Your favorite chocolate?

[Sparkly]

Here is mine:

http://www.chocolat.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=677

Dark chocolate with espresso in it... Mmmmm!!! Absolutely nothing like it!!

There are many others at this site, from all over the world: http://www.chocolat.com/. I indulged myself in a box of different kinds for my birthday (really amazing to taste their differences side by side) but the Columbian Santander espresso is the one I went back and ordered a 10-pack of!

Anybody else love the superdark kind (70%, 80%, 90%)?

What's your favorite?

[Neecy]

1. ooooh, does that ever look good!

And the price is reasonable as well....I might just have to order some.

I love dark chocolate, the darker the better.

[Warpy]

2. Nothing exotic

Tobler milk choclolate
Lindt mint chocolate and dark chocolate
Baker's unsweetened for cooking
Droste cocoa powder
The only kind of supermarket checkout chocolate I'll bother with is Nestle's, but I find it too sweet. Hershey's is too sweet with weird mouth feel.

[eleny]

3. Which assortment did you try?

[Sparkly]

9. Hm, let's see....

Cote d'Or 70% and 86%
Lindt 70% and 86%
Santander 70%
Valor 70% and 70% with almonds
I THINK I got a Sharffen Berger
Rademaker dark chocolate cappucino sticks
Valhrona 71% <--- this one's another favorite!!

The ones I liked least were a little waxy in texture. They're all great, but like tasting wine, I can appreciate the differences best if I taste a little of one right after a little of another. I was never much of a dessert-eater, but now it's like I HAVE to have a little taste of dark chocolate after dinner!!

[Stinky The Clown]

10. And all I get are m&ms

wit'out da peanuts

[eleny]

12. Oh, so they weren't all in one box?

Sorry for being so dense but I thought you got an box of assorteds that they offer. I couldn't find one on the site.

[Sparkly]

13. No, I just picked and chose, to experiment!!

I was looking for dark chocolate from different countries, and also a few things H2S might like (such as the cappucino sticks. But he's happy to eat the milk chocolate things my piano students give me, or the M&Ms I get for their workshops -- and even happier eating cookies or sorbet or other things).

There should we "chocolate tastings" just as there are wine tastings! They really are all different.

[eleny]

14. Chocolate tastings

I saw a Food network program once about a woman who owned a chocolate shop. She arranged chocolate parties for small groups. I felt dizzy just watching them working their way from one choco delight to another and another.

Thanks for clearing up the assortment deal. You know how to live!

[htuttle]

15. I think that was in a movie, too

...and a pretty good one at that, IIRC. We liked it, in any case.

[Stinky The Clown]

18. I particularly enjoyed the Chocolate Bukeyes one of the kids gave Sparkly

They looked for all the world like a little chocolate box-o-boobies :)

[NMDemDist2]

4. Hershey's plain bars

I have tried all kinds of chocolate, but plain old hershey bars are still my favorite

[laheina]

5. Leonidas

Belgian Pralines. They aren't all Chocolate; some are Marzipan, Caramels, or Buttercream--but I have never tasted their equal.

http://www.leonidas.com/uk/vitrine/vit_intro.asp

[mike_c]

6. sharffen-berger 70 percent cacao for nibbling, most cooking...

...but I use the 82 percent for things needing serious chocolate like mole poblano-- that stuff's pharmaceutical grade....

on edit: http://www.scharffenberger.com/

[htuttle]

7. Dark as night, bitter as an alkaline flats

Just keep me away from the chocolate covered espresso beans, or I'll end up waking up in the hospital four days later, again...

:9

[pdxbecca]

8. I just tried Sharffen Berger for the first time

that is some seriously good dark chocolate. I also love Ghiradelli bittersweet chocolate chips for cookies. Nothing beats bittersweet chocolate!

[Warpy]

11. I get some sort of off brand stuff at the food co-op

that's labeled 100% organic semi sweet chocolate chips.

They're quite good, but unlike any other I've found, even the Ghiradelli chips that are my second choice.

[chefgirl]

19. Ghirardelli is an excellent go-to chocolate

I use Ghirardelli bittersweet chips for melting or when I want to throw some chocolate chips into muffins or brownies, etc..

However, about once a month I order a pound or so of my very favorite bittersweet.. Schokinag bittersweet baking 'chunks'. The chunks make all the difference in the world, and to me, the flavor cannot be beat.

Scharffen Berger or Lindt would both probably come in a close second.

Just my $.02.

-chef-

[jeanarrett]

16. Oooh, how about those Ghiradelli brownie mixes from Costco?

So yum.

[Karenca]

17. Scharffen-Berger 62% Mocha

Vosges
Kee's black sesame truffles
M. Cluizel

(sp?)

[Neecy]

20. okay, I have a new favorite

I know this isn't technically a chocolate - it's a chocolate bar - but there's a new one out and oooohhh, is it good: the Mocha Cappuccino 3 Musketeers bar. They're only producing them for a limited time so grab a bunch for the freezer - they're really terrific.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

21. My food funk continues, sort of,

and even my newest favorite - believe it or not - hasn't roused me from it.

But, these bars are quite good. I was pleasantly surprised.

http://www.hersheys.com/products/details/extradark/index.asp?name=EXTRA%20DARK

[GoneOffShore]

22. Trader Joe's does some good stuff

Belgian Dark in large bars. Just used it to make Flourless Chocolate cake -

Favorite though is 86% Bernard Castelain from Chateauneuf-du-Pape. You can get it sometimes at Sur La Table shops, but otherwise you have to go to Galeries Lafayette in Paris or to the retail outlet in the Rhone. Last time we were there Mrs GoneOffShore spent an unconscionable amount of money on their chocolate. We almost had to pay weight charges on the bags.

A great substitute though is ANYTHING from Valrhona. Their factory is in the Rhone Valley as well.