Mangosteen is considered by many to be the Queen of fruit, certainly it is good tasting and sweet. But, I don't think it should be dried, as it then becomes a chewy piece of leathery fruit, and is utterly rejected by my mangosteen-loving daughter! Enough said.
The American chocolatier Chocolove makes their bars from Belgian chocolate. This one features dark chocolate, and, as I've said before, is a showcase for their chocolate. The ingredient listing is good, cocoa liquor, sugar, cocoa butter and soy lecithin. The cacao content is at 70%.
How does it taste? Being a showcase for their chocolate, I think that this is a very tasty and enjoyable bar, bearing repeat samplings (similar to their Organic Dark Chocolate one at 73%). The chocolate snaps well and melts well in the mouth. The chocolate tastes fruity without the addition of vanilla. I would say that I would buy this bar again.
The Canadian chocolatier Camino uses mostly Fair Trade ingredients to make their chocolate bars; they . This one features coconut. The ingredient listing looks good, cacao mass, golden cane sugar, coconut flakes, cacao butter, whole cane sugar and ground vanilla beans (the coconut flakes are not Fair Trade). The cacao content is at 65%.
How does it taste? I like the flavour combination of coconut and dark chocolate certainly, and have enjoyed it in other bars. The chocolate itself is not the most flavourful and is not smooth, but it is a pleasant eating bar, especially if you like that combination. I don't think that I would buy this bar again.
The Canadian chocolatier Chocosol makes wonderful flavourful chocolate, sold in a variety of farmer's markets (to which they use pedal power to transport the chocolate). This one is a spicy one, featuring 5 kinds of chilis and spices. The ingredient listing, as always, looks good, cacao, raw sugar, cacao butter, 5 kinds of chilis, allspice, achiote (source of the natural colour annatto) and sea salt. There is no indication of the cacao content.
How does it taste? Like all the other bars I've tasted, this one is excellent chocolate, very flavourful, and the chili is not too powerful or overwhelming (my 5 year old niece has eaten it, and liked it). There are chili seeds on the bottom, but these are not hot. I would definitely buy this bar again, or any of their excellent offerings.
The American chocolatier Chocolove makes their bars from Belgian chocolate,. This one features Organic dark chocolate, and, as I've said before, is a showcase for their chocolate. The ingredient listing is good, cocoa liquor, sugar and cocoa butter. The cacao content is at 73%.
How does it taste? Being a showcase for their chocolate, I think that this is a very tasty and enjoyable bar, bearing repeat samplings. The chocolate snaps well and melts well in the mouth. The chocolate tastes fruity without the addition of vanilla. I would say that I would buy this bar again.
The American chocolatier Chocolove makes their bars from Belgian chocolate, and I've enjoyed a few of their offerings. This one features crystallized ginger with dark chocolate. The ingredient listing is good, cocoa liquor, sugar, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, vanilla and crystallized ginger. The cacao content is at 65%.
How does it taste? I find this one comparable to Green&Black's Ginger, the ginger in it is strong and, like the other, also sweet at the same time, not sharp like ginger can be (though, I like ginger when it is sharp). The chocolate is good and snaps well. I would say that I would buy this bar again.
The Canadian chocolatier Zazubean, whose chocolate is made in Switzerland, has many interesting combinations of flavour ingredients; this one features coconut and almond, as well as camu camu (a superfruit from Peru with a high Vitamin C content). The ingredient listing looks good, cocoa mass, cane sugar, coconut flakes, cocoa butter, almonds, Camu Camu and vanilla. The cacao content is at 70%.
How does it taste? I like the combination of coconut and dark chocolate, and this bar is no exception. The almonds are small pieces and not so forefront in flavour, and while you can rest assured that you will be getting a dose of Vitamin C from the Camu Camu, you won't be able to taste anything (Camu Camu on its own has a good flavour, sweet). This is a bar that I would buy again, but not my first choice.
I got these from my brother-in-law; he didn't even know what they were, he bought them in China in Beijing. Oddly enough, the picture on the package led me to believe that they were hazelnuts; well, very odd hazelnuts. Perhaps even cob nuts? Then it struck me that they looked like pine nuts, once I cracked the shell, anyways.
It turns out that they are Korean pine nuts, a popular nut grown in Northeastern China. They might even be the pine nuts you buy in the store here in North America. They are difficult to crack, takes a fair amount of work to extract the small seeds; I can see why they are expensive. They are tasty, though, my daughter even likes them.
Sometime's you're lucky; most of the time the fruit that gets shipped in from overseas is either under-ripe or over-ripe, better to get it in the country where it's grown. Occasionally, you get a perfect looking fresh fruit that tastes wonderful. Sometimes you're lucky.
Dragon Fruit, or more correctly Pitaya or Pitahaya, is an increasingly common fruit in Asia. Once cut open, the flesh inside of the most common is white with black seeds; the less common, and more tasty, is red on the outside with red flesh inside (there is also a much sweeter variety, yellow on the outside with white flesh — this one is the tastiest). I had been looking for the red-fleshed variety for a long while, and was pleased to find some in a local Chinese Supermarket (when we were in Thailand in February, we asked at the markets, and they, unfortunately, came out 2-3 months later). The red Pitaya looks very much like the yellow dragon fruit (Pitahaya) in shape, a little bigger and elongated, inside it's quite red in colour (I have seen pictures of even darker red ones). Eating it, it's sweet, thought not as sweet and flavourful as the yellow pitahaya. I'm pleased to finally try some of this interesting fruit.
