did enjoy the flavors of the ones I tasted. But they weren’t so delicious that I just had to taste the other two I ended up giving away. So, good for gift giving, meh for personal splurging.

If you want Hershey’s to send you and your friends free chocolate, go apply to host a Hershey’s Bliss chocolate party. I haven’t had Hershey’s Bliss yet, but I’ve read good things about it in the candy blogging world. Either way, couldn’t hurt to sign up, right?

Hershey’s Whatchamacallit is a bar that I’ve seen on grocery store shelves all my life but had never bothered to pick up, probably because I had no idea what was in it. While candy bars like Twix and KitKats had a strong advertising push during my childhood, the Whatchamacallit was neglected.

The wrapper claims peanut flavor crisp, caramel, and rich chocolatey coating. The bar was texturally wonderful with a crisp, sharp crunch. The crunchy rice crisps that made up the center of the bar had a salty, super nutty peanut butter flavor, and there was just enough caramel in the form of a thin ribbon to add the sweetness needed to balance out that peanut butter taste. Because the coating was marked as “chocolatey”, it’s probably not real chocolate, but it was a super thin layer, so the fake mockolate (Cybele’s term) did not noticeably detract.

A definite OMG for this bar. I wish I’d discovered it earlier. The only downside is that the bar is extremely high in fat (especially saturated fat) and calories, so sadly, it’s not a chocolate bar to eat on a daily basis.

The Reese’s Crispy Crunch Bar is “made with chocolate, crispy peanut butter candy, creamy peanut butter, chopped peanuts.” Sounds fabulous. Also sounds quite similar to the Snicker’s Nut ‘n Butter Crunch, except the Reese’s version contained real,creamy peanut butter.

Upon unwrapping the bar, I was hit with a strong smell of genuine peanuts and peanut butter. Like in the Snicker’s Nut ‘n Butter Crunch, I was disappointed that the peanuts were unroasted and therefore rather bland. The texture of the peanuts was not noticeable against the peanut butter candy, which turned out to be some sort of peanut butter flavored toffee or brittle. Its texture was more crumbly than I expected, and I loved the way it broke against my teeth.

Overall, I think the bar could stand to be saltier, but the sweet chocolate finish isn’t too bad. An OMG for a tasty, if rather messy, bar.

My tasting notes, as promised. I loved how I was able to notice the subtle differences between the bars by tasting them all together. For example, when I first tasted the Scharffen Berger Extra Rich Milk, I thought it was sweet and yogurty. Tasting it right after the Chocolove Milk and the Papua single origin bar, the Scharffen Berger bar suddenly took on smoky qualities.

• Chocolove Milk Chocolate (33%) - thick and creamy, coats the tongue heavily; vanilla and caramel notes
• Nirvana Belgian Chocolates’ Papua single origin (35%) - dull and greasy looking, coffee smell, vanilla and yogurt flavor
• Scharffen Berger Extra Rich Milk (41%) - dusky, smoky flavor, soft snap with a thick and heavy melt, lingering finish
• Endangered Species Smooth Milk (52%) - earthy, pepper flavor
• Vosges Naga Bar (41%) - a bit grainy with a great snap, coconut flavor
• Vosges Mo’s Bacon Bar (41%) - smells smoky, bacon bits give it a large grain, super salty bar
• Vosges Red Fire or Oaxaca Bars (55%) - starts off sweet but the chili burn and the heat builds, a finish that lingers in the back of the throat
• Chocolove Ginger Crystallized in Dark Chocolate (65%) - sweet, sugar flavor, light ginger and citrusy notes
• Chocolove Strong Dark (70%) - earthy aroma, greasy texture
• Lake Champlain Single Origin Sao Thome (70%) - sweet and fruity notes
• Vosges Creole Bar (70%) - sweet start, coffee finish that lingers, a creamy melt around the coffee bean and nib bits
• Scharffen Berger Antilles (75%) - my favorite of the bunch - a sharp snap on a glossy, dark bar, creamy melt, lingering finish
• Lake Champlain Single Origin Tanzania (75%) - banana notes, thinner melt, unpleasant finish that’s buttery and lingering
• Scharffen Berger Extra Dark (82%) - bitter tobacco notes with a slightly sweet finish
• La Maison Du Chocolat Coro (100%) - bitter start, dries out the mouth
• Valrhona Gianduja Noisette (no %, but super, super light milk) -super soft, almost like fudge at room temperature, quite soft, creamy, heavy, and thick with strong hazelnut flavors

Hershey’s Cacao Reserve line (BUY!) is their attempt to appear upscale while still being mass-market. The generous 9.1 oz bag of Holiday Collection truffles sent by Hershey’s contained about 8 each of their milk (35% cacao), dark (65% cacao), and spice milk (35%) chocolate truffles, all individually wrapped. While the packaging extolled the virtues of their carefully selected beans and gave elaborate tasting instructions (”swirl the melting chocolate across all surfaces of your mouth, noticing the early flavors, smoothness, mouthfeel, finish, and lingering notes”), nothing can change the fact that these truffles are mass produced. They’re nice, but I don’t think they’re worthy of that much elaborate ritual.

