Too Haute Cowgirls: The Good, the Bad, and the Peanut Butter Popcorn

Edited on 11/13/10 to add:
This is actually a re-run review of sorts. My original photo's were what could best be described as "melty" looking thanks to the shipping company. The kindly little ladies of Too Haute Cowgirls were nice enough to send along new samples so thanks to them I was able to redo the photo's and give this popcorn the food porn justice it deserves!

The rootin' tootin' ladies of Too Haute Cowgirls have certainly been making quite the impression on me. They have a caramel popcorn base that is to die for, and they have many, many different versions and toppings that they have piled on.

Today's cluster is The Good, the Bad and the Peanut Butter. Which is caramel corn drizzled with white chocolate and peanut butter. Also tossed into the mix are peanuts, cashews, pretzels, and sea salt flakes.

Now, I go into this eager yet scared: I love everything on that list except for white chocolate. And sadly, white chocolate is going to play a major role here. With that admission of bias up front, let's give her a try:

>

The peanut butter is the first thing you taste. It has that sweeter peanutty taste that seems more common in peanut butter flavored items than in actual peanut butter itself. Think less roasted nuts and more sugary. Kinda like peanut butter flavored cereal. I may not like that taste in a sandwich, but it works really well with the caramel corn.

The sea salt makes both the caramel and the peanut butter pop.

The white chocolate just adds a little extra vanilla-like sweetness. There's a lot of it, but to my delight it didn't make the popcorn oily or distract from the other ingredients. It also adds a little smooth melt.

The nuts are plentiful and very crisp.

I just wish there had been more pretzels! They tasted great along with the caramel corn and the peanut butter. And like the nuts, they were very crispy.


I can't say enough about the caramel corn. Even if they'd packaged plain caramel corn on its own, it would still be good. The caramel is milky and salty. The corn itself is plump and crunchy.

Even as a non-fan of white chocolate I really liked this flavor!



PURCHASED FROM:
Sample from company

ADDITIONAL INFO:
Contains nuts.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE:
toohautecowgirls.com

Ben & Jerry's Berry Voluntary: Target Exclusive Flavor

It may may have been a hot and cruel summer for the rest of the country, but summer came late to Southern California this year. And now that it's here, as far as I am concerned it can go away again. I'm sorry, but there is just something wrong when it's so hot inside your apartment that the back of your thighs are sticking to the sofa cushions...and the sofa is cloth upholstered...and the AC is running full blast! If that doesn't scream "ice cream for dinner weather," I don't know what does.

OK, maybe I really just wanted to have ice cream for dinner. Don't judge me.

Earlier in the summer, Ben & Jerry's partnered up with Target to offer the special, Target-exclusive flavors of Berry Voluntary and Brownie Chew Gooder. If you didn't get the hint of the names, they are part of a program that Ben & Jerry's is sponsoring with Volunteermatch.org called Scoop It Forward. Basically, if you visit that website and volunteer your time and service to the local charity of your choice, Ben & Jerry's will reward you with free ice cream. Now how cool is that?

It probably would have been selfish of me to simply eat the ice cream and not volunteer my time for something. So, with that in mind, I have actually voluntarily appointed myself to be the official Food Blogger Spokesperson for Lupus. As someone who lives with lupus, I will grant that I am biased towards finding new treatment options and ultimately a cure. (I actually am planning a post around that, but please feel free to send questions my way in the meantime.)



Well, since I have been such a good person, I have earned some ice cream...right?

Damn right!

I decided to start with Berry Voluntary. I love most raspberry flavored items -- and how could I not love raspberry flavored ice cream?

Berry Voluntary has a raspberry cheesecake flavored base with white chocolate chunks and a raspberry swirl. The base has a purple-tinged color. The raspberry is nice and soft. It's not too sour, and tastes pretty natural. I also like the fact that it's raspberry cheesecake. The "cheesecake" portion keeps the flavor a little tart and tangy. In fact, it reminded me of frozen Greek yogurt. The raspberry swirl was my favorite part. I will admit that it tastes like every other raspberry swirl on the planet -- which is to say a little sweet and almost candylike, but I happen to like that taste.

