The Mars Bar mystery

I was in the airport coming home from Jamaica. After waiting in a long line at the airport and getting there two hours too early, I got hungry and wanted a snack. Of course I went for something chocolaty. I saw a bar I had never tried before called a Bounty bar. I bit in thinking that this might be something really new with chocolate and a coconut filling... but no it was exactly like a Mounds bar. At first I thought Bounty was just a different name for the Mounds bar in countries other than the US...as it turns out the two candies are not even made by the same company. Bounty is by Mars and is only sold outside of the US market, and Mounds are made by Hershey. But you could have had me fooled.

Which leads me to the slightly confusing difference between the European Mars bar and the US Mars Bar and Milky Way bars. Ok so according to Wikipedia the original Mars bar was a European invention, designed to be a sweeter version of the American Milky Way bar. Ok so far so good. Yet somewhere along the line we get the American Mars bar (discontinued in 2002!) Which is slightly different than the European one. And apparently what goes for a Milky Way here in the States is called a 3 Musketeer over there.

I'm not even sure I was able to decipher all or any of that, but needless to say the chocolate world is full of things that get lost in the cross-cultural translation.

-Chocolette

Chocolate Party

So this September (yes it is almost November and I have not written about this) I had a chocolate party.

What, pray tell, is a chocolate party? You might ask.

I give chocolate parties to fight the evil Hershey's empire! Well really, it's to introduce people to the fascinating variety of chocolate there is in the world and to give them a taste of the history of chocolate. I usually end up getting a ton of chocolate and having tons of leftovers. Which is fine by me. I try to get a variety, milk, dark different textures and flavors just to give people an idea of what kind of stuff they might like to try again in the future.

Anything is fair game. This time around we had chocolate beer. We also got to taste Vosges' bacon and chocolate bars. These were the hit of the last party I had, and most people thought they were "interesting." Even for me that one is an acquired taste.

Other things we do
-I use a Pierre Marcolini origin's box to throw a tasting. The idea behind the tasting is to show people that the only real difference in the flavor of chocolate comes from where the beans come from. Marcolini makes his truffles exactly the same way but uses different beans from different countries. There is a clear palatable difference between the truffles and I try to draw attention to that. This time I actually sat people down and walked them through how to taste the chocolate. Like a fine wine, there's an art to tasting chocolate.

-Play chocolate smarts. This trivia game has a lot about the history of chocolate. I like to pull this one out because it contains a lot of information about chocolate and can be a fun ice breaker. The only disadvantage is that now that I've had this party four times a lot of people already know the answers :)

-drink wine and eat some snacks and enjoy each other's company. This is the most important part of the chocolate party for me. I get to have friends meet friends, and share my love of chocolate with them.

I suggest trying to throw a party of your own. Just take a few of your favorites and share them with someone you love. Chances are they'll thank you for it later.

Sorry (major updates)

So I have been quite remiss regarding this blog, and I am deeply sorry. I have a lot to say and a lot to tell you, so expect a few juicy updates in the future.

Hopefully some of you are still around to follow the journey.

Love and chocolate
-Jeni

A match made in heaven!

Rick Bayless + Chocolate (made from scratch!) = awesome!

From Tasting Table...a newsletter I get in my email now and then. It's good! Go there!

Hey, Little Sister

Get a taste of Rick Bayless's Xoco before it opens

Rick Bayless returned from a recent trip to Oaxaca with some good news: "What we're doing is every bit as good as what they’re doing there."

Bayless is referring to the chocolate he and chef Shaw Lesh will be making from scratch at his new 60-seat restaurant, Xoco ("Little Sister"), set to open in mid-August. Xoco will be an ode to Mexican street food--an all-day quick-serve café with a slow food heart.

Churros con chocolate will be on the morning menu; come lunch, it's all about tortas. These giant Mexican sandwiches will be filled with braised suckling pig (with pickled onions and habaneros), chorizo, lamb barbacoa, and jamón Ibérico with Otter Creek cheddar--all on Labriola bread crisped in a wood-burning oven.

At 3 p.m., it's time for caldos. The broths for these soupy meals-in-a-bowl will be simmered overnight, then heated to order with an array of additions. The drink menu will feature local craft beers, prickly pear sangria and Topolovino wines, an Albariño and Syrah that sommelier Jill Gubesch created with Qupé vineyards to match the heavily spiced food.

While waiting for the (alleged) mid-August opening date, make Xoco's chorizo-bean torta at home (click here to download the recipe). Get the ingredients at Guanajuato and Casa del Pueblo markets--two of Bayless's favorite sources for Mexican staples.

