I bought these Valrhona Chocolate Covered Pearls from Whole Foods, where they were sold by weight in a little tub?(yes, I know the sell by date says 01/24/2012; this review is based on notes I took about a year ago. Yes, I know that means they’ve been kicking around in my backlog for a while. No, you cannot give me grief about it, unless you always finish everything exactly when you mean to).
The pearls had a crunchy center covered in Valrhona chocolate that was panned and polished to a glossy sheen. They were slightly variable in size but all were around the size of a dried split pea.
Valrhona has a stellar reputation for its high quality chocolate, and these pearls lived up to that reputation. The dark chocolate had a velvety melt with a slightly smoky, deeply earthy cocoa flavor.
The center added a toasty crunch and just a hint of carb-y sweetness. The ingredients list called it “biscuit cereals”, and it was mostly made of wheat.
These guys were addictively poppable, with their delicious mix of crunchy biscuit center and smooth chocolate complexity. At $16.99/lb, they are far from cheap, but a little goes a long way if you can patiently eat them one by one. I think they’d make a great keep-you-awake-on-a-long-drive snack.
They’d also make a great ice cream topper – my mouth is watering thinking about them mixed with my favorite salted caramel ice cream from the Parlour in Durham. Mmm… An OMG.
Varsha