A few months ago my parents took an amazing trip to Hawaii...and all I got were some lousy chocolate bars....
haha...no, they were actually quite amazing, AWARD-WINNING even. Here's the story (text conversation) of how they got their hands on this delicious and unique chocolate.
Mom 3:44pm: This is the day we are tracking LOST sights, and getting lost!
Me 4:30pm: Where's the cocoa tree?
Mom 4:34pm: Tell me where to look and what they look like. I may have seen some...
Me 4:35pm: Haha. They are prob at a farm, where exactly are you? what island?
Mom 4:36pm: North shore right now. Oahu.
*I google "cacao farm North Shore Oahu"*
Me 4:42pm: http://www.waialuaestate.com
Mom 5:30pm: We are headed in...
And just like that, I got some amazing single-estate chocolate straight from the source! Well, sort of. The bars are actually MADE in California at Guittard, but the beans are from this estate. Check this out if you are interested in a little more background on the Waialua Estate. Without further adieu....
1. ***Extra Dark Chocolate - 70% cacao - This is by far the best bar of the three. The flavor is quite complex. It's easy to identify the notes of raisin, dark berry and plum. There's an overall milky sweet finish too, which I love.
2. **Hawaiian Milk Chocolate - 38% cacao - This milk is very rich in creamy texture. Not my FAVORITE type of milk chocolate. But for what it is, it is very very well done!
3. **Hawaiian Cocoa Nib Bar Semisweet Chocolate - 55% cacao - This bar is what Two-Face would eat. The nib part of the bar is fabulous. The chocolate it is in, is not my fave. I can't tell if it's trying to be milky or super dark. It's just a confusing flavor. And the nibs add another level of complexity that just doesn't jive in this bar. All the flavors are good standalone. They just don't seem to blend well.
Thanks Mom and Dad for a delicious treat! The Waialua Estate is definitely on my to do list when I make my way to Hawaii (someday!!!)! You should DEFINITELY check it out if you find yourself there! And then tell me all about it!
CHEERS!
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| photo credit delish.com |
...because we all need another reason to love IKEA...
This post may seem a bit of a tangent on my chocolate journey...really, we are adding chocolate to our IKEA shopping lists now?...I know...but trust me, this detour is good.
A few weeks ago I took a long overdue trip to IKEA with a friend. We shared a DELICIOUS chocolate cake at lunch (of which, the 7 month old shoved a whole fistful in her mouth before I could even react...definitely my kid...look at that determined face...).
At $0.99 per bar, I didn't really expect much. But, I now have another IKEA must have item to add to my list every time I trek out there. And I think you should too! This chocolate was not the best quality at all, but I was expecting a lot worse for the price. This would be wonderful chocolate to use in baking or truffle making. There was no horrible aftertaste or waxy texture you find in poor quality chocolate. So it was pleasant to eat. Great snacking chocolate. Something you can devour and not think too much about the flavors. I wish HERSHEY'S still tasted like this. Like chocolate. Often with lesser quality chocolate, I like dark better, but surprisingly here I enjoyed the milk better. The addition of texture with the hazelnuts was my favorite of the three. There's not much else to say about these bars though.
1. CHOKLAD NÖT - Milk chocolate with hazelnuts - I can usually tell which bar I like best by which one is gone first. As was the case with this power ranking. I tasted each bar, noticed they tasted pretty good, next thing I know, this one was gone!
2. CHOKLAD LJUS - Milk chocolate - Often with lesser quality chocolate, I like dark better, but surprisingly here I enjoyed the milk better and finished it next.
3. CHOKLAD MÖRK - Dark chocolate -
I think it came down to this dark chocolate having more of a bitter dark flavor rather than a fruity flavor. It was good, but couldn't beat out the milk. It was the last bar I finished.
Since I've started this journey down the chocolate aisles I have noticed several themes among the better quality chocolate makers. One of which is ethically sourced cocoa. It kind of goes hand-in-hand with taste because beans sourced well are better quality. With that in mind, the name "Equal Exchange" bodes well for this set of power rankings.
I purchased these bars at Central Market on sale 2 for $5 (down from 3.99).
1.***Milk - milk chocolate with a hint of hazelnut
- 38% cacao - there has been no in between when it comes to the milk chocolate power rankings. They have been either FABULOUS or TERRIBLE. This brand has FABULOUS milk chocolate. Which makes me very happy! Smooth meltiness without any chemically aftertaste or off flavor. It was so good I had to postpone the rest of the rankings because I HAD to finish the whole thing at once.
2.***Mint - dark chocolate mint crunch - 67% cacao - I am quite a sucker for both mint and texture in chocolate bars. This had both. The end.
3.***Almond - dark chocolate with toasted [almond] pieces - 55% cacao - My love for chocolate and almonds was born with-dare I say it-HERSHEY'S with Almond (...of course this was back when there was more than 4 almonds per bar and before the chocolate went totaly waxy). This bar has a taste I love and it's executed well.
4.**Caramel - dark chocolate caramel crunch with sea salt - 55 % cacao - caramel has it's place in chocolate, just not always, in my opinion. I do like this combo with sea salt, but I probably wouldn't purchase this bar again, because this brand has 3 other SOLID options.
5. **Very Dark - very dark chocolate - 71% cacao - this is a great bar. Dark and fruity. With all the competition thought, I just can't imagine it being one I'd grab for in the chocolate aisle again.
6. **Panama - extra dark chocolate - 80% cacao -this is such a dark bar it's really more of a tasting bar, not a snacking bar. It is still fabulous and I would definitely eat it again. I just probably wouldn't buy it because I normally buy chocolate for snacking/devouring.
