J.D.Gross Confiserie Eier mit Alkohol

Here's one from J.D. Gross that did not impress me, even though it's a bargain price. Or maybe it was because it has a bargain price.

They are large dark chocolate eggs, total weight about 20g, with a ganache filling. The ganache has alcohol in it, but not very much.

The egg liquor flavor has a nice yellow color inside, but was more creamy sweet than liquor-flavored. The other flavors were similar, and I had a slight preference for the Scotch over the Pralines.

Reviewed: J.D. Gross Confiserie Eier with Alcohol
Personality: A big lump of so-so chocolate
How to enjoy: Buy them after Easter, because they're not really special enough for your Easter nest.
Rating:
1: Better than sex
2: Little bites of heaven
3: Share with your best friend
4: Will do in a pinch
5: Halloween candy

Where to buy:
Lidl grocery stores

J.D. Gross Cashew an Cashew

J.D. Gross Milk Chocolate with Cashews
Lidl has done it again. This is a stunning milk chocolate bar at a bargain price.
The packaging is a clear plastic bag with 2 bars of cashew-stuffed chocolate. The bars are so big that they were hard to get out of the bag, and I was afraid I would break the bars, just trying to photograph them.

Reviewed: J.D. Gross Cashew an Cashew
Personality: bumpy like the ridges of a brain, but a *chocolate* brain, the best kind there is
How to enjoy: Hide it and sneak bites away from your "dark choc is the only good choc" friends
Rating:
1: Better than sex
2: Little bites of heaven
3: Share with your best friend
4: Will do in a pinch
5: Halloween candy

Where to buy:
Germany: Lidl (I assume it's coming to Lidls worldwide)

Chocolate Wars: Gross, Xiocrolata, Ghirardelli

With so much dark chocolate floating around, it's time for a choolate war, this time with 3 different high percentage bars:

• Ghirardelli Dark 60%
• Xiocrolata 72%
• J.D. Gross Kul-Kul 78%

Like my last chocolate war, I'm judging based on smell, color, smoothness and taste. An excellent dark chocolate should have a rich taste, with a distinct aftertaste that is not bitter, and be quite smooth.

Here's how they stack up.

Smell
J.D. Gross and Ghirardelli come out on top, smelling distinctly like chocolate. The
Xiocrolata is just too mild to score highly.

Color
Gross is the clear winner here, with a rich dark color, and a nice sheen to match.

Smoothness
Ghirardelli edges out Xiocrolata edges by a hair.

Taste
This is tough. I can see where I would prefer either J.D. Gross or the Ghirardelli at
different times. It all depends on how much sweetness I'm in the mood for.
Ghirardelli is a little too sweet for my preference, but it's still quite good.

Winner:
J.D. Gross by a nose. Ultimately I prefer J.D. Gross' smell and taste over
the Ghirardelli.

J.D. Gross Kul-Kul Papua New Guinea

Back to Lidl for some more J.D. Gross chocolate, this time a 78% bar from a single plantation in New Guinea, Plantation Kul-Kul. I've developed a great opinion of Lidl chocolate. Even though I do prefer the fancier brands, Lidl is great for those everyday moments.

It's a great, rich chocolate, with a nice aftertaste, very much the way a very dark chocolate should taste. It's not quite as good as a Michel Cluizel dark, but it's a nice budget chocolate.

Check out a rough equivalent by Michel Cluizel here

Reviewed: J.D. Gross Kul-Jul Edel-Bitterschokolade Papua New Guinea
Personality: sophisticated on a cheeseburger budget
How to enjoy: cheap enough to enjoy every day, but a little intense to do it that often

Rating:
1: Better than sex
2: Little bites of heaven
3: Share with your best friend
4: Will do in a pinch
5: Halloween candy

Where to buy:
Aldi stores everywhere

Chocolate Wars: Lidl's J.D. Gross minis

Shortly before 8 a.m. a small crowd had gathered outside the new Lidl store, located just a few miles from us. We were there so DH could take advantage of the low low price on a 400 Gig hard drive, a steal at only Eur 149. Since we were going directly on to work afterward, I was along for the ride.

One couple eyed us suspiciously as they guarded their place in line, perhaps fearing that we would dash ahead of them to grab the last of the metal rooster and angelfish garden decor, which is all they ultimately bought that morning. I sized up the competition (who else might be there to grab the electronics, always in limited supply?). The last time Lidl sold laptops, there were reports of minor riots outside of store before they opened that day.

No one besides our garden decor friends and a couple of people who stood outside the door for the bottle recycling kiosk. The church bells rang, signaling 8 a.m, and we entered.

As DH searched for the electronics display, I browsed the chocolate aisle. Interesting. Lidl offers several different flavors of plantation chocolate, and today they had a lovely bag of minatures.

If there's anything I like it's chocolate. If there's anything I like better than chocolate, it's chocolate in bite-sized pieces, so I can enjoy several flavors without eating a lot of any single one.Today, I pit each flavor in the bag against the other. The terms of battle?

• Smell


• Color


• Smoothness


• Aftertaste

Lidl's J.D. Gross chocolate is made by Rausch Schokolade.
http://www.rausch-schokolade.de/ (Rausch you can order online. Check out their Chocoholics selection, with their nice wooden boxes)

The Results

Amazonas (upper left corner)
Smell: rich and dark. score: 4
Color: dark score: 4
Smoothness: smooth, with a slight powder feel. Score: 3
Aftertaste: mild, pleasant. Score: 3

Trinidad (upper center)
Smell: milder. score: 3
Color: darker, but not the best score: 4
Smoothness: no powder feel. Score: 5
Aftertaste: medium, with a very slight astringency. Score: 4

Ecuador (upper right corner)
Smell: rich and dark. score: 4
Color: darkest score: 5
Smoothness: a little grain of something. Score: 1
Aftertaste: rather like a black tea. Score 3

Java (lower left corner)
Smell: almost nothing. score: 1
Color: very light score: 1
Smoothness: smooth. Score: 5
Aftertaste: clean. Score 3

Madagaskar (lower center)
Smell: nice and cocoa-y. score: 3
Color: dark score: 3
Smoothness: very smooth. score: 5
Aftertaste: creamy. score: 4

Venezuela (lower right corner)
Smell: dark and a little sharp. score: 4
Color: dark score: 3
Smoothness: Smooth, slight powder feel. Score 4
Aftertaste: a pleasant bitterness. Score: 4

And the winner is: Trinidad! A rich dark chocolate with enough of a good aftertaste to let you know you enjoyed it. I do have to confess that I also love the Madagaskar chocolate. I'll probably buy both in the larger bars.