Since I have a sister-in-law in Amsterdam, we often end up with having
a box of Droste chocolates from someone or another's visit there.

While the dark and milk chocolates aren't anything special (and a bit
too sweet for my taste), I have to say that their white chocolate is
one of the very few that actually TASTES like chocolate! Almost every
other white chocolate I've ever tried has tasted like milky wax. This
has a lovely smooth texture and while also a bit on the sweet side for
my taste, it has a good strong chocolate flavor to it. I've never had
a white chocolate that ever came close to this one.

Just in case you were interested.

--
Davida Chazan (The Chocolate Lady)
< davida at jdc dot org dot il >
~*~*~*~*~*~
"What you see before you, my friend, is the result of a lifetime of
chocolate."
--Katharine Hepburn (May 12, 1907 - June 29, 2003)
~*~*~*~*~*~
Links to my published poetry - http://davidachazan.homestead.com/
~*~*~*~*~*~

In article >,
Davida Chazan - The Chocolate Lady > wrote:

> While the dark and milk chocolates aren't anything special (and a bit
> too sweet for my taste), I have to say that their white chocolate is
> one of the very few that actually TASTES like chocolate! Almost every
> other white chocolate I've ever tried has tasted like milky wax. This
> has a lovely smooth texture and while also a bit on the sweet side for
> my taste, it has a good strong chocolate flavor to it. I've never had
> a white chocolate that ever came close to this one.


What makes it chocolatey, since, presumably, it does not have chocolate
liquor in it?

--
to respond, change "spamless.invalid" with "optonline.net"
please mail OT responses only

NOTE: My Correct Address is in my signature (just remove the spaces).
On Sat, 18 Oct 2003 18:07:27 GMT, Scott >
wrote:

>In article >,
> Davida Chazan - The Chocolate Lady > wrote:
>
>> While the dark and milk chocolates aren't anything special (and a bit
>> too sweet for my taste), I have to say that their white chocolate is
>> one of the very few that actually TASTES like chocolate! Almost every
>> other white chocolate I've ever tried has tasted like milky wax. This
>> has a lovely smooth texture and while also a bit on the sweet side for
>> my taste, it has a good strong chocolate flavor to it. I've never had
>> a white chocolate that ever came close to this one.
>
>What makes it chocolatey, since, presumably, it does not have chocolate
>liquor in it?

I haven't a clue. Perhaps the cocoa butter? Perhaps the way they use
the vanilla? Perhaps they don't use as much milk powder? Whatever it
is, it certainly tastes more like chocolate than any other white
chocolate I've ever had.

(I still don't care much for white chocolate, but if I have my choice,
Droste will be the one I'll choose.)

--
Davida Chazan (The Chocolate Lady)
<davida @ jdc . org . il>
~*~*~*~*~*~
"What you see before you, my friend, is the result of a lifetime of
chocolate."
--Katharine Hepburn (May 12, 1907 - June 29, 2003)
~*~*~*~*~*~
Links to my published poetry - http://davidachazan.homestead.com/
~*~*~*~*~*~

at Sat, 18 Oct 2003 07:10:47 GMT in <8jp1pv4jbr6s8ehnjlg80r6v1g6bsscndi@
4ax.com>, (Davida Chazan) wrote :

>Since I have a sister-in-law in Amsterdam, we often end up with having
>a box of Droste chocolates from someone or another's visit there.
>
>While the dark and milk chocolates aren't anything special (and a bit
>too sweet for my taste), I have to say that their white chocolate is
>one of the very few that actually TASTES like chocolate!

Have you ever tried El Rey? This is IMHO the best white chocolate, for
exactly the same reasons you mention for Droste. Now, El Rey's, AFAIK, is
the only one that uses non-deodourized cocoa butter, i.e. cocoa butter that
hasn't had any flavour removed with a process similar to bleaching. It's
hardly a surprise that most white chocolate ends up tasting like wax after
going through a procedure like that.

As for Droste, perhaps they have switched to non-deodourized? But not
TTBOMK. Do try El Rey if you haven't already and see if you still prefer
Droste after that. I can tell you that the first time I tried El Rey's
white chocolate my thought was instant: "Well, this is clearly the best
white chocolate out there, without any question!"

--
Alex Rast

(remove d., .7, not, and .NOSPAM to reply)

NOTE: My Correct Address is in my signature (just remove the spaces).
On Sun, 19 Oct 2003 07:50:07 -0000,
(Alex Rast) wrote:

>at Sat, 18 Oct 2003 07:10:47 GMT in <8jp1pv4jbr6s8ehnjlg80r6v1g6bsscndi@
>4ax.com>, (Davida Chazan) wrote :
>
>>Since I have a sister-in-law in Amsterdam, we often end up with having
>>a box of Droste chocolates from someone or another's visit there.
>>
>>While the dark and milk chocolates aren't anything special (and a bit
>>too sweet for my taste), I have to say that their white chocolate is
>>one of the very few that actually TASTES like chocolate!
>
>Have you ever tried El Rey? This is IMHO the best white chocolate, for
>exactly the same reasons you mention for Droste. Now, El Rey's, AFAIK, is
>the only one that uses non-deodourized cocoa butter, i.e. cocoa butter that
>hasn't had any flavour removed with a process similar to bleaching. It's
>hardly a surprise that most white chocolate ends up tasting like wax after
>going through a procedure like that.
>
>As for Droste, perhaps they have switched to non-deodourized?

