the Chocolate Lover's Diary

Cloetta Kexchoklad

2006-09-26T10:56:00.000+02:00

The Karin Boye Library at the center for Humansitics at Uppsala University is not a haven for chocolate lovers. I managed to find a selling machine with assorted chocolate bars, and are sitting in a part of the building where I'm allowed to eat. I chose a classic among swedish bars "Kexchoklad" - filled wafers in milk chocolate. The design and logo os so wellknown that Cloetta has made pr for the bar using only the checkered pattern on "Kex". It's pretty similar to Nestlé's "Kitkat" and fairtrade marked "Break"

Fun facts:
*The word "kex" is an swedification of the english word "cakes". Is used for thin, chrispy cakes, like wafers.
*Some people substitute their breakfast or lunch with a Kexchoklad

Review:
Sweet and crunchy, not bad at all. But if I have to chose between Kexchoklad and and real meal for lunch I'd chose the meal.

Grey day

2006-09-07T11:16:00.000+02:00

Today is one of those days when the rain falls like it's determined to soak everything through twice. The only right thing to do is to tuck oneself in with a cup of good hot cocoa and a book....

...but of course, since I'm grown up I have work to do, there's books to be studied, babies to be cared for and bills to be paid.

What I really shouldn't be doing is surfing for chocolate on the web - before lucnh. My God, my stomach is growling! My train of thought started out something like this:
"If I'm a cyberspace chocolate lover perhaps I should take a look on the different webshops for chocolate, do some test ordering and maybe review the outcome."

So I set out to the task and happened to stumble across the website of the Chocolate Society first. I dearly want to become a member of this society; they're english (ie. within EU and less expensive to order from for me), they're posh (I always fall for that) and right now every new member is given a chocolate hamper (I fall for hampers too, especially if they contain chocolate). This is not the first time I risked my keyboard by surfing their website, but it has been a while since I been there. That's why I had a chance to think
"Their membership fee was high, but I may be able to manage it..."

...and then I looked at the fee and felt the hairs rise on my head. Of course, it's quite allright since it's a lifetime membership; not that high at all. On the other hand I still feel that £70 (978SEK, $132) is a bit over my financies. On the other hand... if I save a bit every month....

Ah, well, it's time for lunch! I'll give you a surf report in my next post.

Sweet indulgencies!

Chocolate Serenity

2006-09-01T11:59:00.000+02:00

I couldn't resist it. My comment to Newtrees Serenity chocolate made me wonder what kind of chocolate the crew of Serenity would enjoy. Let's start with:

Cpt Malcolm Reynolds
O yeah, he eats chocolate. He even considers it good, but take note if he offers you some; by good chocolate he means something that isn't mouldy or infested with worms. If he is busy protecting his crew he probably won't mind a few specks or wiggly things either.

Zoe Washburn
In general not a gourmet due to her work and circumstances, but has come across chocolate often enough to take a liking to dark bitter varieties. The few times she can enjoy chocolate together with her husband is when they eat Sacher torte.

"Wash" (Hoban) Washburn
The chocolate bunny type. His favourite chocolate are bound to the hollidays and he recieves chocolate santas, easter bunnies, moon hares and other figurines wrapped in colourfull tinfoil due to the season and the wealth of Zoe. He returns the favour with a small bar of her favourite, and they are extremely fortunate when it comes to share a packet of assorted chocolates.

Inara Serra
Luxury chocolate is indirectly a part of her job, and she has taken a liking to filled ones. They are allways provided by her customers, exqusitely made and has a niche of their own in the future stockmarket. Since she only eats one or two, she brings the box home and shares with Kaylee.

Kaylee Frye
Does like filled chocolate too, especially the milk chocolate ones. She notes the difference between Inara's and her own (which she buys at the closest food store at hand), but doesn't really mind about it. If Simon presents her with chocolate she always eats it too fast.

Jayne Cobb
Orange crunch milk chocolate. If he comes by the Newtree variety (or the future equivalent) he makes a show of pointing out how ridiculus the wrapping is. To avoid such embarrassing occasions he has hidden several bars behind the weapons in his bunk.

Shepherd Book
You never see Book buying his own chocolate. When he's offered a taster from someone else he's instantly able to tell what brand, manufacturer and bean it originates from. This includes Wash's easterbunnies.

