Eighty-five percent

April 5 2006

Image:Eighty-five percent Despite globalization, there are always locally produced specialties to check out during my travels.  Unsurprisingly, one of my purchases last week while in Zürich was an assortment of Swiss chocolate, purchased in the basement market of the Globus department store.  One of the things that intrigued me was the dazzling array of cocoa intensity available.  I do like dark chocolate and thus, defaulting to the childhood notion that a bigger number is better, bought a bar of the Lindt Excellence 85% cacao chocolate.  Though that link is to Lindt USA, I've never seen the 85% version here.

The verdict?  Sometimes you can have too much of a good thing.  It's like eating raw cocoa powder.  The 70% version was much better.

A few weeks prior, one of my main purchases coming out of the Nordic countries was several packages of local smoked salmon.  One of my favorite bring-backs from Europe.

I'm going to Asia in two weeks, and the last stop is Kuala Lumpur.  While I'm always on the lookout for decorative Asiana, I know my last stop there will be the famous night market.

Ed Brill | Category:  Travel  Add/View Comments [24]

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  1. 1  david racicot  | 4/5/2006 4:19:26 PM

    I hope you had red wine with that :-)

  1. 2  Tim Leach  | 4/5/2006 4:43:26 PM

    I know several Americans who, when they come over to Europe, insist on filling up their suitcases with chocolate to take home with them. They're even happy with Cadbury's, which is pretty mediocre when compared to Lindt, Suchard, etc.

    Why is it so hard to buy decent chocolate in the US ? I don't want to be rude but Hersheys makes me gag. What the hell do they put in it ?

    On a separate note, is it legal to take smoked salmon into the US ?? I thought that even bringing in an apple was against the rules. You might want to be careful, Ed; US Customs may be reading !

  1. 3  Mike "5 Things Wrong with SharePoint" Drips http://forevervoyaging.blogspot.com | 4/5/2006 4:58:50 PM

    Let's cut to the chase: what was the actual U.S. Dollar price of that chocolate bar? I ask because I see those and a bunch of German bars for sale in downtown San Francisco for $6 a bar, which is about $5 more than I would be inclined to pay, even if I liked chocolate.

  1. 4  Giuseppe Grasso  | 4/5/2006 6:47:29 PM

    here in Italy they sell a 99% version:

    { Link }

    try that with red wine!

  1. 5  Ed Brill www.edbrill.com | 4/5/2006 6:47:45 PM

    @1 alas, no.

    @2 Smoked salmon is perfectly acceptable to bring into the US. That can of reindeer meat from the Helsinki airport that makes for a nice gag gift, not so much.

    @3 About US$3.50 in Zurich. I see it for about US$5 on the internet, plus shipping.

  1. 6  Stan Rogers http://stanrogers.blogspot.com | 4/5/2006 9:46:55 PM

    The true beauty of chocolate is the balance between cocoa powder and cocoa butter. The powder's got all of the wonderful drugs and flavour, but (as with almost anything else), the flavour doesn't go very far without the fat. And there's the whole "mouth feel" thing, too, along with the "cool" feel of the cocoa butter on the tongue. I find even the 75% varieties are beginning to push beyond the optimal balance into the world of numbers for numbers' sake, although the stuff is great for making a ganache. 60-70% is about right for my taste, provided that the rest is all good stuff.

  1. 7  Andrew Codrington  | 4/5/2006 10:19:34 PM

    I bought 70%, 85%, and 99% Lindt bars on the way home from Zurich once.

    We did a blind taste test with the kids so they could guess which was which.

    They all spat out the 99%!

    I enjoyed the 85%, but the 'mouth feel' of the 99% has a subtle hint of compacted topsoil blended with a tinge of shade grown coffee grounds...

  1. 8  Carl Tyler http://www.iminstant.com | 4/5/2006 11:29:52 PM

    I was always told the reason American chocolate sucks so bad is that they have to sell the same chocolate all over the states. If the mixture was the same as say Cadburys it would melt in the warmer states like Arizono.

    Supposedly Hersheys melts at a higher temperature, who knows it it's true.

  1. 9  Axel  | 4/6/2006 12:15:28 AM

    Afaik the high percentage chocolates are mainly used by people who like chocolate a lot, but want to control their weight.

    Its simply impossible to eat too much of it.

  1. 10  Darren http://www.dadams.co.uk | 4/6/2006 2:49:23 AM

    I saw the title of this blog entry as a Firefox live bookmark and thought it was going to discuss Exchange up-time figures.

    Okay, that's a cheap shot ;o)

  1. 11  Russell Loewen  | 4/6/2006 9:18:35 AM

    @2 - Whatever Cadbury's is considered to be there, its a fair shot better than what North America calls Cadbury's. That may be due to the phenomenon Carl described.

    I've been told that the Smarties bars come closest. I'd rather have a Zero bar or some icy squares...

    I have seen the 85% bar here in Canada, but since it was too strong I suppose nobody wants to know that anyhow :)

  1. 12  david racicot  | 4/6/2006 9:57:13 AM

    @9. Recent health studies are saying that you 'should' (okay the should is my take) eat chocolate and red wine everyday :-). They then say the higher the cocoa % the better. So @3 it could be worth it in the long run. @7 lol. @8 I think the cheaper chocolates add wax (like those huge ones you can get at Walmart)? I see you can get 6 for $15US ($2.50 each)on the online shopping link above. Hmmmm I wonder if there is a bulk price in the <$2 range ...

