Ritter Sport Weisse Voll-Nuss

Crazy good chocolate. Perfect for hot summer days

Ritter Sport Karamell Nuss: Buy it now

Last year's Ritter Sport "Chocolate of the Year" was a combination chocolate and waffle cookie. I love that kind of cookie, but the Swiss do it better. See Kaegi-Fretli for an example. 

This year, Ritter has brought out an absolute bar of heaven. Their wonderful milk chocolate is crowned by a caramel layer which is neither runny nor sticky. That in principle is good enough for me, but Ritter goes one more step. Actually two more steps.

They add their crispy rice and unbelievably crunchy hazelnuts into the mix, all thoroughly blended. 

This is the first chocolate bar I bought from the television commercial, but when I saw the commercial last night, I turned to Dear Hubby and said, "Buy this tomorrow. Don't come home from the store without it."

He didn't let me down, angel that he is. We polished off half a bar in minutes. He'd bought two bars, so we put the rest away to enjoy them again very soon. 

BTW, by "we polished off half a bar" I mean he got one square and I got the rest. Heehee.

Buy them. Enjoy them. They will be gone next year.

Ritter Sport Rum Trauben Nuss

One of the best things about Germany is alcohol in chocolate. It's no big deal - just sitting there on the grocery shelf, begging to be purchased.

Like my latest find, Ritter Sport's Rum Trauben Nuss. Rum. Raisins. Nuts. How could this possibly get better? Try Jamaican rum. And clarified butter. And sultana raisins.

Oh baby. That's good.

Reviewed: Ritter Sport Rum Trauben Nuss

Personality: A chocolate version of your best party buddy

How to enjoy: Take a small square at a time, and let the flavors unfold in your mouth. A real treasure.

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:

Grocery stores in Germany, and http://shop.ritter-sport.de/

Ritter Sport Zitrone

I definitely have a thing for white chocolate at the moment. Standing in the store yesterday, I settled on Milka cow patch chocolate, milk with white patches. At work today, I sampled a tiny Toblerone bar, again milk, but with a layer of white chocolate, and now Ritter Sport called to me from my freezer when I got home tonight.
Last summer when I went to the Ritter Sport factory outlet in Waldenbuch, I picked up some tiny white Ritter Sport bars. Ritter recommended that you keep them in the freezer, and enjoy them on a hot day, which I thought was a great idea, except for the fact that I don’t often think to look in my freezer when I think of chocolate. Hence, it wasn’t until I decided to empty out my freezer that I though of them again.
These are the mini size, and they go down fast. The lemon is tangy and crunchy, and the yogurt-white chocolate is smooth, even better as a frozen treat.

Reviewed: Ritter Sport Zitrone (seasonal)
Personality: Chilly-icious delicious
How to enjoy: Definitely keep them in the freezer. They’re a delight, and I only hope Ritter brings them back this summer.
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:
Sorry, not available, but maybe when summer comes again. Keep your eyes on the Ritter homepage for more info. They do now have an online shop, same prices at the stores. http://shop.ritter-sport.de/

Ritter Sport Dunkle Vollmilch 40%

This is a tricky little guy. I popped a square into my mouth, expecting the smooth milk chocolate of Ritter Sport, but got a nice little kick. There are definite chocolate undertones to this bar, and I like it a lot.

In Germany, land of many delicious chocolates, there's a shortage of good chocolate chips. I've been known to import them from the US (shh! don't tell anyone) but when I'm in a pinch I'll chop up a good bar of chocolate. Until today, I preferred to use Milka dark. Now I'll use this, and hope that it stays around after this, its premier year.

Reviewed: Ritter Sport Dunkle Vollmilch 40%

Personality: Deceptive - looks like milk chocolate, tastes like dark

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

White Bagging it with Ritter Sport Cappucino Bruch

Sometimes brown-bagging it just ain't enough, and only the white bag will do. Ritter Sport has a factory outlet, as I've mentioned before, and I do happen to live within a half-hour's drive of it. Nyaah, nyaah.

When I go, I check out the "bruch" chocolate. That's the chocolate that is either of second quality, or a test run, or has some other flaw. No rats, of course. How could you even think such a thing?

