I've got chocolate on my mind right now, so we're gonna indulge in a chocolate review! One of my all time favorite chocolate companies is Ghiardelii. They make some of the best tasting chocolate around. And they have a wide range of flavors - dark chocolate, milk chocolate {my husband's preferred choice}, lots of caramel varieties and many filled squares as well as bars. Some of my favorite flavors are Dark Peppermint, Mocha, my husband loves the Toffee Crunch. my sister loves the Dark Caramel and Sea Salt, and I also enjoy the yummy Dark and Caramel. Of course, their seasonal flavors of Pumpkin Caramel and Dark Peppermint Bark are to die for. I can't get enough of those and I'm so very impatiently waiting for Autumn and Christmas to roll around so I can stock up on those delicious flavors. We usually buy the squares chocolates, but my husband and I have tried their Double Dark Chocolate Brownie mix {my go-to mix for brownies - it's so rich, chocolate-y and filled with chocolate chips just the way I like it! A real treat!}, and Hot Chocolate Mocha and White Hot Chocolate before they were discontinued and switched to the current selections. The hot chocolate was rich and delicious, especially when made with half and half or whipping cream.
Of course, I could sing Ghirardelii's praises on how fine, rich and yummy their products are, but they are also one of the few chocolate companies that really frustrates me. And it's mainly in the area of discontinuing my favorite products. I mentioned above that the hot chocolate we liked so much {the white chocolate wasn't as big a hit with us} was discontinued. The current selections have a wider range of flavors and look very appealing but we haven't found them at our local markets and attempted to try them yet, mainly because it's just not at the markets we shop at. The squares, however, I purchase periodically for my parents' store and several favorite flavors were discontinued without any reason at all. For a brief while, we enjoyed the lovely Vanilla Dream {a white chocolate square that surprisingly didn't taste at all waxy}, a delicious Cookie Crunch that my husband loved, and my sister and my personal favorite, the Truffle square. In a quick Google search, apparently lots of flavors have vanished from the shelves, including an intriguing holiday flavor I've never heard of called Pecan Pie. The strawberry filled square makes it's seasonal appearance right around Valentine's Day and is quite yummy. Still, with all our favorites disappearing and narrowing the chocolate selection, it can be hard to really honestly call Ghirardelii my favorite chocolate company.
And when that frustration mounts a little too high, I move onto my second favorite, a safe sure-fire company that knows what it's good at and doesn't bounce around discontinuing favorite flavors without warning: Whitman's! Owned by Russel Stover {I'll get to them in a minute}, Whitman's is a chocolate company that has been around for over a hundred years and they never fail to provide me with yummy chocolates that are sure to hit the spot. My husband and I have a system when it comes to boxed chocolates; I eat the coconut ones he doesn't like, and he eats all the orange creams, molasses chews and nougats that I don't like. Anyway, every Christmas we get the giant Sampler's box that has over eighty pieces of chocolate in it and then over the course of three to five days, we eat it all. We're gonna have to buy two or three boxes by the time our kids are teenagers and wanting to join in the fun. Our favorites are the Maple Nut {or creams, not sure on the name since it's only a Christmas time deal and I have a bad memory *smiles*}, Cherry Cordials and Chocolate Creams, to name the favorites that disappear the fastest. My only complaint is that there are never enough Cherry Cordials. I love those! another fun Christmas tradition we started as kids and have continued as young adults is getting the little Sampler boxes with four chocolates in them in our stockings. I get them for my husband and siblings every year now. This year I'll probably have to consider getting one for Baby too so she doesn't eat all of my chocolate. One of the unique things about Whitman's is their box; it's very sturdy and has an appealing label.
Russel Stover chocolates is the top third chocolate option that I take when chocolate shopping. They have a wide variety to choose from and all their lovely convenient sized boxes are so deliciously organized! I can skip the nutty chews and dive straight for the delectable truffles or tasty creams. Or I can pick a box full of my favorite dark chocolates instead of milk chocolates. They are also a good go-to choice for gifts to family and the small boxes make wonderful stocking stuffers. My only objection is that the chocolates are often too sugary for me {which is amusing since Whitman's is never too sweet for me, unless I eat half the box in one sitting}. I eye-spied a box of cherry cordials and French mints one day while out shopping at a market we don't frequent, so I snatched them up and stowed them under the bed for a rainy day. When I get around to indulging, I shall have to update this review to tell you whether I liked them or not. But I probably will, considering I already like cherry cordials and mints. *winks*
After this, the remaining chocolate companies rather blear together. You have Hershey's which I try to avoid on general principal because they just aren't that healthy of a company {funny, considering Ghirardelii uses soy in their chocolates and I can't bring myself to read the ingredients of Whitman's or Russel Stover}. I haven't tried Godiva chocolate enough to know whether I actually like it or not. It's pricey and my husband always avoids chocolate shops in general. And then there's See's Candy but I consider them to be more of a candy company than a chocolate company and so file them elsewhere in my brain. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this brief little look into the chocolate world I love and that it ignited your inner chocolate cravings. See you at the market!
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