Thursday, April 17, 2014

Valrhona Blond Dulcey

Valrhona Blond DulceyOne of the most popular luxury chocolate brands is Valrhona, which is made in France. Though you may not know the name or the label, chances are you’ve had their chocolate because they’re used so widely in the pastry and confectionery trade. Though I rarely buy their bars, I am fond of their feves, which are little oblong chocolate disks which are great for baking or simply eating.

Since it’s Easter, I thought I’d review one of the iconic confections of the season: White Chocolate. Valrhona introduced a new white chocolate bar last year called Valrhona Blond Dulcey 32%. It’s like a dark white chocolate, if such a thing could exist. It’s 32% cocoa butter, which is more cocoa butter than some chocolates have for all of their combined cacao content. The next ingredient by percentage (32%) is then whole milk (in the form of whole milk powder, skim milk powder, butter and whey), then there’s sugar and some vanilla, soy lecithin and salt.

If you think that sounds rich, it is. That’s 50% of your saturated fat in half a bar. When I calculated the calories per ounce, it came out to 195 (that can’t possibly be right). But it’s also 3 grams of protein and a full 15% of your daily RDA of calcium.

Valrhona Dulcey

The bar is thick, which is nice considering that it’s only 2.46 ounces, smaller than the usual 3.5 or 3 ounce tablet that I’ve become accustomed to as a premium bar. The diagonals score the bar well enough that it can easily be broken into these irregular but perfect bite-sized pieces.

Valrhona Dulcey

The color is just what you see here, a butterscotch color instead of the creamy yellow-white or most cocoa butter confections. The literature about the Blond Dulcey makes note of the biscuit flavors along with a touch of apricot. They’re not wrong, it does have a rich cereal note to it, along with some toffee and maybe a light hint of lemon.

Valrhona Blond Dulcey

The bar has a good melt, though I admit that it’s a little fudgy at the start. I’d say that’s more from the milk solids than any sugar-grain. It’s lightly salty at first, there’s over 100 mg of salt. It is like a digestive biscuit flavor, just lightly toasted, sweet but not so much that it hurt my throat. There was no slick or greasy coating in my mouth afterwards as many white confections made with tropical oils can leave.The vanilla note is overpowered by the sort of toffee and burnt sugar flavors, though I would have enjoyed some bourbon or tobacco in there.

I found my bar when I was in London, though they do sell them in the United States. It was about $8, which it’s pretty steep for a smallish bar like this. I’ll probably stick with the Green & Blacks or the Ritter Sport if I can find it.

This may be one of those white chocolate bars that converts people who don’t like white chocolate. Or just something for those who do like white chocolate to munch on. It’s a lot more satisfying than many other white bars that I eat, I didn’t feel the need to eat the whole thing. That may be a function of the high protein content as well.

Related Candies

  1. Dove Promises White Chocolate
  2. Amsterdam on Foot: Three Chocolate Shops
  3. Chuao Chocolate Blocks from LEGOLAND
  4. Askinosie White Chocolate (Plain, Nibble & Pistachio)
  5. Ritter Sport White Chocolate with Hazelnuts
  6. Green and Black’s White Chocolate


Name: Blond Dulcey
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Valrhona
Place Purchased: Harvey Nichols (London)
Price: £4.75 ($8.00)
Size: 2.47
Calories per ounce: 160
Categories: All Natural, Candy, Valrhona Chocolate, Kosher, White Chocolate, 8-Tasty, France

POSTED BY Cybele AT 1:49 pm Tracker Pixel for Entry     All NaturalCandyReviewKosherWhite Chocolate8-TastyFrance

Comments
  1. 32% is not that unusual for white chocolate. There are plenty of artisan makers who go as high as upper 30s and even low 40s.

    Comment by Jason on 4/18/14 at 9:49 am #
  2. Cybele's avatar

    Jason - I find artisan white chocolate to be quite a rarity. Maybe you know of some I don’t.

    The Ritter Sport, which is decent quality, is only 20% cocoa butter. Green & Black’s is 30%. Askinosie is definitely higher, at 34% (but they also use goat’s milk).

    I would love to get my hands on some 40% cocoa butter white chocolate.

    Comment by Cybele on 4/18/14 at 10:17 am #
  3. I found Des Alpes Opal Couverture (http://www.auiswisscatalogue.com/500506/1-CHOC.html) being described as 39% cocoa butter.  (http://www.in2food.com/catalog/products.php?pid=1469)

    Comment by Steve on 4/18/14 at 11:38 am #
  4. According to C-spot.com the best of the heavy weight white chocolates are

    Fruition Toasted White 38%
    Bonnat Ivoire 40%
    Olive and Sinclair Buttermilk White 45%

    Comment by Jason on 4/19/14 at 11:15 am #
  5. Having recently tried this chocolate, I found it to be one of the best White chocolate bars I have ever had. It puts Green and Black’s and Lindt to shame. I believe Valrhona also carries a true white chocolate bar which I will need to try soon.

    Comment by Jen on 4/22/14 at 10:46 pm #
  6. I just returned from Paris, where I purchased so much chocolate that the Air France flight attendant stopped and laughed at me when she saw the 30-odd bars in my carry-on! 

    The Valrhona Dulcey was one of them and…  Meh. It’s something between white chocolate, milk chocolate, and dulce de leche. If you like white chocolate and buttery brown sugar flavors, you will like this.  I can’t stand white chocolate and this didn’t change my mind. 

    From my Paris binge:  My favorite so far is the Francois Pralus Melissa dark milk, which contains 40-something % cocoa.  It’s expensive and sublime.  Another favorite is the Michel Cluizel dark bar with cocoa nibs - 70%?  We swooned our way through both bars is an afternoon.

    Comment by Laura on 11/26/14 at 2:58 pm #
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