Simon Tam
The belgian chocolate type; dark and sweet. If he buys some, he buys a napolitan of the most expensive variety to find. Sometimes he even gets a clue and buy some for Kaylee too. On the other hand he's always too absent minded to tell her that it's supposed to be enjoyed sloooowly and stands crestfallen when she asks for more.

River Tam
Since River's reality is complicated she preferes chocolate, ie. a simple bar of dark chocolate in between 40-70% of cocoa. However, if Jayne leaves some of his bars around she grabs it, tells him
"It's just an object."
and devours it before he has a chance to react. In the ensuing brawl she gives the most equisite and innocent doe eyes.

Sweet indulgances!

Newtree chocolate and health

2006-08-29T08:54:00.000+02:00

The chocolate trend gives us some interesting new chocolates to play around with. Newtree, a company founded 2001, combines chocolate and health in a pretty romantic way. Take a look at their website and listen to the nice flutes for exemple. We found their napolitans (small chocolate bars 9 gram each) at Anneli K (swedish only) and decided to try them out. Since we weren't in a mood for big protocols we just scribbled some words on the back side of every wrapping, giving a short "grade" and an evaluation.

Ok, here we go

Newtree Napolitans

The overall presentation is very nice. The wrapping is graphically pleasing, with a hint of the romantic. On the front side you the healthy ingredient (or the flavour) is depicted and on the backside you find a small note of your benefits. I've included the benefits for you to read

Digestion
Lemon
Dark chocolate (72% minimum)

"Your benefits
*Also contains a natural cactus extract, rich in fibres
*Reduces the intake of calories"

Our grade: Hmmmm
Evaluation: Excuse me, where's the lemmon?

Pleasure
Chocolate Noir
72% Cocoa

"Your benefits
*Contains 72% cocoa
*Naturally rich in vitamins, minerals and fibrers"

Our grade: OK
Evaluation: Your average dark chocolate

Cocoon
Milk chocolate
Harmony
Cinnamon

"Your benefits
*Also contains a natural extract of soy germ, rich in isoflavenes
*Soy isoflavenes are known to relieve feminine problems and to reduce the loss of calcium"

Grade: Tasty!
Evaluation: As soon as you felt the actual cinnamon taste.

Serenity
Milk chocolate
Relax
Bitter orange

"Your benefits
*Also contains natural lime blossom extracts
*3 squares = same relaxing effect as 1 cup of lime blossoms tea"

Grade: Nice and sweet
Evaluation: Sort of crunchy, but I really wont say if it makes you more peacefull.
[Small note: I think this is the chocolate Jayne eats, but he rips of the wrapping immediatly and grunts a bit first to prove that he's not a sissy.]

Eternity
Dark chocolate
Antioxodant
Blackcurrant

"Your benefits
*Also contains grape, rich in antioxidants
*3 squares = more antioxidants than in 1 glas of red wine"

Grade: Well....
Evaluation: Not a successfull mix of tastes

Young
Dark chocolate
Antioxidant
Cherry

"Your benefits
*Also contains grape, rich in antioxidants
*3 squares = more antioxidants than in 1 glas of red wine"

Grade: Ok
Evaluation: You had to search for the cherry taste.

Sexy
Dark chocolate
Vitality
Ginger

"Your benefits
*Also contains guarana, a small red fruit with invigorating properties
*3 squares = same stimulating effect as 1 cup of coffee"

Grade: Not bad at all!
Evaluation: Well worth eating again, eventhough the ginger taste was pretty discrete

Vivacity
Dark chocolate
Vitality
Coffee

"Your benefits
*Also contains guarana, a small red fruit with invigorating properties
*3 squares = same stimulating effect as 1 cup of coffee"

Grade: Good
Evaluation: Coffee and chocolate fits together, but do I feel coffee ground between my teeth?

Tranquility
Milk chocolate
Relax
Lavender

"Your benefits
*Also contains natural lime blossom extracts
*3 squares = same relaxing effect as 1 cup of lime blossoms tea"

Grade: Odd

Sweet indulgence!

Antwerpen

2006-08-25T14:36:00.000+02:00

As you may have noticed there's a big gap between my two last posts. Together with my family I went to Belgium, one of the paradises on earth for chocolate lovers. Since we did a homeexchange we didn't get any chocolate on our pillows when we got there. No, our hosts had kindly left at least half a kilo of Côte d'Or for us to enjoy. Being on a regular vacation I didn't explore as much chocolate as one can imagine, but we did try three different makers of filled chocolate, and in general enjoyed the chocolate culture. Being oversensitive of coffee and tea I allways order hot cocoa after my meal or for my midafternoon snack (the most common swedish custom is to have coffee), and I allways had good hot cocoa in Belgium. Shouldn't have come as a surprise, but years of watery instant cocoa made from powder has made me a bit suspicious.