As for the white chocolate... (sigh) why must it always be white chocolate? Indiana Jones has snakes, and I have white chocolate.

Never let it be said that I won't take one for the team, however. Because it's Ben & Jerry's, the chunks of white chocolate are ginormous (which, to be honest, also made them easy to avoid). Honestly, I have a hard time really giving an opinion here because I just don't like white chocolate to begin with. It's got a good texture, there's some nice snap. It's the taste that I just don't like. It has that kinda vanilla-like, mostly just sugary oil taste that all white chocolate has to me. I suppose if you're a fan of white chocolate, it'll be just fine. But if you're like me...well, I did mention that the chunks are huge and thus easy to avoid.



Even with the white chocolate I still really liked this flavor. It's definitely worth picking up next time you're at a Target store.

Be sure to check out Marvo's review of both of the Target-exclusive flavors here.



PURCHASED FROM:
Target

PRICE:
$2.50

CALORIES:
250 calories per 1/2 cup

OFFICIAL WEBSITE:
benjerry.com

Thornton's Viennese Truffle Bar

Believe it or not, this is my very first Thornton's bar EVER! I am well aware of the Thornton's line because of Jim's many reviews, and of course Cinabar's Foodstuff Finds reviews. And once again, we have Cinabar to thank for a review of yet another U.K. product. Everyone say thank you to Cinabar for sending out this bar as part of our epic "Oceans Be Damned!" candy swap!



This little bar is roughly the length of a Twix, and consists of a mousse center (it looks like chocolate mousse from the picture) that's encased in what Thornton's calls its "special mixture of white and milk chocolate," and then the whole thing gets a little sprinkle of sugar.

Even through the packaging, the bar feels short and pudgy...kinda like Ricky Gervais.



The question is, would the bar prove to be as deliciously wonderful as Ricky?

No worries, Ricky. You can sleep soundly tonight.

Let's start with the texture. When I read the word "mousse" I expect to get something that is fluffy, light and airy. I will grant you that this bar has traveled well over 5,000 miles to get to me -- and maybe something happened in transit that caused the texture to change. That said, the overall texture of the bar was more like what we in The States consider to be fudge-like. It's very dense, a little grainy, but it is cool on the tongue. In any case, "mousse" would not be the word I would use to describe it.



Taste? It reminded me of raw cookie dough -- and in the worst way possible. It's way too sweet, and yet oddly salty (and not in the good way, either).

What's weird is that it doesn't actually taste much like chocolate. It just tastes like sugar. Intense sugar that burns the back of your throat. If there is a difference in taste between the two layers, I couldn't tell you what it was.

Yeah, as a matter of fact I think I will send the rest of the bar to Ricky and see if he can get Karl Pilkington to feed it to monkeys. There really isn't anything nice I can say about this bar.

Be sure to check out Jim's review here. He didn't like it much more than I did.



PURCHASED FROM:
Gift from Cinabar of Foodstuff Finds.

CALORIES:
195 calories per bar.

ADDITIONAL INFO:
Contains milk and soy. May contain nut traces.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE:
thorntons.co.uk

Chocolate Graphics Chocolate

This is a somewhat unusual review for me, in that this is neither a mass market product nor even one that can be purchased in single servings. But my reason for reviewing it is that I thought it was such a cool product, I couldn't resist. Just look at the images below:





Chocolate Graphics produces personalized pieces of chocolate candy for both large and small corporations, and for individuals for special occasions. That is what appealed to me. Several years ago, we were trying to plan a surprise 40th birthday party for someone who had everything, but was (is) a complete chocoholic. If we had only known that, we would have given him slabs of chocolate with his picture or a favorite saying of his (most of which really cannot be printed on this blog -- well, they could, but wouldn't be family or work friendly). That would have been, hands down, the coolest thing we could have possibly gotten him.

