Alter Eco, like Endangered Species, is an environmentally-conscious chocolate company, and I give their Deep Dark Blackout bar a four. Are you surprised? You’re not. It’s chocolate, it’s dark, it’s good, and I dig it.
Equal Exchange delivers again, fam. I’d be hard-pressed to name anyone who makes a better no-frills chocolate bar.
Our magical journey into Kroger’s magical journey into the world of organic fair-trade chocolate continues with their Simple Truth baobab dark chocolate bar. What is a baobab? It’s a thick-trunked tree that you can find in the southern hemisphere, whose fruit sun-dries naturally on the branch and–in chocolate–is God’s uncontested greatest gift to the human tongue.
Holy wow that is some good chocolate. I’m not normally a fruit-in-my-desserts kinda guy, so when I put this cherry bar in my mouth and found it crazy amazing, I was as surprised as anyone. From bite one, you’re getting the tasty texture of firm dark chocolate with crunchy cherry bits. It’s deliciously sugary, slightly tart, and sharp enough to please dark chocolate junkies like me. Oh, Tony’s Chocolonely Cherry Meringue Dark Chocolate with 51% Cacao, I think I’m in love.
There’s a story behind this bar. Awhile ago, I swung by Kroger with my Plan X Media partner-in-ministry, Ash Green, to restock my chocolate supply. The standard price for the Vosges caramel bar you see above was $5.49, and while I like caramel well enough, I prefer straight-up dark chocolate, so I normally wouldn’t have given it a second thought. But, as Ash pointed out, the bar was on sale for $2.79, an absolutely crazy markdown. He talked me into grabbing the Vosges bar on sale, and I’m glad he did. This is the good stuff.
When Equal Exchange goes dark, they don’t mess around. There must be something fierce in their Panama chocolate beans, because this bar starts sharp and only gets sharper.
I normally don’t like fruit flavors in my chocolate; in the words of The Offspring, you gotta keep ’em separated. But you know what I’ll make an exception for? Orange. Especially if it’s Theo’s Orange.
Equal Exchange’s Dark Chocolate Mint Crunch is one of my favorite mint chocolates. The real selling point is its crunchy texture, which I have yet to find in any other mint. It has a strong sweet flavor without eclipsing the mint, which is potent enough in its own right. At 67% cacao, it’s fairly dark, and if you’re accustomed to milk chocolate, you may find the dark tones overpowering at first. But if you’re a mint fan who likes a little texture, you’ll want to get your hands on this bar. It’s good stuff!
Chocolate Book 