The names of the three makers of filled chocolates were G Bastin, Elisa belgian chocolate and Devina, finest belgian chocolate. They were all located in or close to the most touristy parts of Antwerpen (regular vacation, remeber). The quality on the chocolates was nevertheless good, and seem little affected by the location

Elisa, belgian chocolate
Grote Markt 2
Antwerpen

Elisa sells general luxury truffles. They look nice and tastes good. The shopkeeper was nice too.

G Bastin
Blauwmozelstraat 3
2000 Antwerpen
(they also have a bigger shop at Paardenmarkt 106-108)

G Bastin sells luxury truffles as well as luxury chocolate bars. Since we visited the shop close to the cathedral we could buy tin boxes with minibars having the cathedral as a carving on the top side. The truffles were in level witt our own chocolatier (Anneli K, Uppsala), and I particularly remember the Rubens coin and the chocolate with ginger that was shaped as a buddha. G Bastin is the only one of the three that has a homepage (that I know of), and as a bonus you can order their chocolate online. Recommended.

Devina, finest belgian chocolate

Devina looks like yet another filled-chocolates-for-tourists-shop (which isn't that bad - I suspect it's impossible to get bad chocolate in Belgium). They claim to sell the best chocolates in town and they mention in their flyer that they have a post in "Guide Bleu", unfortunately my swift research on the internet haven't given me any clue on what that is or its relation to the wellknown Guide Rouge, so I can't evaluate the statement. What I can say is that their filled chocolates were the best we ate. I fondly remeber the one filled with caramell. Highly recommended - a must.

Trying belgian filled chocolate is perhaps not the best way to do it. The belgians seems to enjoy chocolate, so what we should have done was to buy us different brands of chocolate bars, as well as the different chocolate pastes for sandwiches. Ah well; that's a very good excuse for making another trip :-)

Sweet indulgance!

Working at the chocolate factory

2006-08-22T09:07:00.000+02:00

I've done it for a few month. Not to be recommended if you really love chocolate, because a job at a factory (whatever it makes) is hard work if you're on the floor like I was. You can easily lose your taste for this sweet indulgance. What I did discover was that some things you thought were made by machines still were made by hand. I put on little golden strips on tin boxes to keep the lid on, and I put in luxury truffels by hand too. So when I read about a man in Wisconsin that got trapped in a vat full of dark chocolate, I'm not surprised at all. I do send my best wishes to Darmin Garcia, I'm very happy that it all ended well.

CNN coverage of Darmin Garcia and the chocolate vat.

Sweet indulgances!

Chocolate, great cure for 'no wanna'!

2006-07-21T22:02:00.000+02:00

Yesterday was a chocolate day. A chocolate day is a day when you wake up with severe "no wanna" in your body; your limbs are heavy, your brain is dull and you contemplate if it's any idea at all to get up. Unfortunately we had big things to do. Literary a ton of junk was to be brought up to our storage. (Whoever designed this house didn't put an elevator reaching to the attic, were half of the flatowners' storage are placed. Probably he's an avid collector of foam and ping pong balls, and expect everyone else to be the same.) Our bottom hall should be repainted, another set of shelves should be put up in one of the rooms etc. etc. As you can imagine, this is not possible to do suffering from 'no wanna'.

Here's were the chocolate has its place. 'No wanna' is cured by getting the blood level down in the chocolate, preferable bars with 40% cocoa or up. I spent the last day indulging in chocolate, hauling things and kicking around my hubby (he has a tendency to pause and contemplate the things he are about to do instead of just doing them). The outcome are pretty good. Most of the stuff are in the attic, the holes for the shelves are drilled, and we'll start paint tomorrow. I've bought another bar of chocolate for tomorrow, but now I need my rest. Ingoring 'no wanna' is not good in the long run.

The chocolate used by me is Marabou Mörk Choklad (not fair trade >:-( ), available in Sweden and via specialised shops on the net, I've given you a link to one of them.