Incidentally, this was in my pre-blogging days, and I was not as savvy about what was really out there as I am now. Now that I know Chocolate Graphics is out there, I wanted to spread the word.





As you can see from photos, the colors are really vibrant and the detail on the pictures is so fine you can even make out the earrings on the woman in the photo of the couple. (To get an idea of the fineness of the detail, bear in mind that the chocolate with the couple on it was no more than two inches across, and the one with the landscape perhaps twice that.) They also have a huge range of printing styles, chocolate styles, novelties, etc. that you can choose from.

We know the chocolate looks great, but how does it taste?

They make three different versions: a dark, a milk, and a white, so we are going to work through all of them individually. And I am going to state one disclaimer up front: I am not a fan of white chocolate as a rule, so therefore I am probably not the best person to review it to begin with -- so take my thoughts on that version with a large grain of salt (or sugar). Understood? Good. Now, on with the review...

The dark chocolate:



There's not much in terms of scent, but if I had to come up with something I would say it smells kinda vanilla-like. There's a nice little snap to the slabs. It has a rich, dark color and it melts very quickly. In terms of taste, I can't say it really reminded me of dark chocolate...or even semi-sweet. What it did taste like to me was dry hot chocolate mix, straight from the packet. (Don't judge me! I can't possibly be the only person ever to have done that!)

The two strongest notes seem to be cocoa powder (which is a good thing) and vanillin (which is not such a good thing). Honestly, I did not enjoy eating it. But oddly enough, because it tastes so much like hot chocolate mix, it does leave a pretty pleasant aftertaste. Go figure that one out.




The milk chocolate:



This slab smells milky. No shock there, I suppose.

Did I mention how good the chocolates look? That's about the nicest thing I have to say about this milk chocolate. It's oily, it's too sweet, and there's a strange, unpleasant aftertaste that lingers for a long time. I wanted to like this, because again, they are so pretty. But that just wasn't happening.

Sadly, sometimes looks really are everything.




The white chocolate:



I am not lying when I tell you I'm getting nervous at this point. I am not often a fan of white chocolate to begin with, and the dark and milk chocolates are not exactly blowing me away here.




The smell is sweet and sugary, so maybe we are off to a good start...

...or not. Words fail me. I am going to pass on commenting on this one, because I couldn't get through the piece. And again, I am just not a white chocolate aficionado, so let's leave it at that.

What makes this review difficult is that I still say these candies are beautiful to look at. The level of detail is beyond impressive. If you are looking for a visual bang for your buck, you are in the right place -- and that really is the selling point here, isn't it? I just can't say I actually enjoyed eating the candy. And that's sad, because what fun is candy if it doesn't give you a case of the nom noms?

(Finally, I am sorry to have shown pictures of damaged goods, but there wasn't much choice, and I cannot blame the manufacturer for this. I am sure they left the factory in perfect condition. But evidently at some point in transit, the package was either tossed around like a Frisbee for a few hours, or maybe was dropkicked off a four-story rooftop onto a concrete sidewalk. Makes you wonder what happens to packages the shippers get really careless with.)

PURCHASED FROM:
Sample from company

PRICE:
Prices vary. Please see official website for more information.

CALORIES:
Unavailable

ADDITIONAL INFO:
Unavailable

OFFICIAL WEBSITE
chocolategraphicsus.com

Ritter Sport: Himbeer Joghurt (Raspberry Yogurt)

Yes, I know this is a white chocolate bar. And yes, I know I have shouted from the cyber mountaintops my hatred of white chocolate. (Wait...do we actually still use the term "cyber" anything?) But...but, but, but...people, there's raspberry yogurt here! Raspberry yogurt! My love of raspberry yogurt is strong enough to push aside my dislike of white chocolate, at least for a moment. And in addition to the raspberry yogurt, there is also also crispy rice. Which is less important to me than the raspberry yogurt, but it's a nice extra touch.



