287844 Wed Nov 07 14:26:27 -0800 2001 22 27 General Chowhounding Topics 0 1550769 A fine day just turned into a great one, the UPS dude just dropped off a whole box of Chocolove Extra Strong Dark 77% cocoa content premium Belgian chocolate bars! I know that there are many staunch supporters of Scharffen Berger among us (for good reason), but my favorite is this one (link below). This stuff is so intense it'll give you a buzz that'll last at least an hour. It's for hardcore chocolate lovers -- no wimpy milk chocolate eaters need apply. The most astoundingly pure hit of chocolate that money can buy, it's like mainlining, only we get the added bonus of it dancing by our tastebuds. I especially like it as an unconventional dessert -- shaved over good crusty toasted bread with a glass of port. Anyone else out there like these bars? Link: http://www.chocolove.com/bar_77.html Wed Nov 07 14:26:27 -0800 2001 0 Dennison 1 1550790 I'm with you that anything less than 70% chocolate is for wimps and is a waste of calories. I have had the Chocolove once, but I am happy with Valhrona, which is easier to find. For straight eating, I like Valhrona better than Scharffen Berger. But I do use S-B for cooking and baking. Have you tried Leonides pralines and truffles? They're shipped from Belgium every couple of weeks to shops around the US -- they have a website which gives outlet locations. I figured that since you are a dark Belgian chocoholic, you might like them if you haven't already tasted them. Godiva is gummy swill compared to Leonides. Wed Nov 07 20:10:26 -0800 2001 1550769 0 zora 2 1550814 Hey zora -- thanks for the tip on the Leonides pralines and truffles. I'll do some research on them -- I avoid all things dairy as my body doesn't seem to respond well, but would love to try them out if possible. I agree, Godiva hasn't been the same since they were sold to a huge corporation, Hershey I think but I could easily be mistaken. Thu Nov 08 00:24:12 -0800 2001 1550790 0 Dennison 2 1550829 Eating Chocolove and cooking with Scharfenberger? Wow, your food budget's bigger than mine. Thu Nov 08 09:00:18 -0800 2001 1550790 0 ironmom 3 1550903 My budget is limited, too. However, I find that one small square of Valrhona 70% is so intense, that it satisfies my chococravings more than a whole bar of lesser quality. And since I don't eat it every day, a bar can last quite a while. Also I don't do that much dessert-making. I pull out the stops for dinner parties, and save the Scharffen Berger for, say, a chocolate bread pudding made with brioche. Ordinarily, we have fruit, Trader Joe cookies or ice cream for dessert. By the way, I happened to have seen Chocolove 77% bars at Marvelous Market when I stopped to get bread for dinner tonight, and bought a bar. Tasted side-by-side with Valrhona, I prefer the Valrhona for complexity of flavor, and texture. Thu Nov 08 23:13:09 -0800 2001 1550829 0 zora 2 1550860 I'm with you, Leonides pralines rock! Thu Nov 08 15:12:32 -0800 2001 1550790 0 Melanie Wong 1 1550794 Weavers Way Food Coop in Phila (Mt Airy) has Chocolove. But you have to join... Orange peel...oh my. Wed Nov 07 20:33:44 -0800 2001 1550769 0 saucyknave 1 1550803 Mmmmmm, Chocolove! Must...visit...Bread & Circus... Wed Nov 07 22:42:40 -0800 2001 1550769 0 C. Fox 1 1550815 Ohhhhh dude.... Like this junky needed another source. Many thanks. Chow!!! Thu Nov 08 00:45:22 -0800 2001 1550769 0 Brandon Nelson 2 1550834 Here's another interesting lesser-known brand that I've been playing with as a couverture chocolate, Schokinag Dark 71% Cocoa (link below). The fluid consistency makes it a real pleasure to work with and it makes unbelievably good dipped strawberries with a beautiful sheen. It's pretty good for eating out of hand, but really shines whenever you want to play Iron Chef special guest dessert guy. Schokinag is a family-owned German outfit that now seems to have some sort of affiliation with Christopher Norman Chocolates here in New York. It's well worth a try for anyone who likes to work with chocolate. Link: http://shop.store.yahoo.com/chefshop/schokbitcouv.html Thu Nov 08 10:22:44 -0800 2001 1550815 0 Dennison 3 1551210 I hope their chocolate is better than the marketing prose: I just love that bit about them "working exclusively from imported cocoa beans" -- that would be as opposed to domestic (i.e., German) cocoa beans used by those other guys, right? (snicker) Tue Nov 13 17:51:15 -0800 2001 1550834 0 Ruth Lafler 1 1550823 I have never tasted Chocolove products although I fancy they may be a corporophile publication of the same name. I would be wary of any 'gourmet' chocolate that uses Lecithin as an emulsifier. This is a short cut in the production process that replaces the 'tempering' stage which is a mark of quality chocolate making. Besides the Chocolove product is also a blend and blended products rarely have the character of single bean products. If you're really serious about chocolate, and I think you are, consenus holds Valrhona as standing alone as a brand. So good in fact is its product that many starred restaurants credit its use in their menu descriptions. Link: http://www.valrhona.com Thu Nov 08 04:21:21 -0800 2001 1550769 0 Michael Lewis 2 1550861 Valrhona indeed makes a superior product. But stick with the plain unadulterated chocolate. Stay away from the pralines, truffles, etc. which are subpar. Thu Nov 08 15:15:23 -0800 2001 1550823 0 Melanie Wong 2 1552737 Yes, the added lechithin looks suspicious, but it does provide for a better texture. Tempering is basically for appearance's sake, so the chocolate will have a nice sheen. Valrhona uses soy lechithin in some of their products as well. Restaurants use Valrhona because it is a recognizable brand name, and is associated with being French and expensive, not necessarily because it is superior to all other chocolate manufacturers. Wed Jan 30 21:41:01 -0800 2002 1550823 0 semi-sweet 1 1550867 I call this sort "pharmaceutical grade chocolate". ;-) Thu Nov 08 15:49:24 -0800 2001 1550769 0 Emily Cotlier 1 1550900 Very funny post...reminded me of the scene in Harry Met Sally. Before you think you have tasted the best..try Fran's. Honest, pure and gifted. She is still a relatively low volume chocolatier, and simply saying she uses the finest ingredients doesn't do the end product justice. Unbelievable. Spectacular. Try the 70% extra bitter thins, but also try the truffles, pralines, and..oh, I can't spell it..something like gandujula? The spelling is just as much a mystery as the reaction you will have once you have bitten into it... I promise to try your Chocolove...what a funny name! For some inexplicable reason, it reminds me of that song "Muskrat Love"... Link: http://www.franschocolates.com/products/product_categ.asp Thu Nov 08 22:39:32 -0800 2001 1550769 0 Olympia Jane 2 1550918 Thanks for the great tip, Olympia Jane, I've placed an order for the extra bitter thins and can't wait to get them! I approach chocolate like I do scotch -- not so much as a search for a single "best" bar, but as an opportunity to let masters ply their trade using whatever methods they choose to, including blending. There's such a range out there and so many different styles and approaches that I get really excited when I hear of another small batch producer like Fran, another master chocolatier to sample. Can't wait! Fri Nov 09 07:43:12 -0800 2001 1550900 0 Dennison 3 1550965 In case anyone's interested, I just got an email response from Fran's Chocolates with a list of their dairy-free/vegan chocolates. Here it is: Mini Bucare Natural Premium Bars 58.5 % Mini Bucare Extra Premium Bars 70% Large Premium Bars Bucare Crunch Large Bucare Blend Espresso BTW, Fran will evidently be on FoodTV's "Food Finds" on Nov. 12th and PBS's "Napa Style" Dec. 1st. Time to set the ReplayTV before I forget! Fri Nov 09 13:38:24 -0800 2001 1550918 0 Dennison 4 1551088 Thanks, Dennison. I checked the food tv "Food Find" listing, and apparently Fran will be sharing the Seattle billing with a regional "treat" called "aplets and cotlets". Aplets and Cotlets are the most miserable excuse for candy known to humans. Trust me on this one, just don't go there. A reasonable facsimile could be had by tossing eraser heads in powdered sugar...nothing like or even close to the sublime treat you will find from Fran's chocolate. The program airs on Monday at 1pm West Coast time... Sun Nov 11 22:02:01 -0800 2001 1550965 0 Olympia Jane 4 1551417 Got my order from Fran's Chocolates the other day and I've been buzzing ever since. I ordered both the Bucare Extra 70% bars and the Bucare Crunch 58.5% Premium Dark with Cacao Nibs bars. I'm extremely impressed by these domestic products and can clearly taste in every decadent bite that Fran is every bit the master chocolatier that she has been lauded as. The bars are made with "100% single variety premium Venezuelan cacao" and the Bucare Crunch adds little crunchy bits of bean for textural contrast. Both are creamy, intense and complex in flavor. IMHO, definitely able to go toe to toe with Vahlrona as an overall luxurious chocolate experience. (I still plan on keeping Chocolove Extra Strong 77% bars around though since there are just some moments when you really need the extra 7% shooting through your veins.) Many thanks to Olympia Jane for pointing the way! Fri Nov 16 12:00:54 -0800 2001 1550965 0 Dennison 1 1551165 I buy Chocolove 77% when I have a craving or when I'm tired and do enjoy it. I usually eat half a bar per indulgence. Valhrona is better, though. I just can't get it here in my province and do not want to order. I have half a bar of Chocolove 77% waiting in my drawer now!! Nice post. Love that Chocolate enthusiasm. Tue Nov 13 11:00:03 -0800 2001 1550769 0 Dennison 2 1551166 How did I make that mistake?? Prior post is mine. Sorry. Tue Nov 13 11:02:12 -0800 2001 1551165 0 Chuck Kirkpatrick 1 1551202 I've recommended Domori chocolate before and now proceed to do so again... I haven't had a chance to try it yet, but Domori also makes *pure* chocolate: [quote from Domori web site] Pure no limits 100% chocolate liquor Can chocolate exist without sugar? Under the Domori Code, a flavor cocoa provides chocolate with the three balances when it is used in 65% to 85% content. Sugar is a basic flavor-enhancing substance, capable of leaving out for a moment the cocoa bitterness in order to enhance its aromatic notes. In the Pure we have pushed ourselves beyond any limits in order to find the value of our research. I moulded cocoa in the fire and refined it in the vacuum: its fruit was opened, its beans were fermented, dried, roasted, shelled, grounded, refined and conched. No sugar, no vanilla, no lecithin. Its evolution in the mouth is slow, yet extraordinary; I wouldn't call it chocolate but the cocoa fruit that I engraved as if it was live stone. It reminds me of another plant which is often grown along with cocoa trees: tobacco ... its leaves on the markets of Trinidad and Venezuela ... Cuban puros rich in history. [/quote] Link: http://www.domori.com Tue Nov 13 17:10:22 -0800 2001 1550769 0 Karl B