I know. Another 85% extra dark chocolate review. You might wonder if I ever get sick of eating and reviewing 85% dark chocolates. The answer would be NO. And this won’t be the last time you see an 85% dark chocolate review from me! Hey, I like what I like and want to share it with the world. Plus, there are sooo many high percentage chocolates to choose from these days.

This 85% bar is a Culinary Tours brand made in Belgium. It’s an inexpensive bar - I bought it for $1.99 at a local grocery store. The chocolate has a solid, rich chocolatey base of flavor notes with lots of spice. Most of the time I can detect hints of spice in a chocolate, but in this bar spicy notes jump out quickly and intensely. It melts quickly, delivering flavors of cinnamon and allspice and vanilla. The more subtle flavors are earthy, with a hint of brazil nut. There is no bitterness at the end.

What’s so special about “Belgian Chocolate”? Nothing really. If it’s made in Belgium, it’s called Belgian chocolate. That said, Belgium has a long history (going back to the mid 1600’s) of making chocolate - with “Pralines” being its most recognized style of chocolate.

Belgian pralines are soft-centered, chocolate-enrobed confections. They are different from the nut and sugar confections of the same name. The Culinary Tours chocolate bar is not a praline, it is simply a solid bar of chocolate without any “center” or filling. Still, Belgian chocolate has a reputation of being fine chocolate.

Is this bar worthy of the Belgian Chocolate reputation? Not sure. The chocolate is certainly full of flavorful terroir but it has a “mass-produced” edge to it. Overall, it’s right in the middle – I’ve had worse and I’ve had better.

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Bryn Kirk

Course Facilitator at Chocolate University Online

Bryn worked for nearly 10 years in a research and product development for Ambrosia Chocolate Company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Now she develops all of the CUO lessons and coaches the members of the Primal Chocolate Club.

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