I’ve recently returned from The States, where a busy schedule of constant travel and long drives made me develop a certain addiction to cereal and energy bars.
There seems to be quite a thriving industry of various so-called meal replacement bars that aim to keep you going when you can’t (or won’t) have a full, proper meal. Some of these are pretty out there, like these ProBar creations I picked up in San Francisco’s hippie co-op heaven, Rainbow Grocery. Both of these had chocolate clearly displayed on the packing, both in the ingredient listing and the pretty pictures on the front. I figured I could kill two birds in one stone and check them out.
The first thing to note about these bars is that they are expensive. They cost $3 each for an 85g bar when you can pick up a similar sized energy bar for just under $2.
To be fair, both bars seem to be composed of all kinds of exotic (read: expensive and somewhat hyped) ingredients such as cashews, almonds, flax and sunflower seeds, dates, etc. The chocolate is in the form of unsweetened dark chocolate chips. Both bars list them, but the Koka Moka has the chocolate further up the list and claims to be a “chocolate lover’s new love”.
I started with the cherry and pretzel bar, because it sounded weird. Well, it was weird.
There are basically too many flavours competing in this bar. There’s peanut butter, there’s oats and dates, there’s cherries, there’s chocolate (though not nearly as much as I’d have liked), there’s chopped up pretzels that turn the whole thing into a very strong salty sensation every once in a while… Basically, every bite you take is a completely different flavour combination. While some work, some are just, well, confusing. I’m actually a great fan of things like peanut butter cups and other sweet and savoury things, but this one was a bit much even for me. By the end of the bar I was sort of getting into it a bit more but it still didn’t leave the sort of flavour imprint that would make me necessarily look for it again.
The Koka Moka seemed more promising – it was darker, for one, which made me think it had more chocolate in it. However, it didn’t really taste particularly chocolaty to me. The flavour seemed to be hidden behind all the other ingredients, plus there was sickly, unpleasant aftertaste that kicked in very quickly and wouldn’t go away. It almost tasted off, but I checked the date and there was no reason why it should. I sort of had to force myself to keep on eating it, mostly because the ingredient list seemed so wholesome, I really wanted to like it. Sadly, I never managed to.
As far as energy bars go, these did the trick as each bar kept my appetite down for about 4 hours. They seem to be a good source of omega 3, which at least made me feel that the experience was not in vain.
However, there are other bars on the market that’ll keep you going for hours and while they may not have such an impressive and organic list of ingredients, they are cheaper and taste better. If you were looking (like I was) for a chance to combine a reasonably healthy eating experience on the go with a yummy chocolate treat then you’ll really want to look elsewhere.
As a chocolate blogger, the only thing more satisfying than the postman knocking on your door with a package full of chocolate, is when that package has a “Paul A. Young Fine Chocolates” label on it. My life has now reached a point where I don’t generally open chocolate deliveries immediately, but if it’s come from Paul, I know it demands immediate attention.
This time, we have something that looks to be… a Christmas decoration! It looks like the kind of thing that you might hang on a tree or use to decorate a place setting on the table. At around 3 inches long, it’s the perfect size for an indulgent post Christmas dinner treat.
This is a collaboration with Cornish wine producer, Mark Hellyar and is a 64% Madagascan dark chocolate (that sounds like Valrhona Manjari to me!), with a filling made from the same chocolate, Chateau Civrac 2006 wine and organic caster sugar to add a bit of sweetness. There’s no dairy in there – the wine and sugar is used in place of cream in the ganache.
I’m not the world’s biggest wine drinker, and I was a bit worried that the combination of wine and extra sugar would be a little much. But of course, Paul knows exactly what he’s doing and the flavour combination is just perfect, and these are actually quite subtle chocolates.
The wine flavours really come through, but without any extra sweetness. There’s no alcoholic kick to the ganache either – it’s all about the flavour and wonderfully smooth, soft texture. I have no idea how he manages to create that with just wine, sugar and chocolate.
The Madagascan chocolate, of course, complements the wine perfectly. We’ve talked about how sweet and fruity Madagascan chocolate can be here many times, but perhaps the surprising thing is that the majority of the fruity flavours come from the chocolate itself, rather than the wine.
Once again, Paul A. Young has created something wonderful with ingredients that look incredibly simple. At £3.95 each, they’re not cheap, but the exceptional quality means you’re getting good value. As with all Paul’s fresh chocolates, they have a very short shelf life, so if you’re buying them for Christmas, you should wait a month, then pop into one of his London shops. I think I’ll be buying a few for my family, but it’s going to take will power and determination not to eat them all myself.
So I found myself in Honolulu a few weeks ago. I had to go to Hawaii for a conference, something I’ve been orchestrating for some time now, and while my thoughts weren’t really on chocolate as I walked along Waikiki Beach, I still found some.
Most of the stores I went into were jam-packed with the typical tourist fodder, I finally found a shop that wasn’t an ABC Store (anybody who’s been to Hawaii will know what I mean) and hidden on a shelf were some nicely packaged small bars that stated quite proudly on the box that the beans were grown right on Oahu not too far from where I was staying.
A glance at the back checked most of the right boxes, with mentions of single-origin chocolate and an alleged unique Hawaiian taste. And even though part of me suspected it was all for the benefit of the tourists, I still picked up a bar of Malie Kai chocolate.
The one I ended up with was a limited edition of their dark chocolate, with added cocoa nibs – no percentage is offered, but I’d guess at about 60%. Malie Kai say this is the rarest chocolate on Earth due to the fact that they only produce about 15,000 pounds of cacao a year, and it is the only American-grown single-estate chocolate. And while rare doesn’t necessarily translate into tasty, it actually does this time.
The chocolate is really good – a lovely smooth taste that is packed to the gills with fruitiness. Once that big berry punch subsides, there’s some lingering vanilla hints, admittedly from vanilla beans, that are a good way to finish. There aren’t too many nibs mixed in, but the ones that are there are in nice large pieces and add both texture and some bitterness that helps cut through the sweeter flavours of the chocolate.
The one downside is that the bar is a meagre 1.5 oz, or 43 g, making it a pricey little box. But after all, they don’t make a whole lot of it in a year. Definitely worth looking for if you happen to find yourself in the 50th State and a welcome change from the typical chocolate covered macadamia nuts.
We always knew Zotter were a bit bonkers, but this is pushing things just a little.
As you can see, it’s a syringe full of a chocolatey liquid. It comes in packaging designed to look exactly like a real medicine, but thankfully stops short of including a needle. Even Herr Zotter wouldn’t go that far… would he?
According to Zotter’s Austrian web site, they make seven varieties of Choco Shot at €2.50 each, and as you may have guessed from the name, this one contains Whisky. Not just a “hinty” of Whisky, but 27% Whisky. It also contains cream, and of course cocoa mass and cocoa butter. This really is a “shot” in a syringe.
Rather than squirt it into my mouth in one go, I decided to go for the safe option and try a bit on a spoon. I’m quite glad I did, because it’s really quite strong. As you can see it’s also thick, with the texture of cream rather than being completely liquid.
Whisky is certainly the dominant flavour here, but the chocolate comes through quite well after the initial alcoholic hit. But as you might guess, this isn’t really about sophisticated flavours. It’s a novelty. I certainly wouldn’t buy this for myself and consume it on the bus, but I might give it as a fun gift. It’s certainly more imaginative and better quality than some of the “Emergency Chocolate” you can buy.
As far as I’m aware, these aren’t available in the UK yet, but you can find them on Zotter’s Austrian site, and they deliver worldwide.
