Zoe's Chocolate Company

I hate giving bad reviews. Normally I would simply skip saying anything, but I kept trying to give this company a chance, mostly because the chocolate looks so good. The packages are gorgeous, even though they are merely cellophane with a natural-looking, tan paper label tied in raffia or brown string. It's the chocolate designs that are spectacular. Most of their bars have goodies decorating top, but even the ones without toppings have a lovely look about them. The espresso flavor, for example, has speckled white chocolate swirled throughout the dark chocolate, making a pretty marble pattern. Looking into the company, I discovered that Zoe's Chocolate Company aims to use locally sourced, natural ingredients, another plus. Unfortunately, I've just had very bad luck with the bars I have tried.

Zoe's chocolate bars.

The first one I tried, I can't even review. All I can say is that in all my years of chocolate sampling, I have never experienced nuts so rancid they made me spit out the product. I contacted the company, explaining that I review chocolate and had recently purchased one of their bars that ended up with rancid almonds. They seemed to think it was the fault of the market where I purchased them, even though I have been buying from this place for years without any issues. Zoe's Chocolate Company did apologize, but nothing came of it. On to the next bar.

I thought the pretzel bar would be a safe option. With no nuts, there's less chance anything would be stale. Autoxidization of lipids in oils in the nuts, usually when exposed to air or heat, can make them more susceptible to going bad. This can be a problem with anything wrapped in cellophane, which is not as sturdy and protective as other forms of packaging. The ingredients of the pretzel bar were fresh, fortunately, but, yikes, what an unbalanced bar.

One of the best chocolate and pretzel combinations ever comes from Long Grove. They make a dark chocolate covered pretzel rod that's drizzled with milk chocolate. It is phenomenal.

Long Grove Chocolate Pretzel Rods.

The Zoe's chocolate pretzel bar looks appealing. I had some minor concern, because I could see that the pretzels are chopped up and mixed into the chocolate. I tend to like contrast in my chocolate bars with each element distinguishable but also in harmony with the others. This just isn't the case with the pretzel bar. The salt flavor is so overwhelming, you can't even really taste the chocolate. I think blending the pretzel pieces into the chocolate is a mistake, because the salt gets dispersed. When the pretzels are left on top or simply covered, the salt acts as an accent. It provides a short burst of flavor and quickly recedes to the background to let the chocolate flavor emerge. With Zoe's, all you really taste is the salt. Yuck. Also, the crunch of the pretzel pieces is lackluster and soft. Though I didn't have to spit this one out or throw it away, I'm not at all motivated to eat it. I wish I would have ordered some Long Grove pretzel rods online instead.

Despite my complaints, I can tell that the chocolate itself in this bar is nice. When I was able to find and bite off a teeny, tiny little piece that wasn't assaulted with salty pretzel bits, I could actually taste the chocolate, which has a nice, deep cocoa flavor.

I had to give the company a third chance. Three's a charm, right?

Zoe's Lottie Dottie Bar.

Apparently not. Well, the chocolate candy pieces on top were good. 

Sorry, even the Lottie Dottie Bar was a disappointment. It's hard to describe exactly how it tastes off, but this milk chocolate has an odd, bitter taste. It also has a strange chalky texture and does't melt well. It's another one I can't bring myself to finish eating. I will pick off the candies on top, so at least those don't go to waste. 

Sigh, I wish I had more good things to say about this company, but the bars I sampled were among the worst I have tried. To be fair, I haven't tried their truffles, which look amazing. It's possible that I simply had bad luck, and other flavors of the bars are better. I can't be sure, but I hope so. I'm not willing to risk spending more to find out.