Theo Chocolate Hazelnut Crunch
I’ve now officially decided that I love the 3400 Phinney Chocolate Factory range. It’s wonderful. I was curious, though, how they would handle my friend hazlenut, again worried that I wouldn’t like it so much with “crunch.”
Sure enough, this bar doesn’t have the smoothness of the Bread and Chocolate one, but is instead specked with bits of hazelnut. Actually, quite a bit of them. It almost looks like there’s more hazelnut than chocolate. As I was examining this, something struck me: oh, that’s right, it’s milk chocolate. Would the milk match up to the dark?
To tell you the truth, I’m still not sure on that one. The chocolate is a more minor taste, so it’s hard to isolate it. The hazelnut pieces take the show, with chocolate and salt and sugar working behind the scenes. I started to observe how the crunch reminded me of toffee when I spotted a honey-colored crystal. So that’s what I was chewing. You know, the larger-sized crystals they usually sell cane sugar as. Judging from the little spots of salt that jump up on your tastebuds every so often, I wouldn’t doubt that there are salt crystals in here, also. Is that supposed to be a good thing? Probably not, but it just makes this bar all the more fun.
“Fun” is amazing when it collides with “fine”. But that’s what this range seems to do. I wish more places carried them: it’s one of those “great for any occasion” chocolates. Except this time, that’s the truth, not propaganda.
Information
- Contains milk chocolate (40% cocoa solids).
- Filed under hazelnut, milk chocolate, theo chocolate, us.