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May 2014

Friday, May 30, 2014

Artisan du Chocolat Black Cardamom

Artisan du Chocolat Black CardamomI have a love for cardamom, and my recent trip to London did not disappoint when it came to cardamom-infused confections.

I was happy to visit the Artisan du Chocolat boutique within the Selfridge’s Food Hall. Not only did I get to choose from the full array of chocolate bars that they make, they also had one of their most famous chocolates that I’d been eager to try ... Pearls. They’re about the size of a hazelnut in the shell, spherical and come in light colors like silver, peach and creamy white that are dusted with pearlized color. It’s a stunning presentation. The chocolates themselves (I tried two) are decent. I had a caramel, which was covered in milk chocolate, so it was salty enough but still quite sweet and milky. The other was a hazelnut praline, which was also very sweet but also satisfyingly nutty. They’re quite expensive and nothing that I would buy on a regular basis.

So, back to what I did purchase, the Artisan du Chocolat Black Cardamom 70% Cacao

Artisan Du Chocolat Black Cardamom

Though the bar is called Black Cardamom, a mix of green and black cardamom is infused into the 70% dark chocolate made from South American cocoa beans. The bar is made from a simple mold with well defined segments that snap easily into portions.

The smell of the bar is woodsy and deep, a bit like burnt brownies. The cardamom notes aren’t really evident until I put it in my mouth. The cardamom is infused smoothly into the chocolate, there are not fibery hulls or little seeds. The flavor of cardamom is interesting, it’s a bit of a cross between nutmeg, jasmine and lavender.

The melt of the chocolate is good, it’s smooth and has a dark flavor and dry finish and a very slight raisin or raspberry note to it. The cardamom flavors are fresh and linger much longer than the chocolate notes.

Overall, it’s one of the best cardamom chocolate bars I’ve had. The portion is good, I found this size bar to be two servings. The price is a bit steep for the size and of course it’s hard to find in the United States. The company is artisan, but not terribly transparent about the sourcing of the ingredients beyond the basics that I’ve listed here.

Made with soy lecithin. May also contain traces of sesame, nuts and milk but is otherwise consider vegan.

I’ve purchased a few Artisan du Chocolat bars in the past, but haven’t featured any reviews to date. Since these bars are still available, here are a few tasting notes I made a couple of years ago:

Artisan du Chocolat Orchid & Orange BlossomThe Artisan du Chocolat Orchid & Orange Blossom is also a 45 gram bar and made with 72% cacao. The beans are a mix of Venezuelan and Mexican cacao.

The package is similar to the Black Cardamom bar, it’s a simple, glossy paperboard box. The bar inside is just wrapped in a clear cellophane bag. It’s easy to open, and because it’s not exactly form-fitted, it’s easy to get any remnants back in the package to seal up for later.

All of the bars I’ve tried from Artisan du Chocolat also use the same mold. It’s rather generic, with no special lettering or embossed designs ... it’s just a series of well-proportioned pieces.

Artisan Du Chocolat Orchid & Orange Blossom

Orange blossom is forward and loud. The soft flavor does well with the strong chocolate. Tangy notes, a little soapy at times and perfumey. Was much more subtle when I first opened the bar, but got stronger as the month went on. Chocolate is less sweet, smooth though has a dry finish and woodsy quality overall. There’s the slightest bitter note towards the end, but it fades to a rather fresh note that lingers.

Rating: 7 out of 10

Artisan du Chocolat Almond MilkThe Artisan du Chocolat Almond Milk is a bit of a change up. Instead of a fusion bar, as the previous two were, this is from the line called “break the mould” which includes their 100% cacao bar and sugar free bars in both milk and dark chocolate.

The bar is what it sounds like, instead of using dairy milk, Artisan du Chocolate substitutes almond milk ... well, specifically partially defatted almonds (26%), to boost the creamy texture of the bar and even out some of the chocolate’s intensity. The bar contains 40% cacao, but a lot of that is cocoa butter, not cocoa solids (probably because the almonds are defatted and the cocoa butter is necessary to maintain the chocolate texture).

There is no nutritional panel, so I don’t know what the fat, protein or sugar content is here. It would be interesting to find out, as chocolate itself has a fair amount of protein as do almonds.

