Organic Chocolate Revisited

After my rant about Dagoba (as you may remember I was not only disappointed in their chocolate but also in the preachy save-the-earth messages in their wrappers), I was contacted by Leann VanDerHeyden, the Marketing Director at Lake Champlain Chocolates (LCC). She asked if I would consider giving their organic chocolate a try.

I'm no fool - I didn't miss a beat and told her heck, yes! I would love to! Who turns down the chance to try new chocolates? She sent a box of goodies right out and told me to be honest - they wanted the feedback. Okay.....here goes!!

We'll start with these - they are a great size - about 1.25 inches by 1.25 inches. A perfect tasting square. The problem with a lot of chocolates is you have to buy a whole big bar just to try a new flavor. These are also very elegant, there's a lovely gold embossed wrapper around each one. No preachy messages. And the LCC cool little deer logo is stamped on each one - a nice touch. You could leave these squares on pillows in fancy hotels. Okay - so they have the aesthetics down.

Now, let me tell you how they taste:

Um....they're pretty damn good! There are (were) four flavors in the box. Let's start with my favorite - milk chocolate, sea salt and almonds. Love it!!! I love almonds anyway, but the touch of salt really makes this different than the typical bar. Excellent. I ate all of these first.

The other thing I liked about these was the chocolate was very creamy and smooth. Now those of you who like their chocolate so dark it's like chewing cocoa nibs, this may not be for you. The dark is only 55% cocoa content (but that's dark enough for me!).

My second favorite is the dark chocolate spicy Aztec. These are spicy - but the cayenne pepper is perfectly balanced with the cinnamon, so it's sweet. Some similar bars go too heavy on the pepper. They also have pumpkin seeds in them which I also like

The milk chocolate and dark chocolate square are also delish. The dark has no bitter aftertaste, the milk is smooth and creamy. And hey - they're organic! Forget Dagoba, you want to try organic chocolate, go with Lake Champlain http://www.lakechamplainchocolates.com/

We'll talk more about Lake Champlain Chocolates tomorrow.

The Politics of Chocolate

I am definitely going to culinary hell. And now social/political hell as well.

I know everyone is screaming about organic this and organic that. But when I look at the giant, gorgeous, colorful non-organic apples and the puny, creepy-looking, dull organic apples - I say "Give me chemicals!"


But, hey, I try to keep an open mind - especially where chocolate is concerned. So today I'll review Dagoba Organic Chocolate (these are both organic and politically correct http://www.dagobachocolate.com/). Hershey bought this small Oregon chocolate company back in 2006. I bought four bars to check out:

Let's start with the Lavender bar - described as lavender, dark chocolate and blueberries. I just don't like to eat lavender - it tastes like a soap or a sachet to me. Bleech. Apparently my palate is just not that developed (heathen that I am!).

These bars may be too kumbaya for me. I don't need a social message with my chocolate. The wrapper has a Full Circle Sustainability Tip: Grow and share your own herbs and medicinal plants for extra health and happiness. (Yeah, it's all fun and games until someone is poisoned.)

Next we'll go to Xocolatl (named after a chocolate drink created by the Aztecs). Contains dark chocolate, chilies and nibs. Too bitter for me - one step above eating dirt. I like sweets and this is an anti-sweet. (We've come a long way from the Aztecs, baby.)

Kumbaya Sustainability Tip on this wrapper - Carpool, bike and use public transit to reduce carbon emissions and turn back the tide of global warming. (It never occurred to me to do any of those things! Thank God I bought this candy bar! I'm joining Greenpeace!)

And let's remember the Aztec's idea of sustainability was human sacrifice. Ah, sweet irony!

Next bar is Mon Cherri - dark chocolate, berries and vanilla. Not bad, but nothing to write home about. I had high hopes for this bar, but was let down. Chocolove has a Cherries and Almonds bar that blows this one away.

The final bar is Super Fruit containing the very trendy acai, goji berries and currants. This was my favorite of the bars. (That's really not saying much.) The fruit content seemed to make this one more flavorful. It also was the only bar that listed at the end of the ingredients list - and of course, love. So maybe it was the love I was tasting.

At the risk of being completely politically incorrect, I'm going to say that I prefer my chocolate to taste great and I don't care about it being organic or politically correct. I don't buy my candy to get tips on saving the world. Now, if you like that stuff - buy Dagoba!!! If you want really good chocolate, I think there are many better choices.

And if someone offers you medicinal plants, just say no.