at Wed, 12 May 2004 15:29:50 GMT in
>, 28762153
@tmicha.net (Demetrius Zeluff) wrote :

(Alex Rast) wrote in
:
>
>> at Tue, 11 May 2004 16:24:52 GMT in
>> >, 28762153
>> @tmicha.net (Demetrius Zeluff) wrote :
>
>[snip]
>
>>>Waitrose in Cheltenham sells Michel Cluziel,...
>> Blue border to the entire wrapper = Ilha Toma (excellent)
>> or Hacienda Tamarina (very good)
>
>It was Hacienda Tamarina. It's the best chocolate I've had so far. I'm
>working my way through them.
>
>> Orange border to the entire wrapper = Hacienda Concepcion (excellent)
>
>This is the other one I tried. I didn't like it a as much as Hacienda
>Tamarina, I think because of the texture.

I haven't detected any discernible differences in the texture between
either bar. What did you find to be different texturally?

Perchance did the surface of the Hacienda Concepcion bar look very slightly
whitish or greyish, as if a light film of dust had descended on it? It
should look shiny and reddish-brown. If it did look dusty, you are the
victim of indifferent storage (excessive heat or humidity cycling) and got
a bloomed chocolate bar. If it had bloomed, it would have been much drier
in consistency and flatter, less intense in flavour. The bar would have
splintered rather easily. Whenever you get a chocolate bar with bloom on
it, you should return it to the store and get an exchange or refund. Also
explain what happened (bloom due to temperature or humidity cycling) so
they are aware of the problem and can fix their storage or shelving. Don't
let them try to get away with telling you that the quality of chocolate
which has bloomed is unaffected. This is a MYTH, promulgated, I suspect, by
less-than-honest shippers, or possibly chocolate manufacturers, in order to
minimise their losses. Chocolate which has bloomed is DEFINITELY diminished
in quality and if you got one of those for your tasting of Hacienda
Concepcion you owe it to yourself to try it again, after getting a bar with
no bloom: you wouldn't have given it a fair test the first time.

....
>> And for the true chocoholic, try Noir Infini 99%...
>
>I'll give that a go, but I think I'll need to let my palette develop
>first.
>
Not necessarily. It's worth jumping in feetfirst, to find out how much you
really like chocolate. Don't be afraid or think it's an acquired taste - if
you genuinely like chocolate, you'll love it right away. Honestly, I think
that if a taste has to be acquired, it's more of an indication that you
don't really basically like the thing at all, and that you're simply
convincing yourself that you do because popular pressure is telling you
that you "should" like it. To a large extent, I believe, what you liked as
a kid is the most reliable indicator of what you really like, because kids
at an early age don't succumb so easily to social pressure as to what they
should like to eat.

To the person finding Noir Infini out of stock - no, I don't believe it's a
production problem. Most likely stocks are just running low because of high
popularity and the approaching summer. Most chocolatiers stop shipping in
the summer, for obvious reasons, and so as a result as summer gets near
stocks tend to disappear. You might need to wait until September/October.


--
Alex Rast

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