One of the things I love most is chocolate. Not the kind that most heathen enjoy and think of when they hear, read, say, or think that word - I am talking about chocolate! I am talking about good chocolate. Yeah, I know, that is subjective, no doubt about that. The chocolate that I refer to is chocolate that actually has a large percentage of actual chocolate in it. I will not blather on too much about this, but let's just say that the actual amount of the real substance called chocolate contained in most 'common' candy bars is scant. You are mostly paying for sugar and milk. Yuck. Don't get me wrong, I will devour a Hershey's Symphony Bar (Toffee & Almonds) if needs be, but I do it knowing that it is a bastardization to call it chocolate.

So, I eat chocolate that most people might think tastes similar to baking chocolate. High percentages of cacao solids set this chocolate apart, as well as attention to the selection of the beans and how they are roasted, etc. A great website to check out if you think you can handle this stuff is 70%.

Eventually, I would like to have a special section of my site dedicated to this subject, but for now I will simply ramble on about this here. Hot sauce is another favorite edible of mine, and I will do the same with it at some point.

For this post, I would like to talk about a specific chocolate bar I have had the opportunity to come in contact with.



This is the “Dark Chocolate with Cinnamon” bar produced by “Bonajuto Old Pastry” in Italy. (Italian chocolate?!?! Who ever heard of that?!) Here is the text from the box itself:

"The preparation of this chocolate, typical of Modica in Sicily, is directly descended from Aztec Xocoatl. It was introduced to Europe by the Spanish in the XVI century, who had learned the process from the marvelous Meso-American people. Since 1880, the Antica Dolceria Bonajuto continues to make this chocolate with the same ingredients and methodology that was passed on from the ancient Aztec civilization."

So, let’s start off first by saying I didn’t know what to expect with this one. Let us take a close look at the texture:



If you have ever had any Mexican chocolate, particularly the stuff made by Ibarra, you know that it is grainy. Ibarra’s is meant to be used for making hot chocolate, you don’t want to eat it on its own (not that you can’t, but I don’t know that I would like it!). Well, when I saw that this stuff was similar in texture, I was, needless to say, not expecting much.

Sure enough, this stuff was nasty. I am sorry to say I spent the $8.00 on this bar of chocolate. I could have gone my entire lifetime without eating it and not missed what I experienced with this stuff. Notwithstanding the texture, which I really disagreed with, the taste was, how shall I say, less than desirable. Yeah, I don’t doubt that it was made “with the same ingredients and methodology that was passed on from the ancient Aztec civilization,” because it tasted ancient. I even ended up throwing a bit of it away because I could not get myself to finish it off. I think the only reason I ate most of it was because I felt I needed to because of the price of the stuff. That and I was hoping I would all of a sudden come to like it. Never happened. My advice is don’t touch this stuff unless you don’t have to pay for it and simply want to know what it is like. I regret buying it, but how was I supposed to know? I could not find ANY reviews of this stuff on the web, and I hope my review serves as a warning to those who might venture.