Chowfind: Scharffen Berger chocolate at Dollarama

[Nyleve]

Not sure if it's at all the stores or not, but today I found a display of Scharffen Berger chocolate bars at a Dollarama store in Peterborough. 85 gram bars of 3 different kinds: semisweet, bittersweet and extra dark (each one has the % on it but I forget what they are). One thin loony each bar. I bought 6.

[sgogo]

In case anyone's still interested, the Dollarama at Albion and Martin Grove in Rexdale still has a large quantity of all four kinds. I don't think I can legitimately store any more in my cupboard, but it's such an amazing deal, I'll probably end up going back.

[aser]

I've tried to replenish my supply the past month but every dollarama I've been to have sold out already.

Alas rexdale is a bit too far for me. Would appreciate if anyone sees anymore kicking around.

[elrik]

Well, I don't think I can eat it all, so I will reveal our horde in case it helps you Aser. The dollarama at Morningside and Kingston road still had lots of all varieties when I was last in.

[peasandcarrots]

I can tell you that as of Valentine's Day afternoon, there was a nearly a full display of 41%, 62%, and 70% Scharffen Berger bars at the Dollarama in St. Catharines (Welland Avenue location) ... well, less the 10 bars that I bought.

[cheesymama]

Just got back from the East York Town Centre. They still had plenty of 62% and 70%. Anyone seen any 41% (milk) in the GTA?

[wontonfm]

Dollarama at Dufferin Mall has the milk chocolate and LOTS of them as of this afternoon. They have all other varieties as well. College Park only has a few of the darker chocolate varieties.

WON
http://whatsonmyplate.wordpress.com

[Chow_Hound_Dog]

I just checked Woodside Mall (McCowan & Finch) Dollarama this afternoon and they still have the 41% Milk as well as the others.

[cheesymama]

Thanks to both of you, hubby is working near Dufferin Mall so I will send him on my quest!

[Raquel]

I bought some today too. Went in for a Valentine's Day bag! I purchased the 82% ones and tried one. Tasted just fine to me, I bought 6 of them. Also went to Shopper's today and noticed a Hershey's Kiss in a heart shaped box. I bought a couple for the kids. Then talking to my Mom an hour later, she told me she had just bought a couple boxes of the same.....at the Dollar Store. For $1. The ones I bought at Shopper's were $7. Same exact. Goes to show you, shopping around pays off sometimes....

[Pastryrocks]

Can this be true? Are these 100g bars for a $1.00? That’s almost 1/5th of the price that Shoppers is selling Scharffen Berger. I suppose that they have bloomed or they are near or past the best before date or both? Does anyone know?

[tjr]

Yes to the first two questions, no for the second last one. As to the final question: there's a thread on the General Board that explains the situation.

[Pastryrocks]

Thanks tjr.

[pinstripeprincess]

did a quick scan and did not see the thread, perhaps a link or a title?

[tjr]

I think it was a combination of this thread and one of the other threads on a different board (maybe it was the Montreal thread): http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/591577

Not in General, sorry! Was trying to avoid doing the search myself :-)

[Chow_Hound_Dog]

They're actually 85g bars, not 100g. Still, a bargain at a buck, IMO. The 41% have a b/b date of June/2009 and the 70% have a b/b date of July/2009 and they both taste alright to me. You have to do your own calcs to figure out how much you should buy if you don't plan on overindulging and finishing them off before those dates.

[Nyleve]

They're absolutely fine - not bloomed or anything. I tried a chunk of the 70-ish% one and it was perfect. And hey, it's chocolate. Even if it were past it's best-before date, it's not like it's going to suddenly become toxic. Stored properly, chocolate lasts a long time. That said, I don't remember the exact dates on mine, but they were all pre-expiry anyway.

[Pastryrocks]

Went to the Dollar store which I'm no used to shopping at. Tired one bar of the 70% and indeed it is fine. So I purchased 19 more chocolate bars. At $11.76 per Kg, it is a deal even if the quality has gone down hill since Hersey has taken over. Made some hot chocolate and imho the chocolate is better than Lindt regardless of cost.

[duckdown]

Lots of the stock/stores have been picked over.. the RFD effect

it's been on sale for weeks now :)

Cheers

[blindbunny]

good score! i work close to a dollarama - am going to go check it out tomorrow during lunch and hope i can stock up!

[ChalkBoy]

I found it waxy.

[Chow_Hound_Dog]

A similar thread has been up on the Montreal board for a few weeks already -- methinks they're already up to 16 pages long!

Anyways, I picked some up last weekend at the STC Dollarama (although they didn't have any more of the 41% Milk) and at the Woodside (Finch & McCowan) Dollarama where they still had all 4 kinds (41%, 62%, 70%, and 82%).

The bitterness is an acquired taste. I used to like the high-sugar/hydro-veg-oil Cadbury and Rowntree chocs but have come to find these high cocao chocs more satisfying. If you haven't tried a high cocao bar before I'd suggest you try the 41% milk first!

Anyways, a great buy at a buck. Shoppers is charging close to $5 a bar. Wow. BTW, their stock did pretty well today... on the back of chocolate lovers??!

[Chow_Hound_Dog]

Just a correction. The 16 pages long forum was actually on Redflagdeals NOT the Montreal Chowhound board. My apologies.

[ragged25]

Plenty of them at Dollarama in Shopper's World (Victoria Park/Danforth) Was very temtpted, but resisted, not very good for the diet that I'm trying to work on.

[Chow_Hound_Dog]

Yes, I agree the chocolates are high in fat so I wouldn't recommend eating more than 1/8 bar or around 10g if you're on a diet. Still, there are health benefits to high cocao chocolate but only for the 70%+ ones assuming you can take the taste.