Equal Exchange 71% Very Dark Chocolate

My co-worker Dini M. found a new Equal Exchange bar that we had not tried before!

Like other Equal Exchange bars, this one had loads of information on the inside of its label. Included was the fact this bar had cacao from Peru, Ecuador, Panama and the Dominican Republic.

How was the chocolate itself? Delicious! It was very dark, darker than I expected for 71% cacao, and very creamy, in a way that usually only Lindt can manage with dark chocolate. The chocolate flavor was very rich and pronounced, and while there was no single origin note, there was a strong cocoa flavor. Everyone loved it and had seconds.

Thanks Dini!

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Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory Dark Assorted

I was out of chocolate (gasp!) before the work week ended, and my co-worker Sydney W. saved the day with a dark chocolate truffle assortment!

There was a LOT of chocolate in this box. Each layer held about a dozen chocolates, and there were two layers. All of them were dark chocolate (as assortments should be!), but there was no guide, so we had to dive in and find out what they were. I got a peanut butter filled chocolate, and an almond cluster covered in chocolate, but other people got hazelnuts, caramels, ganache, and something that seemed like dense chocolate fluff. All of them were great!

Thanks Sydney! You saved the chocolate eating meeting!

Trader Joe’s Belgian Truffle Ballotin Box

I found these chocolate truffles at Trader Joe’s last weekend, on the new shelf.

Inside I found two layers of truffles (both layers had the same truffles).

All of the truffles looked good (except those white chocolate ones, yuck), but who knew what was inside each one? Luckily, there was a guide!

I tried three: the Carazon Negra, the Cappuccino Milk and the Cocoa Bean Lait. I really liked the Carazon Negra, which had a thick dark chocolate shell and a delicious hazelnut filling. But the other two truffles were too sweet, and my co-workers said the same thing about the ones they tried. However, one co-worked loved the white chocolate ones, since she liked how much sugar they had.

To each their own.

Choco Black Peanuts

I found this at my local Japanese grocery store.

Inside was a tray that held eight to ten small clusters of peanuts, each enrobed in dark chocolate. They were quite yummy, and they reminded me of another Japanese chocolate peanut candy I had tried, only with dark chocolate. Obviously, I think using dark instead of milk chocolate is a great improvement!

Trader Joe’s Milk & Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Caramel Popcorn

I found this big bag at Trader Joe’s on the new shelf.

So what were these things? A popped kernel of corn, dipped in caramel, sprinkled in sea salt and then coated in either milk or dark chocolate. And they are great! They are a perfect mixture of creamy-crunchy and salty-sweet. Of course, the dark chocolate ones are better (and there seem to be less of them in the bag), but the milk ones aren’t bad either.

I shared these at work, and even the ten people who came by didn’t finish the bag. You get a lot of these!

trufru Real Raspberries Dark Chocolate

I got another bag of trufru from my co-worker Anthony R.

These were delicious! Each one was a whole raspberry, freeze-dried and dipped in dark chocolate to form a thick layer around it. They were very chocolatey and very raspberry-ey. The sweet and tart went very well together. I think I liked these better than their strawberry ones, and those were great too!

Thanks Anthony!

Aunt Sally’s Creamy Triple Chocolate Praline

My co-worker Nicole E. brought this treat back from a trip to New Orleans.

Wow, this thing was super chocolatey and super sweet! I liked it, especially because chocolate-covered pecans are so yummy, but the sweetness level could have been reduced 25% or so, and I think it would have been better for it. Not surprisingly, sugar was the first listed ingredient, but corn syrup was third and molasses was eighth and sorbitol was ninth. Any one of those is a candidate for reduction.

Thanks Nicole!