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Green & Black

Monday, November 9, 2009

Green & Black’s Peanut Milk Chocolate

Green & Black's Organic PeanutThe problem with Mr. Goodbar was that it was never Mr. Greatbar in the first place.  When Hershey’s replaced the cocoa butter in it, I completely lost interest. So, I’ve been looking for Mr. Betterbar because I still believed there could be a simple, satisfying combination of milk chocolate and fresh roasted peanuts. When I was at the Target in Harbor City shortly before Halloween I spotted this new bar: Green & Black’s Peanut. Since Green & Black’s is organic and expensive, I thought for sure it was going to be better.

After I got the bar home and photographed it, I read a little closer to see that it wasn’t just a plain milk chocolate with whole (or half) pieces of peanuts. No, this was something quite different but still equally compelling: Milk chocolate with caramelized peanuts and a hint of sea salt - 37% Cocoa Content.

Green & Black's Organic Peanut

The bar looks smooth and shiny. It also looks darker than most milk chocolate bars, somewhere between a true dark and a milk chocolate. I like how Green & Black’s bars are just a little thicker than the Lindt Excellence or Scharffen Berger. This is great especially when there are inclusions, because it leaves room for them to stack and still be surrounded by chocolate.

The bar smells incredible. It’s deep and smoky with a great authentic peanut scent along with the faint hint of caramelized sugar and milk. The texture is equally great, there’s a silky smooth melt and a sweet dairy flavor along with some dark bitter notes of both chocolate and toasted nuts. The peanut flavors are quite strong, and the nuts themselves are crunchy but there’s also the wonderful surprise of both little buttery toffee bits and a crisp toffee coating on some of the peanuts. The salt is also a nice complement to the flavors, keeping the rather sweet milk chocolate from becoming too sticky and setting off the woodsy notes.

I ate this bar up in less than two days. Then I went looking for another. I still haven’t found one, but when I see it, I’ll buy it. Oddly enough, it’s still not the Mr. Goodbar substitute I was looking for, but I’m going to just be happy with the serendipity that brought it into my life and be grateful that my mistakes are so tasty.

Related Candies

  1. Hershey’s Milk Chocolate with Peanuts (plus Mr. Goodbar)
  2. Koeze Cream-Nut Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cluster
  3. Hershey’s Miniatures
  4. Green & Black’s Ginger Chocolate
  5. Nestle Crunch with Peanuts
Name: Peanut Milk Chocolate (Organic)
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Green & Black's
Place Purchased: Target (Harbor City)
Price: $2.99
Size: 3.5 ounces
Calories per ounce: 184 (I don't think that's correct)
Categories: Chocolate, Peanuts, Toffee, Green & Black's, All Natural, Organic

POSTED BY Cybele AT 1:02 pm    

Friday, September 8, 2006

Green & Black’s Espresso Chocolate

Coffee is one of my favorite flavors. I’ve been searching for the perfect coffee chocolate bar, so when Green & Black’s offered to send me some chocolate to try (including some bars I’d had trouble getting a hold of around here), I jumped at it.

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Green & Black’s basically offers two different formats for their chocolate, the big 3.5 ounce bars and these boxes of 27 little tablets. I really like the boxes because I can have just a little chocolate and save it for later or share it. But it’s a lot of packaging, too, so I’m torn.

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Unlike other coffee infused bars that use whole beans to flavor the chocolate, Green & Black’s doesn’t have discernible grounds in the chocolate. Here’s what the package says:

To get the ultimate smooth dark espresso chocolate we’ve taken fresh organic espresso coffee and ground it until the coffee grains can no longer be felt on the tongue. Combining this with our dark chocolate gives the sensation of a strong espresso hit followed by the intense bittersweet chocolate flavors.

Thank goodness someone realized that I don’t want coffee grounds in my chocolate!

