A curious taste of chocolate in Reading...Would love others opinions..

[chompie]

I don't like really cheap waxy chocolate, and can't usually spring for real high price stuff, so i tend to end up with decent mid level chocolate like Droste(love the pastille rolls, but havent seen it lately), Heberts Lindt, Ghiradelli, and do like M&Ms.. So we decided to maybe give some supposed really good chocolate a chance and went to The Chocolate Truffle in Reading. At almost $24 per pound I expected gourmet lushness..combined with their great online reviews online(but havent seen anything here). Bought three pieces, a carmello milk, vanilla mousse dark and small solid milkchocolate heart. The solid was fair, but tasted to me like the discs i get at Michael's when i make cheap kids chocolates, the marshmallow was tough and chewy, the caramel in it tasted sub Rolo and not buttery or creamy like i would have thought and the Vanilla mousse was wierd tasting and sugar was not dissolved.. Frustrated, gave up and went to Rite Aid and got a couple of Russell Stover candy bars at 64cents on half price and a hersheys choc marshmallow heart. The Hersheys choc was subaverage but the marshmallow at least melted in my mouth. I dont usually think much of Russell Stover, but i have to say that those particular chocolate bars were actually delicious . A bit too sweet, but had some darker notes and melted like velvet. I would be curious to have seen the drugstore stuff in a blind taste test with the Truffle shop...I would love it if someone else tried this taste test and let me know if i am crazy or right! I thought I had a decent ability to taste chocolate.. I was told by a judge at Topsfield Fair that my Ghirardhelli Mocchachino truffles tasted like a truffle is supposed to taste.. THe Russell Stover bars are in red boxes, thin bars about 7x3" with cute retro animal pictures and sayings on them, and at 2 oz would come to less than 5 bucks a pound. Also, if anyone wants to tell me where to go to try really amazing milk chocolates, please feel free! Winfreys didnt have any val day stuff left, and i have never really been excited by their choc anyways..

[opinionatedchef]

Personally, i think the best way to educate your palate is to go and buy various chocs at Whole Foods, and some of those at Formaggio Kitchen. I don't care for milk choc. and usually I don't eat any dark choc less than 72%, so the more commercial chocs that you mentioned- don't work for me. I prefer the Black and Greene line and a few of the Chocolove , Endangered Species and Berkshire Bark bars, and Burdick's and Recchiutti for piece chocolate. The Sunday Globe had a Boston chocs taste test on last Sunday. Burdick's won for Best Chocolate Box , and Stow Away Sweets in Marblehead won for best all round. The prices that I typically see for the top line chocs are in the $40 lb. range. So if you're happy with RStover, that's a great deal for you. For 'bargain chocs', many people are fans of the TrJ's chocs, most/all of which are purported to be imported.

[barleywino]

have you tried Teuscher (on Newbury st, Boston)?

[chompie]

Havent tried them. So, do you have to go into the city to find decent chocolate?

[gourmaniac]

By coincidence, I tried some Russell Stover caramels recently that I thought weren't bad. I assumed it was my aging taste buds but i will now reconsider. i agree they are a bargain especially at half price. As much as I detest amateur night dining on Valentines Day, I do enjoy the 50% off chocolates the next day. On the higher end, I used to enjoy the Belgian Chocolate House in Medford but i believe they closed.

[chompie]

gourmaniac, I am hoping that russel stover has just upped their quality,and that its nothing to do with aging! If you are looking for a bargain, and dont mind Lindt Truffles, which i dont crave but think are ok, go to the Lindt Outlet in Stonham at Redstone Plaza. They are about 50 cents apiece but i discovered if you go to the back in the 70% Xmas section you can buy a little cardboard house to fill with 15 truffles for 3 bucks! She filled the boxes but you can get an empty box and then fill it with your own choice of flavors!.Although, i have to say that its still that Russell Stover 64 cent bar that i keep craving . I know they have a few more at the Rite aid off main street in reading (not the haven st one) because I got a few more there. You will have to put up with them saying "you are my Guitar Hero" on the box :)