Ice is nice.
First, let me say that I am COMPLETELY jealous of April Anne who is going to Hershey, PA this week. Not that I want to go. No, I’m very happy to sit here in Michigan in the swealtering heat (which I do not like to run in!), reading about chocolate on the web instead of going to a whole damn town practically made of chocolate where they have one of the largest chocolate making plants in the world (or is it the largest?). HA! No, sir. I’ll just sit right here and be damn happy about it. (grump) She’d better bring back good pictures and presents, that’s all I have to say.
Ok, for those of us who are stuck at home this weekend in a non-chocolate Mecca type place. I have a few assorted things I found at the store.
This first one is an oldy that I remember from when I was young(er). Ice cubes! They are very small and are a single block of fudgy chocolate stuff. Kinda gritty but very very good. Something about them is damn delicious and it was all I could do not to eat this last one before I got a picture of it. They are very soft, not hard like a normal chocolate block. Note in the picture how small they are compared to a quarter (Canadian currency added for metric conversion).
There’s a nice close up shot of the wrapper at Molly Kiely’s site.
The label says it is made in Germany by Nappo-Dr.Hella, for R. L. Albert and Son, Greenwich, CT. Looks like these little yummies were first made in 1936. If you look at the company profile, you’ll see its not terribly large, between 100 and 200 people depending on the season. Something about that makes it more interesting to me. Not a huge conglomorate, but a mid/small size company making a good product for almost 70 years. Nice. :)
This next one I found at the local pharmacy. The word truffle caught my eye. The Elana Chocolate Truffle bar is made by Sherwood Brands. This one was pretty awful. The center was hard and crystallized (maybe it had gone bad?), but the flavor was pretty rotten too. Not very impressive at all.
These next two are kinda funny because they are so tiny. They are made by Guittard, and I found them at World Market. Actually, I found them a long time ago, but I kept eating them before I could take a picture and write about it.
The bars are very small, maybe only twice the length of the Ice Cubes up above. The milk chocolate was very good and had a “old fashioned” flavor that I hadn’t tasted in a while. I think its because its made with real vanilla (listed as vanilla beans) and I’ve been eating alot of the commercial stuff made with vanillin lately (blech). I find it interesting when they list “cocoa beans” as an ingredient rather than cocoa.
The dark chocolate was just ok. Nothing bad, just not very exciting. I like the ingredient list: Cocoa beans, pure cane sugar, cocoa butter, soya lecithin, vanilla beans. Nice list. No junk. Somewhere I read a page where a guy rated every chocolate bar he ever tasted and listed this one as the very best. I don’t get it, but I guess he had his reasons.
The last one here was mostly for fun. This one had Kalua in it, I guess. I never tasted Kahlua, except that I had used it once in truffles and it didn’t make any difference so I went back to vanilla extract.
This had a mapley-coffee-like taste to it. Is that what Kahlua tastes like? It was pretty good. I ate the whole thing if that means anything. Well, in my case it really doesn’t because chocolate has to be pretty awful for me not to eat it. Oink.
That’s it for this week. Hope you all having a nice day and have fun plans for the weekend.
August 5th, 2005 11:08
Ice Cubes! I haven’t seen these in a store since I was eleven! I think they must be an east of the Mississippi sort of thing. I still think of them as one of my favorite chocolates, despite getting terribly sick from eating far too many. You’ve made my day!
August 5th, 2005 13:24
I love IceCubes. The trick though, is that they should be refrigerated at least, and frozen at best. My grandfather owned a gas station, and that was one of my favorite parts about visiting it–the cold Ice Cubes, straight from the chill chest.
August 5th, 2005 14:50
Oh yeah! Those little ice cubes rock! I wish I could find them these days. I haven’t seen them in years.
August 5th, 2005 15:54
Jon, I showed theroommate your blog the other night and she couldn’t wait to hear what you had to say for chocolate friday today…
So you have another fan! good luck with your run this weekend!
August 5th, 2005 16:56
I have no idea what you are talking about. ICE CUBES?? We don’t have such craziness in NJ. I am glad things are going well enough for you that you have time for chocolate friday. That’s a good sign! Have a good run tomorrow.
August 5th, 2005 21:50
Excellent reviews! You’ll have to do one on chocolate covered ice creams so that you can combine two vices into one post.
Good luck & have fun with the long run!
August 6th, 2005 07:25
I remember having Ice Cubes when I was younger. I remember them being SO good, but now they’re not, and I think it’s because I’ve found much better chocolate (and have learned to love dark chocolate best), so now they’re just good, but not SO good.
August 6th, 2005 11:09
I’ve seen icy-type chocolate up here but not that brand. The ones we have are a melt-in-your-mouth truffle consistency.
“Canadian currency added for metric conversion” Cute :)
I’m a big fan of Kahlua in my coffee when I’m relaxing on a day off. It tastes WAY better than vanilla. It also tastes pretty good in a glass of milk before bed. I should try that bar - see if I like it.
August 6th, 2005 13:30
mmmmmmmm the Kahlua one sounds good. Does it come in pink??? ;-)
August 6th, 2005 15:58
Thanks for the chocolate update! I’m very keen on trying out the ice cubes you mentioned. Where do you find them?
Also, thanks for your comment on my blog - I posted a reply in the comments section as well.
August 7th, 2005 21:13
oh how I love your chocolate photo entries! I am fascinated at the little ice cubes fudge, how cute…I would almost want to keep it rather than eat it….almost
August 8th, 2005 09:18
Ha! You have a twoonie! How funny.
August 13th, 2005 00:02
Hey, Kahlua is a great concoction, takes like coffee but I never thought it really had a mapley flavor. It has lots of calories but when I want a quick alcohol relaxation, a black russian is a good drink; simply vodka and kahlua.
August 13th, 2005 00:44
At Christmas we always get something that is like those ice cube things, i cant remember the name but they are sooo smooth. mmmm, chocolate
Heather