I think I've pretty much lost all faith in American chocolate.

[Timstuff]

I know, I know... If you're from across the pond, you're probably laughing at me and saying "LOL! It really took that long?", but really, the quality of chocolate in the US has plummeted so fast recently that I think I've finally had enough-- and when it comes to chocolate, that is not something you're supposed to find yourself saying.

The last time I looked at the back of a good ol' Hershey bar, I almost wanted to burn it, bury it, and jam a wooden cross into the ground above it. The ingredients list was as long as a polygamist's will, and it was full of awful things like high fructos corn syrup and partially-hydrogenated soybean oil, so I might as well be drinking motor oil while I'm at it. I didn't buy the wretched thing, but a co worker recently offered me some peanut butter M&Ms, and I immediately regretted eating them. Not only did the chocolate taste like crap, but the peanut butter did too, probably because it was 90% soy oil.

I am fed up with just how crummy our chocolate has become. Food companies are getting lazy and thrifty, so they're using cheap sweeteners like corn syrup, and potentially toxic fillers like soybean oil. Well tonight, I've decided I've had enough, and I'm finally going to start trying out European chocolate. After checking some reviews, I made an order for some French Valrhona brand chocolate (milk and "noir" varieties), and I'm already thinking about ordering some German chocolate in the near future. It's far more expensive, sure, but the way I see it, chocolate is supposed to be a luxury food anyway. And in the end, I think it's wiser to spend $4 on a candy bar that tastes good than it is to spend 40 cents on a candy bar that can give you brain cancer and diabetes.

This might seem like a stupid thing to be posting a long winded rant about, but I love chocolate, and I am sick of how the ingredient lists on American chocolate bars have been getting longer and longer over the last few years. A few years ago, I loved Hershey bars, but now I hate them, and its because they don't taste anything like how they did before the "soy revolution." Almost all the European chocolates I've looked at have nice, short lists with cocoa products right at the top, which at their very worst might contain some soy lecithin. And really, that's nothing compared to making 90% of a candy bar from soy and palm oils, which is exactly what our crummy yank choco factories are churning out.

[Scissors]

Okay, allow me to say what i think about American Chocolate.

**** American.
Buy Belgian.

Real Chocolate can only be found here, in the odd small country above France.

I once ate American.

I read the package, and i have to say, it was the most unhealthy stuff i have ever seen.

It didn't taste like Chocolate either.

So that's why i always eat Belgian.

It's expensive, but good.

I would like to add this:

American has fake stuff in it.
Belgian has real beans and stuff.

Also, real chocolate is about 60% beans.
American is alot below that, as far as i know

[Ahura Mazda]

It all depends on what type of chocolate you get. Industrial chocolate is simply not very good. However, I have had great artisinal chocolate in Belgium, Switzerland and France.

[Scissors]

Originally Posted by Ahura Mazda

It all depends on what type of chocolate you get. Industrial chocolate is simply not very good. However, I have had great artisinal chocolate in Belgium, Switzerland and France.

That's pretty much what i mean.

It's all in the types.

[Timstuff]

Originally Posted by Venman

Okay, allow me to say what i think about American Chocolate.

**** American.
Buy Belgian.

Real Chocolate can only be found here, in the odd small country above France.

I once ate American.

I read the package, and i have to say, it was the most unhealthy stuff i have ever seen.

It didn't taste like Chocolate either.

So that's why i always eat Belgian.

It's expensive, but good.

I would like to add this:

American has fake stuff in it.
Belgian has real beans and stuff.

Also, real chocolate is about 60% beans.
American is alot below that, as far as i know

Milk chocolate is my favorite kind (ok, laugh), and traditionally it has lower cocoa content than dark chocolate. However, I find it inexcuseable that the average commercial milk chocolate in the US now only has about 5% cocoa in it, when in Europe there are milk chocloates with as much as 40% cocoa. The pack of milk chocolate bars I just ordered is 40% cocoa, and i also ordered a 63% bar of dark. Over the next month or two, I intend to sample some of what all the major chocolate countries offer, so that's probably going to consist mainly of Germany, Belgium, and France. I'd also like to make some chocolate chip cookies using German chocolate chips, which I'm hoping will turn out very nicely.

[swifty]

you guys should try some italian imported hazelnut nutella chocolate spread by Ferrero....MMMMMMMMMMM



actually it's made here in the states but it almost tastes as good as the italian original.

it's the same cream filler for these....

[Timstuff]

I think my mom bought some of that a while back, but I didn't know what it was so I didn't have any.

[Dodger]

You guys take your chocolate seriously!

[swifty]

thanks a lot you guys, I now have a mad craving for some nutella myself.

[Scissors]

Personally i don't like Milk Chocolate, i am more of a dark Chocolate guy.

The milk Chocolate i bought here for my mother had 59%, it depends on who makes it also.

BTW.



Most loved Chocolate in our country.

[swifty]

Originally Posted by Timstuff

I think my mom bought some of that a while back, but I didn't know what it was so I didn't have any.

have some, you'll love it.

[Nathan Petrelli]

This thread has got me craving for some chocolate, I don't even like it!!

[ferret]

The best I've ever had, hands down



The moment I die I want to have a piece of their milk chocolate in my mouth, that's how good it is.

And I want to try chocolate from the states just once, it's hard to believe it's worse than that Russian thing I ate which they called chocolate, still not sure what it was...blood of puppies mixed with petroleum is my best guess.

[Clobberin' Time]

When I visited America, this...



...was the bollocks. Peanut Butter Snickers!

Wish they did these in the UK

[jokersminion]

Originally Posted by Clobberin' Time

When I visited America, this...



...was the bollocks. Peanut Butter Snickers!

Wish they did these in the UK

I live in the states and I have never seen that!

[Clobberin' Time]

These too...

[Scissors]

Originally Posted by Clobberin' Time

When I visited America, this...



...was the bollocks. Peanut Butter Snickers!

Wish they did these in the UK

That isn't Chocolate, my friend.

That is a sugarbomb.

But i cannot disagree M&M's are shakin' good!

[Shedhut]

Originally Posted by Venman

Okay, allow me to say what i think about American Chocolate.

**** American.
Buy Belgian.

Real Chocolate can only be found here, in the odd small country above France.

I once ate American.

I read the package, and i have to say, it was the most unhealthy stuff i have ever seen.

It didn't taste like Chocolate either.

So that's why i always eat Belgian.

It's expensive, but good.

I would like to add this:

American has fake stuff in it.
Belgian has real beans and stuff.

Also, real chocolate is about 60% beans.
American is alot below that, as far as i know

QFT. Swiss-made chocolate is close to yours qualitywise, i guess

[The Shadow]

I was raised on American chocolate, never known any different. So, it tastes fine to me.

[The Lizard]

Originally Posted by ferret

The best I've ever had, hands down

This ^



But as far as American chocolate, See's Candies (based in San Francisco) is pretty good stuff and proves that the US isn't totally useless in the chocolate department.

[Ahura Mazda]

I really think it is not country based but rather based on the artisan who is creating the chocolate mixture at the time. Belgians and Swiss do seem to have a headstart.

I never liked UK chocoalte because it was so sweet.

[Girl_Wonder]

Originally Posted by ferret

The best I've ever had, hands down



The moment I die I want to have a piece of their milk chocolate in my mouth, that's how good it is.
.

Amen to that!
That is probably the best chocolate ever created by man.

[Metal Spidey]

Sounds like someone hasn't been eating their Hershey's bars lately. EAT THEM!

[Logan's Runt]

Nutella is the best stuff on earth.

[Superman4ever]

Originally Posted by Logan's Runt

Nutella is the best stuff on earth.

Agreed. That and DC comics.