Goumas: Chocolates from Ohio

As you’ve seen here before, from time to time, I’m sent things like organic chocolates and brownies to review. Who’s the latest shop to seek out my opinion? Goumas Confections, out of Newark, Ohio.

They like me.

They really like me.

As you can tell, this series of reviews is going to take…a while.

Now before I get into the expansive reviews, let’s set some ground rules: It’s clear from this box of treats that Gomas steers themselves more towards “candy” than “fine chocolate.” It’s supposed to appeal to the kid in you, not the over-educated chocolate snob in you. So pull your panties out of your butt crack, let your inner kid emerge, and read about these candies.

My guess is that among these candies, a Goumas specialty is the turtle. Why? Because this box included SEVEN different kinds of turtle candies. Yes. Seven. Starting with this milk chocolate walnut turtle.

The milk chocolate exterior is creamy flavored and textured, with a slight caramel note, and is quite soft.

Inside, the walnuts are crunchy but a bit on the raw side. They are salty, which goes nicely with the sweet caramel, which is a bit chewy but not excessively so. The texture is well-matched to that of the chocolate, such that no crumbling or flaking occurs. The blend of salty and sweet, combined with the well-matched texture, results in a nice candy.

But how would this be with dark chocolate? Well, let’s take a look at the dark chocolate walnut turtle.

The chocolate itself has a basic coffee-vanilla flavor, with a hint of a nutty taste. It’s smooth with no grit, and has a relatively fast melt for a dark chocolate.

In this case, the caramel is again on the chewy side, but there is little salt present in the entire piece. That said, the dark chocolate is bitter enough to offset the sweet, creamy caramel, and has a texture that matches up to the caramel quite well to prevent crumbling. The walnuts are quite a bit crispier than those in the milk piece, and the overall effect is quite nice. This is a candy I would select for myself if I were constructing a box.

Candy vs. fine chocolate: which is your pick?