It’s honestly difficult to believe that my trip to Seattle, complete with visits to no fewer than three chocolate shops, was back in February. And yet, I still have yet to post several reviews of the chocolate I tasted from that trip.
Is it because I waited this long to try the chocolate? Ha. As if. No, no, dear reader, I ate my entire haul from Seattle within ten days of returning to DC, writing up reviews to post at a later date as I went along.
I wouldn’t want to review chocolate past its prime, now would I? That just wouldn’t be fair to the chocolatier, to those reading the reviews, or, most importantly, to me. And I like to be fair. Especially to caramels, such as this small collection from Oh! Chocolate in Mercer Island, WA.
Even though each caramel was covered in chocolate, there was an actual chocolate caramel. As in, a chocolate-infused caramel. Covered in chocolate. An obvious starting point.
The chocolate is smooth but breaks apart from the caramel. Not cool, folks, not cool. If I wanted to eat caramel and chocolate separately, I would buy some high-quality chocolate and some naked salted caramel.
The caramel itself is a bit dry and too chewy. The chocolate flavor barely noticeable, and adds just a tiny bit of bitterness to offset the sweet caramel. Because of that bitter addition, the salt on top is a bit unnecessary. Though it isn’t overwhelmingly sweet, the flavors simply aren’t anything notable and it’s too chewy to be enjoyable. Not a dud, but not anything special.
How long does chocolate from a trip last in your house?
Zero seconds. No I just bought a coconut candy bar last night and it was gone in about 5 minutes. I tried hard though-I did.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry the chocolate wasn't too enjoyable. :(
I have a feeling my 90% from Hotel Chocolat is going to last me a bit longer than usual!
ReplyDeleteAside from that, I do make my chocolate last as long as possible, because my opportunities to buy from certain makers are rather infrequent. That said, certain things seem to disappear altogether too quickly (Theo Bread & Chocolate, I'm looking at you.... or the remains of what used to be you).
The last big trip I took was to Costa Rica. They had these small chocolate balls filled with a fruit jelly like pineapple or guava. I just loved them. I went through two or three bags during our week trip. Then I had to buy another six bags at the airport so we would have some to take home!
ReplyDeleteooooh chocolate and caramel goes straight to my heart. i'm sad that this wasn't fabulous!
ReplyDeleteChocolate + Caramel is a favorite combination of flavors, it's simply perfect!
ReplyDeleteMy friend brought back chocolate from Switzerland last year and it lasted for about, 48 hours :D
Ugh, my word document of tastin notes from chocolate that I haven't blogged is out of control. I blame it on the fact that I now blog about lots of other things apart from chocolate... but also I'm just lazy sometimes :P
ReplyDelete