Spain generally considered to have among the most adventurous sensibilities when it comes to food - including chocolate. Recently, however, representatives from a couple of different companies have begun to challenge Spain’s front-runner status in this regard. For example, Zotter in Austria makes a coffee/mustard bar and Coppeneur in Germany has some equally interesting flavor combinations. Even normally staid Switzerland, who many might consider among the most conservative when it comes to flavor pairings in chocolate is getting into the act. We recently reviewed a few bars from the Supreme line from from Chocolat Frey (pronounced fray in English) which is headquartered near Zurich.

There is a lot of interest these days in “healthy” and nutritious chocolate, as well chocolate items that cater to people with special dietary needs and/or special dietary requirements. These include chocolates for people who are lactose-intolerant or allergic to casein (a protein in milk) as well as people interested in Vegan products and environmentally sensitive products. Choco Soy soy-milk chocolates have been formulated for people like these. But how do they taste? ...

When the father of one of the founders of Chuao developed type 2 diabetes, he (the co-founder of Chuao) went to work to create a chocolate bar that his father could eat and that also met hist standards for taste and edibleness. This is a challenge that many chocolatiers have been working on and that few do very well, and one of the reasons why is that most chocolatiers don’t make their own chocolate and are therefore captive to what they can purchase from the large manufacturers. I doubt that Chuao is making their own chocolate and I doubt that they are large enough to request a custom formulation (not enough volume to make it economical) from one of the large manufacturers, but they’ve managed to create a trio of very welcome additions to the world of sugar free chocolate bars ...

When is chocolate not really chocolate? When it’s overstuffed with really healthy stuff like phytonutrients. Cocoa is actually pretty healthy with lots of trace minerals, flavonoids, and polyphenols that are good for heart health. Adding phytonutrients to chocolate is overkill and that is exactly what Null does to this bar ... kill it.

Have you ever taken a close look at the Hershey’s Special Dark® label? I’ve been told that it’s the best selling dark chocolate in America. But it’s not—it might be a big seller, but it’s not dark chocolate. Wait, but maybe it is ...

BruCo was introduced in 2003 into the US and I received samples from the importer and tasted the Rum/Vanilla combination with clients over lunch around the time of the Fancy Food Show in January. 

Let’s face it. Most white chocolates deserve their really bad reputation for the single reason that they have no flavor. But not this one. Read on to find out why.