Pralus Chocolatier "Venezuela"

2006-07-15T21:41:00.000+02:00

We did our usual shopping at Annelie K today (unfortunately the site is only in swedish, but I've included it because of the pictures). Besides the filled chocolates she sells a big variety of chocolate bars of the posher kind. You'll find most of the finer lables there, and it's there where I buy most of the chocolate I try out for this blog. It's a small treat for my economy that she sells small square bars from a lot of the finer ones, so today we bought eleven smaller bars from Pralus Chocolatier. Unfortunately the information about percentage of chocolate was omitted from this small parcels - except for the one with 80% minimum - but according to the lady in the shop it should be around 70-75%. According to my tastebuds, she's right.

Pralus Chocolatier

Venezuela

Click: On the crumbly side
Bitterness: High, burnt sidetaste
Sweetness: Low
Mouth feeling: One of those chocolates that starts out solid in your mouth, giving you a feeling of tasting a stearin candle, rough when it melts.
Hot chocolate: - (too small amount for that)
Allergic friendly: -

Comment: The wrapping is nice. Apparently Venezuela is pastel pink if you ask Pralus, and the rest of the design are excellent. Unfortunately I was so happy to have a chance to enjoy my chocolate, that I didn't look much at the small bar inside, so I'll comment on that part when I eat my next square. The burnt taste was a surprise to me; usually finer chocolate have sidetastes that are sour or fermented. This sidetaste was more enjoyable. I liked this one.

I was wrong, huzzah!

2006-07-14T23:09:00.000+02:00

A couple of days ago I complained about googling chocolate and end up with an endless number of websites selling chocolate and useless link collections. I wish I had made a chocolate googling before I wrote that entry, because things have improved. There a few more websites that actually has contents, hooray! Among them facts and timelines for the interested. I'm about to sort my material, and in the meantime I'll post one of the useful link collections I've found:

ChocoLocate.com is a good one! The link to this diary was posted without me even knowing it, which shows the ambition of the owners (this blog was a teensy weensy newbee by then).

Sweet indulging!

Oxfam's Cacao

2006-07-13T20:13:00.000+02:00

In the beginning of this year I hosted a test on different brands of instant cocoa, which included several swedish brands, O'boy (I have a feeling this one's available outside my fair country) and Oxfam's Cacao. Oxfam's Cacao didn't do very well, but I have to say neither of the one's we tested did. I think we overdid it in some way, because when we had spent more than an hour sipping cocoa from glases most of it tasted like ****. (That's why I've never published the test on this blog, by the way.)

Oxfam's Cacao is fair trade labled, and has since become my favourite. A big minus for the packaging; happy people in Ghana sorting cacao beans are portrayed on the parcel. I've said it before and I'll say it again; I want fair trade chocolate, not a political manifesto. But the powder goes a long way; instead of using a tablespoon you can use a teaspoon and still get the strength you want. The taste is plain chocolate with a hint of vanilla, which is just what I want. Do as I do, buy the cocoa, pour the powder into a nice jar and throw away the original packaging. The cocoa is worth it, in many ways.

(Oxfam manufactures both instant cocoa and several varieties of chocolate that are very good, but I haven't found any information about this on their website. If you are interested in fair trade and international aid, you should look it up.)

Sweet indulging!

Finding good chocolate sites

2006-07-11T21:03:00.000+02:00

Type "chocolate" in the google form, and you are most likely to find millions of webshops selling pralines and millions of link collections. For some reasons sites with good solid content are extremely rare, much to my disappointment. I want facts and curiosities, fun anecdotes and fan stories too. Yesterday I found one site where you can read about the chocolate history, and it seems to be really good

The Exploratorium; the Sweet Lure of Chocolate

I'll continue to browse this jungle and bring you the good beans I find. Tomorrow I'll review Oxfam's Cacao (instant cocoa) for you.

Sweet indulging!

Virtual Chocolate

2006-07-10T21:49:00.000+02:00

Rats! I'm broke! I'll have to wait a couple of weeks before I join the Chocoholic Club Virtual Chocolate so gracefully have set up. This is one of the sites that understands that chocolate can be both posh and luxurious and utterly fun. Enjoy!

Virtual Chocolate

Chocolate Jesus

2006-07-09T19:26:00.000+02:00

If you ever feel like combining your christian of jewish faith with chocolate, this site is what you need. You can chose if you want your angel/Jesus/Mazel Tov card/whatever in white, milk or dark chocolate, and the angels even have golden wings.

