# Eating chocolate choices.



## bulldog (Feb 14, 2006)

There's a lot of excitement now about fancy bars or chunks of chocolate, especially the dark variety. What are your favorites?


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## TMMKC (Aug 2, 2007)

Christopher Elbow, a Kansas City original, is the chocolate of choice around our house: https://www.elbowchocolates.com/

The chocolates he produces are almost too pretty to eat. The fresh lime and raspberry, and the lavender caramel are my favorites He ships too!


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## CCabot (Oct 4, 2006)

Not exactly local for you, but L.A. Burdick in Cambridge, MA is fantastic. I believe they ship around the country.


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## Beachcomber (Apr 6, 2008)

Trader Joe's pound plus in 72% dark is a good buy and a tasty eat.


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## jbmcb (Sep 7, 2005)

My wife's favorite is Lindt 70% Dark. I like Scharfen Berger 80%. Lindt has a line of 60-80% dark chocolate bars containing cocoa beans from different countries that are interesting to try.


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## going grey (May 22, 2006)

I choose fast and cheap !! Forget all this 70% stuff..when it comes to chocolate.. " quantity has a quality all of its own"..as the old adage has it....GALAXY in their larger bar sizes ..1 lb.. 2 lb etc excellent.


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## Relayer (Nov 9, 2005)

Lindt truffles. Milk or dark chocolate.


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## Fairlane (Jun 18, 2008)

going grey said:


> I choose fast and cheap !! Forget all this 70% stuff..when it comes to chocolate.. " quantity has a quality all of its own"..as the old adage has it....GALAXY in their larger bar sizes ..1 lb.. 2 lb etc excellent.


Ah yes, the famous british Cadbury and all of it's affiliates. My wife swears by them. I tend to lean more towards the 'harsher' Hershey's but I find Cadbury to be just smooth. The Scharfen Bergers and Lindts are (IMO) better for baking. Research has shown that brands rank differently in taste tests and baking tests from brand to brand. To me, chocolate, like wine and olive oil, is subjective to the user. If you like it, use it, it's never wrong:icon_smile_wink:


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## cowboyjack (May 18, 2008)

Lindt in its many incarnations, though the TJ Pound Plus is a bargain.


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## Laxplayer (Apr 26, 2006)

*local faves*

Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate in St. Louis. They have an online store: 

Bailey's Chocolate Bar in St. Louis: 

Peases's Candy in Springfield, Illinois across the street from the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. They also have a catalog and online store:


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## saraht (Aug 26, 2008)

Any type of quality DARK chocolate or chocolate mints, that's what i like :icon_smile_big:


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## welldressedfellow (May 28, 2008)

See's is my favorite,but Cadbury is a close second.


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## Des Esseintes (Aug 16, 2005)

*If there is one good thing about living in Brussels...*

...it has to be Pierre Marcolini chocolates

dE


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## johnm (Jul 12, 2005)

Is the cadbury bar we get here in the states the same chocolate that people in the UK rave about? I bought one a while back and was quite disappointed, it seemed to be hershey level chocolate.


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## DukeGrad (Dec 28, 2003)

*Cadbury*

johnm,

Cadbury is right there with Lindt, Godiva and Marcolini. Excellent chocolate

Nice day my friends


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## Tromperie (Aug 6, 2008)

DukeGrad said:


> johnm,
> 
> Cadbury is right there with Lindt, Godiva and Marcolini. Excellent chocolate
> 
> Nice day my friends


This is untrue. Within the UK at least, Cadbury is an entry-level brand. Its texture is rubbish in comparison to even Galaxy, another common brand within the UK. The best milk chocolate I've tried is probably from Divine, whereas the best dark chocolate I've tried is the far more expensive Valrhona Guanaja; the latter being utterly delectable.


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## Penang Lawyer (May 27, 2008)

Norman Love expensive but worth it.


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## DukeGrad (Dec 28, 2003)

*Cadbury/Norman Love*

Gentlemen

Cadbury is far superior to any of them. Here in the US, it is enjoyed especially during the holidays. Godiva is no match to Cadbury.

