the special dark chocolates have been available for years I think u just saw
new packaging, for munching they r good not sure they really compare to
high quality, I did once buy large bar for my once a year chocolate chip
cookies and they were tasty. - Should find that recipe on google from a few
years ago if u want it fyi.

Laura - special dark muncher for 5+ years.

"Alex Rast" > wrote in message
...
> at Mon, 05 Dec 2005 18:13:45 GMT in >,
> lid (Margaret Suran) wrote :
>
>>Dear Alex, Once again, I would like to ask you what you can tell me
>>about the "new" (?) Hershey's Extra Dark 60% Chocolate bars. The ones
>>I saw and bought come attractively packaged in purple and black bags
>>and probably contain several mini chocolate bars. I did not open the
>>packages, because I need them as part of small Christmas baskets or
>>boxes. I paid $1.99 for each 5.1 oz bag, reduced from $2.99 as part
>>of the pre Christmas sale at RiteAid.
>
> Haven't seen it yet locally, but you can be sure that when it arrives I
> will pick it up, although honestly I have quite a big backlogue of
> chocolates to try (Christmas season always does this).
>
>>I have used the Hershey's Special Dark chocolate for baking and found
>>it pretty good, once I realized I have to reduce the sugar in the
>>recipe and/or add some unsweetened cocoa powder.
>
> Well, relative to using Baker's Brand, it will seem good, because
> literally
> *anything* next to Baker's brand would seem good, probably even pure dirt.
> However, IMHO Special Dark relative to most dark chocolates isn't
> particularly good. In the USA, virtually any supermarket will have at
> least
> Ghirardelli, which is a quantum leap above Special Dark.
>
>>I also ate some, but found it too sweet for my taste as an eating
>>chocolate. I hope that the new 60% is better. )
>
> Yeah, that's the problem with it. It tastes a lot like marshmallows.
> Pretty
> overroasted as well, but then again, that's probably necessary if they're
> using bulk beans. The 60% is surely stronger, because Special Dark is
> below
> 50%, but stronger could be worse if they're using really bottom-of-the-
> barrel beans. OTOH, if they take some time to source beans that are at
> least halfway decent, it could be OK. I wouldn't expect any miracles, but
> a
> pleasant surprise would be great.
>
>
> --
> Alex Rast
>
> (remove d., .7, not, and .NOSPAM to reply)