Artisan du Chocolat Almond Milk

Very light looking for a 40% bar. Light cinnamon note to the bar. The melt is not quick, but very smooth. Creamy with a cashew-like nut flavor. Cocoa notes are really watered down. Lightly spicy without any actual spice.

Interesting bar, far too sweet than I’d want but at least it doesn’t have that sticky thick melt that dairy milk has. I enjoyed it as a confection, but it in no way replicated the experience of milk chocolate and didn’t have enough of a chocolate boost to satisfy me either. I’d actually throw it closer into the white chocolate category (can someone attempt an almond-cocoa butter white bar or maybe a cashew-cocoa butter white bar?).

Rating: 7 out of 10 (only because it’s dairy free - it’d be 6 out of 10 if it were going head to head with other 40% cacao bars)

I enjoy Artisan du Chocolat’s flavor mixes, there are a lot of herbs and spices and florals that they utilize that I don’t see in other confections here in the United States. But they’re not for everyday consumption, because of the price and difficulty to find.



Name: Black Cardamom 70% Cacao
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Artisan du Chocolat
Place Purchased: Selfridges (London, UK)
Price: £ 3.50 ($5.85)
Size: 1.588 ounces
Calories per ounce:
Categories: All Natural, Candy, Chocolate, 9-Yummy, United Kingdom

POSTED BY Cybele AT 1:11 pm     All NaturalCandyReviewChocolate9-YummyUnited States

Thursday, May 29, 2014

Eat with Your Eyes: Polly

Sockerbit, the Swedish candy shop in New York City, finally opened a West Coast store ... and it’s walking distance from my office.

Sockerbit - Polly

The past couple of times I’ve been over there, I’ve picked up a scoop of Polly. They’re little nougat nuggets dipped in chocolate. They’re cute, kind of like Milk Duds in the consistency of the chew but with a rum note to them. Here’s my original review of selections I picked up in the New York City store.

There’s a world of candy out there ... what are you eating this summer?

POSTED BY Cybele AT 12:44 pm     CandySwedenHighlightShopping

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

York Peppermint Pattie Minis

York MinisHershey’s won the The Most Innovative New Product Award at the 2014 Sweets & Snacks Expo last week for their new York Peppermint Pattie Minis.

This innovative new product innovatively reduced the size of a regular York Peppermint Pattie to the diameter of a penny. Hershey’s previously used this innovative innovation to shrink the size of their Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, KitKat and Rolo. It’s a stunning development in the world of confections ... duplicated only by the recent innovations by Mars (with their Bites format of Snickers, Milky Way, Simply Caramel, 3 Musketeers and Twix) and Wrigley’s (Starburst Minis). The morselization world is actually quite busy and crowded.

York Minis

It’s not Hershey’s fault that they were declared innovative (well, they probably entered the product in that category). The point is that there is an new, unwrapped version of York Peppermint Patties.

The package is simple, though it’s King Size bag holding 2.5 ounces, it was still listed as 1 portion on the nutrition panel and had no front of package tally of the calories and serving. Even though it’s a massive amount of candy, because it’s almost all sugar, it’s pretty low in calories: 260.

The pieces are really just tiny peppermint patties, a fraction of the size of the small snack sized versions, which are the preferred size for me. In the case of these, the ratios are particularly nice, as there’s just slightly more consistent distribution of chocolate in each bite ... because each piece is a bite. The chocolate is quite bitter, and though it’s not particularly creamy, it sets off the sweet and soft fondant well.

York Minis

It’s not innovative, but it is successful. The texture difference from Junior Mints is notable. Junior Mints have a runnier center, a thicker chocolate shell and a light waxy glaze that keeps it from melting right away.

Like the other sizes of York Peppermint Patties, the Minis are made in Mexico. There is no notation on the traceability of the cacao for the coating. York Peppermint Patties contain egg whites, soy and milk. There’s nothing on the package about gluten or nuts/peanuts, but the AskHershey.com website specifically says that York Minis are not gluten free.