  1. 13  Roberto Boccadoro  | 4/6/2006 10:00:29 AM

    Ed - Here they also sell pure cocoa 100%. Very strange to taste...... not your usual chocolate for sure

    { Link }

  1. 14  Ben Rose http://www.lnug.org.uk | 4/6/2006 10:17:54 AM

    My interesting chocolate fact:

    Normally Cadbury's chocolate (the proper UK stuff, not the Hershey's made US rubbish) doesn't mould very well into easter eggs.

    At easter time they change the recipe of their chocolate on most of their production lines to make it work better for eggs. It contains more milk and less cocoa.

    The "easter" recipe doesn't taste as good.

    Nearly all chocolate around easter appears to be affected, not just the eggs...so the bars are bad too.

    My brother proved all this after a dinner table argument lasting, believe it or not, at least an hour! It resulted in a side by side comparison of 2 seemingly identical bars, one purchased at easter the other beforehand. There was a massive difference in taste to all people who tried it. On close examination, we saw the ingredients were specified differently.

    Moral of the story - always read the label. If it contains the "easter" recipe, maybe buy something else.

  1. 15  Evelyn Scanlan  | 4/6/2006 10:41:58 AM

    I used to work on the Cadbury's site in Bourneville doing domino stuff, the smell in the morning of warm chocolate could make you go weak at the knees.

    Regarding the 85% stuff :

    @9 Cruel but fair

    I have an 85% bar at home that has lasted about a month. The secret is not to chew, it is good for melting in the mouth only, and then it is very very good. One square every 3 or 4 days seems to enough to satiate.

    Chocolate releases more taste when it melts, so it is almost impossible to get decent chocolate if it has to survive a room temperature approaching your body heat.

  1. 16  Evelyn Scanlan  | 4/6/2006 10:43:44 AM

    And from me, thats saying something....

    { Link }

  1. 17  Marc Scheffel  | 4/6/2006 11:16:10 AM

    Finally a topic I can sink my... never mind. I've lurked here for a while and just happened to buy the 85% bar this week. Having had other bars of similar strength I was disappointed. I kept waiting for my pallete to adjust to the bitterness. I am still waiting. No balance. Well, healthfood is not supposed to taste good.

  1. 18  Kerr  | 4/6/2006 11:20:36 AM

    Montezuma's have opened a shop round the corner from work. I'm not normally a big Chocolate eater, I prefer quality over quantity, but this stuff is gooood. They put all sorts of crazy stuff if their chocolate; chilli, stem ginger, lime pickle, pepper. And they also do the biggest bars I've ever seen.

    K ;)

    { Link }

  1. 19  Charles Robinson  | 4/6/2006 11:59:51 AM

    Alton Brown, host of "Good Eats" on FoodTV, has done three shows on chocolate. The history and technical aspects are really fascinating. He goes from selecting cocao pods through roasting and creating various types of chocolate, then using it in cooking. If you're the kind of nerd who enjoys science with his food you'll enjoy his show.

  1. 20  Lyset  | 4/6/2006 3:03:09 PM

    I tasted chocolate from Max Brenner a few weeks ago.

    It's rather good, too...

    So whenever you are in Israel (Tel Aviv), you should go to their shop.

    { Link }

  1. 21  Ed Brill www.edbrill.com | 4/7/2006 2:59:05 PM

    Critical update information:

    the 85% cacao bar was CHF2.90 -- only US$2.25.

  1. 22  Ethann Castell www.caliton.com | 4/8/2006 8:33:48 PM

    I started eating that 85% chocolate last year. Very bitter but you get used to the taste after a while. Surprisingly it was often sold out at the local supermarket !

    Chocolate rated over 80% is supposed to have some impressive health properties:

    { Link }

  1. 23  jonvon http://jonvon.net | 4/12/2006 9:43:04 PM

    omg this is so funny, my wife is addicted to those things. they sell them at Publix here in FL. "85% Cocoa" is a term that is thrown about in our house now to indicate when something is wicked kewl.

    lol... i've got to send her the link to this post...

  1. 24  Paula Vaughan www.nemorensis.net/index.html | 4/13/2006 12:59:47 PM

    John certainly delighted in sharing your blog post with me. The story goes that when I was a little girl growing up in Georgia with a stereotypical salesman father who was out of town all the time, we had lots of fun using Dad's CB when he was home. Remember the 1970s when CBs were what cell phones are today? After every weekend cocktail party, we would sit in Dad's car, while parked in the driveway, and call anyone who would answer. The fun was making up our own "handle" or name. Mine was Panda Bear - I was eight. Anyway, to this day, the idea of having a "handle" is really funny to me.

    As a chocolate lover, I have found the delight of the darkest, richest bar I can find - Lindt's 85% cocoa. One bar lasts about a week or two because a little goes a LONG way. As such, looking at the label one day, I realized - Wow! What a great handle! "85% Cocoa." And so I am.