We’ve been watching a lot of America’s Test Kitchen lately, mostly at the boys’ request. They love to watch the cooking, but I think their favorite segments are the gadget reviews and the tastings. The other day, Ezra was talking about how good Hershey chocolate is (he’d gotten some at school for Valentine’s Day). He said it was “the best chocolate in the world.” And, you know, I couldn’t really let that statement stand, so I told him there were lots and lots of different chocolates and many were better. Of course, he immediately said, “We should do a tasting!”
So, yesterday morning he and I walked over to the fancy grocery story in our neighborhood (Piazza’s Fine Foods) and picked up a selection of chocolate for our first Moision Family Chocolate Tasting. (I anticipate many more.)
We chose basic chocolate with similar cacao levels and without any accoutrements (except for the one with sea salt). Obviously the Hershey bar was an outlier but we thought it was a good baseline. We did blind taste testing.
And everyone filled out Ezra’s pre-made index cards.
The results:
We had a clear winner: the Lindt dark chocolate with sea salt (so delicious — smooth with the bonus little salty bits), and a clear loser: Endangered Species natural dark chocolate (too chalky a texture and a little bitter). The Sharffen Berger, Ghirardelli and Hershey were in the middle but we didn’t agree on the order. So, we had to go back for a second try. The jury is still out.
I remember, when we had lived in Sweden awhile, I had longed for Hershey. A friend brought a carton of Hershey bars and it was quite a disappointment. I had finally adapted to the Swedish Chocolate. Dark is always my favorite, but even the milk chocolate was better. It almost tastes as though it is sweetened with honey instead of sugar, although I know it isn’t. We find it sometimes in IKEA, although not always.
When we had been there a few months, I found chocolate chips in candy/flower store. I got excited and wanted to buy some to make chocolate chip cookies. When I asked how much, the quote was (in figures that I don’t really remember) about 7 kr, ( a little over a $ at that time). I said I’ll take a kilo. Helge started pulling on my arm and saying “Nej” to the clerk. While everyone was staring at me, he started explaining that it was a kilogram price, not a whole kilo!
Christy, I love your posts and now your blog. Love to follow you and your three men!
Jeezy’s workmates brought me some chocolate from Slovakia, bars with hazelnuts with little bits of apple in it, of all things. I mentally mocked it until I tried it, and then, as the nectar of the gods hit my lips, went over my tongue, and got into my belly, I realized I may have discovered the Holy Grail of chocolatey derishnous. SLOVAKIA! So, if I can get my hands SOMEHOW on another bar, I will send it your way. FYI it’s called Studentska. And it’s heavenly.
Will you be doing the same kind of testing with diamonds and/or sports cars?
Ha! Great story, Joyce — we’ll have to add a trip to IKEA before the next tasting! And Lola, I’ll keep an eye out for Slovakian chocolate! Wow!