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. 

Chocolove

Chocolove 

Most chocoholics have a go-to or staple chocolate bar, one they fall back on time and time again. Chocolove's Cherries & Almonds in Dark Chocolate is the on for me. It's the bar I buy when I can't make up my mind about what kind of chocolate I want. I crave this one after I've been inordinately adventurous, sampling more exotic flavors, and want some familiar comfort. The packaging is nice. It's eye-catching and simple. Some might say it's cutesy with the XOXOX symbol on each of the different colors of outer wrappers. I can't say that the packaging is all that fancy. In fact, it's a little bit understated, but the added love poem on the inside of each wrapper is a nice, classy touch.

I find it strange that this bar has become my go-to chocolate, because when I first tried Chocolove, I felt that all the flavors were too sweet. Then again, I sampled the Toffee in Milk Chocolate bar and a few others that are more naturally on the sweet side than any of the darker chocolates, but even the dark chocolates are on the verge of being too sweet. That's not necessarily a bad thing. It's the type of chocolate that appeals to the mainstream, but I'm sensitive to chocolate that's overly sugary. Fortunately, I gave the line of chocolates another try and discovered this highly addictive bar with its dark, chewy dried cherries and crunchy roasted almonds nestled in chocolate that's dark but not excessively so. Because it's only 55 percent cocoa, there's a good chance that both milk and dark chocolate lovers will appreciate this creation.  

It's always a pleasant surprise to discover a chocolate bar that isn't excessively thin. I like chocolate I can sink my teeth into, especially when there are added ingredients such as nuts, fruit or pretzel pieces. It's not so much that Chocolove chocolate is extraordinary; it's that the chocolate is consistently good. Anyone can tell that it's a very high quality chocolate, even though there's nothing overly intriguing about it, mostly because the flavors are straightforward, not complex. This isn't anything to complain about, really. It's great to have a confection that screams true, traditional chocolate when you taste it, and these bars are made with very good Belgian chocolate using classic European techniques.

Of the various bars I have tried, the flavors were all nicely balanced, but there was nothing unique about the combinations. It's hard to go wrong with traditional ingredients. As far as my preference, I keep coming back to the Cherries & Almonds in Dark Chocolate. On very rare occasions, I have ended up with one that contained rather rancid almonds, but I attribute this to improper storage on the part of the store where I purchased the bar, not to the company. I have had too many bars with fresh almonds to make me think it's a problem with the way the bars are made. It's more likely that the bars sit on the store shelves too long or are not rotated properly. The cherries are tart but not sour, so they don't detract from the pure cocoa taste of the chocolate. I'm the type who loves to explore different flavors and textures in my chocolates, so including both fruit and nuts is the perfect combination for me. 

The milk chocolate pretzel bar was a little bit on the sweet side to my taste. The Man thought it was good. He agreed that it was sweet, but he didn't think it was overly so. The pretzel pieces were quite long and made the bar difficult to score evenly. It's not a big problem, but it looked clumsy. I did like the crunch and the saltiness of the pretzels. The texture of the chocolate, while not chalky, wasn't entirely smooth. Overall, it was good but not outstanding. After sampling some excellent Valrhona milk chocolate, it's easy to be critical of other milk chocolates, but I appreciate a very smooth milk chocolate that's not extremely sweet. 


Some of the best things about Chocolove are the high standards of the company and the founder's dedication to social responsibility.

What is your go-to chocolate?

Timothy Moley, the founder of Chocolove