Religious chocolate on Chocolate Fantasies

(They do have "adult chocolate" too, and boy is it adult! Don't go there if you are under 18 or easily embarrased. Remember that I warned you! There are things that I indeed can give to my husband, but my ears would be brightly pink.)

Muddus choklad

2006-07-08T22:18:00.000+02:00

Today has been an extremely warm day in Sweden. It was warm enough to make 70% chocolate as soft as milk chocolate and we've mostly stayed inside to keep "cool". One of my friends came to visit us, and brought pralines from a small company in northern Sweden called Muddus Hjortron AB, which translates as Muddus Cloudberry Inc (unfortunately their website is in swedish only). They specialise in making products from northern berries like cloudberry and arctic raspberry. We had six pralines to try, and the heat had made them considerably soft. In fact, when we tasted them, five out of six tasted like mint. We concluded that the heat made the flavour spill over to the neighbouring pralines. I was lucky enough to get the only one that didn't taste mint, instead it was violet flavoured - a quite pleasant taste.

Muddus' pralines are luxury pralines to the standard pattern, but you will definately not be disappointed if you put one in your mouth. The company have been given a diploma by the Swedish Gastronomical Academy (swedish only), which indeed speaks for them. If you want exotic pralines without reverting to strange fillings, these are your men and women. Their website is in swedish only, but most swedes are pretty god at english, so if you email them they'll probably be able to send you prices and lists on available pralines, jams and other items.

El Ceibo Cocoa

2006-07-07T19:18:00.000+02:00

My current cocoa powder is from El Ceibo (a Bolivian cooperative that use organical methods and is fair trade labled). The powder in itself is pretty light coloured, which made me think something along the lines of
"Is this really cocoa?"
when I prepared my first cup from it.

It is indeed cocoa, and of a pleasant taste. The only thing I'm not entirely happy with is that it seem to contain a small amount of fibrers, which in unfortunate circumstances gives a furry feeling in the mouth. But if you prepare your cocoa in a proper way this "feature" is removed. The taste is chocolate (I have now learned that the finer the cocoa or chocolate, the lesser the possibility that it actually tastes chocolate - unless it is the finest cocoa or chocolate) on the strong side and a hint of coffee. I really liked this one.

Unfortunately I haven't been able to find an hyperlink directly to the cooperative, but if you want to buy some you should turn to your local fair trade dealer.

Divine

2006-07-06T22:27:00.000+02:00

My current favourite chocolate brand is Divine. They sell milk chocolate and dark (70%) chocolate. The dark one has a pleasent chocolate taste, tinged with a hint of tea. The special thing about the brand is that it's Fair Trade labeled. I'm not a politics person per se - I'd rather stay at home with a cup of cocoa than fighting for a cause, and I want chocolate to be nothing more serious than a treat in life. On the other hand I don't want a bitter aftertaste to it either, and the cocoa workers' conditions are in general horrible. The chocolate industry have taken some steps to change this, but the process is slow, and has been slowing down further in recent years. By buying fair trade chocolate I can be sure that my treat is a light weight treat instead of another peoples burden.

Nuff said about that, but expect a lot more reviews on fair trade chocolate.

Chocolate museum!

2006-07-05T10:02:00.000+02:00

I guess this piece of news have travelled around the world by now, but I would be a bad chocolate lover if I didn't include this in my blog. There's a man in Holland who's planning to build a chocolate museum, partly in shape of Willy Wonka's wonderous chocolate factory. Read the BBC article here. The project do have a website on its own, still only in dutch. If you visit it I recommend clicking on the link "film" in the left hand margin. This will lead you to a movie that is a computer generated round trip through the musem, quite fun (you may have to chose heavy or light version for your band width first - so don't stress out if you are asked to make some klicking).

De Chocoladefabriek

The guy with chocolate inside

2005-09-20T00:33:00.000+02:00

In Sweden we have a small expression for the guy that's not only eye candy, but has everything including that little extra - ”grabben med choklad i” or for you english speakers all over the world; ”the guy with chocolate inside”. The fact that Johnny Depp not only plays Willy Wonka in Charley and the Chocolate Factory, but also has a leading role in ”Chocolate” might be a give away.

Vanessa Paradis, my warmest congratulations!

