OH NO - Chocolate the ZMan won't eat!!!

I'm a chocaholic - I'm proud of it. I think I'm at least the 3rd generation in my family. I think nothing of eating entire blocks of chocolate* in one sitting until I feel sick and then finishing it anyway. That's just how it is with an addiction. I can't even be trusted with my stash of English chocolate - it is hidden at my girlfriends place and she provides rations. Yes I am weak and I know it.

So this weekend while in San Francisco she arranged a trip to Scharffen Berger chocolate factory and other than the rainy walk there it was a wonderful time. Of course I bought some supplies home with me including the quite intriguing 99% bar (no I only bought a smaller bar). Sure it says its for cooking only but it wouldn't be the first time I ate cooking chocolate when there was nothing else in the house and ITS 99% so it must be good right?

WRONG... its hard to describe what is wrong with it. It smells right, it looks right but there is only a vague and unpleasant chocolate taste. I liken it to drinking a really really dry wine and wondering how a liquid can make your mouth pucker up like that.

Since I had grated quite a bit off and it was expensive I insisted on eating it all even though I scrunched my face up through out. In the end I decided the lack of sugar was the issue and added some confectioners sugar (icing sugar for you in the UK) and sure enough that was a big improvement. So I'm thinking I need to make brownies and hot chocolate with this and see how it turns out.

So the ZMan has a limit - its somewhere between 82% and 99%...

* when I say chocolate I am NOT referring to anything made by the Hershey company.

Published 27 February 2008 12:02 AM by zman
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Comments

# J said on 27 February, 2008 01:16 PM

I thought you would eat the whole thing trying to convince yourself it was indeed chocolate and yes it was indeed TOO bitter even for you.... it was a momentous occasion...man I should have gotten a picture... "Andy eating chocolate he doesn't like (until lots of sugar added)"

# Ryu said on 29 February, 2008 03:13 PM

Are you a SF fan? Is it just Seattle with better weather?

# zman said on 06 March, 2008 03:39 PM

I'm a big SF fan... its like Seattle indeed and I don't think the weather is that much better. I love riding the cable cars. Really the only thing I hate is the large numbers of bums that harass you everywhere you go.

# Mike said on 10 March, 2008 01:17 AM

I love SF.  I feel like I'm leaving home when I leave that place.

What's with Brits hating Hershey's so much?  Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of Yanks who claim they hate it as well because they want to appear cultured and worldly, but I think it's an acquired taste.   If you grow up with it, I think you like it better.  I think that Swiss chocolate is smoother and creamier, but Hershey's is more like... coffee, or something.  It has more of a "bite" or "kick" or whatever you want to call it.  It's like some taste that applies some force against your taste buds and end the end you come out a better person.  Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration.

I do love other chocolate, probably even better most of the time, but there will still always be a time when I request Hershey's specifically for the kick.

# Paul said on 19 April, 2008 04:47 PM

Hi Z-Man,  Considering your footnote, I didn't know if you knew this:

www.sfgate.com/.../article.cgi

Summary: Hershey owns Scharffen Berger.  They are not too open about it though, as it is not mentioned anywhere on  the site.

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