I will give Ritter points for making a white chocolate that even I found enjoyable. It's very smooth, and while it's distinctly creamy it avoids being oily or tooth-achingly sweet. Would I have preferred a milk chocolate? Well yes, but no one asked me, and to be fair I would rate this as my favorite white chocolate so far.



The star of this show is the raspberry yogurt filling. I wouldn't call it a natural flavor. It's more like a really good fake version. It's tart, but I credit that more to the yogurt than the raspberry it is mixed with. It's not an overly strong flavor, and maybe that's for the better. I have a feeling that if it were stronger, the fakeness would become overwhelming.



As much as I liked the raspberry yogurt filling, my favorite part turned out to be the crispy rice. The rice itself really didn't have much of a flavor. Instead, it seemed to absorb the flavors of the raspberry and the yogurt. It reminded me of little bits of Fruity Pebbles cereal.

Given that the bar has white chocolate, I was really surprised at how much I liked it. Yet I did. This is one of those bars that is easy to down in an embarrassingly short period of time.



PURCHASED FROM:
The German Deli (Upland, California)

Kit Kat: Wasabi (Limited Edition)

As soon as J-List started tweeting that they had wasabi flavored Kit Kats, I had to buy some.



Wasabi is that lump of green stuff that is served next to sushi. It's a type of horseradish that is finely ground and mixed into a paste. It is also extremely hot...to most people, anyway. Personally, I can eat wads of it plain.

While most Americans tend to think of it only as a garnish for sushi, I am one of those odd people who think it's good on everything. Seriously. I have used it on sandwiches of all types, I've smeared it on pepperoni pizza. I have made compound butter with it. One of my signature dishes is a grilled (or broiled) wasabi-crusted salmon.

So a wasabi candy? Hell, yeah!

Here in the U.S., Kit Kat (made in this country by Hershey) doesn't give us many flavor options. However, our East Asian friends get their Kit Kats (made by Nestlé, as are the rest of the world's) in a rather amazing array of flavors. Yes, the Kit Kat universe in Asia is indeed vast compared to ours. In the case of Japanese Kit Kats, some of the flavors are so specialized that they are only available in certain areas of the country. (For example, this flavor was from Shizuoka.) I wish the U.S. would do more limited edition flavors on products in general. I think it would be really interesting to have regional editions of things here...but, onward...



The box that I got contained twelve individually wrapped packets, each containing two mini Kit Kat fingers. The chocolate is a white chocolate that has been flavored with wasabi. The color of the finger is a light boogerish green. When you sniff the bars, all you really get is the sweet sugary smell of the white chocolate. If there is something hot and spicy hiding in there, it is kind of an olfactory ninja.



Biting into the bar does toss a little throwing star of flavor at you. There is no mistaking that there is wasabi in the bar. Not only is it in the white chocolate, but wasabi also flavors the thin layers of creme sandwiched between the wafers. But rather than being strong and potent, or even a little hot, it tastes like you took the teeny-tiniest little bit of wasabi possible and immediately chugged a glass of milk with it to cover the flavor. The essence of the wasabi is present -- there's no mistaking the flavor -- but what you really taste is the strong milky, sweetness of the chocolate. I didn't get the slightest hint of the heat that I love.



Still, even without the heat, I loved the flavor. It was a different way to have something I am already crazy about. I am glad that Nestlé went with white chocolate (even though I am not a fan as a rule) rather than a dark or a milk. The white chocolate kept its sweetness but allowed the wasabi flavor to come through. I think a darker chocolate might have overwhelmed it. I blew through several of these little packs in a really short time.

Check out Jen's review here from her site Jen Ken's Kit Kat Blog. Jen found the bars to be much hotter then I did. Jen's review is also mentioned on The Impulsive Buy Podcast #10.