And since it's international talk like a pirates day, and Johnny Depp stars in Pirates of the Caribbean:

"The pirate speaks,"In Sweden we have a small expression for t' guy that's not only eye candy, but has everythin' includin' that little extra - ”grabben med choklad i” or for you english speakers all over t' world; ”t' guy with chocolate inside”. T' fact that Johnny Depp not only plays Willy Wonka in Charley and t' Chocolate Factory, but also has a leadin' role in ”Chocolate” might be a give away. Vanessa Paradis, me warmest congratulations!"

(Apparently the english to pirate translator couldn't do much with my english. I don't know if that's flattering or worrying.)

Sheep milk chocolate

2005-09-12T21:31:00.000+02:00

This is a bit embarrassing. The chocolate bar of this week was a bar of milk chocolate made from sheep milk. Eventhough we normaly eat dark chocolate I chose the milk variety to better be able to distinguish the difference between this one and 'normal' chocolate. I'd completely forgotten how munchable milk chocolate is. Before I even had a chance to think about the brown book, the bar had disappeared.

This is why you don't get a full test protocol on this one, but rather a small essay.

Choco-lina

Whole Milk Chocolate

with Sheeps milk

at least 36%

I have to admit that I in one way expected the chocolate to taste like feta cheese with chocolate flavouring. It didn't. In fact it tasted som much like other milk chocolate that I had to by a Marabou Milk Chocolate bar (more or less the standard chocolate in Sweden) to have something to compare with. The comparison might be a bit unfair, since fudge are added to the Marabou chocolate to make it more rich. If any of the bars resembled chocolate seasoned feta it was the Marabou one, probably because of the fudge content.

The Choco-Lina bar was well worth it. It was sweet, of course, a sweetness with a pleasant tingle on the tongue. The pieces melted fast in the mouth without leaving any film (I hadn't noticed that milk chocolate can do that untill I made this test). The chocolate taste was perfect.
Plus: The wrapping succeeds in looking both luxurious and cute.

This is the bar you give as a present to a friend that like exotic food but doesn't like the idea of dark chocolate.

A comment worth answering

2005-09-12T01:55:00.000+02:00

Siel made an comment on my last post, and I wanted to answer it. However the answer didn't really fit into this blog, so I created the GOD how stupid! blog for it. The answer took me several cups of hot cocoa to write (fairtrade cocoa this time - but I'm not allways that Good). Do take a look if you want. I'll will rant and ramble more on that blog. The next item here is sheeps milk milk chocolate, so stay tuned :-).

Notes from the brown book; Fair Trade Chocolate

2005-09-10T22:26:00.000+02:00

Oh yes, about two months ago I made an excursion and visited Globalen, a small shop in Uppsala specialising in being good. I'm not pretty fond of people trying to lecture, but I do think a fairtrade mark on my chocolate adds to the taste. Or perhaps it's the other way around; the glamour and fun with the chocolate would be spoiled if I got to know that the farmers growing the cocoa were underpaid and suffered. That's all there is to it, and I want to eat my chocolate without a lecture.

However, I bought four dark chocolate bars to see what the fairtrade section had to offer. Here's the test results

Oxfam fairtrade

Fondant Negro

48%

Click: Crumbles eventhough it's warm (the test was made during a day with +30* C )
Bitterness: Vague
Sweetness: High
Mouth feeling: Smooth and nice
Hot chocolate: -
Allergic friendly: Probably

Commentaries: A nice presentation, a true "bar". Probably made for a hot climate (?). The test was made on an extremely hot day. Good as a goodies chocolate, good beginners dark chocolate. TASTES GOOD.
Minus: The wrapping looks like a small political manifesto - a happy african in ragged clothes...

Green and Black's

Organic

Dark chocolate with 70% cocoa solids

Click: Soft
Bitterness: Low, but a clearly distinguishable level of resin (furtree)
Sweetness: Low
Mouth feeling: Crumbly
Hot chocolate: -
Allergic friendly: No

Commentary:
Presentation: Comes in one big piece of 20g. You are probably supposed to chew it from one end to the other. Very soft (hot day). Sharp aroma. Doesn't work as [goodies]
Plus: Elegant wrapping

Mascao

Extra dark

Amargo Extra

70%

Click: Somewhat crumbly
Bitterness: Middle
Sweetness: Mild but distinguishable
Mouth feeling: Somewhat rough
Hot chocolate: Dissolves slowly on hot milk. Two piecies are too few for a cup.
Allergic friendly: No

Commentary: The chocolate bar looks excactly the same as Snack Eco [below]. Mostly sour. The higher percentage of cocoa do make a difference.
Plus: Elegant wrapping

Snack Eco

Ecological

Dark chocolate

at least 55%

Click: Soft
Bitterness: More like smokey
Sweetness: Pretty high
Mouth feeling: Soft with rough afterfeeling
Hot chocolate: Works well in hot milk, but requires a high dosage
Allergic friendly: No

Commentary:
Presentation - good looking elegant bar. The taste is smokey, sour and of resin, but hardly of chocolate; do taste more of unrefined suger than of cocoa. Hardly worth it.
Minus: the wrapping looks like a small political manifesto. [The wrapping was covered with the fair trade badge, blown up to gigantic dimensions.]

