I have a little chocolate fiend that sits on my shoulder and convinces me to try chocolate treats. He’s very persuasive and we get along very well. Or at least that’s the excuse I use as to why I have some much chocolate around this house! LOL! Trying chocolate delights has got to be one of my absolute favorite things to do. It’s one of the reasons the recent Scharffen Berger press event was a real highlight for me.
Dark chocolate is something I greatly enjoy, but not necessarily in great quantities. I like its bitterness and its bite. It’s a fun chocolate to eat. To me, good dark chocolate must be what good liquor is like. Something to be enjoyed in small quantities, slowly and with purpose.
Green & Black chocolate is a brand I’ve wanted to try for some time now. I like the sound of their flavor offerings. A few weeks ago, I decided to give it a whirl and picked up a bar of the Cherry.
I don’t know what percentage of cocao is in the dark chocolate I enjoy from time to time. Nor do I really understand what it meant when this bar states it has a 60% cocoa content. I could go and read up on what that all means. In all honesty, I don’t really care. I just care what it tastes like. What this chocolate tastes like is interesting to describe.
For the first week I had this chocolate, I called it “dirt chocolate.” I didn’t like it. I thought I could taste dirt as an aftertaste. Does this mean I think the bar had something wrong with it? No. I suspect is has something to do with the cocoa content. In all honesty, it wasn’t really the true taste of dirt as much as the chocolate had a real “earthiness” to it. I’m not adverse to eating food that has that “earthy” taste. Black beans have become a favorite food and they definitely fit into that category.
No, this chocolate was really far out of the realm of my normal cocoa comfort zone. At first, I thought I was going to dispose of the bar. I had that adverse of a reaction…at first. I set the chocolate to the side and ate a piece. What kept me coming back were the cherries. They were very tart. Very. And worked well with that indescribable earthy element of the chocolate itself.
Each day as I ate a piece. I grew to admire this chocolate more and more, until the end when I decided I liked it after all.
Verdict: A good if unusual and different chocolate for my palate. I liked it. Be forewarned. It might be an acquired taste.
This product review is not solicited in any way. I have no affiliation with Green & Black and have not been compensated in any way for my opinion on the product.
Mushrooms are the quintessential earthy food to me and guess who doesn’t like them?
You! Hahaha.
I always thought the higher the cacao percentage, the less sweet it would taste. The SB event I went to in August explained this isn’t actually true and demonstrated two chocolates and one that was smoother and sweeter (but not really sweet, per se) on the palate than the other, though the smoother one actually had a higher cacao percentage. I wish I remembered more beyond that but I don’t. But basically: if it tastes good… eat it
lol
I mean, I basically agree with you: doesn’t matter why, if it tastes good, eat it
Green and Blacks is a very good chocolate. The cherry however, is a disappointment. I’d advise you to try again and go for one of the plain ones first. :0)
I definitely plan to try this brand again. Have a suggestion?
I think people assume chocolate will taste relatively the same from bar to bar but it doesn’t. I’m glad you nibbled on it a little everyday and then decided you did like it after all!
I think you’re right Aimee. I’ve never really ventured out into the world of dark chocolate past what I’m used to. I am definitely finding that there are large differences from bar to bar.