IMO, Lindt is a reliable choice for broadly-available chocolates in the USA. There used to be several brick-and-mortar Lindt stores in my area, but they are gone. I recently bought some products via their website, because supermarkets/dept stores carry but a small choice of Lindt.
The roasted sesame dark chocolate bar is new to me, and quite good. The texture is similar to Nestle’s Crunch, but of course, with a nutty sesame flavor. I also liked the hazelnut truffles my supermarket had (in the smallest bags) only for the holiday season.
I am surprised, given the general popularity of the combination of raspberry and dark chocolate, that Lindt’s truffle version isn’t widely available.
My two favourite Lindt bars are the Dark Hazelnut. This has whole hazelnuts and is 43 % cocoa solids which for me is perfect as I don’t think really dark chocolate works as well as with milk chocolate but I find milk chocolate a bit cloying.
The other bar is the Orange Intense. The orange flavour still has some bitterness and is very reminiscent of marmalade. Both very good bars for the money.
Actually the past Christmas I ate quite of lot of Lindt in visiting houses…dark, milk, with nuts…I didn’t taste the truffles one you mentioned above. I tried to like it…I think the milk chocolate was too sweet and dark chocolate didn’t have the intensity of cocoa …I guess I’m too spoiled by the occasional dose of craft chocolate… But among the commercial brand, I preferred the Ferrero Rocher, still too sweet, but the texture is more interesting.
In America, the truffles are probably the most popular Lindt product. Bags are available i9 supermarkets, pharmacies, etc., a9d ma9y types of stores have them for sale by the piece at the cash register.
Between 44% - 100% of cacao and cacao butter is dark chocolate.
From Wiki:
The U.S. has no official definition for dark chocolate. Dark chocolate can be eaten as is, or used in cooking, for which thicker, baking bars, usually with high cocoa percentages ranging from 70% to 99% are sold.
French Wiki:
Chocolate less than 65% cocoa has a sweet flavor and is often found in the “dessert chocolates” for baking.
Chocolate to 65 or 70% cocoa is bitter compared to milk chocolate. This type of chocolate is used in cooking (chocolate pastry) or tasting.
Chocolate strengthens 80% more in character and is not appreciated by all because of its bitterness and its less melting texture.
Finally, chocolate 90% cocoa or more is very bitter, the taste is not so in very small amounts.
Yeah, in my world dark is more than 50%, less than 60% is almost always too sweet for me but of course much depends on how much of the percentage is cocoa butter. But I also think the Lindt truffles are not good, so I’ll stick with my Felchlin and Valrhona
NB: I’ve tempered and molded several pounds of 60% dark chocolate already this morning…
I looked on the Lindt site and didn’t see any hazelnut bars that weren’t milk chocolate, so I wonder which one Paprikaboy is talking about. The milk chocolate I usually work with is 49%, definitely the darker end of the spectrum for milk chocolate, but I wouldn’t call it dark chocolate! The same company makes a 38% milk chocolate which I find too sweet for eating, but I think it’ll be good with PB&J for Valentine’s Day. Theo makes a milk chocolate that is 40 or 45%, that’s a good one too.
Chili Chocolate. I eat it in small pieces an let it melt in my mouth.
Then again, I also occasionally add 1/4 tsp of ground chilis per cup to the ground coffee when making coffee. (I used to say “chili powder” but someone thought I meant that horrific American blend that even has oregano in it!)
I, too, will occasionally grab a Lindt truffle (dark chocolate, or w/hazelnuts) at the grocery checkout, but for eating and cooking, I usually choose TCHO.