To sum up: Oxfam is the true winner of the test but I do suggest that you tear off the paper wrapping as fast as you could (whatever the good intentions are behind putting workers on it the results are a chocolate that looks boring and that the chocolate in reality are sold on other peoples bad luck, ie. the cocoa workers that are not involved Oxfam programs).

Chocolate summer, chocolate Uppsala

2005-09-02T11:56:00.000+02:00

Oh joy! I can eat chocolate again! Last week the medical authorities gave me green flag on this, and I've celebrated with a cup of cocoa each day ever since. I have to admit that I've not been able to stay entirely out of the habit before that, especially not since we spent the summer vacation in Paris.

As to Paris you can say that the belgians and the swiss people may make the best chocolate of the world, but the french are eating it. What I encountered in France was a chocolate culture I really liked. A french woman or man can start the day with special breakfast cookies flavoured with chocolate and/or filled with chocolate chips. Or she or he can exchange them for a pain du chocolate, which is baked on the same dough and with the same methods as a croissent, but is filled with (surprise) chocolate.

In Sweden, drinking hot chocolate is reserved for kids. The hard core hallmark on being adult is to drink coffee, with tea as an alternative. (It's possible to ask for chocolate, and in most cases you'll get a cup of hot water and instant cocoa powder.) In France hot chocolate shared the same status as the various sorts of tea and coffees you could order after your meal. My favourite is "chocolat viennois" ie. hot cocoa with whiped cream on top.

If you're going to France I can say that you'll have to work hard to find any bad chocolate, even the everyday brands are keeping a high level of quality. (We're talking about a country where you can find chocolatiers on the subway stations.) A more unusual souvernir would be the breakfast chocolate cookies. You don't have to eat them for breakfast, but they are tasty and really worth it.

***

I've had a comment on my blog again. Hal Works has been to Sweden to buy a Volvo (good choice*) and found Anneli K with help from my blog. I'm really happy to be of service and Anneli and her staff really enjoyed the visit - I talked to them some days ago.

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The chocolate culture of Uppsala is improving. On the small note Anneli K has finally added the 88% chocolate bar of the Dolphin brand to her selection. This is my favourite for making hot cocoa and one of the few dark chocolate bars that have kind of a soft side flavour instead of the usual bitter.

On the big note a new cafe has opened; Chokladkaféet (the Chocolate Cafe). As in the case with Anneli K the owner is well educated and you can get anything with chocolate there. The downside is that you can't order anything more meallike - like a sandwich or a lunch. A small blessing for my wallet since I would have lived there if they did. Instead I had lunch on another place and went to Chokladkaféet for desert. You could probably order a Death By Chocolate there and have the best one ever, but be aware that almost everything in the range is death by chocolate anyhow. A chocolate lovers paradise.

My recommendations for chocolate lovers visiting Uppsala is to buy pralines and bars at Anneli K and to have an evening cocoa at Chokladkafeet. Don't miss any of them.

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(* Ever since Volvo and SAAB started manufacturing cars in Sweden a neverending debate over which brand is best has been going on here. I'm on the Volvo side.)

Banned from chocolate?

2005-06-28T20:12:00.000+02:00

For various reasons I haven't been able to eat chocolate for over two months. It has been one of the toughest times of my life. No strolling down to Anneli K and test her gourmet chocolate, no chocolate bar at the local shop and not even a cup of cocoa for the evening. As it seems now, things are getting better and in a few weeks I'll probably indulge in my favourite vice again. In the meantime I'll publish some of my old testresult here.

A reader of this blog told me to take a look at the movie "Chocolate" some time ago (I know - I'm a very irregular blogger). I haven't come round to it yet, but I'll certainly will. That movie seems to catch at least some of the things I like about chocolate; it's tasty and sexy.