PURCHASED FROM:
J-List

Vosges Holiday Bonbon Collection

Let me say a big thank you to Vosges Haut Chocolate for ignoring the fact that I rank rather high up on the Naughty List, and for treating me to an early Christmas present by sending me this collection of holiday-inspired truffles.




There are four different truffles in the collection:

* Mascarpone & Ceylon Cinnamon Snap
* Holiday Plum Pudding
* Candy Cane Peppermint
* Eggnog & Jamican Rum

And just try tell me they aren't beautiful to look at, I dare you! Anyway, for this review, I will start with...


Mascarpone & Ceylon Cinnamon Snap:



I love mascarpone cheese so much that I have been known to eat it plain, straight from the container. Mascarpone, should you not know, is a type of super-rich cream cheese that can be eaten on its own -- or mixed into anything and everything. In my family, we make cannoli filling with it. (Should you want to try my family's version pick, up a copy of Henry Hill's The Wiseguy Cookbook. The cannoli recipe on pages 86-88 is actually my mother's.)

And keeping with the Goodfellas theme, Ceylon cinnamon is basically the Godfather of the cinnamon world. All other cinnamon-type products, while still members of the family, are various levels of underbosses, capos, and plain old soldiers. The cinnamon is sprinkled generously atop the 45% deep milk chocolate shell. Inside is the mascarpone. This truffle also contains organic sour cream.



Giving the truffle a sniff from the top, it's the deep woodsy spice of the cinnamon that you notice. Once you get into the center of the truffle (normally I would just bite and dig in, but for the sake of pretty pictures we sliced the truffles first), what immediately stands out is the rich dairy smell of the cheese.

When I bit into this truffle, for a split second I swear all I saw was blinding white light and unicorns! There might have been a rainbow or two, and Barry Manilow was in the background singing a soaring crescendo. Yeah, this truffle is just that good. You start with a little heat from the cinnamon on top, then when you break through the deep milk chocolate shell, the cool silky filling flows into your mouth. It's sort of like an extra creamy chocolate mousse, mixed with a healthy dose of my beloved mascarpone cheese. The deep milk chocolate was the perfect choice. It's creamy enough that it didn't get lost in the strong dairy of the cheese, and yet not dark enough that it was bitter or upstaged the cinnamon. If I didn't know the sour cream was in there I wouldn't have noticed it -- but you know what? I don't care! If you only try one Vosges truffle in your lifetime, make it this one!


Holiday Plum Pudding:



I don't have much base of reference for plum pudding. About all I really know is that the Cratchits (the family from Dicken's "A Christmas Carol") seemed to think it would not be Christmas without it. Oh, and that the traditional version is a type of steamed pudding made with different dried fruits, liquors, nuts, and is often topped with hard sauce. But I can't say I've actually had one.



The Vosges version contains plums, Armagnac (a type of brandy), and marzipan, and is covered with 65% dark chocolate.

The truffle is topped with a pretty little piece of edible silver foil. What made this one stand out was the texture. The center, rather than being completely smooth, is layered. The top portion of the filling is the same silky creme as the others. Then right below that is a layer of what looks like finely chopped plums, and on the bottom of that is the grainy marzipan layer.

I loved the overall flavor. It was lightly boozy, and the plums were plump and sweet. The dark chocolate takes the edge off of the sweetness and melts nicely. I hate to say that what ruined this truffle for me actually was my beloved marzipan. Mind you, the flavor of the marzipan was good: almonds with mild cherry notes. It was the texture I didn't like. It was like a very loose, grainy fondant. Had it been smoother or firmer, I would have really loved it as is...did I mention that the plums were really sweet?


Candy Cane Peppermint:



It's hard to get more simple than all natural candy cane pieces, peppermint, and 65% dark chocolate. And simplicity is often a virtue.