Agree, Norman Love is superb candy my friend. Not a bad price, even compared to Godiva and the others. Chocolate, is expensive.

Nice day my friends,

Kidding about the Cadbury!


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## jkins25 (Aug 30, 2007)

Godiva Godiva Godiva 
Dark Chocolate Assortment.
My advisor gave me the assortment as a graduation gift a few months ago...and it got a bit melted in my car...and that was by far the best chocolate I've ever had. :icon_smile_big:


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## johnm (Jul 12, 2005)

As a chocolate update:

I bought a lindt extra creamy bar this weekend to try and was quite disappointed to find that it had barley malt listed on the label. I'm allergic to that and honestly didn't even think of looking for "filler" on the label of a quality chocolate bar.

I'm actually pretty happy with ghirardelli as an easy to find generally good chocolate bar.


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## dwebber18 (Jun 5, 2008)

Ghiradelli is a consistent high achiever. Those of you that have been to the islands may know of the Belgium Chocolate Factory, I got a small box down there and found it to be extremely good. They have plain milk and d ark chocolates and the kinds with the flavored fillings. Whats cool is that if you are on a cruise they will box it up and keep it in ther fridge till a rep from your ship comes and picks it all up and takes it back to you cabin. Thats a great service so your chocolate doesn't melt while you wander the streets!
https://www.thebelgianchocolatefactory.com/


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## rastafari (Jul 10, 2008)

dwebber18 said:


> Ghiradelli is a consistent high achiever. They have plain milk and d ark chocolates and *the kinds with the flavored fillings*.


i love those with mint fillings. man it's sooo good! :icon_smile:


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## johnm (Jul 12, 2005)

rastafari said:


> i love those with mint fillings. man it's sooo good! :icon_smile:


The caramel are also worth a try, they don't have the odd flavor that a lot of caramel filled stuff seems to.


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## bonjob (Mar 1, 2009)

cadbury and ferrero are delicious chocolates.
haha. but for me, who don't have any money, 
toblerone is the best for me. :icon_smile_big::icon_smile_big::icon_smile_big:


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## coynedj (Jun 1, 2008)

If you can afford them at $5+ per bar, Amano chocolates are insanely tasty. One small square has more flavor than most whole bars. But I generally go for Lindt 70%, at a much lower price point.


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## Dhaller (Jan 20, 2008)

There's a little shop in Atlanta (well, actually in Chamblee, a suburb of Atlanta) called Maison Robert; Robert, who is French, is a 3rd generation pâtissier/confiseur who operates the shop with his wife and daughter (his apprentice). The shop operates out of a little cottage in an antiques district.

They make tiny, intense truffles, chocolates, mints, macaroons, etc. boxed in any manner of interesting boxes (they have boxed constructed of chocolate during Valentine's day). Good stuff, and reasonably priced.

The mints are particularly interesting because they aren't a mint creme, but rather a solid mint-flavored white chocolate coated in bittersweet chocolate. I usually have a dish of them on a table and guests love them.

Beyond that, I generally make my own truffles - sort of a hobby of mine. My big hit lately has been a white chocolate/matcha (Japanese bitter green tea) truffle rolled in a mix of confectioner's sugar and matcha powder, and a more tradtional Macallan scotch truffle - a bittersweet (72%) ganache with Macallan 18, and dipped in bittersweet chocolate for the shell.

I use Scharffen-Berger chocolate for my truffles, having bought an almost comical amount of the stuff when I got it (inexplicably) on sale around Christmas time... I have about 50 pounds of the stuff 

D.


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## AndrewRogers (Dec 21, 2008)

Green & Black's dark is nice. For breakfast, I put some of it on warm toast and put it under gentle heat and then spread it like a paste. It is lovely.


