Interesting about the dried berries - haven't noticed them at my Trader
Joe's, but I'm sure they are there and worth picking up.

I suspect you're referring to the Valrhona "Le Noir Extra Amer 85%" bar
which has been available for awhile - at least a couple years. Even though
prominent bitterness is normal for any 85%, this Valrhona bar has prominent
fruity flavor with little sweetness and a fair amount of bitterness. I
don't find it as pleasant as other 85% bars, specifically:

- Cuba Venchi's "Cuor di Cacao 85%" which has a fairly intense but pleasing
non-bitter chocolate taste with no prominent flavor notes.
- Galler's "Noir 85%" which has an excellent floral taste and is quite
exquisite.

Geoff

"Mark Thorson" > wrote in message
...
> Trader Joe's recently started carrying Valrhona's
> 85% bar. I don't know if this is a new product,
> but it's the first I've seen of it.
>
> In the past couple years, I've bought three of
> the Lindt Excellence 85% bars even though I
> already knew I didn't like them, just because
> Alex's descriptions made them sound so good
> that I doubted my own memory.
>
> Alex sometimes mentions that his preference is
> for a deeply roasted chocolate, not the lighter
> roasts characteristic of Valrhona and S-B.
> So I thought an 85% Valrhona might be closer
> to what I would like.
>
> It was okay, but I don't prefer it over the
> 71%. Alex would call that "addicted to sugar",
> but I think only a few people like Alex would
> really think 71% is too sweet. I wouldn't
> mind trying something halfway between the two.
>
> But I have found a use for the 85% bar.
> Recently, I've been eating lots of dried wild
> blueberries from Trader Joe's (watch out --
> they sell both wild and farmed dried blueberries,
> the wild ones have all the flavor). I've found
> that eating 85% chocolate with the dried berries
> allows the berries to provide enough sweetness
> for both. It's a nice combination, but I'll
> have to explore a few other combinations such
> as dried apricots, dates, and other berries.