Related Candies

  1. Airheads Bites
  2. Giant York Peppermint Patties (1 Pound)
  3. Nestle Butterfinger Bites
  4. Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Honey Mints
  5. Rolo Minis
  6. Zachary Mini Mints
  7. Hershey’s York Pieces
  8. York Mints
  9. Junior Mints - Heart Shaped


Name: York Peppermint Pattie Minis
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Hershey’s
Place Purchased: 7-11 (Sunset Junction)
Price: $1.89
Size: 2.5 ounces
Calories per ounce: 104
Categories: Candy, Morselization, Hershey's, Chocolate, Kosher, Mints, 8-Tasty, Mexico, 7-11

POSTED BY Cybele AT 1:07 pm     CandyMorselizationReviewHershey'sChocolateFondantKosherMints8-TastyMexico7-11

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Twix Unwrapped Bites

Twix Unwrapped BitesThe final candy bar in the Mars pantheon to be morselized is the Twix Bar. The new unwrapped bite size version was just released this month in stores.

Twix Unwrapped Bites are exactly what they sound like, a bag of tiny little Twix bars (more like nuggets) all jumbled up, out of the wrapper and ready to eat.

Mars already makes bites which include the primary elements for the classic bar version, but have different ratios because of the miniaturization process. It’s an uneven transfer to the new format, in some case I prefer the new ratios, in others I think that one or more elements is lacking. So far I’ve tried: Milky Way, Milky Way Simply Caramel, 3 Musketeers, and Snickers.

Twix Bites

The little lumps aren’t really that pretty, but they’re chocolatey, so that’s appealing. Like the other bites, they get scuffed up tumbling around in the package, so they don’t have the elegant, shiny ripples of the long fingers. They smell sugary and sweet, just like regular Twix bars.

They’re not as messy as I find regular Twix, as I pop the whole thing in my mouth at once. The crunch of the cookie is good, there’s a bit higher ratio of chocolate in this version, and a good caramel chew to bring the elements together. Sweet, milky, a mild sandy crunch ... a good blend of textures. Like the other bites, it’s easy to mix them in with other items to create a custom mix. I think this might be good with a Chex Mix if you’re a sweet & savory person.

Twix Mix & Twix Bites

I thought it was interesting to note that in the United Kingdom, Mars also introduced a morsel version of Twix last year. It’s a little different though. Since I knew that the Twix Unwrapped Bites were coming to the United States, I made sure to find the Twix Mix while I was in London back in March so I could compare them.

Twix Mix and Twix Bites

The format of Twix Mix is actually a mix of little nuggets of biscuit (cookie) and caramel. They’re slightly different shapes, so if you’d prefer to eat one or the other, or make sure you’re mixing them, you can pick them out. The caramel pieces are just little spheres of a firm caramel covered in a very milky, thin chocolate shell. The biscuit pieces are a little flatter.

Twix Mix

The effect is actually quite nice. The ratios don’t match the classic Twix bar at all, and the milk chocolate is much milkier and the whole experience is a bit more on the malt side than the usual emphasis on the toffee/caramel notes. As a confectionery snack, they’re good and different enough from a bridge mix or something as traditional as Milk Duds.

The American Twix Unwrapped Bites have no notation on the packaging regarding the cocoa sourcing yet, though Mars promises that is coming in the next few years. They contain dairy, soy and gluten and may contain traces of peanuts.



Name: Twix Unwrapped Bites
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Mars
Place Purchased: Target (Eagle Rock)
Price: $2.99
Size: 7 ounces
Calories per ounce: 142
Categories: Candy, Morselization, Mars, Caramel, Chocolate, Cookie, Kosher, 7-Worth It, United Kingdom, Target

POSTED BY Cybele AT 11:45 am     CandyMorselizationReviewMarsCaramelChocolateCookieKosher7-Worth ItUnited StatesTarget

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Eat with your Eyes: Spearmint Starlights

Coastal Bay Starlight Mints Spearmint

Though it’s easy to find starlight mints, they’re not exactly the most desirable candy out there. It’s just a dependable little mint. It’s fun to see them changed up with a slightly different flavor tweak. I’m rather fond of Spearmint Starlights, which actually go with fruit flavors a little better than peppermint ... if you were pairing your hard candies.

POSTED BY Cybele AT 12:13 pm     CandyHighlightPhotography

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