I liked the fact that the top is where the crunchy bits of candy live. It gives a little contrast in texture, and the red bits look like shards of stained glass. The outer 65% dark chocolate shell is a really deep woodsy, earthy chocolate. There's some coffee flavor. On its own it would be a bit too bitter for me -- but paired with the sweetness of the smooth mint center, it's perfect.

The center is very cool on the tongue and the texture is almost like pudding. The chocolate is so smooth and rich I could practically drink it. The peppermint is brisk. It's very natural, not mediciny or artificial. Overall it worked beautifully.


Eggnog & Jamaican Rum:



WOOHOO! Eggnog! Eggnog with RUM! As I have said before, in honor of my best friend who is from St. Croix, I am partial to Cruzan rum. But Vosges didn't get that memo and instead they opted to use Appleton Estate rum. Appleton has been distilling rum since 1749 and is the oldest distillery in Jamaica -- so it's safe to say that they know a thing or two about making rum. The truffle also contains nutmeg and ginger, and it is all wrapped up in white chocolate from the Dominican Republic.



I went into this truffle excited because it's eggnog and rum, but also a little worried, because it's a white chocolate truffle and I am just not a fan. But if anyone could make white chocolate doable for me it would be Vosges, so...

The truffle smelled sort of like rum and steamed milk. I didn't get the eggnog or the ginger at first. But the truffle center is like the best eggnog ever. It's creamy, it's rich, it's custardy. The nutmeg is there. The rum is strong enough that its presence is known, but it doesn't over power the other flavors. The ginger is represented by little soft bits of ginger that go unnoticed until they explode in your mouth. Yum! The white chocolate... OK, again let's remember that I don't like white chocolate. I did find that the outer shell seemed dry -- and that was not the case of the dark or the milks. It was creamy tasting, and there were good vanilla notes. If you are a fan of white chocolate, I expect you will love the shell. I loved the filling...oh, the bad things I would do for large quantities of that filling...

Overall, even with the couple of (minor) qualities I didn't care for, this remains a truly stellar collection. The Mascarpone/Ceylon Cinnamon Snap alone is so good that no matter how the other three flavors had turned out, I still would have been happy.

Absolutely outstanding.



PURCHASED FROM:
Sample From Company

Let me remind those of you who are still shopping for the perfect gift for the old friends and loved one (or for yourself) that Vosges Haut Chocolate is offering my readers 10% off orders placed by December 31st. Just be sure to use the special code BLGF09 when checking out.

Chocolates Para Ti: Assorted Box

High end chocolates from Bolivia? You betcha!

First, a big thank you to the kind people at Chocolates Para Ti for sending me this assortment to try. Prior their contacting me I had not heard of this company, so I was excited to check it out. While they are new to the U.S. market, Chocolates Para Ti is no newcomer to the world of chocolate. They have been making all kinds of yummy sweet things in Sucre, Bolivia, for over twenty years.




This 8.8 ounce assortment came in a really cool handmade banana tree bark box. (No, it does not in fact smell like banana. This disappointed the evil monkey that lives in my closet, but it looked so nice he got over it.)



There were 12 different kinds of chocolates in my box. The inner lid of the box has a photo display of the assortment. These photos are quite helpful, because each piece is beautifully wrapped in gold foil -- and while some are shaped like what they are flavored with, other pieces whose flavors are quite different are identically shaped. In any case, we're going to work clockwise around the label.



Most of the pieces use milk chocolate. And since there is a plain milk chocolate piece included, to save time I will put most of the chocolate info into that piece's description unless something else really stands out.



1. PEACH: Hidden inside the center of this shell-shaped milk chocolate lies a little dimple of peach flavor. It's a strong peach, sort of like what you would expect to find in a flavored iced tea. It's artificially flavored, but it's good. The peach leaves a nice fruity aftertaste. The melt of the chocolate is very smooth and creamy.



