The trend towards mixing savory and sweet has been going on in the confectionery world for quite a while. Combining salty, crunchy pretzels and sweet milk chocolate is not a strange notion. There’s no reason that any number of herbs and spices can’t be combined with chocolate to great effect. It’s great to see different cultural takes on, like curry or smoked chili or lavender.
The Lindt Wasabi bar is certainly not the first chocolate bar to include the Japanese horseradish. But the others I’ve had were from Japan (the KitKat) or from small chocolatiers.
The bar was just introduced, but when I saw it at Target, it already had a Clearance label on it (marked down from $2.49 to $2.11) while the expiration isn’t until the end of November. I believe Lindt already has a successful bar with their Chili and I also liked the Touch of Sea Salt Dark bar.
This bar is not particularly dark, it’s only 47% cocoa solids. And the ingredients aren’t anything special either, the wasabi is artificial.
Though I don’t like a lot of spicy foods, such as those made with chili peppers, I am fond of horseradish and wasabi. (I also enjoy curry and ginger.)
The bar smells sweet and earthy, with notes of horseradish right away. But there’s also a sort of metallic note to that as well, like a bag of pennies. The bar has a wonderfully smooth melt, though it’s quite sweet. It’s smoky and the chocolate is rich but immediately overpowered by the prickly wasabi flavor. It’s not terribly spicy, but has a little mustard seed kick to it and warms my throat.
As far as an enjoyable confection, this is not. It’s a novelty to me, and 3.5 ounces was far too much. I’m fine with the occasional fine chocolate that uses it as an accent for some sort of combination but for the most part I want my chocolate to either challenge me to search my taste archives for flowers, tea, exotic fruits and fine cognacs or to comfort me with the gentle flavor of plain old chocolate.
Related Candies
- Haribo Hot Sticks
- Nestle KitKat Sakura Green Tea & Wasabi
- Jelly Belly Tabasco
- Hot Tamales 3 Alarm
- David’s Signature Beans Jelly Bean Sampler
- Lindt Holiday Almonds
- Vosges Bombalinas - Black Pearl Cashews
Name: |
Wasabi Dark (47%) |
RATING:
- SUPERB
- YUMMY
- TASTY
- WORTH IT
- TEMPTING
- PLEASANT
- BENIGN
- UNAPPEALING
- APPALLING
- INEDIBLE
|
Brand: |
Lindt |
Place Purchased: |
Target (Eagle Rock) |
Price: |
$2.11 (clearance) |
Size: |
3.5 ounces |
Calories per ounce: |
145 |
Categories: |
Candy, Lindt, Chocolate, 5-Pleasant, France, Target |
I bought this and didn’t notice the Wasabi at the middle of the package. I was more interested in the fact it was dark. It was on sale, so I bought 4. I opened it and stuck a piece in my mouth, I almost immediately spit it out!!yuk!!! tasted like something was wrong with it. I do not like anything that spicy, hot pepper, etc, so I guess it was not a good taste for me. I had bought Lindt excellence bars before and was completely satisfied. I doubt many will enjoy this flavor. Which by the way was artificial wasabi flavor, not anything real or tasty. I did call the company and spoke with a rep.
I explained my dislike with the bar. But please do your own taste test.
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