Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Astor Chocolate Lobsters

Astor Chocolate LobstersIf you haven’t noticed yet, this week is about vacation candy.

This box of Chocolate Lobsters from Astor Chocolate are not from my vacation but someone else’s ... this is the kind of product that friends bring home to the folks who didn’t go on the trip.

The package calls it A Sweet Taste of Boston and features a vista of Boston Harbor with sailboats & puffy white clouds. (At least I hope that’s Boston ... as I mentioned, I’m not the one who took the trip. My only trip to Boston was on a frigid weekend in February and all I did was go see a play, share a hotel room with a half a dozen other grad students and then get back in our rented van and drive back to Pittsburgh.)

It’s a big box, eight inches by eleven. After taking off the shrink wrap the sleeve of the box slides to reveal a tray of 14 solid milk chocolate pieces shaped like lobsters.

Made by Astor Chocolate of Lakewood, New Jersey, they’re part of their line of Premium Gourmet Souvenir Chocolate. This one, I think, is from their Destination Chocolates for Travel Retail (wide variety of cities to choose from).

Astor Chocolate Lobsters

Unlike real lobsters, these are Kosher.

It seems like a bit of over-packaging at first. The lobsters are tucked into little sections in the tray but there’s a good 2 inches of space around the perimeter. But then I figured that maybe this was to protect the candies on what was assumed to be some travel. Stuffed into a suitcase, perhaps left in a hot car. All in all, it did its job because these arrived pristine.

Each lobster weighs about 10 grams (.35 ounces), is a little over two inches long and is basically two bites ... unless you want to be squirrelly and nibble off each of the claws and the tail separately.

They smell quite sweet and mostly like fake vanilla (though the ingredients say real vanilla).

The snap is clean and distinct.

The texture is smooth, not quite silky as there’s a slight grain to it, but quite pleasing. It has a bit of a cooling effect on the tongue but is quite sweet throughout. It seems a bit easier & more satisfying to chew than let melt.

The cocoa & milk flavors were mild, a little nutty and a little woodsy ... mostly what sold this was the texture - even though it’s atypical it was still munchable, which is the whole point of a novelty shaped chocolate gift.

As a fun little treat from afar, they’re admirable, certainly decent quality ... though not quite the gourmet chocolate promised on the website. The mold was cute and each one was really well done - no voids or bubbles and with a good sheen.

Related Candies

  1. Madelaine’s Foiled Milk Chocolate
  2. Riegelein Confiserie Hollow Chocolate
  3. All Gummies Gourmet Fruity Fish (Swedish Fish knock-off)
  4. Lake Champlain & See’s Bunny Battle
  5. Palmer Bee Mine
  6. Boston Baked Beans
Name: Chocolate Lobsters
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Astor Chocolate
Place Purchased: gift
Price: unknown
Size: 5 ounces
Calories per ounce: 156
Categories: Chocolate, United States, Kosher

POSTED BY Cybele AT 8:55 am Tracker Pixel for Entry    

Comments
  1. OMG, when i saw “lobster chocolate” i kind gagged, but glad to know it’s the shape, not the actual taste, LOL..awww but i enjoy ur blog. I alway came by but never knew i could follow it with my blogspot..weird i know, but now i do!! oxoxoxox

    Love it!

    Comment by Painthead on 8/12/09 at 2:39 pm #
  2. Astor provides the chocolates we place on the pillows in our guest rooms. At least, I THINK we still do chocolates. With the economy and all, we might have opted out of ‘em. But not having chocolates is certainly something I would have received complaints about, so we probably still have them. Anyway, when my buddy worked in housekeeping, I’d get my fill. Certainly not gourmet, but TASTY.

    Comment by chocolate and whine on 8/12/09 at 5:47 pm #
  3. Tricia's avatar

    My sister and I have a running joke with me giving her lobster-themed items, I’m going to have to look for these when I’m in Boston next month! Although then I’d still have to ship them to her, so hmmm, maybe not…

    Comment by Tricia on 8/13/09 at 10:22 am #
  4. Lobsters.  If course they’d come from a company names Astor. wink

    Comment by Maggi on 8/14/09 at 9:45 am #
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