Aldi Choco Bistro Knusper

Cough! Cough! Choke! Gasp!

It may not be a good sign when the first bite of a chocolate puts me into a coughing fit, because the crispy flake goes down the wrong pipe.

But it’s not so bad after all. Aldi has brought us a good budget collection of crunchy chocolates (Knusper means crisp in German), and they are a good product for the price. The candies inside look a lot like the photograph on the front of the box.

The chocolates are a mix of dark, milk and white chocolate, all have a crunch of some sort. The one piece that looks like a coated truffle is a round wafer filled with nougat, and tastes very rich, if a bit sweet. There are some chocolate covered nuts and a couple of cookies covered in chocolate. Our box had two compartments with rolled wafers covered in chocolate and nuts.

You can also buy some of the products packaged by themselves, but the selection is a good deal and provides a lot of variety

Reviewed: Aldi Choco Bistro Knusper Selection
Personality: Unpretentious and crunchy
How to enjoy: A great way to treat yourself at the end of the month when the bank account runs a little low.

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

Heilemann Marc de Champagne

Heilemann is a chocolate brand I discovered lately. Their chocolates appear in grocery stores, and generally in a large variety. Sticks of chocolate are also becoming trendy, and I’m seeing more and more of them in the shops.

This bar is the size of a large candy bar, coming in at 40 grams weight, or about 1.4 ounces. It’s a milk chocolate with a truffle filling, made with marc de champagne, which is 60% alcohol volume. The filling is not too sweet, which is very good. Too sugary, and it overpowers the fine chocolate.

The alcohol can definitely be tasted, although it’s no worse than any other filled chocolate. No one can eat enough of these to get drunk, but a piece of this does make a nice end to a heavy dinner, like one with a lot of cheese. (We just ate Hawaii toast for dinner, and the cheese is quite filling.)

All in all, it’s a pleasant chocolate, and not too pricey. I don’t consider this to be quite as good as Lindt, and far away from the gourmet chocolates, but it’s very enjoyable.

Reviewed: Heilemann Marc de Champagne
Personality: Unassuming, like the quiet neighbor who actually has a million bucks stashed away
How to enjoy: Share it with your dinner party after an evening of cheese fondue.

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:
Groceries in Germany

Nestle Die Weisse

Nestle is well-known worldwide, and they are an institution in Switzerland. Here’s a translation of the back of this package.
Inspired by the milk expertise of Henry Nestle, in 1875, on the banks of Lake Geneva, the first Swiss milk chocolate was invented. Even today, this uniquely delicious and creamy white chocolate is manufactured with the unchanged passion and great experience of the Swiss chocolatiers.
Pretty ambitious statement, almost arrogant. How does the chocolate actually taste?
The first taste is ultra-smooth. As it melts, it’s a little rough, but not quite grainy. Good but light chocolate flavor, and no discernable aftertaste.

Reviewed: Nestle Die Weisse
Personality: Sort of a work horse – plain and practical, but unsurprising.
How to enjoy: Best for baking.
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:
Where Nestle is sold, therefore most groceries.

Sarotti Nuss Chili

Chili and chocolate is a natural pairing, and Sarotti has jumped on the bandwagon, but in their own way. This is a 32% milk chocolate, and instead of putting the chili into the chocolate, Sarotti has caramelized it onto the hazelnuts. With each bite that has a nut in it, you get both smooth, cooling chocolate and a power kick of chili when you bite into the nut.
If you let the chocolate melt first, then you have a candied hazelnut piece spiced by cayenne pepper.
Sarotti is part of the Barry Callebaut concern.

Reviewed: Sarotti Nuss Chili
Personality: Milky sweet with a powerful chili punch
How to enjoy: In small bits, accompanied by a cool drink
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: Sarotti is available in grocers and candy stores. http://www.sarotti.com
USA: http://www.germandeli.com/sarotti.html

Gauss Curry Cocos Banane

Chili and chocolate is a natural pairing, but I’m not so sure about curry and chocolate. The last curry chocolates I’ve tried have been unpleasant.
Gauss chocolatier has proven me wrong, at least in part. They started with white chocolate, added banana, and then some curry. This actually works.
The pictures you see are not wrong – the chocolate has a definite greenish cast. I kept looking at it over and over, trying to figure out if my eyes were mistaken. I’m guessing it’s a combination of banana and curry. The manufacturer doesn’t say if it’s a green curry, but it certainly could be. The coconut is a great added touch, giving you a nice aftertaste, having absorbed the curry and banana.

Reviewed: Gauss Curry Cocos Banane
Personality: Reminds me of Bali – exotic and attractive
How to enjoy: Potentially addictive
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:
Gauss Chocolatier in Nagold, Germany

Dovgan Waffeltorte

Dear Hubby (DH) has been bringing various delicacies home from the store on Saturdays. Ho goes out most every weekend to the Real grocery store to buy things that we regularly use every week. One reason to go there is to buy the deli turkey breast, which is the best I’ve tasted anywhere.

This time he brought home an Ivan & Marja waffle torte from the manufacturer Dovgan. I don’t know if they’re related to the Dovgan vodka. It’s a cake or a bar cookie, with 4 waffle layers filled with a nougat-like filling and a walnut on top, with a final coating of chocolatey glaze.

This came out of the box stale. The waffles were crisp but old, and the filling was sugary. The glaze was waxy, and did not taste like chocolate.

The ingredients indicate this: mostly sugar, vegetable fat, …
Yuck.

Reviewed: Ivan & Marja Waffeltorte
Personality: The picture on the box is the most tasty part or this product
How to enjoy: Leave it on the shelf
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:
Grocers in Germany

Gauss Edelbitter-Orange

Back to Nagold, on the edge of the Black Forest, for another sample of Gauss’ fine hand-made chocolate bars.

This one is a dark chocolate with orange flavor. Right after putting it in your mouth, you can taste the orange, not too weak, not too strong. Nicely balanced flavors.

I couldn’t wait for the chocolate to melt, but it chewed nicely, and there was no grittiness. This is a 62% chocolate, and it’s a good quality, with the orange enhancing the floral note of the dark chocolate.

Reviewed: Gauss Edelbitter-Orange

Personality: Inauspiciously sophisticated

How to enjoy: Good tasty eating chocolate. Great for a bedtime snack or as you sit out on the front porch in the evenings.

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:

Gauss Confiserie in Nagold, Germany