The overwhelming scent of these little pieces is coffee, strong black coffee. On the tongue the chocolate melts readily with no graininess but some bitter notes of espresso with flavors of licorice and sandalwood apparent as well. Just as advertised on the package the chocolate flavors emerge later as a support for the espresso, kind of like cream does in your coffee.

It’s not for the faint of heart, this is high octane stuff and I imagine there’s a good hit of caffeine in there, too. I’ve had to be careful not to eat them too late in the day lest they keep me up. I enjoyed it but the price for the box of tablets is a bit up there, for a better value grab the 3.5 ounce bar at Target (here in LA they’re selling them at Ralph’s now).

If you’re a reader from the UK, be sure to check their site for current competitions to win chocolate prizes.

UPDATE: I grabbed the retail price from Chocosphere, which as them at $13.99 a box. If you find it in stores it should be $8.99.

Name: Organic Espresso Dark Chocolate Squares
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Green & Black's
Place Purchased: sample from Green & Black's
Price: ~$13.95 $8.99 msrp
Size: 4.2 ounces
Calories per ounce: 157
Categories: Chocolate, Coffee, Italy, Green and Black's, Organic

POSTED BY Cybele AT 6:11 am    

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Green & Black’s Ginger Chocolate

After my rave review of Green & Black’s White Chocolate (which surprised even me) I got an email from a representative of Green & Black’s asking if I’d tried their Ginger bar. They were reading the blog and knew how much I loved ginger! Of course when I said I hadn’t seen it in the store yet (Target has a rather limited selection), she offered to send me some. (And some other bars which I’ll review in the coming weeks.)

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It’s a beautiful bar, with the same simple foil wrapping cloaked in a paper wrapper. The bar was shiny with small sections that gave a good snap. It smelled distinctly smoky and earthy. The dark chocolate is 60% cocoa content.

The first flavors I noticed when letting the chocolate melt on my tongue were a rather tart lemon and then a lingering burn of black pepper. Later the rooty, earthen flavors emerged, giving the bar more of a ginger flavor than a chocolate one.

The crystallization of the ginger gives the bar a more distinct graininess. It’s also rather sweet. I liked the spicy burn, and I found it very munchable, but the acidity kind of bothered me after a while. (But I have been eating a lot of pineapple lately and may be working with a disadvantaged tongue.)

The integration of the two flavors and textures isn’t quite right for me. Don’t get me wrong, it’s tasty, but I really wanted more essence of ginger and less graininess and of course more of the creaminess and flavors of the chocolate. I do like how generous they are with the ginger, much better than the ratios in the Dagoba chocolate bars I’ve had (their Chai bar has scant ginger content). I still favor the panned ginger chocolate pieces that I’ve been getting at Trader Joe’s, but if you don’t have access to those, this would be a good fallback treat.

I have a few more bars that they sent me to try, so I’ll be adding those to the site within the next couple of weeks. On my list is their Caramel, 70% Dark, Hazelnut & Currant and Espresso.

Name: Dark Chocolate with Crystallized Ginger Pieces
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Green & Black's Organic
Place Purchased: samples from Green & Black's
Price: sample but usually about $3.00-$3.50 a bar
Size: 3.5 ounces
Calories per ounce: 145
Categories: Chocolate, Ginger, Italy, Green & Black's, Organic

POSTED BY Cybele AT 8:01 am    

Tuesday, March 7, 2006

Green and Black’s White Chocolate

I don’t know what came over me. I bought a bar of white chocolate. I know there are purists out there who don’t think that white chocolate is chocolate at all. But if the stuff that is called mockolate (cocoa solids and hydrogenated or palm oils) can’t be called chocolate because it’s lacking cocoa butter, then this stuff that has cocoa butter but not the cocoa solids can at least be called white chocolate.

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Each year, as Easter gets closer, against my better judgment I want white chocolate. I don’t actually like white chocolate, it’s usually so sweet it makes my throat hurt and has some sort of electrical effect on my fillings so as to give me a jolt. But there it is, I get to craving it.

