Etisa – Johannisbeer-Schokolade

I bought this bar last November in a tea shop in Meran in Italy. I wanted to buy some local chocolate, and they had these filled bars there. Readers of this blog might know that I’m not too fond of filled bars… and mixtures of chocolate with anything that is not nut or coffee has a hard stand with me. But as I had to choose from a selection of filled bars, I chose one I’ve never ever had: Chocolate filled with red currant.

This chocolate is handmade in Germany by Chococult for Venustis. The red currants are from Vinschgau, where Venustis is located. According to the homepage of Chococult, the couverture used is from Felchlin (might explain why it is so yummie…)

The cacao used is Maracaibo Clasificado 65%. And Felchlin writes this about this cocoa: Grand Cru couverture made of noble cacao from the region Sur del Lago, Maracaibo, Venezuela. The harmonious combination of coffee and plum aromas enhances the distinct cacao flavour. The traditional, gentle processing method unfolds the aromas of orange blossom and cinnamon. These lend a festive character to Maracaibo Clasificado 65 %, which is further enhanced by the final sensation of a light, sweet raisin bouquet.

The list on ingredients of my chocolate bar is printed on the back: cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, bourbon vanilla, red currants, pectine (from apples).

In the box together with the chocolate bar, they put a brochure explaining the origin of the berries, some facts about red currants and about the origin of the chocolate (like that it’s fair trade cocoa).

The bar has a square format. In the middle, the Etisa writing is molded, but it’s barely visible in my bar. Etisa, by the way, comes from the name of the river Etsch (Adige), the second longest river in Italy.

The bar consists of two thin layers of chocolate, filled with something that looks like red currant jam. The chocolate bar has a good snap, these thin layers of chocolate break easily and with a clear snap. In the jam-like filling, I could spot individual berries. And tastewise, the tart flavour of the red currants fits perfectly to the cocoa flavour of the chocolate. All this fruitiness makes the bar quite light (think about sophisticated yogurette or something like that), and way sweetwer than the 65% cocoa would be if left alone.

This bar made me reconsider my feelings for filled bars. Chocolate combined with fruit can be nice! In this bar, it certainly is. The jam does not dominate the chocolate, and the chocolate leaves enough room for the redcurrants.

Original Beans – Beni Wild Harvest 66%

Hey, see! It’s a picture of a chocolate bar lying on the table on our balcony. That means, spring is finally here. There’s still room for improvement (too much rain), but it’s finally warm (and sometimes sunny ).

I bought this bar while I was doing my Christmas shopping last December. This was a successful day; the first two things I bought were a pair of shoes for me, and a chocolate bar, also for me. I bought the bar at the Changemaker shop.

The bar is from Original Beans, which was founded in 2008 and is based in Amsterdam. Each bar has a tracking number, if it is entered on their page, one can see where the chocolate comes from and one can follow their ongoing conservation efforts in the chocolate’s rainforest of origin.

The chocolate is made in Switzerland. It is not stated who makes the chocolate for Original Beans, but I guess it’s Felchlin. The chocolate has been conched 24h.

On the back of the bar, they write that for each bar sold, the farmers would plant a new tree. Not a chocolate tree, but whatever is needed to protect the biodiversity of the rain forest.

The list of ingredients: cocoa beans, raw cane sugar, coca butter. The cocoa butter and sugar are certified organic. The packaging of the chocolate bar is 100% grown on trees. The foil that looks like aluminium foil is made of wood cellulose forests and a super-thin, silver aluminum layer. Here you’ll find an article about how they tested the composting of the foil.

The chocolate has a nice mold, it looks like a sun. (and yes, of course the chocolate started to bloom before I finally opened it)

The chocolate has a great snap. It also has a good bite; but I prefer to let a piece melt instead of just eating it. Tastewise, the bar is quite subtle. The melt feels minty cold… and tastewise… fruity, some coffee? I’m still not at my best in describing flavours. And now I’ve eaten the very last piece, so there will be no more tasing (unfortunately). But I’d buy another bar to continue the tasting. Or eating. The bar is nice. I’d buy it again. You should do as well.
There will be more trees.

Fuchs – Matterhörnli

Zermatt: That means the Matterhorn. And as I spent some days skiing in Zermatt in March, of course I had to get my own Matterhörnli (-li is a common diminutive in Swiss German). These Matterhörnli are made and sold at bakery Fuchs.

The Matterhörnli are small, filled chocolate pieces in the form of: Matterhorn (who would have guessed). I bought the smallest mixed box… that means two pieces of grand cru maracaibo and three pieces of nougat.

The list of ingredients is on the back: sugar, cocoa butter, butter, full milk powder, anticaking agent (Tricalcium phosphate), cocoa mass, malt extract, almond extract, skim milk poweder, soy lecithin, table salt, bourbon vanille, cream, Cointreau.

The Hörnli are clearly hand made. And I think that while they are no match to the real thing, they are cute.

My favourites were the dark ones. Unfortunately, I only had two of them (and I had to share them!). The filling of the dark one was truffes like, thick and creamy with a well balanced sweetness / acerbity.

The light ones were filled with a nougat like mass. These were not bad, but never as creamy as the dark ones. So, I think next time I’ll get myself a big box of the dark ones .

Sprüngli – Criollo de Maracaibo mit Valencia Mandeln und Orangenstücken

This bar was not my bar, I was just the one who ate most of it. It was a Christmas gift for my bf. It’s a chocolate bar from Sprüngli, the local confiserie in Zürich. Famous for their Luxemburgerli and truffes, they also make decent chocolate bar.

