Bubble Chocolate

Similar to Aero, Bubble Chocolate is an aerated chocolate bar. This bar is 60% cocoa, all natural, and described as "bubbles wrapped in chocolate!" It is distributed by Bubble Chocolate in Salem, MA, but this is a product of Belarus. I picked it up at TJ Maxx (of all places) for $2.99. It is much lighter than a typical chocolate bar, it feels almost fake.

The chocolate itself is alright if not kind of bland. Its certainly not a bad flavor though. The texture is interesting and very new to me. It is kind of soft and crumbly and dry at first, but it melts almost instantly.

Ingredients: Cocoa mass, Sugar powder, Cocoa butter, Lecithin (an emulsifier), Vanilla.

Nutrition: A serving is half the bar (40g). 200 calories per serving, 120 calories from fat. Total fat 15g, Saturated fat 9g, Total carbohydrate 22g, Dietary fiber 3g, Sugars 16g, Protein 2g.

Well, it is interesting but it just doesn't do it for me. I don't feel like I am eating bubbles wrapped in chocolate, I'd prefer solid chocolate no matter how dense it is. I rate it a 5 out of 10.

Gertrude Hawk 70% Cocoa

This is a 70% cocoa dark chocolate bar by Gertrude Hawk. They are a dollar each and come in a variety of flavors (70% cocoa is the only vegan one).

It melts nicely, rich and smooth. The taste isn't bitter but its not too sweet. The texture of this makes it taste indulgent. The bar is a bit thick though, I prefer my chocolate just a tad thinner.

Ingredients: Semisweet chocolate (chocolate, sugar, cocoa butter, soy lecithin (an emulsifier), vanilla).

Nutrition: A serving is one bar (49g). 250 calories, 180 calories from fat. Total fat 20g, Saturated fat 12g, Total carbohydrate 24g, Fiber 5g, Sugars 15g, Protein 3g.

Overall I think this is a great bar. I like the natural ingredients. The taste and texture combination is really delicious. I rate it a 7 out of 10.

Maverick Dark Chocolate With Honeycomb Crisps

So I have been in Florida again all week (hence the lack of posts). The weather wasn't all too warm, but at least it was sunny :) Anyway, this is an interesting bar. It is 35 grams of dark chocolate with "honeycomb crisps". Now I am quite familiar with dark chocolate, but lack some knowledge on these honeycomb crisp things. I wasn't sure what to expect, but the crisps turn out to be little pieces of crystalized sugar (glucose) embedded in the bar. The company is called Maverick and the web address they put on the package is venturefoods.com, the same website for the organica white bar.

The bar was broken and a bit beaten up when I opened it, I will try not to hold this against the poor candy itself. The dark chocolate is pretty bitter. The little crystallized sugar pieces add a weird texture but a good sweetness paired with the bitterness of the chocolate.

Ingredients: Cocoa mass*, Sugar*, Glucose, Cocoa butter*, Soya lecithin, Sodium bicarbonate.

*Fairtrade

Nutrition (UK style): Per 100g, 503 calories, Protein 6.3g, Carbohydrate 43.9g, Fat 33.4g.

I don't really know what to say about this bar. I would probably enjoy it more if I didn't feel like I was chewing on chocolate covered glass shards (that happen to be sweet). A 4 out of 10.

Sjaak's Hearts of Cherry Truffles

A heart shaped chocolate in the spirit of Valentine's Day :) This is my last piece of chocolate from Sjaak's. It is of course organic dark chocolate, but this one has a cherry flavored truffle center. Now, I'm not a huge fan of fruit and chocolate and I don't expect much. It is a beautiful piece of candy though. $0.65 each.

The dark chocolate outshines the cherry flavor in these. I like that. The cherry is kind of a nice background flavor. The truffle center is thick and kind of pasty but the whole thing melts together really well.

Ingredients: Organic dark chocolate (organic sugar, organic cocoa paste, organic cocoa butter, organic vanilla, organic soy lecithin), Organic cashews, Organic almonds, Organic palm oil, Organic cherry flavor.

These definitely surprised me. Its not the kind of candy I would eat regularly but the flavor is pretty appealing. I rate these a 7 out of 10.

Sjaak's Miniature Cups

I have two more organic dark chocolates from Sjaak's. These are a bit bigger than the other dark chocolates by Sjaak's. The silver wrapped one is Almond Butter, and the gold wrapped is Peanut Butter. They were $0.65 each.

The peanut butter filling is sweet and smooth with a nice roasted peanut flavor.

The almond butter is also sweet and smooth, though a tad drier. It tastes like sweet raw almonds.

The dark chocolate shell on both of these is very.. dark tasting for lack of a better description. I would imagine it has a pretty high cocoa content. The melt is nice and complements the peanut and almond flavors.

Ingredients: Dark chocolate (organic cocoa butter, organic sugar, organic cocoa paste, organic vanilla, organic soy lecithin), Organic peanuts or almonds, Organic powdered sugar.

Nutrition: A serving is one piece. 80 calories per serving. Total Fat 5.5g, Sodium 0mg, Total carbohydrate 5.5g (1g fiber, 3.5g sugars), Protein 1.5g.

Overall these are decent. They aren't phenomenal but enjoyable, definitely better than the other dark chocolate bites. A 7 out of 10.

Sjaak's Dark Chocolate Bites

In case you haven't noticed, I'm a huge fan of Vegan Essentials. I ordered three of the five Sjaak's Fair Trade Organic Chocolate Mini-Bites. I chose Acai, Ginger, and Caramel. They were $0.35 each. I think thats a good price and liked that I could mix and match and only order a few. These are nicely packaged and color coded, pink is acai, silver is ginger, and brown is caramel.

