Tag Archives: chili

Chocolate pairs well with cherries and with chilies, but it’s a growing trend to mix all three together. For instance, Lindt does a cherry & chili bar. It’s not bad, but it’s definitely for a sweeter palate than mine. ChocoLove’s chilies & cherries bar is an interesting addition to the market.

ChocoLove puts a spin on the trend by using chipotle and ancho chilies, providing heat and smokiness. The dried cherries are nice and tart, and while I don’t usually like stuff in my chocolate, the experience of melty chocolate and chewy cherry is actually kind of fun. This bar starts with tart cherry and dark chocolate, mellows to smokiness, and finishes with warm heat at the back of your throat.

I’ll admit that I wasn’t blown away by it on first try. The smokiness is a bit too smoky for my liking. It almost tastes a little bit bitter, like the chilies were roasted longer than they should have been. Having said that, it’s an interesting take on a flavour combination that we’ll probably see a lot more of.

ChocoLove is available here (mostly in the US, but some online sources probably ship to Canada) or you can buy directly from them online.

Finally, in a cute twist, some of the chocolate bars come with love poems on the inside of the wrapper. Mine came with George Wither’s Sonnet Upon a Stolen Kiss:

Now gentle sleep hath closed up those eyes
Which, waking, kept my boldest thoughts in awe;
And free access unto that sweet lip lies,
From whence I long the rosy breath to draw.
Methinks no wrong it were, if I should steal
From those two melting rubies one poor kiss;
None sees the theft that would the theft reveal,
Nor rob I her of aught what she can miss:
Nay, should I twenty kisses take away,
Why then should I this robbery delay?
O, she may wake, and therewith angry grow!
Well, if she do, I’ll back restore that one,
And twenty hundred thousand more for loan.