We went out for ramen and it was great. Then we waltzed over to a Cost Plus World Market and found that they had chocolate bars. $70 and a lot f guilt later, here we are. Going in, I think these are both British bars. Let’s get to it.
Montezuma’s Chocolates Eton Mess Pudding Bar – United Kingdom
Strawberry flavor was almost raisin like and meringue bits were much like Violet Crumble/honeycomb. Some bitterness there.
Well hey look – it’s Andy! This is his very first appearance on The Chocolate Break and he did an excellent job; watch him weave his magic…
Bourbon Everyburger Burger Shaped Cookies – Japan
A Japanese company called Bourbon making hamburger shaped little chocolate cookies. What the hell?! Thank the Scissors of Hope for their true cuts. Weird – they don’t taste like bourbon or burgers. But they do taste good.
Beech’s Fine Chocolates Dark Chocolate Brazils – UK
Found at a little Canadian store specializing in British things – many of which get a discount as they’re expired. These are succulent and classy. Lotsa chocolate!
Well, here we are. I haven’t done an update on this site since late January and it’s March. Hopefully I can crank a few of these out before Miriam wakes up.
These are yet two more varieties found up in Canada – I mean, who doesn’t like Canada? I think the Aero was from Walmart SuperCentre in Richmond, BC and the Big’R Turk from a little convenience store that had a guy with a medallion and a hairy chest on the way to the border. Let’s check ’em out.
Aero Truffle: Vanilla Truffle – Canada
Ladies and gentlemen, this made us wretch. Just like eating a stinky vanilla candle smells like. It hurt.
Turkish Delight is a really amazing and flavorful confection. Like a jelly covered in chocolate that has a lots of nice spiced flavor. Well, this one was like a knife in the eye of that concept. Take a Swedish Fish. Cover it in chocolate. Nothing wrong with chocolate covered Swedish Fish – I mean that’s great and all, but that is NOT what Turkish Delight is. Period!
Switzerland and Japan come back to haunt us yet again in this interesting duo. The time honored question of what caused people to start enjoying milk from animals comes to pass.
Lindt Lindor White Chocolate – Switzerland
Redemption! After really feeling let down by the Creation range, Lindt wows us with this white chocolate. The snarls of glee for their cave of chocolate could be heard from miles away.
Guessing this is NOT made from dog’s milk, but what if there was a dog milk chocolate bar? Perhaps dogs would like it? I’m guessing the cacao would still be bad for them.
In the United States, the Mars Bar was replaced by the Snickers with Almonds – at least that’s the folklore, and then Mars disappeared. Well, Mars bars are alive and well in Canada. The Snickers Crisper is something very different – and something Hans’s mother requested we try. Again, we found both of these up in Canada. Note – we don’t live in Canada despite what you might be thinking.
Mars Maple – Canada
Maple is a flavor that can be way too strong. We were both pleasantly surprised here to find it in a way that was just about right and quite enjoyable
While a cherished choice of Hans’s mother, this variety didn’t please us in the extreme. The peanut left a kind of gravel in the palate that wasn’t easily swept away, distracting from the mouthfeel.
‘What is this? What is this? Do you think I don’t know the law? Wasn’t it I who wrote it?’ Iconic lines from the character Auntie portrayed by Tina Turner in Max Max: Beyond Thunderdome. They have absolutely nothing to do with this episode, but a nice, light snack and a bubbly variety are here in this one-two punch from the great white north that is the sweet land of Canada.
Coffee Crisp – Canada
Growin up in Anacortes, Washington, Canadian television was easily found on the dial for Hans as a boy. Coffee Crisp commercials were constantly running, as well as commercials for cold and flu medications. It seems that Canadians must get the sniffles and yearn for something sweet most of the time.
Aero is interesting. These products get their name from all the holes in them – like they’re full of milk that had some kid blowing bubbles into it with a straw and then cooled and hardened quickly.