Lion Candy Bar

So I think I may have found a candy bar that I actually really enjoy. Usually my candy bar of choice is a Milky Way, but this one, the Lion Bar from England. I actually really like this description of it (from the taquitos.com website):

This thick candy bar had crisp wafers in the middle, with Rice Krispies above and around the wafer. The innards of Rice Krispies and wafer were held together by caramel, and then the whole thing was coated in chocolate. The Rice Krispies underneath the chocolate gave the top of the bar an uneven, lumpy appearance. The whole thing was very crisp, but soft enough to bite into, and it tasted great.

First of all chocolate innards just makes me crack up. It's the perfect way to describe the inner workings of a chocolate bar. I wouldn't actually call the crispies inside rice crispies. I didn't really taste the rice crispies that the reviewer mentioned, but it could have been so subtle I missed it.. This bar is by Nestle and it actually really reminded me of another bar they have called 100 Grand. Except 100 Grands are a little bit denser because the caramel is thicker. The softness of the Lion bar was what made it stand out to me. Everything blends really well together and the contrast of the crispy wafers added to the whole package. I would add this to my list of candy bars that I like; a small list, but still very satsifying. 4/5 stars.

Fresh Palate...New Bar Brawl

So this post might not be the most coherent thing in the world, so sue me. I am posting this after three hours of sleep (and it hasn't been that long since the last one I posted), so bear with me here. I guess I'm excited about blogging again. Who knows :)

Anyhow, from what I've heard from various sources, it is much better to taste chocolate in the morning when your palate is completely fresh. Which makes a lot of sense. Your mouth tends to keep flavors of food in mind long after you've eaten them. This is why sometimes during a fancy meal they'll give you a little sorbet shot in the middle to cleanse your palate. I've also seen coffee beans used at different places that have perfume to try and clear the air of all the perfume you've spritzed. And I also suppose it isn't really fair to the chocolate to judge it right after you've had a double shot espresso from Starbucks (ahem...sorry Blackberry Bar you still were not that good).

So which bar will it be this morning? How about the bar from the actual grocery store where I brought it from? Guess you guys don't really have much of a say here, so I'll be going with that one.

The Zeytuna bar comes in a bunch of flavors but I chose the Milk Chocolate with Almonds variety. The bars are actually made for the Zeytuna market by a company called Astor Chocolate. I'm not sure how many of these markets there are in New York, but the only one I've been able to find is the one down the street from me. This is a beautiful market. I was also surprised at how much chocolate they sell and how many of their bars I hadn't tried.

So after opening the bar and giving it a good wiff, I can already tell that this is going to be good, or at least better than the last one. The milk chocolate gives off a strong chocolate flavor which is great. Most milk chocolate loses its chocolate flavor when the sugar and milk are added in. A good milk chocolate recipe keeps the flavor of the chocolate while smoothing out the flavors.

Biting in. The bar was a little mushy due to the heat level in my apartment. In any case the bar is still delicious. And I love the fact that the almonds are chopped so small they only leave small traces in the chocolate. Compared to a Hershey's almond bar where the almonds are whole, this bar doesn't ruin the chocolate with nuts. The almonds compliment the chocolate. There's enough hint of crunchy almond to remind you that it's there, but not enough to overwhelm.

The aftertaste is also really pleasant and stays with you a while after the chocolate is gone. I love chocolates that stay with you partly because you don't have to eat a lot of it to enjoy it. One or two bites is enough to keep you satisfied. And this chocolate is satisfying. Nothing like a warm and delicious bar of chocolate in the morning, right?

Now I think I'll go make myself a cup of coffee and enjoy my breakfast. A new day is waiting. Good Morning.

Weekly Bar Brawl- Hachez blackberry

So since I've been so lazy at updating this blog as of late, and seeing as I will be even more lazy updating it next week when I will be in Japan with no internet, I thought I'd do a blogging speed run of sorts and post my review of a bar a day for the next week.

The first bar is a Hachez Blackberry 77 % Dark Chocolate with Cocoa Nibs.
So this is one of those bars that bothers me alot. They claim to be "all natural" and talk about the quality of their ingredients. And yet there is that red flag "natural flavorings." I'm always a little wary of flavors being added to chocolate. I'm a purist. Chocolate doesn't need much to make it good. But ok maybe I'm overreacting right? This is blackberry flavored chocolate after all. How else are you going to get the flavoring into it unless you flavor it?

The beans in this chocolate are supposed to be an arriba variety from Ecuador, for what that's worth anyhow.

Unfortunately this chocolate, as with many other flavored chocolates I've had, left a really bad aftertaste in my mouth. I could smell the fragrant blackberries, which for some reason reminded me of the kind of perfume you get as a little girl (don't ask me why), even before I opened the gold wrapper. The blackberries seemed to cover up the fact that the chocolate was lacking something.

One other thing to note that the ingredients list also includes lemon acid. I wonder if this is what left the bitter aftertaste. I can understand that the lemon acid was used to balance out the blackberry flavor, but it seems a little overpowering for me.

All in all I give this bar a 2/5 stars (and yes I have stars now! BOOYAH~! :) )