The Good: Amazing taste, Great bulking, Generally decent ingredients
The Bad: Still pricey
The Basics: A delicious Lindt Lindor Truffle, the 60% Cocoa Extra Dark Chocolate truffle is a great value in the 120 count box and is a great idea for parties.
When I finished reviewing all of the Jelly Belly jelly beans, I felt I was allowed to turn my attentions toward the other yummy treats I had around the house. In this case, Lindt Lindor Truffles. The Lindt Lindor Truffles are a great example of how stocking up by buying online can truly save one money as these are ridiculously expensive at the Lindt store at the nearby mall and/or through outlets like Borders Books. As I continue my reviews of Lindt chocolates, I am excited to review the biggest possible bulking of the Extra Dark Chocolate 60% Cocoa truffles.
These might be one of the best chocolates to ever exist and it is hard to come up with criticisms for this package, which is why I seem to be veering toward not complaining about anything about them! The recent trend toward darker chocolates is one which Lindt seems to be embracing quite happily and the 60% Cocoa Extra Dark Chocolate Truffle remains their darkest truffle in the Lindt Lindor line. Anyone who truly loves rich, dark chocolate will find these satisfying and it might be the best truffle Lindt makes . . . at least until they try to impress their dark chocolate fans with a 90% Super Extra Dark Chocolate Truffle*!
Basics
Lindt Lindor 60% Cocoa Extra Dark Chocolate truffles are one of the standard ten chocolate truffles from the Swiss chocolatiers Lindt & Sprungli and their U.S.-based subsidiary. Each truffle is a one inch sphere of chocolate with a shell about an eighth of an inch thick. This shell covers a thick chocolate ball inside and that center ball is a lighter chocolate than the outer coating. Each of the truffles comes individually wrapped in a black foil wrapper. While I usually rail against the environmental impact of individually-wrapped candies, it is hard to imagine Lindt Lindor truffles not wrapped. This keeps each one clean, unmelted and intact.
Each Lindor Truffle is a sphere with a seam at the hemisphere that is essentially a chocolate globe sealing in a near-solid chocolate ball inside. In this form, the 120 count box, the individually-wrapped truffles are packaged together in a thin cardboard box. This size has one hundred twenty truffles, which lowers their overall cost to about thirty cents each. While this might still seem a little pricey to some, it is a decent price for chocolates of this quality.
Ease of Preparation
These are candy, so preparing them is as simple as opening the box and then opening one of the plastic wrappers around the actual chocolate truffles one wishes to eat. There is no special way to unwrap or eat Lindt Lindor 60% Cocoa Extra Dark Chocolate truffles, though unwrapping the truffles before eating them is highly recommended.
Taste
There is a faint scent to these Lindt Lindor Truffles, which is exactly what I would expect from a 60% Cocoa chocolate product. What surprised me more was the fact that the outside chocolate was not as physically dark as some of the other Lindt products I have tried. Even so, the shell has a dry, dark chocolate aroma and it is quite inviting.
In the tongue, the 60% Cocoa Extra Dark Chocolate truffle does not melt so much as it cracks open on the tongue. The outer coating is dry and cocoa flavored, but not unpleasantly so. As the consumer pushes their tongue through the melting chocolate, the flavor becomes more milky. The center is a smooth, milk chocolate which eliminates the dry dark chocolate taste after a few seconds. This is enough to satisfy anyone who likes something that is definitively chocolate flavored; it is not as weak as milk chocolate and nowhere near as abrasive to the tongue as pure dark chocolate.
Nutrition
Well, these are candy, so it is tough to look at these for something nutritious and then blame them for not being healthy. Lindt Lindor truffles are surprisingly good, though, which is probably why they are so expensive. The primary ingredients are bittersweet chocolate, vegetable oil and sugar. There is nothing unpronounable in these candies.
A serving of the Lindt Lindor 60% Cocoa Extra Dark Chocolate truffles is considered three balls. From three truffles, one consumes 210 calories, most of those calories being from fat. There are less than five milligrams of cholesterol, no sodium, nor any vitamins in these truffles. There is, however, 4% of one's daily iron and 2% of their daily calcium in three spheres, so it is not like these will just leave your taste buds satisfied without giving anything to your body.
Honestly, these are candy and anyone looking to them for actual nutrition needs to get a reality check. These are not Vegan-compliant, nor are they recommended for anyone with a nut allergy as they are produced on the same equipment that peanuts (and tree nuts) pass over. They are, not marked as kosher, nor gluten-free.
Storage/Clean-up
The box of these Lindt Lindor 60% Cocoa Extra Dark Chocolate truffles remain fresh for quite some time. However, even the box notes they ought to be kept in a cool environment between 60 and 68 degrees Fahrenheit. Kept in such an environment, these will remain fresh until December 31, 2010 and that makes the bulking of the truffles a great value. Given that they are individually wrapped, it is hard to imagine just what it would take for these to go bad outside melting and refreezing.
As for cleanup, throw the wrappers in the garbage! Outside that, there is no real cleanup needed, unless one is eating them in a hot environment. In that case, it is likely one would need to wash their hands. If these truffles melt into most fabrics, they will stain. For that style of cleanup, be sure to consult a fabric guide for whatever you stained.
Overall
Arguably one of the best chocolates Lindt makes in their truffle line and a wonderful treat for an adult palate, the 60% Cocoa Extra Dark truffle is the Lindt Lindor Truffle worth stocking up on!
For other Lindt Lindor Truffles, please check out my reviews of:
Peanut Butter truffles
Mint truffles
Stracciatella truffles
* Note: This item currently only exists as a fantasy in the mind of W.L. Swarts; it is not a real product. Yet.
10/10
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© 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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