Since unsweetened chocolate is quite bitter, I assumed that *extreme* amount
of sugar contained in chocolate bars, cocoa mixes and other chocolate
confections was added in order to offset the bitterness.

To the contrary, I just had a chocolate bar that was 85% cacao, and it was
delicious! To me, it tasted far more chocolaty than your more typical
half-sugar bars. It apparently takes only a small amount of sweetener to
bring out the chocolate flavor.

In fact, I heard that there is one German company that has just released a
95% cacao chocolate bar (which I would like to track down).

The 85% cacao bar that I described is called "Lindt Excellence Edlelbitter".

For another favorite, see my 10/6/2003 posting entitled "Dark chocolate with
pepper and strawberries -- Delicious!".

I do not like the German chocolate bars that I have had in the past, because
they are very high in cocoa butter, which makes them taste fatty to me.
But these two recent gifts from Germany are wonderful finds.

- David

NOTE: My Correct Address is in my signature (just remove the spaces).
On Sun, 2 Nov 2003 21:35:19 -0500, "David D."
> wrote:

>Since unsweetened chocolate is quite bitter, I assumed that *extreme* amount
>of sugar contained in chocolate bars, cocoa mixes and other chocolate
>confections was added in order to offset the bitterness.
>
>To the contrary, I just had a chocolate bar that was 85% cacao, and it was
>delicious! To me, it tasted far more chocolaty than your more typical
>half-sugar bars. It apparently takes only a small amount of sweetener to
>bring out the chocolate flavor.
>
>In fact, I heard that there is one German company that has just released a
>95% cacao chocolate bar (which I would like to track down).

Michel Cluizel has a 99% chocolate bar. While it is on the sharp side
(because of the spices, I believe), it is very good.

If you find this German one, please let us know. Who makes it?

>The 85% cacao bar that I described is called "Lindt Excellence Edlelbitter".

I find the Lindt a bit too acidic for my taste. I have used it for
cooking, however, with great results.

>For another favorite, see my 10/6/2003 posting entitled "Dark chocolate with
>pepper and strawberries -- Delicious!".
>
>I do not like the German chocolate bars that I have had in the past, because
>they are very high in cocoa butter, which makes them taste fatty to me.
>But these two recent gifts from Germany are wonderful finds.
>
Again, who makes these?

--
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 Mon, 03 Nov 2003 02:35:19 GMT in
>,
(David D.) wrote :

>Since unsweetened chocolate is quite bitter, I assumed that *extreme*
>amount of sugar contained in chocolate bars, cocoa mixes and other
>chocolate confections was added in order to offset the bitterness.

Of course a lot of chocolate bars do have extreme amounts of sugar, but I
think this is for a different reason. It's important to distinguish between
a *chocoholic* and a *sugar-holic* whose favourite delivery format for
sugar happens to be chocolate. A lot of people, I think, fall into the
latter category. It's easy to put people to the test - give them a good,
strong, dark chocolate to try. If they like it, they probably genuinely
like chocolate. If they react with distaste, it's probably the sugar they
actually like. One of the people I work with is a case in point. He claimed
to like chocolate. But his choices were always the cloyingly sweet types.
Then I brought in some very good bittersweet chocolates for him to try. He
didn't like any of them. It took me several sessions to convince him that
he was really a sugar-holic.

In any case, since there's a big market for the sugar-holics, there are
plenty of chocolates out there to target that market. There are also plenty
of chocolates out there to target the genuine chocoholic. Just decide what
group you really fit and buy that type of chocolate.

>
>To the contrary, I just had a chocolate bar that was 85% cacao, and it
>was delicious! To me, it tasted far more chocolaty than your more
>typical half-sugar bars. It apparently takes only a small amount of
>sweetener to bring out the chocolate flavor.
>
>In fact, I heard that there is one German company that has just released
>a 95% cacao chocolate bar (which I would like to track down).

As previously mentioned, there's Michel Cluizel with the 99% Noir Infini.
And this is a really, really good chocolate indeed. It's worth seeking out
for anyone who likes chocolate.

Do you live in the USA? Chocosphere (http://www.chocosphere.com) carries
both the Cluizel 99% and the Lindt 85%. You might also want to give the
Slitti 100% a try as well, although IMHO it's a little below the Cluizel.
>
>The 85% cacao bar that I described is called "Lindt Excellence
>Edlelbitter".

You got really lucky, because that's the best of the 85% bars and another
of the great chocolates of the world. Typically Lindt is merely OK, not
great, but in this bar they seem to have outdone themselves.

More typically, 85% bars taste a bit flat and monotonous. IMHO the perfect
balance of sugar to chocolate happens in the 66% - 75% range. That's enough
sugar to prevent the bar from tasting one-dimensional but not so much that
it starts to diminish the chocolate flavour.

>I do not like the German chocolate bars that I have had in the past,
>because they are very high in cocoa butter, which makes them taste fatty
>to me.

There's a fine line there. 40% or so cocoa butter is about ideal. When it
gets to about 35%, the bar will seem rather dry and powdery. When it is at
50%, OTOH, it usually does seem a little greasy. Different manufacturers
opt for different tradeoffs, but I don't think you can generalize to a
country that easily. I usually look at each manufacturer on an individual
basis, rather than bringing in expectations based on nationality of origin.

--
Alex Rast

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

Alex Rast wrote:

> It took me several sessions to convince him that
> he was really a sugar-holic.

