Ah, chocolate.

The connoisseur has many excellent choices today. Even the milk chocolate lover can finally break free of the Hershey-influenced horrors of the mass market. It's an unhappy accident of history that many Americans' chocolate tastes were forged on the anvil of sour-milk Hershey's.

Oh, man. That Dagoba stuff...and Lake Champlain Chocolates. L. A. Burdick. Ya hadda go and get me started...

I know the Clay Gordon referenced in the Newsweek article. He introduced me to the world of artisanal chocolate. Once you've crossed to the gourmet side, IMHO, it's impossible to appreciate Hershey's.

You can see his web site here.

BTW, there's also an article in the most recent Forbes about gourmet chocolates.

Call me lowbrow, but I've always liked Hershey's Special Dark.

Ahh, I love dark chocolate and its brother bittersweet chocolate. In the cheap candy arena there is dark chocolate Milky Way bars which aren't too bad. But my favorite is Kinderchocolate--a mix of dark, milk and a touch of white chocolate.

If you want to curb your intake, you can -- like me -- develop a wistful attachment to varieties you either can't afford or can't find in your state. Michel Cluizel's Los Ancones is my favorite dark chocolate. I think there's an undertone of cherry in it, which makes me very happy. But it's strictly a Christmas and birthday chocolate.

One saving grace (though I'm not sure how much grace you'll save) is that high cocoa content dark chocolate has less sugar, ie, less carbs (ooh, evil carbs). You might even get someone (perhaps not a dietician, though) to agree the gems are Adkins or South Beach friendly.

M&Ms just went over to the dark side, too.

like comparing wine with grape soda

Ugh, what a choice. Gimme the Welch's.

They should have came out with white chocolate M&M's to go with the new dark ones.

For those of you west of the Rockies looking for a middle of the road dark chocolate delight try the lemon truffle from See's Candy - dark chocolate shell with a firm, zesty lemon interior.

Living in Switzerland, the disparity of the quality in Chocolate is one thing I've always had to conceed to my Swiss hosts (and wife!), but hopefully that will be no more. I'm looking forward to the day when American "micro-chocolates" outstrip their European counterparts in lovely cocco-goodness by as much as the best microbrews do European beers (the measure being barley-goodness for beers, however).

Let me also put in a good word for chocolate processed in facilities with no nuts, of which Vermont Nut-Free Chocolate is but one fine example.

Cranky

If you haven't tried chicago's own vosges, you are depriving yourself of what is now one of my basic needs.

The best chocolate

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Speaking of dark chocolate, I've noticed that there seems to me a much smaller variety of premium root beers in the Atlanta area than I was used to enjoying in Wisconsin. If anyone has any suggestions they would be appreciated.

I'm all for quality over quantity, especially where chocolate's concerned. Back when I was a younger thing, my French mom (the lady I was an au pair for) encouraged me to have just a little piece of dark chocolate pour ma sante every day. It wasn't artisanal stuff, just regular blocks she'd pick up at Carrefour - but, boy was it good. I also found that that extra bit of magnesium actually helped ease the *ahem* monthly malaise. Quite a concept for a girl with weight issues to pick up on - that chocolate wasn't necessarily a "bad" food and that small quantities could actually be beneficial.

I really don't care for a lot of the junk stuff that is usually found lying around my office - the M&Ms, the miniature Snickers bars, so can very easily stay away. For the sake of my health, however, I do head over here:

http://www.teuscher.com/Boston/home.htm

for a couple of their dark chocolate bars every now and again. They're expensive as all getout, but a little goes a long way, and it complements my daily antioxidant delivery system well (currently a nice Australian Shiraz).

My opening bid to you for Selma is twice her weight in Chocolate.
In keeping with today's theme watch Chocolat w/ Juliet Brinoche.

That thing about putting the percentage of cocoa solids on the wrapper is partially the result of an EU directive. All chocolates (to use the label "chocolate") must specify the percentage. This is always on the back label listing ingredients, but makes its way onto the front label for marketing purposes.

I don't recall the brand name (it's a European boutique chocolatier), but there's somebody out there selling 98% cocoa solid bars. The bars themselves are quite small, probably about one ounce. As you can imagine, the taste is intense, as is the bitterness. These are suitable for tiny little nibbles or for cooking. I'll try to dig up a source because this is something that should be experienced.

Dark chocolate better for you than milk, hmm. That would explain its medicinal taste. Ick. Dark's fine, in limited quantities, for baking and not much else.

In my opinion, you have all missed the great question of the age:

Why isn't there are dark chocolate Almond Joy? Is this, or is this not, the world's most obvious brand extension?

You can get white chocolate Twix's in the UK... let me know if you want to do a taste test :-)

Strong agreement on Vosges. Got some as a gift this Christmas and was blown away. The most amazing was the "Naga" truffles, flavored with curry powder. Really.

For those suggesting variations of old favorites using white chocolate, I will note that you you can acheive the same flavor effect as white chocolate by mixing corn syrup and floor wax, 1:2.

You may want to look at this place...

http://www.domori.com/

"this is the candy equivalent of Salma Hayek showing up on my doorstep wearing nothing but a terrycloth robe and asking for a foot massage."

Wouldn't this be more like Ms. Hayek offering to blow you? I mean, asking for a foot massage? Well, you are a professor and I'm just a homeless guy at the library's internet room, so forgive me if my fantasies tend to indulge in more base desires.

- J. Duke

Click here at your own risk . . .

www.chocosphere.com

Hi, I got directed here from Oxblog, I love dark chocolate and concur that the health benefits of the antioxidants are a great excuse for enjoying it! The best dark chocolate I had was a private label from Karstadt's Department Store in Germany, they label their chocolate by percentage of cocoa, and this was a 75%. Absolutely sublime. Health reasons compelled me to give up alcohol 15 years ago, so chocolate and shoes are among my remaining indulgences. Also, on the Rue Fauborg in Paris on the corner near Hermes, there is a shop that sells bricks of dark chocolate with cashews--believe I paid 9 euros for a couple of ounces but it was worth it. I've tried some Guatamelan chocolate from Whole Foods near here but it wasn't as good as the European chocolate. Happy tasting everyone!

Wait, can you get the dark chocolate Twix in Chicago? Like, in Ex Libris? If so, how have I missed this?