What is your favorite chocolate?

Milk Chocolate. Preferably Hershey’s. Cadbury is good too. Toblerone isn’t bad either.

Hershey – Pennsylvania, United States
Cadbury – London, England
Toblerone – Kraft Foods, Switzerland

It doesn’t matter what brand it is for me, as long as it is dark.

Ghirardelli. Smoothest, best tasting most incredible chocolate in the world. And even better, it’s made in America. I’ve taken myself off of it to try and keep my triglyceride levels in a more manageable range. It’s as addicting as heroine, though.

Real Cadbury’s Dairy Milk Bars, from England, are the best that I know by name. But my weakness for Hershey’s kisses is immense, even if they are both common and not as good as they used to be before they became so plasticky. (And you have to get them fresh.)

I have also had some unspeakably, incomparably good samples of European milk chocolate that I would gladly have sold my soul for, but I didn’t learn their names.

Dark with sea salt. It’s amazing. The little bursts of saltiness intermixed with the richness of the dark cocoa flavor is so good. I made a sauce for a dessert with it and I always think of it. I can’t find the chocolate I used anywhere.

@Bluefreedom
Those cadbury bird egg chocolates with the candy shell you get during Easter are incredible.

There are artisinal chocolate makers all over the place, and we have several good ones in Philly. However, I think my gold star goes to this place I can’t remember the name of. It’s associated with an awesome restaurant, and it’s on the river between Vermont and New Hampshire, and they make the best hot chocolate, ever! I tried figuring out who it was once, so I could order some more hot chocolate online, but I just couldn’t find it.

God, that stuff was rich, smooth, and so chocolaty, it made you feel like you were Augustus Gloop floating down the chocolate river.

Got to ask my son, who crosses that river (the Connecticut River) every time he goes to the supermarket. Any idea which state it was in or what town it was near, or even just if it was north or south?

IN Vermont, maybe ten or fifteen miles north of Putney? I think it’s maybe the fourth or fifth exit after you cross from Massachusetts on 91.

I like the hard dark chocolate bars that snap when you bite them… not like Hershey’s which is all soft.

Dove Milk Chocolate.

darwin…I’m craving chocolate!

Dark bitter chocolate.

I wish it could be Halloween every day. Special dark is heaven!

sigh

@jonsblond, it’s ok. Chocolate season runs from Hallowe’en to Easter. Didn’t you know that?

I really have a thing for dark chocolate. The Panther Bars from Endangered Species Chocolate are wonderful. Sometimes I go for the Bat Bars with the nibs, but the Panther Bars are the usual go-to chocolates. mmmm. If you get them that dark a bar can last you a good long while since a small square is enough.

dove milk chocolate for me

If we’re talking about pure chocolate (as opposed to candies), there are two makers who consistently come up with great blends that I like. One is the justly famous Valrhona a relatively small producer in France’s Rhone valley. They make chocolates that sometimes taste odd to the American palate, because they use cacaos rich in “secondary” flavors, complex and subtle notes that we don’t typically associate with chocolate. Valrhona handles the cacao selection process with a finer touch than anyone else in the business, and their technical execution is flawless.

My other favorite is Michel Cluizel, in Normandy. A tiny family business, they produce a few really amazing chocolates, along with some clunkers.

Chocovic is a Spanish company that makes a couple of very nice chocolates among several lackluster ones (happily, the good ones are the ones they export to the States).

And finally, there’s a fair-trade chocolate that’s quite good, if you can find it: Divine makes a great dark chocolate (not a fan of their milk chocolate) from rich Ghana Forastero cacaos, and the growers get a fair shake.

@Harp – you really know your chocolates. I wish I could afford Cluizel or Valrhona!

I’m with @jonsblond – it really doesn’t matter what brand it is, as long as it’s good and dark! If I had to choose, I’d say Scharffenberger 70% (bittersweet) is my very favorite – but Dove dark chocolate runs a very close second…

@daloon I believe you’re thinking of LA Burdick in Walpole NH

@Harp By George, I think he’s got it! Thank you, thank you!

Did you know off the top of your head, or did you find it?

I am not going to forget that five artisanal cheese appetizer!

Look, @Daloon, they also have a shop on Brattle Street in Cambridge! I wonder how long that’s been there. I don’t see how I could have missed it on my annual visit. I am going to make a special point of it next time I go back.

I like regular Hershey’s bar or Kisses. I also have enjoyed Godiva. I read about a artisanal chocolate called Dagoba, but have not had it yet. I am not a big chocolate eater. Once in a while, if I’m hungry and someone has it, but it makes me thirsty.

@daloon I’ve had an occasional professional acquaintance with Larry for a long time. He works to very high standards. One of the best.

And, @daloon, look at the shipping page. Mail order appears to be an important part of their business. Are you going to order?

@Jeruba – Ouch! You have brought temptation right onto my computer! I thought I was safe since I am physically many, many miles away from New England.

$19 for a set of “healthy” chocolate bars – expensive but not that expensive…..Oooh! And chocolate penguins!

Get thee behind me, Satan!

@Jeruba: you betcha! I sent a link home and will probably order from there. I don’t know why I feel a need to do it from home, but I do.

@daloon, chocolate is a private matter, of course. As are most other temptations that you can bring right into your computer.

Lindt 70% dark or milk. Their coconut white chocolate is also delicious.

@Jeruba: I’m not quite sure what you meant, but it sure as hell sounds profound!

I love white chocolate. I sometimes eat it to the point where i feel like throwing up lol.
-Sellz

@Sellz – Ack! That is perilously close to TMI! :-)

Oh Henry

LINDT TRUFFLES!!!! Especially the milk and white ones. That’s what i call heaven.

Dark chocolate with lemon and pepper is yummy but I don’t remember who made it! (I was probably drooling on the wrapping!)