This is not dark chocolate. It's health food - according to researchers. I know that's not the whole story, but that's the dietary double-speak people will say anyway.
And if you're going to eat healthy, why not make it even better and go organic? These are the new Equateur Biologique/Equator Organic 80% tablets by Jean-Paul Hevin - one of the best chocolatiers in the world with four boutiques in Paris. He is in fact an MOF - a Meilleur Ouvrier de France/Best Workman in France - a coveted title amongst all crafts not just cuisine or patisserie. You typically say someone's a "mof" - rhyming with "off" - as in "Oh, he thinks he's so hot because he's a mof." J-P Hevin's also infamous for creating cheese-y chocolate - no, not as in tacky - but chocolates actually flavoured with cheeses, to be served as aperitifs. I've tried them and they're chocolates with a distinct cheese taste - I could definitely distinguish the chevre/goat from the Roquefort/blue. I think they're interesting but most people would probably need a strong aperitif drink to get over the initial idea to really enjoy them.
These bars are made with cacao from the equatorial regions spanning from Africa to Asia around to South America - and grown organically. Organically grown chocolate is a small step in improving not only the quality of chocolate - but more importantly the quality of life of chocolate growers. It's a huge global social issue which I find sadly ironic given chocolate's status as a both an emblematic childhood treat and an adult indulgence. Fairtrade are fighting the good fight here.
So it's that stuff - the cacao or pure chocolate - to which the mysterious percentages you see refer. The higher the number, the greater percentage of pure chocolate - where the good-for-you stuff lives. The remainder should just be cacao butter and sugar - but more often than not in the ingredient list you'll find what looks like a laboratory inventory list.
These bars had a strong cacao aroma with a powerful almost rough taste - appealing for me, but definitely more for the true dark chocolate lover.
Good, fairly easy to find dark chocolate bars are made by Lindt. Though they're a Swiss-based company, their 70% and 85% bars are made in France and the ingredient list is short and sweet - or enticingly bitter as the case may be.