This bar here is made with chocolate from Maracaibo beans, mixed with almonds and pieces of orange. The cocoa content is 49%.

The list of ingredients is printed on the back: sugar, cocoa mass, cocoa butter, almonds (12%), cream powder, orange pieces, vanilla.
Orange pieces does not mean what one would normally understand from these words. It’s not pieces of orange, but actually orange pulp, sugar, apple, pineapple, aroma, gellant. Orange pieces does sound way more appetizing than this.

But even though the orange pieces are a little weird, I liked this bar. The almonds are crunchy, the orange gives it a fruity touch. Maybe there was a little much orange…. it tasted like orange oil was added. And the chocolate was creamy, but I can not say too much, because of the orange flavour.

Butlers Dark Chocolate

I ate this chocolate bar while on holiday in Ireland last year. I bought it in a Butlers in Dublin, if I remember right, I bought it in Grafton Street.

We did not visit Ireland for its chocolate, but when I saw the chocolate shop, I had to go in and buy a bar (of course). I had the choice of bars with berries, butter scotch, mint… but I decided to try the most simple bar, to really try the chocolate.

The ingredients of the bars is listed on the back: cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter, soy lecithin and vanilla. The cocoa content of the bar was 70%.

So, how did this Irish chocolate bar taste? Unremarkable. I remember that I tried it and I was wondering why there was no chocolate flavour. The bar was bland, and boring. Maybe I should have bought a bar, where they added some content (butterscotch for example), to make it more interesting.
The bar did not taste bad, it just did not have much taste to start with.

We had breakfast in the Butlers at the airport. That breakfast was good, if maybe a little expensive (but that’s airports for you). But I did not buy any more chocolate.

Acherer – Kakaobruch

I bought this Acherer chocolate bar in Meran in South Tyrol last fall. I bought it in the wonderful Seibstock shop, where I had a hard time deciding which bar to buy…. they all looked great. In the end I chose one I was sure I’d enjoy, a bar with pieces of coca.

Andreas Acherer has a patisserie in Bruneck, the pieces of cake and patisserie shown on his webpage look divine. The chocolate bar looks good as well (and it’s all I got). It’s wrapped in a plastic foil and then put in a box, with a window where one can see the pieces of cocoa on the chocolate bar.

The list of ingredients can be found on an extra label on the back. Interestingly, it’s only written in Italian: cacao, sugar, cocoa butter, cocoa beans, soy lecithin, natural vanilla extract. The cocoa content is 62%.

The bar weights 80g.

When I opened the bar, I saw that the only pieces of cocoa on the surace on the bar could be found where the window of the box was. First, I thought I was cheated… and then I saw that there are pieces of cocoa all over the inside of the bar.

Tastewise, this bar has for me found the perfect balance between acerbity and sweetness and the cocoa pieces added the right crunch. The taste of the chocolate lingers long, even after all of the chocolate has been swallowed. I cannot describe the taste of the chocolate, I’d call it simply chocolatey.

So, whenever you are in Bruneck, go and have a piece of cake from Andreas Acherer, or buy a bar of chocolate.

Chocolates by Tomes – 72% Dark Chocolate

I received this chocolate at the end of May. I took these pictures before Christmas. I’m slooooooow with working on pictures, and apparently also with eating chocolate.
That second part is not entirely true… I just ate too much chocolate and sweets over the holidays that I did not take pictures of, so that I didn’t get to actually eat the chocolate bar I’ve already taken the pictures of.

But see, the before Christmas fact manifests itself by the wooden stars that I used to photograph the chocolate on. I saw them in a flower shop a few days before Christmas, and I liked them so much that they came home with me.

But now, let’s talk about the chocolate bar. It was a gift from a friend who went on holidays to South Africa. Chocolates by Tomes is, as I read from their homepage, a small South African chocolate company which was founded in 2005. They source all the ingredients from Africa. They produce chocolate bars, drinking chocolate, cakes, truffles… whatever you can make with chocolate. You find many mouth watering pictures on their homepage.

The bar I have here, is a plain 72% chocolate bar. It weights 35g and comes in square form. The ingredients are printed on the back: cocoa mass, cocoa butter, sugar, soy lecithin, natural vanilla (from Madagascar). Short and simple, the way it should be.

Inside the paper, the chocolate bar is wrapped in golden aluminium foil. The chocolate has a beautiful colour, it’s a warm dark brown. And to be true, I did not hope that this chocolate looks that good. After all, it was bought in South Africa, travelled around with my friend, stayed during summer in my kitchen closet. And looks stunning in January, after more than one temperature change the bar had to endure.

The aroma of the bar is warm, I think I can smell the vanilla. The snap is good, a clear sound when I bite of a piece. The taste is warm, reminds me of cake (think a very dense brownie). Add this to a good melt, and so the cake like chocolate turns itself into chocolate cream quite fast after I bite of a piece. I’m still not able to distinguish the flavours of a chocolate bar, but I can say that the composition of all of them work for me.

Actually, on the day I took the pictures, I tried a piece as well. And I did not like the taste of the chocolate. I could recognise that this is well made chocolate, but something in the taste put me off. The bar reminded me a lot of the Arriba bars I tried last year and could not get friendly to. So, it’s really interesting that I do not always like the same chocolate. I can learn from this to always give chocolate bars second chances (and not only chocolate bars…).

So, whenever you get the chance to try any Chocolates by Tomes chocolate, I say go for it. I don’t think I will have the opportunity again soon.