Hot Chocolate...?

So we went camping and made hot chocolate out of melted-down Chocolove 70% bars.  Plus a small amount of almond milk or soy milk or something.  But mostly just melted chocolate bars:

WOW.  It was amazing.  I was very impressed by how dark it was.  It tasted less sweet than the bars themselves.  And it was thick.  And it was warm.  So perfect.

But we used about 8 bars, so we had some leftover.  By the time we were ready for bed, it was a delicious chocolate pudding!  We then put it in a pot, closed the lid, and went to sleep.

By the time we woke up, it was one of the greatest chocolate ice creams I'd ever had:

This is the reverse of Fresco, who makes hot chocolate by melting gelato.  We made ice cream by freezing hot chocolate.  I cannot possibly recommend it highly enough.

Bottom Line: Ok, right now, I want everyone to take all your chocolate bars, melt them down, throw in a touch of milk, and freeze it.  Do it.  You will not regret it.

Chocolove 55% with Almonds and Sea Salt

I generally like Chocolove.  But I generally don't like stuff in my chocolate.  What will I think... of THIS:

Dun dun DUNNNNN.

It's good.

I mean, it's like... if you want to replace peanut M&Ms in your life.  It's sort of hearty and filling, but also chocolatey.  But unlike M&Ms, it won't make you feel gross.  Because it's all quality stuff.

But I mean... my opinion remains that it would probably be better without the sea salt & almonds.  But that's just me.

Bottom Line: Excellent for what it is.

Lindt 90%, Theo 85%, Chocolove 77%, and Green and Black 70%

So I ate some chocolate bars and didn't take pictures.  Here are some quick thought:

Theo's 85% bar is disappointing.  I often find 85% bars disappointing, and I'm not sure why.  I think maybe they are just sweet enough that you don't get the Pure Chocolate Feeling of 90% but still bitter enough that the sweet taste feels a bit fruity?  Or in this case raisin-y?  Or maybe I just call everything I don't like either "fruity" or "raisiny" as a post-hoc explanation?  I'm not sure.  I think I'm still bitter that they discontinued their 91% special edition Venezuelan-origin bar, which was maybe the best bar I've ever had.  That said, I usually like Theo, so maybe just avoid this bar.

Green and Black's 70% was much better.  There was really nothing special about it, but it tasted like 70% chocolate, which, when you think about it, is something really damned special about it.  I'll eat that stuff all day.

I also had Lindt's 90% (for the 100th time since I reviewed it) and Chocolove's 77% (for the first time since I reviewed it), and my opinions were unchanged.

This is also a good time to talk a little bit about tempering and chocolate storage.  All these bars were purchased at bodegas.  Bodegas increasingly have a good selection of chocolate, but they do not do a good job of storing them.  As a result, they freeze or melt (as the season demands) and then reform "good as new."  But it's not good as new, and you can tell.  They lose their shine and their snap, and there is often white bloom all over them.  But worse is the texture problem.  You bite in, and they crumble in your mouth.  Or they are waxy.  In fact, the reason I went so long without eating a Green and Black bar was because I used to buy them in bodegas, and they were super waxy and gross.  This bodega had done a better job of storage, and the bar was leagues better.  In contrast, the Lindt bar's texture was all wrong -- Duane Reade's perfect air conditioning generally keeps the bars in much better shape than whichever bodega served me the bar more recently.

Bottom Line: Where you buy the bar of chocolate can be almost as important as which bar you buy.  Unfortunately, there's no good way to find out a shop's ability to store chocolate until you open the bar.  But once you do, it's important to keep track.

Storm Rations B4: Chocolove 77%

Chocolove is an extremely reliable brand.  I've never had a bad bar of theirs, and the 77% is no exception.

The bar is simple and chocolatey.  It's uncomplicated.  It sits at a nice percentage, where high percentage lovers will not think it overly sweet, but they can share the bar with far more casual chocolate fans.

I also like the design of the bar.  It breaks easily, into nicely sized pieces.  There is this trend to have giant pieces in bars, and I never really understood the advantage to that.  Chocolove does not fall into this trap.

Bottom Line:  A simple, nice bar of chocolate.  Can't go wrong.