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## Miket61 (Mar 1, 2008)

I use Valrhona when I'm making things at home, but for candy bars I prefer Vosges from Chicago. I just finished off a wonderfully sweet-and-salty peanut butter chocolate bar. The one with the red chilies and the one with the bacon are both also much much better than one would imagine

I'll never forget the Joseph Schmidt truffle that was better than any I had ever had or ever will again. It was actually offered to me by Mr. Schmidt himself at an event at Neiman-Marcus. I almost wonder if he travels with a gently refrigerated case to store a personal stash...


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## pt4u67 (Apr 27, 2006)

I'm a fan of Vosges. It is hands down the most interesting and well crafted chocolate I have every had, but a bit on the expensive side for casual nibbling. Chocolates available at Trader Joe's are usually a good value.


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## Miket61 (Mar 1, 2008)

pt4u67 said:


> I'm a fan of Vosges. It is hands down the most interesting and well crafted chocolate I have every had, but a bit on the expensive side for casual nibbling.


Several years ago they changed the recipe of the truffles so they didn't stay fresh as long. I used to send boxes of nine to a list of friends at Christmas, but stopped when none of them arrived in satisfactory condition.


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## rwjones (Jan 29, 2009)

I'm currently using a Valrhona Noir Amer 71%, which is the best dark I've come across. Let the chocolate melt on your tongue instead of chewing it and eating it like any other food. It's something to be savored, not devoured, especially since each serving has roughly 50% of your daily saturated fat allowance.


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## rlp271 (Feb 12, 2009)

Milk chocolate wise, I think Milka, a German chocolate bar, is quite good, and quite readily available at international stores. Some of the best chocolate I've had comes from a place called Marie Belle, which is on Broome Street in Manhattan. I got some for my girlfriend last Valentine's Day.


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## Carlton-Browne (Jun 4, 2007)

For sweeter chocolate I prefer the products of a small Austrian, family-run company called Zotter. They do some extraordinary flavour combinations.

For gentlemen's chocolate I tend to eat either 70% or 85% Leysieffer (has anybody else tried their 99% which is basically cocoa with a tiny amount of binding agent - an instant headache in a wrapper). Valrhona is also a favourite.


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## andrew1821 (Mar 15, 2009)

You haven't tasted chocolate until you've tried Michel Cluizel's Chocolate with coffee flavour (real coffee, of course)...! Warning: addictive. 



bulldog said:


> There's a lot of excitement now about fancy bars or chunks of chocolate, especially the dark variety. What are your favorites?


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## derum (Dec 29, 2008)

Amedei.

Especially the Chuao or the Porcelana in Napolitains, and anything of theirs in pralines. very expensive, but...good god the taste!


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## pinchi22 (Sep 30, 2004)

Des Esseintes said:


> ...it has to be Pierre Marcolini chocolates
> 
> dE


+1. Michel Cluizel as a 2nd choice.


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## JerseyJohn (Oct 26, 2007)

I'm not crazy about high-% chocolate - I find it dry and crumbly. I usually prefer milk chocolate or ganache. The NY Times once did a survey giving blind samples to people on the street of various chocolate from the mundane to the rare and expensive, and the winner was Hershey's!


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## Mannix (Nov 24, 2008)

I really like Dove dark chocolate, it's cheap and very good. I don't go for milk chocolate at all, so it's always dark chocolate or occassionally white chocoate which isn't really chocolate at all, though.


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## NZNorm (May 9, 2005)

New Zealand's Whittaker brand is fantastic. The dark chocolate sante bars are very nice. For gifting, Belgium's Nuehaus is very posh.


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## ChiliPalmer (Nov 18, 2008)

www.seventypercent.com has good reviews of dark chocolates from around the world.

Everyone's palette is different, but it's a starting point.


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## Thecountofcount (Feb 22, 2008)

In Germany, Milka is a normal supermarket staple item at around 70ct - 1 EUR per bar. Nothing to get excited about.Children and teenagers buy Milka.

Lindt is a bit above, but still rather supermarket than gourmet. 1.50 - 3 EUR. 

Both Milka and Lindt are mass-produced products which rely on marketing rather than ingredients.