I know it has to do with those molded chocolates that my paternal grandmother used to put out on display at Easter. Little bunnies and molded white chocolate baskets filled with different colored white chocolate lollipops. It always smelled of vanilla, sugar and jelly beans ... far sweeter than anything had a right to be. It was like it was some sort of super-dense sugar confection. I’ve mentioned candy season before, and it’s important to note that Easter is the final holiday in Candy Season - so it’s probably the reason that I felt the need to gorge on the highest sugar content products available to me.

But I’d heard that the Green & Black’s Creamy Vanilla White Chocolate Bar was different. So, I bought one at Whole Foods. Rationalizing the whole time that I was doing it for you, dear readers. I was taking the white chocolate bullet for you, so that you might avoid it.

I opened the wrapper and instead of being greeted by something that looked like paraffin, it was creamy colored and flecked with real bits of vanilla. It smelled milky and sweet, but not sticky. A mix of cognac, butter and honey.

The first ingredient is still sugar (well, organic raw cane sugar), but it boasts 30% cocoa content and 28% milk. If you like the dairy milk flavor of European milk chocolates, like Cadbury, then I think you’ll like this bar. It’s sweet, but flavorful, with a good hit of bourbon notes in the vanilla. The bar melts smoothly and velvety on the tongue and leaves me wanting more.

I ate the whole bar yesterday at work, which is saying a lot. I don’t usually consume something this big in one sitting. (Even an eight hour sitting.) Something about a rainy day makes me want to snuggle up with a nice bar of sugar, dairy and fat. Mmmm.

This bar has done something dangerous, it’s changed my mind about white chocolate. Luckily, I’ve only come to the conclusion that I like Green & Black’s White Chocolate. I can’t give it a ten ... let’s face it, I’m prejudiced ... I just can’t do it. If I cave in and buy another one, I’ll come back here and update the rating. The true test is whether I want it after Easter is over.

Note: Though Green & Black’s is a UK company, the bar was made in Italy. Green & Black’s is now owned by Cadbury Schweppes. This bar is organic, but not fair trade certified.

Name: Creamy Vanilla White Chocolate
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Green & Black's Organic
Place Purchased: Whole Foods
Price: $3.29
Size: 3.5 ounces
Calories per ounce: 157
Categories: White Chocolate, Italy, Green & Black's, Organic

POSTED BY Cybele AT 9:45 am    

Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Green & Black’s Maya Gold

Name: Maya Gold
Brand: Green & Black’s (Organic)
Place Purchased: gift
Price: unknown
Size: 3.5 oz
Calories per ounce: 164
Type: Chocolate

It’s strange, but I got this bar (two different sizes) as a gift from two different people the same week. They’ve got good taste (thanks Ruth & Jay)! I’d first tried Green & Black’s last Thanksgiving when my sister-in-law brought a box of the little medallions to dinner. They were super, and not at all grainy like some other organic chocolates I’d tried.

Green & Black also uses Fair Trade suppliers for their cocoa and also organic. Green & Black was purchased by Cadbury Schweppes earlier this year.

This bar is a little different because it’s flavored. Maya Gold is dark chocolate with orange and spices. Think of that orange spice tea. The chocolate is smooth, rather sweet but doesn’t overpower the chocolate flavors. The main spicy flavor note that I detect is clove, which I don’t normally like, but it works well with orange. There’s a little hint of vanilla and perhaps some nutmeg.

Overall, it’s not my favorite flavor of chocolate, but the consistency of the chocolate itself is very good. Not quite as buttery as the Chocovic last week, but sweeter and I can see myself eating more of this in one sitting.

Other reading - here’s more about G&B’s Fair Trade Maya Gold bar.

Rating - 8 out of 10

POSTED BY Cybele AT 9:16 am     All NaturalCandyReviewGreen & BlackChocolateEthically SourcedOrganic8-TastyUnited Kingdom

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