Once that chocolate comes off the line, the white gloved hands of the workers pack the second quality bars in little white bags, 4 bars to a bag. And they sell it. Cheap.

When you peek in the bag, you never know what you'll find, at least in the way the chocolate looks. This bag had one bar with a big lump. Oh my!
My ever intrepid husband dared to crack open the mysterious lump, and we found... chocolate. C'mon, what did you expect from German foodstuffs? Probably was nothing except a little burp at the end of the chocolate flow.

A yummy lump it was, too. The cappucino flavor is there, delicious and good coffee flavor.

Reviewed: Ritter Sport Cappucino
Personality: Just like your great-uncle Mike who seems to find everything that has "just fallen off the truck:" friendly, outgoing, but you wonder just a little bit how it all happened.
How to enjoy: This is guilt-free delight! Superior quality chocolate at bargain basement prices. Eat it anytime, anywhere.

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

Where to buy:
Germany: Only at the Ritter Sport factory

Ritter Sport Loacker Napolitaner

Keebler elves are insidious beasties, always enticing me to eat more and more of their delicious fudge-covered wafers known as Fudge Sticks. Since coming to Europe, though, I've found similar cookies, except that they've been covered in chocolate instead of fudge.

Loacker is one of those cookie companies.Now Loacker has joined forces with Ritter Sport to go one step further. They've merged the Ritter milk chocolate with Loacker Napolitaner wafer cookies, but instead of just a coating of fudge, there's an thick layer of actual chocolate on top of the chocolate covered wafers. Now that's a good balance of chocolate and cookie!

Reviewed: Ritter Sport Loacker Napolitaner
Personality: nothing elfin about this
How to enjoy: Try this when you want to eat both chocolate and a cookie. It's a big burst of both. Keep the portion small, though, they're rather dense.

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

Ritter Sport Nugat 250 grams

Tonight's chocolate will be quick, since it's another entry from Ritter Sport (I tell you, it's hard to leave the Ritter factory store without carrying significant quantities of chocolate.)
My daughter likes Ritter's nougat bar, but it's normally available in the 100 gram variety. 100 grams is just about 4 ounces, and she and her father have been know to tussle over the last squares in the package.
Well, I took care of it this time, because, at 250 grams, it will take even a 16 year old quite a while to finish.
Ritter's nougat is not as good as Lindt, or as pretty much any Italian nougat I've tasted. For elegance and refined taste, go Italian. For a budget thrill, go for the Ritter.

Reviewed: Ritter Sport Nugat, 250 gram size
Personality: The "Fat Boy" of nougat bars
How to enjoy: Will last a long, long time. Unless you're a teenager.

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: At the Ritter Sport factory outlet, or any basic grocery store
USA: Some Ritter Sport is available at the Chocolate Apothecary, Amazon, or Belgian Chocolate Online
UK: A Quarter of

Ritter Sport Voll Erdnuss

A bright, sunny Sunday, coupled with a German rarity: a store open on Sunday, brought us to Waldenbuch, Germany, home of Ritter Sport chocolate.

The factory is actually there, along with a museum and a cafe. We had a lovely cappucino and an iced chocolate, then went shopping.

Last year, Ritter sold a Golden Peanut bar. Peanuts and chocolate are as rare as a store open on Sunday in Germany, so I really enjoyed this candy, and one of my goals at Ritter yesterday was to score some more of those bars. It was not to be, however, because the Golden Peanut has been replaced by "echte Kau-Boys." Echte Kau-boys is a pun. Kau is chew, only pronounced like "cow." The tag line for the new peanut bar is: With crunchy American peanuts. For real cow-boys. Har har.

But the chocolate is good, as good as any Ritter bar. And Ritter chocolate is goooood. Plenty of good milk chocolate, peanuts roasted properly, with a pleasant crunch and a nutty flavor.

Reviewed: Ritter Sport Vollnuss
Personality: Dorky "Kau-boy" peanutty satisfaction
How to enjoy: enjoy it a square at a time. One Ritter bar can last a week if you're prudent.

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: At the Ritter Sport factory outlet, or any basic grocery store
USA: Some Ritter Sport is available at the Chocolate Apothecary, Amazon, or Belgian Chocolate Online
UK: A Quarter of