The milk chocolate (left) had a smooth and creamy molded chocolate shell with a nice melt and a slight sourness. The ganache had a slight grain to it and was the same sweet and slightly tangy milk chocolate.

The spice milk chocolate (right) had the same milk chocolate shell, but its ganache filling tasted of chai-like spices. I think I tasted cloves and maybe nutmeg? I’m not a huge fan of chai tea, but I enjoy chai-flavored things, and this was my favorite truffle of the mix.

The dark chocolate (center) was a disappointment for me. I love dark chocolate for its slight bitterness and character. The dark truffle turned out to seem just as sweet as the milk truffle and was rather bland for dark chocolate. If it hadn’t been labeled as such, I’d never have guessed that it had such a high cacao content.

Overall, I found Hershey’s offerings to be unremarkable but serviceable. The chocolate shells were nice and creamy, but the fillings could have been more smooth. If you’re looking for a comparatively inexpensive truffle indulgence, these would be a good buy. I’d rather shell out a little more and spend my indulgence calories on nicer chocolates from somewhere else. An O for the lot.

Holy cow! I managed to miss this one while I was on break - Episode 6 of this current season (Season 4) of Project Runway had an awesome challenge: 5 minutes to grab as much stuff as possible from the Times Square Hershey’s store to make a garment. Just check out the beginning of this clip (if it hasn’t been taken down yet) as the designers run and grab as much candy as possible. They’re living my dream.

Photos can be found on Bravo’s website (make sure you’re on episode 6 in the drop down menu). As of January 3rd, the full episode is currently online here, and I’m about to start watching as soon as I hit publish.

If you can sketch a design using just candy, you could win a 5 lb Hershey’s bar and Project Runway DVDs (challenge 6). Too bad I’m artistically challenged. Then again, it doesn’t look like that many people enter the weekly challenges, so maybe I will take a stab at it. I’ll be sure to post when the entries are in so you can see what’s been submitted, and I’ll let y’all know if I draw a picture made from candy.

Today marks the finale of Dagoba Chocolate (BUY!) Week, and I’ve saved the most interesting for last!

The Dagoba Chai is 37% milk chocolate, crystallized ginger, and spices. That last “spices” bit is annoyingly generic, and the ingredients list isn’t much help. There “spices” is replaced with “essential oils.”

When I ate this bar, I couldn’t figure out what the spices were because the ginger taste was incredibly strong. It overpowered everything. I like the essence of ginger in cooking, but I can’t stand ginger itself, probably because as a kid I accidentally ate too many slices of ginger out of our family stir fries (always an unexpected and unpleasant taste sensation).

Still, there was something about this bar that was intriguing, and it kept me reaching for more pieces. I never actually enjoyed it, however, so it only gets an O. At the chocolate party, this came in 12th (out of 13) with a score of 2.57/5. It was interestingly polarizing. Lots of 1s and 2s, but also a raving 5 and a few 4s. Comments ranged from “wtf funny flavor,” to “niceish - strange” to “can’t really describe it.” A few called it medicinal, which is understandable (anyone else forced to drink ginger root tea as a kid?).

The roseberry was the one I was most excited to taste. A dark bar (59% cacao) with raspberries and rosehips - sounds delicious! And it was pretty good. I loved how pretty the bar was. The pink bits of raspberry looked gorgeous against the dark, glossy bar.

I didn’t taste any rose notes when I sampled this bar, but the floral scent is definitely there. The raspberries add a gentle fruitiness that I wish was a little more noticeable. They also added a slight grit to the bar that I could have done without. An OM from me, and a tie for 5th with 3.533/5 from my friends.

Overall, I really enjoyed these Dagoba bars, even if none got a review above an OM. I think their ratings may have been skewed a little low because I tasted them with a bunch of other bars, some of which were less subtle and more interesting. The dark 59%, the hazelnut, and the roseberry were all on the brink of earning that extra G, but I pulled back because Dagoba bars are so pricey. The ones I bought cost $3.29 at the overpriced campus convenience store, but even online they’re $3.00 a bar.

I liked the Dagoba chocolate bars enough to want to eat my way through all the different varieties, though that would quickly get expensive. Dagoba will definitely make another appearance at my next chocolate party.