We started going all in for requests. Although we don’t record these episodes on a regular basis (we usually will do two or three then chill out for a few weeks), we still can do a few special requests. Well, today we got something from Kit’s mom and gave it a try among other things. The other two are ones that were found at Uwajimaya, a Northwest based chain of Japanese supermarkets. Let’s give everything a look.
Loard’s – Rocky Road – United States
Loard’s is a fixture in downtown Livermore, California and has been there since 1950. The little shop offers candy as well as ice cream – on one of the first visits Hans made to California to see Kit, she took him to Loard’s to try it out. Her family has frequented the place since she was young, and her mother thought maybe we should try out their rocky road (one of her favorites).
Kit – 4
Hans 1.5
Crunky – Japan
A bar along the lines of a Krackel or a Crunch bar. This one’s from Japan. Here’s a little from Japan Talk –
Crunky is a chocolate bar filled with toasted grains often listed as “malt puffs” on the ingredients. A large number of flavors of crunky have been launched over the years including ice cream snacks. Crunky products often have engrishnames and marketing slogans. Oddly, Japanese products covered in engrishtend to get attention in the English speaking world and candy companies appear to have caught on.
Crunky bars – https://amzn.to/2DqAdMp
Kit – 1
Hans – 1.5
J Coco – Coconut & Pecan in Milk Chocolate – United States
Another J- Coco variety. We’ve tried quite a few of these in this, past and upcoming episodes and we’ve had mixed feelings.
Today’s picks were both found in Canada. A couple of places we like to visit are the Walmart in Richmond, BC which is to say the least, much different than any Walmart we’ve been to here in the states. What’s different is most notable in the parking lot. Lots of Teslas first off. We’ve even seen Ferraris and once a Bugatti. Another is T&T Supermarket which are an Asian chain of store exclusive to Canada. The Choc Nut came from there. IT was a new location in Lansdowne Centre and it was ultra busy.
Kit Kat Mint Creme & Cookie Smash – Canada
We’ve not seen these larger format Kit Kat bars in the United States before, but there’s a whole slew of them up in Canada in numerous styles and flavors. Looking at the website for this product, we see this info in the ‘features and benefits’ –
A crispy wafer topped with a mint crème and cookie filling, covered in a rich, dark-chocolatey coating
We purchase 100% Sustainably Sourced Cocoa certified by UTZ, as part of the NESTLÉ COCOA PLAN. We work with UTZ and farmers to improve the quality of their products and strengthen their communities
There are 10, easy-to-break rows that come in a re-closable wrapper, perfect for sharing or saving for later, 210 calories per 3 pieces (42g)
We proudly support Kids Help Phone! NESTLÉ® Canada has raised more than $10.2 million in support of Kids Help Phone over the last 28 years.
Hans saw this one and was going to pick it up, then walked away. After looking around the T&T Supermarket a bit, it was like a worm in his head and had to revisit it once again and ended up getting it for review. It felt like a single, enormous bar, however it turned out to be multiple little bars.
In our third espiode, we’ve started to venture out and really start seeing all the different chocolate on the market. Well, at least we thought so. Lots of stores – many Asian groceries – perusing the chocolate sections. We were starting to see the products that were imported from foreign countries and ones produced very locally. This is the first episode with Kit’s Hello Kitty knife.
Ritter Sport Dark Chocholate With Marzipan – Germany
Founded in Stuttgart, Germany in 1912, Ritter makes a lot of different varieties. While marizpan isn’t Kit’s favorite thing (nor is dark chocolate), she decided this looked interesting enough to try.
jcoco Boharat – Seattle, Washington – United States
jcoco is part of Seattle Chocolate. Tried to find specific information about jcoco in particular, however mainly for that they are 100% woman-owned and fair sourced, as well as charitable to those in need. Hans is a big fan of exotic flavors such as curries, laksa and masala. This one jumped out immediately and sounded good.
