It has recently come to my attention that I eat a ludicrous amount of chocolate.
That is all.
François Pralus Brésil Forastero 75% Dark Chocolate
Prior to enveloping my soul in this bar of François Pralus Brésil Forastero 75% dark chocolate, my only Pralus experience had been tasting its 100% and finding it palatable and delicious in a way no other 100% chocolate before or since has been. So you can imagine my excitement upon being given the above bar by my chocolate-habit-supporting American friend, Carolyn.
Pralus is one of the big guns in the serious/fancypants/exquisite chocolate world and, judging by this Bresil Forastero bar, deservedly so. The aroma showcased raspberries, crème brulee, walnut praline, bread and butter chocolate pudding, croissants… it sounds ridiculous, I know, but can we compromise and call it deliciously ridiculous?
I took a bite, and found the chocolate to be thick and rich, like chest-warming whiskey sliding down my throat. This Brésil Forastero 75% is definitely a woodsy bar, but there’s also espresso and hot chocolate mingling with a bitter walnut edge. One small square is immensely satisfying, yet at the same time it’s impossible to not want more.
I noted tobacco and pain au chocolat, molten brownies, smoke, raspberries, a bonfire, and the overwhelming sense that this is real chocolate, that this is what chocolate should be like. In fact, in my tasting notes, I wrote “Cadbury isn’t even chocolate; comparing Cadbury to this Pralus heaven is like comparing a scuttling beetle to a magical incandescent unicorn”.
The end.
Gewűrzhaus Lemon Pepper White Chocolate
The last time I reviewed Gewűrzhaus chocolate, a great many Melbourne folk expressed surprise that Gewűrzhaus made chocolate. Look! Further proof! And proof courtesy of the ever delightful Bryan and Jo (whom you likely know as fatboo and fakegf). Thank you Bryan and Jo!
From the outset, I liked that this Gewűrzhaus Lemon Pepper White Chocolate used not just any ol’ lemon flavouring but Australian Native Lemon Pepper spices. Made me feel like I should be putting on my cork hat and dunking damper in some billy tea.
The mottled (almost-green) yellow colour of the chocolate was fascinating, and clearly due to a generous dose of spices. The aroma sent a shock through me, as I swear it made me think of cheddar cheese. It wasn’t bad, exactly, just surprising.
Thankfully, the flavour wasn’t cheese-like. My tasting notes were as follows: quite sweet, ice cream, honey, texture-texture! something faint and savoury in the background, almost hot but not quite, ZING LEMON ZING! lemon myrtle? Tasmanian pepperberry? something bitter, slightly, at the back of my throat, pannacotta with black pepper, very interesting.
The end.
Valrhona Caraïbe 66% Grand Cru
With Valrhona, it’s tempting to simply write “silky rich unctuous flowing complex delicious yes yes”. However, this Caraïbe 66% Grand Cru dark chocolate deserves to have its loveliness expressed more eloquently. The aroma was fruity and tangy, with lemon, currant, and lime zest all at play. The melt was intensely silky and velvety, with the overall sensation being of eating something wonderfully, ridiculously rich. Deep caramel, butterscotch, almonds, halvah, sesame snaps, and gooey brownies with hot fudge sauce all came to mind as I happily savoured Valrhona’s Caraïbe 66% Grand Cru.
The end.
I don’t think it’s a bad thing that you eat so much chocolate. In fact, I think it’s rather wonderful.
Will you be my cardiologist, if I ever need one?
That Caraibe is one of my favorite valrhonas. I must get me some Prals, stat! But most importantly, HOW did you make that double accent mark?!?
I can’t tell you all my secrets, but it involved an ancient symbol rite complete with fire, voodoo dolls, and high kicks.
Or maybe I just looked through the symbol options in Word. But that’s less exciting, don’t you think? I have no idea how to use my keyboard to make accents.
And I have no idea how to make accents if y keyboard isn’t in international mode. I also don’t know how to change modes, but I think it involves rituals such as you describe.
I didn’t even know such a thing as keyboard modes existed.
You’re only coming to the chocolate-consumption conclusion now
It’s a good thing, believe me.
Wow, all these chocolates sound really interesting…. I bet there was native lemon myrtle in the white one, because that does have quite a savoury/bitter after taste.
The first one sounds MOST wonderful though. I am very envious of your chocolate consumption.
I’ll let you in on a little secret: I’ve always known.
(But have recently been re-faced with the reality due to still having thousands of pre-travel chocolate reviews to write up.)
My guess is the spice mix was native lemon myrtle and Tasmanian pepperberry. Both fantastic intense flavours! Oh, the Pralus. I could live on that (alongside my beloved vegetables and roasted squash, of course).
Haha I’m just trying to think of a cheesy chocolate and all I think of is Geronimo Stilton books
The others seems so rich and delicious though!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
What an amazing mix of chocolates. If one is going to eat chocolate (and this one would submit that doing so is not only desirable but indeed quite essential). eating bars like this is definitely the way to do it. I am so intrigued by the lemon pepper one that it’s almost made me forget that theoretically I don’t like white chocolate!
I’m quite a proponent of people leaving their anti-white-chocolate preconceptions at the door and trying new things. The problem is we have so little real white chocolate in Australia; mostly just sickly sweet vegetable oil grossness. You need to find some Askinosie or El Rey Icoa
This particularly bar is not at all about the white chocolate, I must say!
This post reminds me again that I wish I have your gift for recognizing all the subtle aromas and tastes in chocolate. I can differentiate between fancy chocolate and generic chocolate, but I never get anything like the calibre of your tasting notes!
It simply involves a lot of hard work eating all the chocolate, and a commitment to trying not to care that you sound mildly pretentious
How nice are Bryan and Jo!?
I am certifiably crazy about that white choc/lemon/pepper combo. So much so that I am actually going to jog past the Gewurzhaus in Armadale tomorrow on my usual morning run. Yum!!
Let me know what you think if you do! It’s really quite an intense, savoury-esque flavour. And yes, B and J are wonderful!
You have such a great ‘job’. You get to try so many types of chocolate and you have the perfect defense for doing so. I do love the look and description of the first one xx
Please don’t say the word “job” in my hearing! I’m going to have to find one of those soon… why can’t I just eat chocolate for a living?!
Oh wow! That Pralus chocolate sounds amazing! I loooove dark chocolate and I love the comparisons you’ve made to Cadbury….it must be brilliant!
Ooh yes I’ve seen Pralus-I think it’s called Pra-loo? Or am I just imagining things lol?
As long as it stays this delicious, it can be called whatever the heck it wants to be called, in my opinion
Two heavy hitters, and one lovely looker! The end.
Or is it the beginning?
I’ll let you keep the 75% (anything over 70 is hard work for me these days, esp now in a country where MILK schokolade/chocolat rules), but I’ll have two of the others, please!
Thank heavens; the Pralus is the one I most want to keep. We fit together perfectly!
Very fancy but looks very yummy too – love the gewurzhaus one particularly because I know just where to buy it – and also because it looks so unlike white chocolates that I have seen
It’s intense! You’ve been warned.