Chocomize is a U.S. based candy company that lets you make personalized chocolate bars that “are handmade to order”. They’re the second customized chocolate company I’ve gotten to try free samples from (Chocri was the first; I think Chocomize has them beat on name cuteness).
You start with your choice of base chocolate: a 56.8% dark, a 33.6% milk, and a white chocolate. On top of that, you can add up to 5 toppings from over 100 choices, which are categorized as nuts & seeds, fruits, herbs & spices, candy, decorations, and other.
If you were wondering, the other category includes veggie bacon, potato chips, and beef jerky.
I made one “let’s see what rando toppings I can gather” bar and one “I think this will be lovely” bar. We’ll do the weird one first and save the more normal one for Wednesday.
My weird bar was milk chocolate with honey roasted soybeans, Corn Nuts, and crystallized mint leaves. As you can see, it was crazy generously topped with all of the above.
The toppings were so jam packed that it was hard to find a plain bite of just milk chocolate to taste. I think I wound up picking off a Corn Nut or two.
The milk chocolate snapped when broken (the bar is lightly segmented on the back) but was thick on the tongue. It had strong caramel notes, which is just how I like my milk chocolate.
Chocomize claimed that the “crunchy corn nuts have a slightly salty taste and are surprisingly good when combined with chocolate.” I wanted to believe them, but alas, the flavor and texture combination just didn’t work for me.
The Corn Nuts retained a strong corny flavor with a bitter burnt popcorn finish, and their texture reminded me of stale tortilla chips. They’ve got their charms as a standalone snack, but I don’t think they did the chocolate any favors, or vice-versa.
The soybeans were okay on their own – gritty with a pleasantly dry nuttiness and a touch of sweet caramelized sugar – and they were okay with the chocolate, though it wasn’t a synergistic match. But the corniness of the Corn Nuts overshadowed the more subtle flavor of the soybeans.
As for the crystallized mint… It looked so pretty and sparkly and green! And it tasted that way too: grainy and sugary, with an herbal, grassy finish. I wasn’t a fan.
I set out to make a weird bar that would be a tasting adventure, and I definitely got one. I didn’t expect it to taste good, though I had sort of hoped that Corn Nuts + chocolate would be some new undiscovered flavor sensation, and it didn’t. But it’s also entirely my fault and my choice that this guy tasted all funky.
Would I have made this bar if I actually had to pay for it myself? Probably not. But thems the perks of being a candy blogger! Come back on Wednesday for my review of a Chocomize bar that I made with the intent of having it taste good.
And if you want to get a Chocomized bar for yourself, they’ve kindly set up a discount code for y’all. “ZOMG” (without the quotes) as a coupon code will take 10% off your total order!
Varsha