Not long ago I found myself at the The Chocolate Show in New York, which is also held in Paris and Cairo. I decided that the Chocolate show was the perfect excuse to have a virtual tasting of sorts to compare French and American chocolate. Could American chocolate possibly hold up to the spectacular French chocolate I was partial to? I felt as if I would be biased, so I brought in two consorts, Karen and Kathryn -- hardcore Francophiles and fellow bloggers -- to help me out. Karen brought in an entire team of tasters, and we had ourselves a little chocolate party.
We tested 6 chocolates on a scale of 1-10 based on taste (most important of course), packaging, inventiveness and artistry. If you can't get to Paris anytime soon, this is the way to go.
By Doni Belau & Girls Guide to Paris
THE FRENCH
1) Michel Cluizel from Paris is a name you see a lot in the city of lights. They have been making chocolate since 1948 and they clearly know what they are doing. I gave them a 7. Great flavor, an ample line of product, but I’ve never been crazy about their packaging. That’s probably the least important area, but lets face it: when you are buying a gift of chocolate, it has to be beautiful. They've recently opened in NY.
The Bonjour Paris team felt Michel Cluizel’s chocolates were an 8 and judged them to be “really good” and unpretentious. They were among the winners. Nothing was wrong with the packaging and the product was deemed “pure melt-in-your mouth” (calories). Kathryn Reichert mentioned that she "was not optimistic about these, because I have seen them in many places in France and thought of the brand as 'mass-market chocolate.' I was so wrong: the dark chocolate was velvety, rich and thoroughly delicious. Small, individually-wrapped squares mean you can have a quick treat anytime."
2) Boissier has been making chocolate in Paris since 1827, and their packaging was the most spectacular of all those we tasted. Very girly and very classic. I bought a box of chocolate petals in a variety of colors: pink, white, green and chocolate; it was gorgeous – but since the colored petals are made of white chocolate I wasn’t a huge fan. But if you are into the white, this one is for you. I give Boissier petals a 6. The Bonjour Paris team concluded: “Ah – the Boissier Chocolate petals were seductive." The judges deemed them unusual and intriguing; they received a thumbs up and a score of 8. Kathryn said of the Boissier white chocolate petals: “They were lightly-flavored chocolates in small delicate petals. The beautiful presentation means you can enjoy several pieces and not feel like you’ve loaded up on chocolate."
Boissier added up to a 7 with a star for beauty and inventiveness. True, girly chocolates.
3) No Chewing Allowed French truffles from 1934. These were absolutely divine in a melt-in-your-mouth kind of way. A tad too large, but other than that these were my hands down winner at 9. The packaging is cute and practical – a silver tin that makes the perfect gift. But with a different take, the Bonjour Paris team told me “The truffles (no we did not chew) had a strange texture plus a bitter after-taste. Everyone wanted to be wowed by them – but weren’t.” Sigh. Perhaps they were lost in transportation scoring only 6. KR proclaimed; “No Chewing Allowed: Wow! These truffles were so rich; I ate one and almost swooned. This is chocolate overload in one bite and great, strong flavor, but it may be too much for palates used to milder American chocolate.”
Tough to figure on this one, but I guess No Chewing truffles add up to a 7 as well.
THE AMERICANS
1) Maha Chocolates from San Francisco. I sampled the dark chocolate covered roasted almonds with ginger. I ranked these an 8 although I think I would have preferred them without the ginger. They come in a cute package with a purple label and would make a lovely little hostess gift -- and at $10.95, it’s a great deal. The Paris team didn’t like them as much: “Maha Chocolate with roasted almonds had too many almonds and not enough good chocolate.” Thumbs down, scoring 3. Miss Reichert felt that Maha Chocolate from SF were strong, but not bitter, dark chocolate with nuts – almost too many nuts. She wanted more of the chocolate! But gave them points for nice presentation of several pieces in a small twine-tied bag.
Overall, we’d say Maha scores 6 for taste and higher for artistry & packaging.
2) Two Chicks with Chocolate from New York is a mother/daughter team. They were named one of the ten best chocolatiers in the USA in 2009. I tasted wine flavored chocolates, a cinnamon chocolate and peanut butter bon bon and cranberry one too. They also had pumpkin for fall. These I ranked these lowest at 5. Points for creativity, marketing and a great name but the taste was too simple for my palate. I think my daughter may like them, but for a chocolate connoisseur – I’d have to pass. . But Bonjour Paris had another take finding chocolates from the 2 Chicks the clear taste winners at 9. They were decadent according to the team of tasters. But felt that the box was not up to snuff. The brown color was boring and why did the company opt for the sticker? It looked amateurish. And different still, Kathryn scored 2 Chicks with Chocolate this way: these pieces came in a beautiful little box of four unusually good-looking pieces of chocolate with equally unusual flavor combinations, such as cinnamon and chocolate. Overall, very creamy and flavorful.
Amazing how 3 tasting teams can differ so. Adding things up we give Two Chicks a 7 with 2 (not 3) thumbs down for packaging.
3) Sweet Riot was the last American maker that I tasted. I must admit bias here because I had heard the founder Sarah speak at a recent women’s conference I was at and she is absolutely adorable. It was hard not to like her chocolate. It’s intense and very dark. She’s got bars choc full of nuts and fruit and everything is quite tasty and the company supports fair trade, so their cocoa farmers make a living wage. Conscious chocolate. There is a whole foods kind of sensibility to the product, and their marketing. No fancy looking artistry here –just serious chocolate bars or chocolate bits that they call chocolate peaces. I wasn’t a fan of the packaging as I prefer a more luxurious look – but for an everyday chocolate treat that you can carry in your purse – this fits the bill. Sweet Riot ranked a 6. Karen and her judges had nothing nice to report when it came to the chocolates from Sweet Riot rating only 2. They hated the packaging and thought the chocolates tasted as if there were too many additives.
Showing our cultural differences (Kathryn has lived mainly in the US for the past 15 years and Karen in Paris), Kathryn had this to say about Sweet Riot: "Sweet Riot Chocolate has cool, pop-culture packaging and some different combinations, including dark chocolate with raisins, which simply tasted weird to me. The dark chocolate bar with cocoa nibs was yummy, while the dark chocolate nibs with espresso were a bit too much coffee flavor."
Overall we give Sweet Riot a 5 for taste and a star for packaging -- if you like pop culture, that is.
Bottom line: American chocolate makers have come a long way. But in the end, for me
France still wins first prize.
If you really want to impress a chocoholic on Valentine's Day, consider stopping by one of these chocolate factory tours in San Francisco, New York City, Las Vegas, Hawaii, and Vermont. Most of these tours are free, plus you'll score complimentary samples -- and extra brownie points for creativity.