Could be.

>But not
>TTBOMK.

Um... pardon?

>Do try El Rey if you haven't already and see if you still prefer
>Droste after that. I can tell you that the first time I tried El Rey's
>white chocolate my thought was instant: "Well, this is clearly the best
>white chocolate out there, without any question!"

Oh, great. Now I've got to figure out how I'm going to get my hands
on some El Rey's white chocolate.

--
Davida Chazan (The Chocolate Lady)
<davida @ jdc . org . il>
~*~*~*~*~*~
"What you see before you, my friend, is the result of a lifetime of
chocolate."
--Katharine Hepburn (May 12, 1907 - June 29, 2003)
~*~*~*~*~*~
Links to my published poetry - http://davidachazan.homestead.com/
~*~*~*~*~*~

Davida,
I received this text a few days ago that might help. Only the first three
lines are useful. The rest is the entire thread. Manjo:

I offer El Rey dark, milk and white bars. Direct source from
Venezula. Excellent dark 73.5% cocoa. and the price is far less than
Valrona. www.treats.net I ship anywhere in the continental USA

(Alex Rast) wrote in message
>...
> at Fri, 17 Oct 2003 18:56:00 GMT in
> >, (Manjo)
> wrote :
>
> >I Googled for bars and found very little available online.
> >My aged aunt loves chocolate bars and I want to send her a box of bars.
> >Is there a web site where I can order a box of 10 or 12 bars and have
> >them shipped directly to her (1,000 miles away)? Is Cadbury the best
> >and most easily available bar chocolate online?? TIA for any info,
> >tips, suggestions, comments.
> >--
> Go to http://www.chocosphere.com. This is the best chocolate site on-line,
> the handling is always great, their service is the best, and they have by
> far the best selection of quality chocolate. The brands can be a bit
> intimidating, so here's a quick synopsis of each of their characters:
>
> Michel Cluizel : Perhaps the best all-around. Tends towards a somewhat
> darker roast, less fruity character. The 50% milk chocolate of his is the
> best milk chocolate in the world. The 72% is perhaps the second best
> bittersweet.
> Valrhona : Very good. Very fruity and bright. One of their signature
> characteristics is the best texture in the industry - silky-smooth.
> Guittard : They have perhaps the best single chocolate in the world,
> Gourmet Bittersweet. The selection Etienne chocolates are outstanding.
> Overall they tend towards a very neutral balance, but tend towards a
> "generic" taste.
> Slitti : Extremely delicate. Slitti has some of the mildest, least
> aggressive chocolates at every percentage level. None of them are bitter
in
> the slightest. I find them a little bland, but it's personal.
> Max Brenner : Extremely uneven. The bars have an incredible variability.
> They tend towards the fruity side, but often taste "wild".
> Caffe-Tasse : Generally good. Leans towards a darker roast. They tend to
> select beans with little specific character.
> Cuba Venchi : Very, very dark roasters, typical of Italians. The chocolate
> is OK, but it's the gianduja that's superb - easily the best in the world.
> Dagoba : Tend toward the fruity side. Their chocolates always have a
> complex flavour. I suspect they use a lot of Trinitario beans because
their
> bars tend to have that woody/leather signature that the Trinitarios
usually
> possess.
> Cocoa Camino : They seem to focus on texture because although that's very
> good, the flavour is extremely bitter for their dark, excessively mild for
> the milk.
> Green & Black's : Terrible. One of the most overrated chocolates. Somehow
> they seem to think that the label "organic" should be enough. The
chocolate
> displays all the weaknesses common in cheaper chocolate - cloying
> sweetness, harsh bitterness, etc.
> Cote D'Or : Mixed-bag. They have good and bad chocolates. While the
flavour
> tends towards fruitiness, suggesting a light roast, some of them seem to
be
> very heavily roasted. Trying them is often difficult because you don't
know
> what to expect
> El Rey : Always intense. They have found a nice balance of roasting, but
> somehow the bars seem to lack the sophistication of some of the top Euro
or
> American brands. It's not the fault of the beans - their Carenero Superior
> bean is one of the truly great cocoa varietals.
> Galler : Lean towards the nutty side of the spectrum. They have a nicely
> balanced roast as well. Texture is always good. Excellent overall but
there
> are a few companies (such as Cluizel) who are better.
> Dolfin : They take dark roasting to an extreme. This is for the person who
> likes black, black chocolate. As a result they have little specific
> varietal character but are also minimally bitter, at most. In spite of the
> aggressive roast, they are one of the best.
> Callebaut : Fruity, but not so much as Valrhona. They're a big industrial
> concern of good but not great quality. Their flavour profile is almost
> identical with Ghirardelli, except Callebaut's milk chocolate which is
much
> worse than Ghirardelli's.
> Valor : Decidedly lacking in character. They seem to lean towards the
> problems of cheap chocolate - sweet milk chocolate, bitter dark chocolate,
> rough texture.
> Grenada Chocolate Company : They have a very woody taste to them, not in
> the unpleasant sense but rather in the sense of certain aromatic woods
like
> teak. Good overall.
> Lindt : We all know what they are usually like, but it's worth trying
their
> 85% if your aunt likes VERY strong chocolate. This is by far the best 85%
> chocolate available. The rest are, well, Lindt.
> Villars: Where's the chocolate? Not here. In common with many Swiss
> manufacturers, their bars taste very mild. Even with the 70% it was hard
to
> detect much chocolate in there.
> Scharffen Berger : If Dolfin represented the dark-roast extreme, S-B
> represents the extreme of light roasting. Thus, their chocolates taste
> *ultra*-fruity. IMHO this makes them quite unbalanced and always bitter.
> There's no denying that they're quality chocolate, but I'd stop short of
> calling them excellent - a clear case where a company's reputation exceeds
> its actual product.
>
> I hope that based on that, you can take a stab at what your aunt would
> like. Still confused? Send me a list of chocolate bars your aunt likes or
> has liked a lot in the past. I will match her profile to some chocolates
> and give you a recommendation.