Maybe he just agreed with you to get the resident
chocolate snob off his back. :-)

at Wed, 05 Nov 2003 02:43:08 GMT in >,
(Mark Thorson) wrote :

>Alex Rast wrote:
>
>> It took me several sessions to convince him that
>> he was really a sugar-holic.
>
>Maybe he just agreed with you to get the resident
>chocolate snob off his back. :-)

I'll concede I can be a chocolate snob, but I hope I'm not too overbearing.
:-)
Actually, in this case there was/is no implied value judgment. I don't
consider people to be inferiour simply by being sugar-holics. Eat the
chocolate you like, not what others would have you believe you should like.

--
Alex Rast

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

"Alex Rast" > wrote in message
...
> at Mon, 03 Nov 2003 02:35:19 GMT in
> You got really lucky, because that's the best of the 85% bars and another
> of the great chocolates of the world. Typically Lindt is merely OK, not
> great, but in this bar they seem to have outdone themselves.
>
> More typically, 85% bars taste a bit flat and monotonous. IMHO the perfect
> balance of sugar to chocolate happens in the 66% - 75% range. That's
enough
> sugar to prevent the bar from tasting one-dimensional but not so much that
> it starts to diminish the chocolate flavour.

That's comforting to hear, because above around the 70% range I start having
a few problems with chocolate, and I hope I don't turn out to be a
sugarholic. I did in fact like the Lindt 85% when I had it, so I guess
there's hope for me. The 99% (I think I remember also seeing a Lindt version
of the 99%) really seems like a rough ride, although I haven't tried it yet.

John

at Wed, 05 Nov 2003 16:44:47 GMT in
>, (JMF) wrote :

>
>"Alex Rast" > wrote in message
.. .
>> at Mon, 03 Nov 2003 02:35:19 GMT in
>> You got really lucky, because that's the best of the 85% bars and
>> another of the great chocolates of the world....
>> More typically, 85% bars taste a bit flat and monotonous. IMHO the
>> perfect balance of sugar to chocolate happens in the 66% - 75% range.
....
>That's comforting to hear, because above around the 70% range I start
>having a few problems with chocolate, and I hope I don't turn out to be
>a sugarholic.

Even if you were, I don't think that would be a sign of a character flaw.
But safe to say, if your threshold is at about 70%, it's not a given that
you're a sugarholic rather than a chocoholic.

> I did in fact like the Lindt 85% when I had it, so I guess
>there's hope for me. The 99% (I think I remember also seeing a Lindt
>version of the 99%) really seems like a rough ride, although I haven't
>tried it yet.

Cluizel's 99% is very, very different from your typical unsweetened
chocolate. It's MUCH deeper and more complex in flavour, without the all-
too-common harshness that many unsweetened chocolates have, because most
manufacturers don't use their best-quality beans for them. I disagree with
the common manufacturers' rationale, that the chocolate will mostly be used
for baking where the quality difference disappears. IMHO the difference
doesn't disappear, and you can readily taste the difference between a baked
good made with top-quality unsweetened and that made with the typical
unsweetened from a high-quality manufacturer, where they didn't pay
attention to ultimate quality in this product. Now, I don't think you can
use the same varietals as you might with a 70% - for example the Chuao,
which makes some of the most noble 70% chocolate in the world, is very
aggressive in a 100%, and when baked, becomes very flat and coffee-like
very quickly. A bean that can tolerate baking better, such as the Carenero
Superior, is a better bet.

--
Alex Rast

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

Alex,

Thanks for your detailed response. I will certainly avail myself of
Chocosphere.

I did glance at their website, and they do not appear to carry Hachez
chocolate. Do you know of anyone in the USA who does carry it? (I found
germandeli.com in a Google search, but judging by their heavy shipping
charges, I assume that they are not USA based.

Below is a reposting about a truly unique, delicious Hachez chocolate
bar:

===========================
Someone brought me an exquisitely delicious dark chocolate bar from their
trip to Germany.

It is 77% cacao, and is made with pepper and strawberries. The pepper is
quite subtle, and it brings out the sweetness of the strawberries, which, in
turn, complements the bitterness of the chocolate.

The name of the bar is "Hachez Cocoa D'Arriba - Erdbeer mit Pfeffer".
Ingredients a cocao mass, cocao butter, sugar, strawberries (1.5%),
natural flavorings, green pepper, Bourbon vanilla.
===========================

- David

at Thu, 13 Nov 2003 03:42:21 GMT in
>,
(David D.) wrote :

>Alex,
>
> Thanks for your detailed response. I will certainly avail myself
> of
>Chocosphere.
>
> I did glance at their website, and they do not appear to carry
> Hachez
>chocolate. Do you know of anyone in the USA who does carry it? (I
>found germandeli.com in a Google search, but judging by their heavy
>shipping charges, I assume that they are not USA based.
>

If you're interested, Cost Plus World Market carries it. However, I wasn't
super-impressed with Hachez. The texture is supreme, the best I've had in a
chocolate, much, much better than Valrhona, if that gives you an idea. But
the flavour was lacking - washed-out and uninspiring, given the cocoa
solids percentage. Don't get me wrong, Hachez is very good, but IMHO it
should have been much better and relative to the competition you can get
greater chocolates by far.

--
Alex Rast

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

Thanks, Alex. I have never tried straight Hachez chocolate. However,
their combination of chocolate, pepper & strawberry, I find to be delicious.

- David


"Alex Rast" > wrote in message
...
>
> If you're interested, Cost Plus World Market carries [Hachez]. However, I
wasn't
> super-impressed with Hachez. The texture is supreme, the best I've had in
a
> chocolate, much, much better than Valrhona, if that gives you an idea. But
> the flavour was lacking - washed-out and uninspiring, given the cocoa
> solids percentage. Don't get me wrong, Hachez is very good, but IMHO it
> should have been much better and relative to the competition you can get
> greater chocolates by far.
>
> --
> Alex Rast
>
> (remove d., .7, not, and .NOSPAM to reply)