Have you ever noticed that the darker chocolate a person eats, the less sense of humour does she or he appear to have - at least when it comes to this subject? It's as if the higher percentage makes sommeliers sprout from perfectly sane people. Nothing bad about sommeliers, but why make something grave serious out of a perfect treat? It's candy, it's supposed to be fun.

The swedish magazine I bought yesterday ("Journal chocolat" website: http://www.journal-chocolat.se) gives proof to the fact. At least one sommelier turns up, and what wine to drink while testing chocolate is discussed (oh, I admit that they discuss beer and whisky too, but in a dead serious way). Two articles lightens up this massive classy magazine; one about taiwanese boob tea and one about Ben & Jerrys Ice Cream.

I admit that I'm drawn to the classy and posh air that surrounds dark chocolate, and that's is one of the fun things about it. However I draw a line at sommeliers, as I said; it's candy, not the gateway to posh heaven.

But I'll quit whining. I've bought a bucket of Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia and will try it out after I've finished this post.

How to make good hot chocolate.

2004-10-19T16:42:00.000+02:00

You need

milk approx. 2dl/person
fine chocolate, at least 71% - 88% is the ideal
optional: vanilla sugar
optional: cinnamon stick

Heat the milk until it on the verge of boiling. Add 2 (88%) or 3 (71%) pieces of the fine chocolate and the cinnamon stick if you chose to add it. Lift the cauldron of the heat and whisk the milk untill the chocolate has disolved. Using a mechanical latte mixer is helpful, and almost the only way to avoid getting little segments of undisolved chocolate floating around in the milk. The sight is not unappetizing, but will irritate your inner perfectionist. The latte mixer will also cover the surface of the chocolate with soft froth, which is a plus. Remove the cinnamon stick before you serve the chocolate. If anyone complains over bitterness give her/him a small spoon of vanilla sugar for the drink - the vanilla softens the possible harshness of the chocolate.

If you're only cooking for one or two persons it's quite possible to heat the milk in the cups in the micro. Be careful with the latte mixer though - it's an adventure to use in a full cup.

I've used this recipe, minus the cinnamon and vanilla suger, where ever the chocolate tested is tested as hot chocolate.

Some notes from the brown book

2004-10-17T14:49:00.000+02:00

Well, since we take down our notes in swedish I'm not sure of some of the english opposites to the special terms used by chocolate lovers. Hope you'll understand anyhow.

Two chocolate bars bought at the shop down the corner

Marabou
Premium
Dark
70%

Click: Blunt to bad
Bitterness: Marked but not exagerated
Sweetness: High level
Mouth feeling: Soft, somewhat harsh
Hot chocolate: -
Allergy friendly: No (contains traces of nuts)

Everyday chocolate trying to be posh.

Marabou
Mörk choklad
[44%]

Click: Good
Bitterness: Non-excistent
Sweetness: High
Hot chocolate: Not good. The melted pieces forms lumps in the hot milk and refuses to disolve no matter how hard you whisk it.
Allergy friendly: No (contains traces of nuts)

Good as everyday godies, good for baking

How it all started

2004-10-16T22:33:00.000+02:00

Recently a new chocolate shop opened in Uppsala. It's called "Anneli K Patisseri" and it sells handmade chocolates and has a big assortment of the finest chocolate bars. The owner has won a pretigious prize for her lagavulin chocolate, but makes up the selection of the day after what she feels for at the moment. You can never be sure to find the chocolate you tasted yesterday if you take a new turn at the shop today. On the other hand you will never be disappointed. My husband and I has taken the habit of buying one pice each every saturday and so far we tasted more normal things like pear and raspberry truffles (or chocolates - most often the truffle serves as filling) to more adventurously flavoured pieces like chili and lagavulin (of course). Somewhere in the middle of this range are lichee and macademia filling.

However, the selection of chocolate bars are more stable, and a couple of weeks ago we decided to taste them all. Since we're not billionaires but have plenty of patience, we buy one (1) chocolate bar every week, take it home, taste and take down notes in a book with chocolate brown covers.

It struck me that our notes could be helpful to more than us, and I decided to start this blog. Here you will primarily read our notes on dark chocolate, perhaps with a few recipies added when I feel like it. We sometimes buy chocolate from other places for comparison (ie Coop wich is something similar to Wallmarts, or from the small video shop down the corner), and in those cases I add a note on origin.

Enjoy, and remember that chocolate is for everyone!