2. AMARANTH: I actually had to check the Wikipedia entry for amaranth because I was not sure what it was. But I like it when ingredients stump me, because that means I'm going to taste something I have never tried before. Turns out that amaranth is a "cosmopolitan genus of herbs." There are 60 different species that are considered to be in the amaranth family. Among them is a grain version -- and that is what is used in this candy.

The little pieces of amaranth were each about the size of a small sesame seed. The flavor was really interesting. It was like a combination of toasted coconut, rice, and sesame. It's crunchy but not hard. I also noticed a strong vanilla taste with this piece. Mixed with the milk chocolate it made for a really fast nibble. There's not much snap to the piece, but the amaranth bits kept the texture interesting. The amaranth itself was so good I would really love to see it used more. The chocolate seems a little grainy, but I think that is because it is so densely packed with the amaranth; not because of the chocolate itself.



3. COCONUT: Aaah, my arch nemesis -- coconut! OK, to be fair, I don't mind coconut flavor, if used sparingly (or in the odd fruity drink), or even toasted coconut. It's "raw" or mushy coconut I just can't handle. I hate the texture, and the taste...blugh. Now, luckily for me the piece is merely coconut flavored. The neat little brick smells vaguely like coconut and sugar (and I happen to like that combo). It's milk chocolate. It had great snap to it, and is just thick enough that you feel like your teeth really sink in. The coconut flavor (which is artificial) just hovers in the background of the chocolate -- sort of like if you took a really big bite of German chocolate cake that was thinly frosted. The dairy notes really stand out in this piece. As much as I hate coconut generally, I have to admit I liked this piece because it was so subtle.



4. PEANUT: I really liked that this was molded into a cute little nut shape (OK, it looks more like a cashew than a peanut, but do we really need to be that picky?). This piece is also milk chocolate. Before biting into the piece, I wasn't sure if it was going to have whole nuts or large nut pieces. In fact it had neither. Instead, the piece is studded with very small bits of peanut.

Again, "interesting" is the word I am going to go with. Looking at the amount of peanuts in the piece -- which is a pretty small amount, all things considered -- it is amazing how much peanut flavor is actually in the piece. The Chocolates Para Ti website describes it as roasted peanut; and "roasted" is exactly the word I would use to describe the flavor. It's not like peanut butter in the least, but at the same time it doesn't have that plain generic nuttiness that some chocolate with peanuts can have. It's a little salty (which is always good), it's just like condensed peanut goodness. I have to wonder, given the amount of actual peanuts in the piece, how they packed all the flavor in there -- do they have some sort of Steve Austin Six Million Dollar Man project going on for peanuts down there? (They can make it bigger, stronger...)



5. BRAZIL NUTS: Again, props for the cute molding. This piece was also molded to look like a little nut half. This is another milk chocolate piece. I feel the need to admit I do not as a rule like Brazil nuts, so take my thoughts on this one with a grain of salt. In this piece the nuts are larger chunks, and and there is no mistaking that they are there.

The nuts themselves are quite crisp, and have that green, almost raw taste. It sort of reminds me of a cross between raw peanuts and sunflower seeds. If you like Brazil nuts, you will probably love this piece. (An interesting side bit of trivia is that while you might think that Brazil would be the chief exporter of the nuts based on the name, Bolivia is actually one of the biggest suppliers. Remember to thank me when that question comes up on Jeopardy and you look super smart for knowing the answer.)



6. MILK CHOCOLATE: This one is also a shell shape, just like the peach. About the only way to tell them apart is that the plain milk is just a tiny bit lighter in color. It is very creamy and has a smooth melt. On its own, it is a little too sweet for me -- but I liked it when paired with the different flavors and nuts. I think it works better as a base for other flavors than it does as a standalone.



7. RAISINS: I loooooove raisins in chocolate. There just aren't enough chocolates that feature raisins. Seriously, why isn't this more popular? Anyway...

This is yet another milk chocolate piece. Whole raisins stud the chocolate. It's like eating a giant Raisinet. The raisins are plump and juicy and the chocolate is cool and smooth. This was one of my favorites. I could eat a full bar of this piece!