Godiva has own retail outlets. Very upmarket, even in Germany. Neuhaus is comparable. Lübecker Marzipan/Niederegger is very much marzipan-focused, but still top. Sprüngli is great (the upmarket part of the Lindt-Sprüngli AG outfit), but hard to get in Germany. In Frankfurt, several shops carry Fouchon, which is very expensive and overpriced in my eyes. Callier of Switzerland is great.

Having grown up in a country where all of the above found their way in my christmas stocking every year, I have to admit that MY weak spot is the other end of the market: Maltesers, Butterfingers, Jelly Beans - the whole range of mass-market oversweetened genetically modified junk. I could kill for a Butterfinger.


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## lpsunburst (Jun 5, 2009)

Here in Memphis Dinstuhls is quite good but the best I have had in my many travels is Leonidas of Belgium. They have a few shops in the US, well worth a detour if there is one nearby.


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## Preu Pummel (Feb 5, 2008)

I've tasted almost everything on every continent... the choices are inexpensive and simple:

Milka plain or with nuts
Hershey's plain or with nuts
Meiji Almonds
Lindt Truffles (all various)
Niederreger Marzipan (not quite chocolate)


Cadbury, Hachez, etc. etc. etc. are good but do not carry the addictive and tasty qualities I have found in Milka or Hershey (the crack of international chocolate). The key to a good chocolate is to get it fresh; forget the dried, white stuff you find in truck stops and awful supermarkets. Any chocolate tastes bad when it is old and I refuse to buy the haters' argument that one chocolate is better than another due to eating an old bar. I've had everything fresh and have been able to compare.

If you love very subtle chocolate, Hachez has to be the most amazing and creamy chocolate, but I think it's like eating air.


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## DPC3 (Jun 15, 2009)

I enjoy the rosewater flavored 80% chocolate bars from they are rather expensive, but worth it. 
-DPC3


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## coynedj (Jun 1, 2008)

Amano chocolates are heavenly. At the price, they should be, but they're so flavorful that they must be eaten in small quantities.

https://www.amanochocolate.com/

Unfortunately, I can't afford to eat Amano every day. Lindt is very good and easily available.


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## ajo (Oct 22, 2007)

I prefer anything with a coca content over 70% so Green and Blacks, or Lindit are my preferred brands.

As an ex Chef I only use 70% when I make a dessert, as I find that I get the best results, it works in cakes, mousses, puddings ect. 

Has there been an expansion of specialty chocolate cafes recently? In the past 12 months there has been a real craze for them here in Australia.


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## vwdolly (Sep 26, 2009)

After Eights ..... just enjoying one (or two) now :icon_smile_big:
Denise


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## Padme (Aug 18, 2009)

I like to take a package of Ghirardelli 60% or Hersheys special dark, a can of sweetened cond. milk and microwave for about 2 minutes. Stir it (it will look funky for a bit) until it comes together, I put as many whole walnuts as it looks to take, a cup to 2 cups. Stir it quickly and spoon quickly into a sprayed 8 inch glass pyrex. Let it set. I've used dry roasted, unsalted nuts also. 
I ate too many of these yesterday with hot tea.


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## jerimiyah (Nov 15, 2009)

I love my lindt and godiva chocolate. Me and my fiance love those so much but i am also craving for the christopher elbow right now. Divine!


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## harvey_birdman (Mar 10, 2008)

Hershey's Special Dark Chocolate will always have a special place for me. It is quite satisfying, and readily available.

I enjoy many of the fancy dark chocolates as well, but always find myself going back to Hershey's Special Dark.


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## Droog (Aug 29, 2006)

Asbach Uralt brandy-filled.


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## harland (Oct 13, 2008)

Scharffen Berger 62% Semisweet Cacao is my current favorite.


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## mxgreen (Jan 18, 2009)

I don't know if my wife thinks it's the best, but it certainly is the most convenient: every time - and I mean, EVERY TIME - we go to the mall I have to buy her one (sometimes, two) pieces of chocolate covered marzipan at Godiva.


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