Ghirardelli: Fall Assortment

Winding up my trio of Halloween chocolate candies is a set that is not specifically Halloween but simply fall-themed. Ghirardelli squares are a sturdy standby for any time of year, and usually any seasonal approach that Ghirardelli does is light. There are three flavors in here, two which are standard (Caramel and Fudge Caramel) and only one seasonal (Pumpkin Spice Caramel). Pumpkin Spice can of course take you all the way from September through November.

On one hand, this would also seem not to be a Halloween bag because who would want to give away Ghirardelli squares or even put them in your Halloween candy bowl--they're too expensive, right? But they fall right in between the prices of the other two. So yes, this is more expensive than a bag of KitKats, but still at a standard price for its genre, shall we say. If you use the Nutrition Facts to estimate, there should be 14 squares in here, which would be 34 cents each; again, I don't know if I somehow miscounted out of daftness, but I only counted 13, which would be 36 each (I paid about $4.79 for the bag). So if you're doing maybe a mini trick-or-treating event just for your family or keeping them in your candy bowl, the price isn't unreasonable.

This is the least decorated bag of the three. A rich brown color and some leaves, pumpkins, and acorns in the corners make up the whole of the theming, and there is nothing on the individual wrappers. While this is consistent with Ghirardelli's usual style, I do wish they had at least decorated the Pumpkin Spice Caramel wrappers differently. Maybe a couple pumpkins on there? Or at least a different color to distinguish them from the Fudge Caramels.

Those Fudge Caramels were the ones I started with. It's milk chocolate filled with caramel that tastes more strongly of vanilla than you might normally get in a caramel. It's a sweet, confection treat. The plain Caramel has more of a standard caramel flavor. Ghirardelli's caramel is soft but also not quite free-flowing or liquid; it's a nice balance between the two approaches. It's good, I say with a shrug.

What we're really all here for is the Pumpkin Spice Caramel. If they weren't going to do other fall flavors, as well (maybe apple cider), they could have just made the whole bag Pumpkin Spice. That's what people are after, anyway. That is, I'm after it because it's the seasonal flavor. Normally I'm not too much into the pumpkin spice craze.

There is already a pumpkin spice aroma even before biting in. When you do, you'll find a caramel base pretty much the same as the regular one, except that is infused with that distinctive pumpkin spice flavor. I taste cloves and cinnamon and ginger and maybe cardamom--the usual suspects. It's nice. As I've alluded to before, these are some of the same pieces you would use for chai tea and I do much enjoy a good chai. It's all nice and warm and sweet. In fact, the sweetness of the milk chocolate helps to ground the spices in the way that sugar and milk would in a chai latte. The caramel makes for a good base, as well.

While pumpkin spice by definition does not necessitate the inclusion of pumpkin, there is something of a taste in here of what comes across to me as artificial pumpkin flavor--whether or not that is what it actually is. If you are one with the pumpkin spice, this might just taste like fresh pumpkin pie to you. To me, it's just a little off. So we have another of those instances where you'll know best if this chocolate is for you. It's a nice approach to pumpkin spice; I'm enjoying it. But if someone had a candy bowl of these three flavors, I'd probably choose one of the other caramels and leave the pumpkin for others. Not a disappointment; just a preference. The disappointment here is that there is only one fall flavor in this assortment, but it is otherwise a pleasant bag of chocolates. 

Ghirardelli: Mango Sunset

Has everyone else been having such weird weather? Usually by the end of May, the heat starts to get an edge to it--summer starts to settle in and it gets uncomfortable to be outdoors during the day. But the weather is still nice enough right now to have the door open even in the afternoon--and a couple days ago it was cold and it was raining and are you sure it's almost June?

So I need reminders that it's late spring, nearly summer. Limeade in the refrigerator, cantaloupe for breakfast, and afternoons spent sitting outside reading. Oh, yes, and how about some mango chocolate? I know, I'm not sure if that sounds good or not, either. It's a new flavor from Ghirardelli, Mango Sunset. And it's hard to know what to think of it. You see, I like Ghirardelli, as long as they don't veer away from what they're capable of doing, and what they're capable of doing is making simple chocolate bars, either plain or with very classic flavors (mint, caramel, etc.). Sometimes when they try to get creative, they just show what they're not capable of. And mango chocolate, well, that's not exactly traditional, is it? Hence my worry.

Tearing the seal on the foil wrapper reveals the smell of mango and chocolate together, not exactly something I found exciting. I usually eat mangos plain. And maybe mangos are close to citrus--and I generally don't like citrus chocolate. But what worried me more than the idea of the flavor combination was when I had my first taste and wondered if there was something artificial in there. All the ingredients list says is "natural flavors." And even the flavor description calls it "dark chocolate infused with mango flavor with other natural flavors." Huh. It would seem that mango isn't an easy flavor to get into chocolate without using lots of real mango, perhaps in pieces. But what are those other flavors? There's no mention of what they are--so they must not be included for their own sake; they must be there to try and enhance the mango flavor and its unity with the chocolate. But I just keep getting this weird flavor.

Is it the mango, unexpected in the middle of chocolate? I don't think that's it: the more I taste, the more I grow accepting of the idea of mango chocolate. It's freshness and brightness, orange and yellow, to stand against the deeper red of the chocolate; it works. It's just that other, unidentifiable flavor that tastes strange (I realize that this flavor may in fact be the mango, and if that's the case I would like to see a better representation of mango in chocolate). 

