Wherein Beloved becomes a blogging chocolate whore

In the nearly four years I’ve been blogging, Beloved has gone from bewildered to perplexed to tolerant. He really started to embrace the whole idea of the blog when it started bringing in free stuff, though. And when I recently signed up for a blog tour that involved free samples of Ghirardelli chocolate, he was suddenly not only supportive of my blog habit but willing to contribute a post of his own. Way to take one for the team, eh? So, without further ado, here’s Beloved:

There are only two arrivals that could draw me into the blogging fray; a child and chocolate. I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to put in my two cents and taste buds on this critique. I had the pleasure of savoring five different samples of Ghirardelli chocolate bars; Crisp, Hazelnut, Milk Chocolate, Duet, and Almond. Here are my ambrosial findings:

Taking his duties seriously

Starting with the Crisp. A bar of chocolate in which I could savor the taste of the cocoa bean. I found that the milky chocolate was not too sweet and did not leave any of the heavy or sticky aftertaste that usually come from a bar of chocolate. I didn’t feel the need to run for a glass of milk to rinse my palette. The only con with this first bar were the amount of crispies. I think they could concentrate on a better crispy-to-chocolate ratio. Overall a pleasant bit of chocolate.

Next I tackled the Hazelnut. A nice light nutty flavor in puddles of smooth milky chocolate. Again, none of that sticky aftertaste. The only thing I didn’t get was the “deep-roasted” flavor of the hazelnuts, which is probably a good thing. The nuts were light and not overbearing like some “deep-roasted” nuts can be.

From cocoa beans grown on the north slope, I believe

The Ghirardelli Duet bar is an interesting combination of Creamy Milk Chocolate and Rich Dark Chocolate. I can see how this would be a wonderful experience for those who enjoy a dark chocolate. It adds a hint of the sweeter, creamier milk chocolate to the bitter of the darker chocolate. To me, however, the dark chocolate is still a bit too dominant. I would prefer a bit more of an equal combination of the two types of chocolate. Not to say that I’m not going to finish this bar. It won’t last the week. I like my chocolate like my women though; smooth and silky.

The plain milk chocolate bar was a bit of a surprise to me. The other bars seemed so creamy and not too sweet. However, the all milk chocolate bar tended to be a bit sticky and not as smooth as I would have expected. Still a fairly good piece of chocolate, but make sure you have a glass of milk on hand.

Heh, 'smooth and silky' she'll love that one

Last, but by far not the least, was the Almond chocolate bar. The best of the lot. This bar of chocolate came into a close second to Mimi’s homemade chocolate almond bark. The almonds were roasted the way an almond deserves (they must’ve found out your secret, Dad!) This bar was a little piece of heaven on earth. I highly recommend going out and buying this as your next sinful treat, you won’t regret it.

Overall I have to compliment Ghirardelli on making chocolate that doesn’t have the usual American, department store, waxiness. They seem to care about how the cocoa bean is used in their product.

Tristan moves in on the action

Well that’s it for me. I need to go wash my hands and face. If anyone has any tips on how to get chocolate out of the keys of my laptop, pass them along.

To everyone, BON APPETIT.

Beloved

(Disclosure: for participating in this MomCentral blog tour, we received free chocolate bars and a $20 Amazon gift certificate.)

Author: DaniGirl

Canadian. storyteller, photographer, mom to 3. Professional dilettante.

9 thoughts on “Wherein Beloved becomes a blogging chocolate whore”

  1. P.S. I was feeling sorry for myself the other day and yearning for a treat. I happened to be in Costco, and picked up a box of Ghirardelli chocolate chip cookie mix. While I managed to resist eating all but one bite of Halloween candy and threw away a full bag of potato chips after being satisfied by just a couple, the unbelievably good cookies from this mix undid about three weeks of Plan B progress. Can’t find it on their website, but oh my good lord those were some awesome cookies. I’m afraid to bake the other two-thirds of the package!

  2. Hey Beloved –

    Had to let you know that I was quite impressed with your review.
    Not only did you use an obvious word of the day candidate – ‘ambrosial’ (if that is a word??), introduced me to highly scientific ‘crispy to chocolate’ ratio, AND managed to not so subtley drop in a fine compliment to your wife (or at least I hope that was who you were referring to) with your ‘smooth & silky’ line. I mean, how many blogs do that!!!

    Awesome job. Can’t wait for your review of candy canes in December….

  3. Nice blogging little brother! Yes, I agree Dee and Dad whip up a wicked chocolate almond bark that’s for sure. Love the pictures, they capture the true essence of each moment of chocolate pleasure. You will never change! Once a chocolate lover always a chocolate lover.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *