Review by Robert Tilendis: Founded in France in the 17th century, Bissinger’s chocolates were favored by the luminaries of 18th and 19th century Europe, such as Napoleon Bonaparte and the Rothschilds. The company was granted the title of “Confectioner of the Empire” by King Louis XIV. Bissinger’s relocated to the United States in 1845.

The example of their products that crossed my desk (well, landed on it) is the Caramelized Blood Orange, covered in dark (60%) chocolate, with hazelnuts. Being somewhat of a chocolate purist, I’m often dubious about additives, but since orange and chocolate are one of the classic combinations, I decided to give it a try.

It’s a 3-ounce bar, scored into eight squares, and rather flat. The hazelnuts seem to be mostly on the bottom. The chocolate surrounds a thin layer of blood orange caramel. The texture at room temperature is fairly firm, and a bite rapidly softens in the mouth, due probably to the caramel core. It’s a bit sweet, but the blend of flavors is good — the balance between orange and chocolate is just about perfect, and a reminder of why this has become a classic combination. The nuts add just a little bit of crunch, which accents the rather buttery texture of the chocolate/caramel combination.

I wound up liking this rather more than I expected. Bissinger’s website offers a chance to survey their offerings and purchase them directly. There is also a list of retailers.

Trader Joe’s Super Dark Chocolate

Trader Joe’s Super Dark Chocolate with Almonds

Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Truffle

Review by Robert Tilendis: Trader Joe’s may very well be the most socially conscious grocery store in the country. The Trader Joe’s website promises that everything packaged under the “Trader Joe’s” label offers no artificial flavors, colors or preservatives, no genetically modified ingredients, no MSG, and no added trans fats. In the case of Trader Joe’s Organic Chocolates, this also includes certification by both the USDA and Quality Assurance International, and since organic chocolate is the product of a fairly limited group of producers, it’s almost guaranteed that the growers are getting fair, and probably premium prices. So, how does all that social consciousness taste?

The Super Dark Chocolate is guaranteed 73% cacao, which pretty much insures a good, strong chocolate taste. The scent is comparatively pronounced, rich and earthy. The texture is somewhat brittle, while it turns a bit chewy in the mouth. There’s just enough sweetness in the bar to offset the bitterness of the chocolate, with a slight taste of blueberries and a bittersweet aftertaste.

The Super Dark Chocolate with Almonds has the same rich scent, the same texture. The almonds seem to provide crunch rather than flavor: any hint of almond is overpowered by the chocolate, which is very rich and fruity, with a hint of molasses — although there’s a also a hint of dryness in the aftertaste that may be almond after all. This is another 73% cacao offering, with just enough sweetness to offset the bitterness.

The Dark Chocolate Truffle surprised me somewhat. This bar contains 57% cacao, so the chocolate flavor is not so pronounced, although the texture is only slightly less brittle than the darker chocolates. The scent combines chocolate and nuts. It’s slightly sweet, tasting of berries. There is nothing particularly “truffle-y” about it, either in texture or flavor — it’s quite firm and not particularly rich-tasting.

OK — these are not the most drop-dead chocolates I’ve tasted recently, but they’re way up there — for a product that is not artisan-produced and is readily available, they’re very high quality.

Review by Robert Tilendis: The Whole Foods web page for this product provides very little information, except for the essentials: 72% cacao, and the ingredients: organic chocolate liquor, organic cane sugar, and organic cocoa butter, with the usual warning that it may contain tree nuts, milk, eggs, wheat and soy.

As might be expected from a chain with Whole Foods’ reputation, all ingredients are organic, fair trade, and socially conscious. (Well, the ingredients themselves aren’t socially conscious, but you get my drift.) In this case, the front of the box notes that “a portion of the proceeds helps fund the education of children in the Kyela district of Tanzania.” And yes, the cacao is from Tanzania.

Now to the meat, so to speak. The bar weighs in at a standard 3.5 ounces; it’s rather wide and flat, and indented to allow you to break off large tablets. The color is a true dark chocolate color, darker than milk chocolate but not quite as dark as others I’ve sampled — it looks about right for 72%. It’s a bit brittle, but this seems to be subject to change depending on the ambient temperature — we’ve just come off a hot spell here, and it was rather softer when the temperatures were around 90.

The flavor itself is definitely dark chocolate, a little dry, with not much in the way of overtones except for a slight earthiness and a little tartness in the aftertaste. The sugar content is just enough to take the edge off the bitterness of the chocolate. 

All in all, this isn’t the most arresting chocolate I’ve tasted, but it’s certainly adequate if you’ve got to have some chocolate right now.

Review by Robert Tilendis: Trader Joe’s offers a variety of confections, most of them involving chocolate. The latest one to cross my path is the Organic Dark Chocolate PB&J Minis.

I can hear you asking “What is this?” I suspect it’s a riff on Reese’s peanut butter cups, without the cup. It comes in a 3.5 oz. (100 g) bag (resealable) containing eight pieces. Individually wrapped. (I can understand the reasoning — better that than a large lump of candies, but in my household, overpackaging earns a demerit.) In this incarnation, the “J” in PB&J is raspberry fruit filling, not quite a jelly, but more like a jelly than anything else. It is, of course, covered in chocolate.

However, the proof is in the eating. 