The chocolate itself is a light dark chocolate. I don't think it's a 75%; it's probably more like a 65% cocoa. Probably a good thing that it isn't too dark: this lighter persona better suits the mango. 

So was I right to worry? Yes, probably right to worry. But was I correct in my worry? I'm still not sure. I think this chocolate comes across okay: I'll finish it. It's an interesting idea for a summer chocolate. But I suppose I won't buy it again; I'd rather have one of Ghirardelli's plain Twilight or Midnight bars. You decide if that's a failure or not.

Ghirardelli: Mint Cookie

I really need to get out of state. I haven't been out of state since December, and therefore I have not had many chances to buy interesting chocolate since December. I'm getting a bit sad, especially since we are now entering the warm weather months where I simply cannot order chocolate online--not that I ever do more than maybe once a year. (Although, in fact, it has been cooler weather lately. Tomorrow it's supposed to be around 65, I think. And windy. Gross. I don't like cold wind.) 

So, in absence of a greater selection, I settled for trying out Ghirardelli's new Mint Cookie bar, thinking to run a comparison with Klondike's Mint Chocolate Chip Candy that I reviewed a couple of week ago. Click here to read that post. I'm sure you will notice, right away, two important factors. At 98.1 grams, compared with 39, Ghirardelli gives you more quantity for your money. And while Klondike had their silly "dark chocolate flavored coating," Ghirardelli uses a basic milk chocolate. Sure, dark chocolate tends to go better with mint than does milk chocolate, but I suspect that the cocoa percentage is greater in the Ghirardelli. 

The proportions are also different. The Mint Cookie bar is in Ghirardelli's standard eight squares; they're just shaped a little differently from the flatter squares that make up the plain or even most of the flavored bars. These squares are thicker, leaving room for a soft chocolate filling that contains the minty flavor. So there is much more of a chocolate base than there was in the Klondike candies. That's good. 

But now I find myself disappointed by the mint. Mayhap part of the problem is that a creamy milk chocolate just isn't a good complement for mint: it makes the mint taste too cloying on the tongue, instead of giving a refreshing effect. Either way, the mint simply doesn't taste very refreshing. There is peppermint oil among the ingredients, but it doesn't come across tasting like fresh mint. And the thing that bothers me with comparing to Klondike is that Klondike was imitating ice cream . . . and ice cream is sweet. So their chocolate candies were sweet, minty, and smooth. But Ghirardelli is trying to make something different, a sort of everyman's luxury mint. And it doesn't taste very luxurious to me. 

Which, again, isn't so far away from what I was expecting. After all, the bar is called Mint Cookie, not Fresh Mint. Inside that soft chocolate center are the tiniest of lightly crunchy bits to stand in for the cookie element. They do help to ease some of the cloying taste, putting into mind Girl Scouts Thin Mint cookies (did you see my review last year of Nestle's Thin Mints Crunch Bar?) instead of just badly done after dinner mints. As a munching chocolate confection, it's okay. I usually prefer Ghirardelli's plain bars to their flavored ones, but even this is alright for the price. It's fine. I just wish I wasn't surrounded only by chocolate that is fine instead of fine chocolate. 

Ghirardelli: Cabernet Matinee

I have an okay relationship with Ghirardelli. Their chocolate is widely available and usually simple enough that it doesn't fail miserably. It isn't the best of the best, but a square of Twilight Delight or Midnight Reverie can be a welcome addition to the day. So I'm generally favorable to Ghirardelli, within certain bounds of expectations.

And then along came the new Cabernet Matinee bar. It looks interesting, right? Berries and grapes hint at a grown-up, wine-inspired flavor profile. The shade of purple on the card box does look a little dated for a new design, but I ignored that fact when I purchased the bar. It's Ghirardelli, I thought, the details don't matter so much if the chocolate is pleasant to eat.

The thing is, once you tear open the foil wrapper, the Cabernet Matinee has a very strong aroma. It's sort of berry-like, but mostly reminds me of artificial grape. I left the open bar on a table in my room, then came back in later on and wondered what cheap, raspberry perfume I'd sprayed; it was just the chocolate, not any perfume. First bite, I thought essentially the same thing: gross. The flavor is very strong, more or less overpowering the chocolate. It tastes somewhat of berries and somewhat of grapes, but mostly of chalky, cheap, artificial fruit essence. Grape is, like watermelon, a delicate flavor to try and reproduce; it usually can't be done right. So I think that Ghirardelli would have been better off ditching the wine theme and just making this a berry bar. Maybe they could have blended blackberry with huckleberry? It would have been nice to have a straight berry bar that did not also have pieces of berries, as is more common.

The ingredients just list "natural flavor," so perhaps this isn't artificial flavor I'm tasting. But whatever it is, it shouldn't taste artificial. True, once you get used to it, this chocolate starts to taste better. Halfway through one square, I'm starting to think it's okay. But I'm also reluctant to eat any more. Despite this bar being part of the Intense Dark line (with no mention of cocoa percentage), it feels sweet instead of rich. I thought this was going to be a sophisticated bar. Did I set my expectations too high for Ghirardelli to follow?