--
Manjo
A ship in the harbor is safe, but that's not what ships are built
for. --William Shedd
Davida Chazan - The Chocolate Lady > wrote in
message ...
> NOTE: My Correct Address is in my signature (just remove the spaces).
> On Sun, 19 Oct 2003 07:50:07 -0000,
> (Alex Rast) wrote:
>
> >at Sat, 18 Oct 2003 07:10:47 GMT in <8jp1pv4jbr6s8ehnjlg80r6v1g6bsscndi@
> >4ax.com>, (Davida Chazan) wrote :
> >
> >>Since I have a sister-in-law in Amsterdam, we often end up with having
> >>a box of Droste chocolates from someone or another's visit there.
> >>
> >>While the dark and milk chocolates aren't anything special (and a bit
> >>too sweet for my taste), I have to say that their white chocolate is
> >>one of the very few that actually TASTES like chocolate!
> >
> >Have you ever tried El Rey? This is IMHO the best white chocolate, for
> >exactly the same reasons you mention for Droste. Now, El Rey's, AFAIK, is
> >the only one that uses non-deodourized cocoa butter, i.e. cocoa butter
that
> >hasn't had any flavour removed with a process similar to bleaching. It's
> >hardly a surprise that most white chocolate ends up tasting like wax
after
> >going through a procedure like that.
> >
> >As for Droste, perhaps they have switched to non-deodourized?
>
> Could be.
>
> >But not
> >TTBOMK.
>
> Um... pardon?
>
> >Do try El Rey if you haven't already and see if you still prefer
> >Droste after that. I can tell you that the first time I tried El Rey's
> >white chocolate my thought was instant: "Well, this is clearly the best
> >white chocolate out there, without any question!"
>
> Oh, great. Now I've got to figure out how I'm going to get my hands
> on some El Rey's white chocolate.
>
> --
> Davida Chazan (The Chocolate Lady)
> <davida @ jdc . org . il>
> ~*~*~*~*~*~
> "What you see before you, my friend, is the result of a lifetime of
> chocolate."
> --Katharine Hepburn (May 12, 1907 - June 29, 2003)
> ~*~*~*~*~*~
> Links to my published poetry - http://davidachazan.homestead.com/
> ~*~*~*~*~*~

NOTE: My Correct Address is in my signature (just remove the spaces).
On Tue, 21 Oct 2003 09:37:21 -0400, "Manjo" > wrote:

>Davida,
>I received this text a few days ago that might help. Only the first three
>lines are useful. The rest is the entire thread. Manjo:
>
>I offer El Rey dark, milk and white bars. Direct source from
>Venezula. Excellent dark 73.5% cocoa. and the price is far less than
>Valrona. www.treats.net I ship anywhere in the continental USA
>
Thanks, but I don't live anywhere in the continental USA. I don't
even live on that side of the globe.

--
Davida Chazan (The Chocolate Lady)
<davida @ jdc . org . il>
~*~*~*~*~*~
"What you see before you, my friend, is the result of a lifetime of
chocolate."
--Katharine Hepburn (May 12, 1907 - June 29, 2003)
~*~*~*~*~*~
Links to my published poetry - http://davidachazan.homestead.com/
~*~*~*~*~*~