Acai: I am not too familiar with Acai though it seems to be outrageously popular and advertised on everything for some antioxidant purposes and whatnot (correct me if I am wrong). Anyway the center of this is fruity. Dark fruity like cherries or grapes or something and kind of sticky/chewy. I honestly don't enjoy it. The chocolate alone is terrific.

Ginger: This is an interesting flavor combination. Its actually unexpectedly enjoyable. There is much more filling in this than in the Acai, and the filling is more flowing. The ginger is more sweet than spicy and the darkness of the chocolate adds a nice balance.

Caramel: I was most looking forward to this one. Caramel and chocolate is classic. These however are unimpressive. The caramel is thicker, not flowing but not chewy. It is sweet but doesn't really have that caramel flavor I was hoping for.

Acai Ingredients: Organic dark chocolate (organic sugar, organic cocoa paste, organic cocoa butter, organic soya lecithin), Organic rice syrup, Organic sugar, Organic sambazon acai, Citric acid.

Ginger Ingredients: Organic dark chocolate (organic sugar, organic cocoa paste, organic cocoa butter, organic soya lecithin), Organic rice syrup, Organic sugar, Organic ginger, Organic ginger powder, Citric acid.

Caramel Ingredients: Organic dark chocolate (organic sugar, organic cocoa paste, organic cocoa butter, organic soya lecithin), Organic rice syrup, Organic sugar.

Nutrition: I don't have any nutritional info on these, which of course means there are no calories ;)

Okay, so overall I would simply prefer the dark chocolate plain. I won't buy these again. A 6 out of 10.

Dark Chocolate Crisps

These are like swoops which I haven't seen on shelves in ages. Basically they are pringle shaped dark chocolates with little rice crispies embedded throughout. They are Trader Joe's brand, guess where I got them. (Trader Joe's duh).

I think these are better to chew than to melt on the tongue because the crispies get loose and wander aimlessly through my mouth which I don't enjoy. However, I have tried eating these both ways and the chocolate has a nice melt but I can't stand having those little crispies just floating around. I like the dark chocolate flavor and when chewed, the crispies add an interesting texture though they are smaller than regular puffed rice crisps typically found in chocolate. The rice crispy bits add very little to the overall flavor, maybe a pinch of saltiness, but not enough to make a huge difference in the flavor of the chocolate.

Ingredients: Dark chocolate (sugar, cocoa mass, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, natural vanilla flavor, puffed rice (rice flour, sugar, barley malt extract, salt, calcium carbonate, rapeseed oil, soy lecithin.

Nutrition facts: Serving size is 12 pieces, 3 servings per container, 220 calories, 120 calories from fat, Total fat 13g, Saturated fat 8g, Total carbohydrate 22g, Dietary fiber 3g, Sugars 17g, Protein 3g.

These are nice, not my favorite, but I will have no problem eating the whole box. 7 out of 10.

Sweetriot unBAR 65

This is a sweetriot chocolate bar. Its a small 1.34 oz hunk of 65% dark chocolate with crunchy cacao (that's kuh-kow) 'peaces.' According to the package, it is "the unofficial bar of the world." I found it at wegmans for $1.89 and was impressed with the little story on the back. "sweetriot. fix the world. sarah & the rioters. created and made directly with our loving latin amigos, sweetriot continues its sweet movement to fix the world with its 'mega peaces' of chocolate. with just one bite, you're joining us as a rioter. PS-did we mention it's all-natural, low calorie (48 calories per mega 'peace'), gluten-free, dairy-free, and has high antioxidant levels! hit sweetriot.com"

Well, there you have it, I am a rioter. News to me. However I have a few questions about the chocolate like, who is Sarah? And her rioters? And how exactly are they saving the world 'peace' by 'peace'? So, as the blurb on the back tells me to do so, I visit sweetriot.com. It turns out Sarah is the mastermind behind the chocolate/cacao products. She and her team live by these values:

• We use premium, high quality, and all-natural ingredients.
• We believe in fair trade with developing countries.
• We celebrate culture and diversity through our products.
• We create sweet experiences for our customers, partners and employees.
• We are young at heart, energetic, down-to-earth and contribute to the greater good.

When I opened the package, I was greeted with a sweet chocolatey scent. Less like dark chocolate, and more like semisweet chocolate chips or something. And what are those adorable little creatures molded into the chocolate? They look like little birds.

The chocolate is sweet and melts rather quickly leaving behind small bits of cacao. The cacao nibs are bitter but in such a way that compliments the chocolate. The crunchy texture of the nibs against the smoothness of the chocolate is quite enjoyable. The taste is pleasantly more complex than I had expected, sweet, yet dark and woodsy with delicious coffee tones.

Ingredients are as follows: Cocoa mass, Sugar, Cocoa powder, Cacao nibs, Cocoa butter, Soy lecithin and Natural flavor.

Nutrition Facts: There are four 'peaces' in the bar, but the whole thing is considered one serving. So a total of 190 calories, 130 calories from fat, Total fat 14g, Saturated fat 7g, Total carbs 19g, Dietary fiber 2g, Sugars 10g, Protein 3g.

I love almost everything about this bar, from the taste, to the mission of the company. I do wish however, that it were less of a hunk of chocolate and more of a bar (thinner), nibbling would be easier that way. I like the size of the bar though, a good sized treat and easy to share. I rate this candy a 9 out of 10.