8. DARK CHOCOLATE: This is a 57% dark chocolate -- not the darkest on the block by any stretch, but not exactly a deep milk either. I am sure the Chocolates Para Ti people aren't going to like me for saying this, but the first thing that struck me when smelling the chocolate wasn't the expected woodsy notes, or coffee notes, maybe even cherry -- no, but this was indeed a familiar smell. In fact, it's an aroma I rather like under different circumstances. So what was that aroma?

It smells exactly like Play-Doh! Yeah, DOH indeed! Smell aside, though, it does have a really clean snap and it is quite rich. (No Play-Doh taste, thank goodness.) It tasted to me at first like a chocolate covered cherry minus the cherry. Once the sweetness wanes a bit (about 5 or 6 seconds in) the flavor becomes very earthy. Kind of like...well, like lush, fertile tropical dirt. I know that doesn't sound like it would be good, but it is honestly addicting. It doesn't remind me of a traditional dark chocolate at all. But it is so good that I don't care.

EDITED AFTER ORIGINAL POST TO ADD: My thanks to the nice folks at Chocolates Para Ti for letting me know that I goofed up the original cacao content. (Doofy me wrote 54%, whereas the actual amount -- now posted -- is really 57%. So, DOH! once again. I stand corrected!)

9. PISTACHIO: I love pistachio. And this is a piece flavored (artificially) with pistachio. True to every artificial pistachio flavored item I have ever had, it tastes more like cherry-almond than pistachio -- but it's still a good taste. Now I want marzipan...




10. WHITE CHOCOLATE FLAVORED WITH BRAZIL NUTS: This is the lone white chocolate in the box. Again, I feel the need to voice my own biases against both white chocolate and Brazil nuts...so you have been fairly warned. The white chocolate is very soft and smooth. The single strongest taste is Brazil nuts. I am not sure why they went with simply Brazil nut flavor rather than actual Brazil nuts. Errrm...what else...did I mention it was white chocolate? Honestly guys, I don't want to be unfair to this piece because it was made up of two flavors I don't like. If you are a fan of either flavor, I am willing to bet you would like it a lot. Dammit, where's Jim when I need his input?

EDITED AFTER ORIGINAL POST TO ADD: Again, my thanks to the folks at Chocolates Para Ti for passing on a little more information about this particular piece: The Brazil nut flavoring that you taste in this piece is real Brazil nut that has been crushed up into a fine powder/paste that is then mixed in with the white chocolate. So for you white chocolate/Brazil nut fans, this sounds like it is a really spiffy piece!

11. ORANGE: Must I once again proclaim from the mountaintops my love of orange and chocolate?! This piece is no exception. The flavors reminded me of an orange jelly roll with no jelly. You know that zesty, sweet orange taste? It's just like that. (The chocolate, again, is milk.) I really liked this one!



12. DARK MILK: Last but not least is the 46% dark milk brick. Interestingly enough, the dark milk tastes darker than the actual dark chocolate. It made me think of what the the love child of a Hershey's Special Bar and raw Devil's Food Cake cake batter would taste like. Clearly, 11 different shades of awesome! It's a little woodsy, but there are some deep cocoa notes. The cherryish flavor is still there. It does have a nice milky finish.

In the end, I loved some of the pieces -- the amaranth, the deep milk and the dark chocolate in particular. The assortment as a whole was good mix. And even with the pieces I didn't like as much, I have to admit it was because they contained flavors I don't care for in any circumstances, rather than because of anything that Chocolates Para Ti did or didn't do. Yep, this box made me very happy.

If you want to try something different, or you want a gift for a foodie that's way off the beaten path, this could be just what you are looking for.


PURCHASED FROM:

Sample From Company

Be sure to visit the Chocolates Para Ti website to see their full selection of products, and for ordering/shipping information.