Bradley's: Almost Glad It's Gone

Did you actually read all four previous posts on these not-quite-awesome but not terrible chocolates from Bradley’s in Knoxville? If so, congrats. It hasn’t been the best series, has it? While I enjoy writing about outstanding chocolate, the middle-of-the-road stuff needs to be reviewed, too.

Middle-of-the-road stuff like this milk chocolate caramel from the tail end of my box from Bradley’s.

The milk chocolate is smooth, but has little flavor other than some faint vanilla, and is quite sweet.

That paired with a sugary caramel accented with little more than a bit of cream and salt to cut the sugar make this piece far too sweet. Though the hint of salt in the caramel makes this edible, it’s still too sweet. To make it even worse, the subpar caramel is runny.

Now that I think about it, this may not even qualify as middle-of-the-road. Maybe, instead, it qualifies as roadkill.

One more piece in this unimpressive box. A milk chocolate peanut butter, which, for no logical reason, is shaped like a maple leaf.

This piece gives off a strong nutty aroma, and the milk chocolate is smooth but lacks flavor.

The peanut butter filling is also quite smooth, and tastes like creamy peanut butter made of well-roasted peanuts with a bit of added sugar. The filling is dense and well-matched to the texture of the chocolate coating, which is a strong point for this piece, but I was disappointed by the lack of flavor balance, as the peanut butter entirely dominates the taste. I do enjoy peanut butter and may chose this piece if I hand-selected a box, but don’t think that it qualifies as a “chocolate.”

What is your opinion on “chocolates” that barely taste like chocolate?