Real Chocolate is very bitter -- so the darker and bitterer a Chocolate bar,
the more Cacao it has, and the better it is.
In 1994 the European Union was establishing Europe-wide food standards. When
they came around to Chocolate, Belgium and France and Germany supported the
idea of creating a standard that said only something that was in excess of 50%
Cacao could be called Chocolate. England (home of Cadbury which
manufactures tons of candy that contains less than 10% Cacao) opposed the
idea. At first the pro-Chocolate forces looked likely to win.
After months of arguments and threatened trade wars, Germany switched sides --
they have several large milk-chocolate-candy manufacturers and supposedly
there was pressure from Switzerland, which is not in the EU, but manufactures
huge quantities of milk-chocolate-candy. So England, and Cadbury won.
Anything can be called Chocolate in the EU, as long as it contains at
least 1% Chocolate. (In the USA the FDA minimum is 10%.) However -- the
EU said that each bar must state on the label the percentage of Cacao that it
contains.
That last bit was crucial, and the reaction was predictable. Consumers
flocked to the few bars that were rich & pure, 70% or more. So the
milk-chocolate-candy prints the percentages in teeny tiny print on the back,
and the pure bars print it in huge print on the front. The pure bars were so
popular that new brands and varieties are introduced every day! Galler claims
to have been the the first to sell a bar with 70% Cacao in Belgium in 1993.
Even Cadbury has one (in late 1997 they raised the Cacao content from 64% to
76%), called 1898 -- but they do not put their own name anywhere on it, for
fear of hurting sales!!!
In late 1998 and early 1999, before i went to Europe, i started to notice a
very few pure bars at specialty stores in Seattle, but they were outrageously
expensive. In 29 countries in Europe, i discovered that every country has at
least ONE, 70%+ Chocolate bar, and most countries have several. In France and
Belgium, even the grocery store brands have a 70%+ pure Chocolate bar!
France, Belgium, Germany and Poland were the best countries for good pure
Chocolate bars. Switzerland, Hungary and Finland, were the worst. I didn't
go to Spain, but i did notice that although it is often hard to find, the
Spanish Chocolate i did find was excellent. I suspect Spain is probably a
great country for pure, real Chocolate, which is historically understandable.
Even more exciting, i found several brands that market bars with identical
recipes but the Cacao is from different plant varieties and/or from different
parts of the world. It is amazing to compare! Toward the end of my trip i saw
several more of the series -- even Nestle has a series of three bars from
three different countries!!! However, it contains the artificial flavor
Vanillin, which is a silly thing to add to a bar for trying to compare
Chocolate subtleties! The French brand Chocolat Bonnat was certainly
the best of these. Their line of seven (now eight) 75% Cacao bars, each from
a different part of the world is amazing: No Vanilla, no lecithin, just
Chocolate and a little sugar. I cannot read the French on the label very
well, but they do not appear to note which varieties each bar consists of.
There was also a Spanish brand, Chocovic, of which i had only small
tasters, that was from different varieties and was very good.
There are even a couple of US manufacturers! One, Chocolate made in Belgium
and packaged in the US under the absolutely horrible brand name
ChocoLove has different bars ranging from 25% (the richest milk
chocolate you will ever find) to 77% (YUM!) (and also 100% baking
Chocolate). Despite the awful name, the Chocolate is pretty good. They
recently introduced a couple of Organic bars too, 61% & 73%. Sharfen-Berger
appears to actually make their 70% bars in the US.
Between late 2000 and mid 2001 it was fairly difficult to find pure bars here
in Seattle, but things are changing very fast. In April of 2003 i did a
couple of tastings with about 20 of the best bars in the world. As recently
as November of 2001 i could not have purchased ANY of those bars here in
Seattle, and yet now i am able to get ALL of them here! Pure bars are
becomming almost COMMON -- the important talent is now determining the best
pure bars, not just finding any!
I will not buy any bar with less than 70% Cacao, and generally will
not eat any Chocolate that is less than 60% -- i just don't like it.
Pure Chocolate bars contain more than 65% Cacao. The only
ingredients in a good Chocolate bar are: CACAO PASTE,
sugar, COCOA BUTTER, lecithin, and vanilla.
The necessary ingredients:
I saw one brand, a 70% bar, that suggested that it contained the
Cocoa Mass directly from fermentation, with no extra Cocoa Butter
added. I don't completely understand that, but if that is not
manipulated, it makes me wonder if that is why 70% is most common.
Many bars are wrapped in foil, which i don't like; i find it can leave a
metallic taste to the Chocolate. However plain paper allows the Chocolate to
go bad quickly. Some use waxed paper, which is much better -- others have
started to use paper-lined, or wax-lined foil. I much prefer this method.
I have noticed that the same Chocolate can taste different at different times.
As the bar gets older, especially if it is not wrapped well, it can lose
flavor. It can also start to go rancid and taste slightly dirty.
There is a nasty flavor in some bars; it is sometimes described as dirty, or
rancid, or overly fruity. It could be several diferent causes.
I suspect the main culprat is age. The fine Chocolate that is imported
in small quantities to the USA is often very old, 6 to 18 months. Pretty much
anything after 3 months loses its flavor and sublty. Also as it gets older
the Cacao Butter gets rancid. We often find this in organic bars, and
especially in bars with an organic unrefinded sugar. This could be because
the sugar has a strong flavor itself, or because it is making the Cacao Butter
go bad more quickly.
It is a frustrating problem and i would say that close to half of the 30 or so
bars i have had in the last 4 months have had this problem, including some
brands and types that i have had previously without this problem. It is
clearly something that has to be addressed as good Chocolate becomes more
popular in this country.
The happy results of the CHOCOLATE WAR
The recent explosion of wonderful real Chocolate bars into the market
was caused by the settlement of the Chocolate War in the late 1990s.
Ingredients in pure Chocolate bars
The percentage of Cacao of a bar is determined by the amounts of these
two products of the Cacao Bean, the fat & the flavor, combined under
the official heading Chocolate Solids, or Cacao Solids.
One of the main differences in taste and texture between brands of bars
is how much of each they use. I have seen a brand that actually prints
the amounts of each -- i wish more did.
Optional ingredients.
BE AWARE:
Wrapping
Where to find them
|
In Europe
They are everywhere, especially in small food shops, department stores, and most all grocery stores. You will find some Specialty Chocolate shops but they are very expensive.
Expect to pay US equivalent of $0.75 to $2.00, although occasionally more.
|
In Seattle
|
| Expect to pay $3.50 to $7.50, although occasionally less. | |
NOTE: I buy, taste and post every bar i can get my grubby hands on. When i re-built this page in 1999 good chocolate was EXTREMELY hard to find in the USA. It is getting easier, but it is still hit or miss.
If your favorite 70%+ bar is not included on my list, it is not because i am trying to personally insult you, it is because i have never found it. Send me a bar , but please please please don't send me email about me ignoring your favorite!
Ok, before the full list:
| Slitti | 82% | Artigianale - fondente | Italy |
| Chocolat Bonnat | 75% | Pour Croquer - trinité | France |
| Galler | 70% | noir extrême | Belgium |
| Michel Cluizel | 85% | Grand Amer | France |
| Enric Rovira | 70% | Rajoles - negro | Spain |
| Chocolat Bonnat | 75% | Pour Croquer - Madagascar | France |
| Angelina Rumpelmayer | 85% | noir 85 | France |
Check out the entire list of over 100 bars bars that i have tried. This list is sorted alphabetically by manufacturer. (and it's gotten rather large, so it does take a few moments to load -- i just don't want to remove any data!)
Many of these i have found in the USA. However, the majority of this list is bars that we collected on our 1999-2000 European Adventure. Looking for real Chocolate, eating it and collecting the wrappers became an inherent part of our travels. I wanted to try as much as possible, and at least one bar per country. I skipped over very, very few (only the Bourbon Vanilla things) and even doubled up on several by mistake. We bought 165 bars of 73 varieties. (Someday i will scan all the wrappers.) We would ALWAYS have one or two bars in our rucksacks and often would lay out 4 or 5 or 6 varieties and have a tasting. The climax of this was in Oslo when we sat down with Tonje, our Norwegian friend, and tasted the 5 Chocolat Bonnat single variety (and single locale!) bars side by side! Trinidad, Madagascar, Ivory Coast, Sri Lanka & Venezuela. It was amazing the differences between the different bars! I HIGHLY recommend this.
These days i show some restraint, buying only the Chocolate bars i consider to be of the highest quality: