Chuao Chocolate Bar: Firecracker

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While I was debating on the bike I was going to buy I spent some time walking around Wally World and wound up in the food aisle.  Of course, the best way to celebrate getting a new bike and starting on your new-found path to fitness is to buy yourself some chocolate.  And that's when I stumbled upon Chuao.



Walmart had 3 different chocolate bars and the packaging looked impressive:  a matte blue foil wrapper with silhouette cocoa pods.  It said "try this chocolate" to me...so I did.  But which one?

I settled on the oddest one I could find:  Firecracker.

As you can tell by the name, it's got something do to with pepper.  And so it does.  "Dark chocolate bar with chipotle, salt and popping candy".

Yeah...chocolate, salt and pepper and Pop Rocks (though not the official Pop Rocks).  Sounded way too gimmicky...which of course meant that I had to try it.

 

First off, the bar is not scored in the traditional way; it's instead molded on the front with the same cocoa bean silhouettes as on the package, so breaking off "a square" ain't gonna happen, but you can a decent "square"

So, I broke off a piece.  Already, I'm impressed.  Cheaper chocolate sometimes bends, but this stuff breaks quickly and cleanly.  Try remembering how your last Hershey bar bent in your hand and you'll probably get what I mean.

I popped the piece into my mouth.  Again, impressive.  Clean, smooth melt in your mouth chocolate (although there was a slight waxy feeling for literally the first 1/2 second, just before it started to melt).  Not gritty...good (to use the proper term) "mouth feel".

The taste?  I'm not a big fan of dark chocolate, but this stuff could get me hooked.  Deep, very satisfying.

It doesn't take long for the pepper to kick in.  Give it about 3 seconds before you start to feel a decent burn.  It never reaches fire-extinguisher/clear-your-sinuses level, just enough to enhance the chocolate as well as give you the added taste of the peppers.

The salt?  Never tasted it.  It's like they forgot about it when they made the bar I got.  I wanted to taste the salt, but the flavor just never got there as much as I wanted (or it was overwhelmed, but I doubt it).

The pop rocks?  Just fun...nothing seriously being added here.  If anything it perhaps enhanced the flavor of the pepper and chocolate from the CO2 aerating the chocolate in my mouth.

Th feeling afterward?  No grit, no waxy build-up.  Just a clean, tasty light cocoa feel in my mouth.  A very slight pepper feel remained as well.

In all, this stuff is good.  So I don't get why Walmart is selling it.  But I have seen some more quality foodstuffs appear on their shelves, so maybe this is a decent sign.

Chuao makes different bars and you can see all they offer on their website.  The coffee and anise one may be my next one to try.