As might be expected, the dark chocolate covering is slightly brittle, and breaks apart readily to flood the mouth with the flavor of raspberry jam. In fact, the raspberry pretty much overpowers the peanut butter — or it would if raspberry jam stuck to the roof of your mouth. Actually, the peanut butter taste is there, but it takes a while to make itself known. Needless to say, there’s not a lot of nuance here: the flavors are nicely blended, without a lot of subtlety. I will say, though, that the tartness of the raspberry cuts the buttery qualities of the peanut butter nicely, while the chocolate offers a good foundation.

I don’t know if I’ll go searching for these at my local Trader Joe’s, but they are a nice treat if you’re in the mood for PB&J and don’t feel like making a sandwich. And the chocolate is a plus. But be warned: it occurs to me that it would be very easy to work through a whole bag without realizing it.

Review by Robert Tilendis: At first glance, the idea of chocolate laced with spices more often found in South American cuisine might seem a little off-putting. But hey, they’re all from South America, so there’s got to be some affinity there, right?

Brooklyn Born Chocolate, although currently based in New Jersey, was, indeed, originally in Brooklyn, New York. Executive Pastry Chefe François Bonnet is noted for blending exotic ingredients — fruit, nuts, and spices — with very “normal” counterparts — in the case of their Holy Molé, caramelized Rice Krispies.

Holy Molé comes in a 2.1 oz (60 g) bar scored into six squares. Aside from the chocolate, which is 72% cacao, the ingredients include almond, toffee bits, chile blend spices (pasilla, casabel, ancho, mulato), sesame seeds, and fleur de sel.

Ah, but how does it taste? It’s fairly brittle, but tends to, as they say, melt in your mouth. The overriding taste is chocolate, slightly bitter, with, ultimately, a buttery feel and an underlying saltiness. And, in spite of what you might think from the name (and the ingredients), it’s not particularly spicy — just a sort of tingly aftertaste (but be warned: that tingle builds up the more of it you eat).

All in all, it’s an interesting variation on your basic dark chocolate, but for those not overly fond of spicy foods, best enjoyed in moderation.

By Robert Tilendis: The latest goodies to come my way are three bars of chocolate from Vietnam. No, I didn’t think of Vietnam as a source for chocolate either, but when you stop to think about it, although cacao originated in South America, it can grow anywhere in the tropics, so Vietnam makes as much sense as anyplace else. (Although, according to the history related on Marou’s website, cacao culture in Vietnam had a stop-and-go existence until the late 20th century, when China became a ready market for Vietnamese cacao.) Marou is another maker that offers single-source chocolates.

The first on our list is Bén Tre 78%, from the Mekong Delta. This one, like the two that follow, comes in a thin, .8 oz (24 g) bar, incised with a diamond pattern on top. (This seems to have nothing to do with the way it breaks, which seems to be fairly random.) The texture is quite brittle, and the taste is cocoa with a faint smokiness underneath and just enough sugar to cut the bitterness. The aftertaste has just the faintest hint of berries, slightly tart.

Lâm Dong 74% , from the central highlands, once again starts with a brittle texture (which, after all, is only to be expected). The taste is cacao, a bit tart and a bit buttery. The aftertaste continues the tartness and the butter — it’s a seductive combination.

Bà Ria 76%, from the east coast, like the other two, and in common with other high-cacao chocolates, starts off brittle; the taste is, again, slightly tart with a hint of spice. The aftertaste is buttery and somewhat smoky.

This is one of those cases in which a plain description is barely adequate. There’s a certain indefinable quality to these chocolates that really needs to be experienced first-hand. Happily, the website includes an interactive map for locating retailers. And these are only three out of a wider selection, so I’d say “Happy shopping!”

Review by Robert Tilendis: For the confirmed chocoholic, Trader Joe’s has come up with a real treat: Pound Plus Chocolates. It really is a pound plus — 17.6 ounces (500 g), to be exact — and it’s quite reasonably priced — one might even say “cheap”, at only $4.99 for a nice hefty bar. It comes in a variety of flavors, from milk chocolate to 72% cacao; I usually pick up the dark chocolate. These chocolates are made for Trader Joe’s in Belgium; the dark chocolate contains chocolate liquor, sugar, cocoa butter, and soy lecithin.

The bar itself is large and flat, scored into squares that break apart fairly easily. The color is a nice, rich chocolate brown, and the scent is definitely chocolate. But, as they say, the proof is in the pudding — so to speak.

The squares are bite-size, and the texture is quite firm, with some variation depending on ambient temperature. (I did once have a few squares that I was carrying with me melt together, just enough to stick, but the temperature was in the 90s.) Once you’ve started chewing, the texture turns somewhat buttery. The taste is rich, slightly earthy, and also contains hints of butter under a rich chocolate taste.

As I noted above, the bars come in several varieties, including milk chocolate, bittersweet, 72% cacao, dark, and possibly one or two others — Trader Joe’s website is marvelously reticent about this particular line, and most other listings seem to feature the 72% cacao. It’s worth checking out at your local Trader Joe’s, though, to see what else is available.

Review by Robert Tilendis: Alfred Ritter GmbH & Co. KG is a major German chocolatier and candy manufacturer with an international reputation for excellence.

The 74% Intense contains cocoa from Peru and comes in a square bar, about 3-1/2 inches on a side, weighing in at 3.5 oz (100 g), molded into 25 small tablets. The texture, as might be expected, is quite firm, just short of brittle, depending, of course on the temperature. 

The taste has just a hint of sweetness, enough to cut the bitterness of the cacao. The aftertaste is somewhat buttery, with just a bare hint of vanilla.

All in all, it’s good chocolate, although not spectacular in any way. It’s nice to have in your pocket for emergencies, though.