Very Expensive, But A Decent Chocolate With Nuts (For Those Who Do Not Like Nuts!): Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate With Almonds Chocolate Bars!

The Good: Good taste, Decent size, Generally natural ingredients
The Bad: Somewhat expensive, Not at all the most impressive flavor.
The Basics: Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate With Almonds chocolate bars are good, but not extraordinary in any way enough to justify the expense.


I have not, until now, had any experiences with Trader Joe’s. Yet, for my birthday, a friend of mine sent a three-pack of Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate With Almond Bars. The verdict after chomping down two of the three is simple: these are good. These are a good dark chocolate bar with nuts for those who do not like chocolate with nuts. Trader Joe’s chops the nuts so fine that they add a slight crispy texture to the dark chocolate, but nothing else of significance.

While that made it enjoyable to me (who is not a fan of chocolate with nuts), it seemed a bit expensive for a bar that is essentially a crispy dark chocolate bar.

Basics

Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate With Almonds chocolate bars are four inches long, two wide and made up of twelve segments that are approximately 5/8” wide by an inch long. The entire bar comes wrapped in a simple maroon paper wrapper. The 1.65 oz. bar is imported from Belgium and the three-pack for over ten dollars. This is exceptionally expensive (in my estimation) for what one gets!

Ease Of Preparation

These are candy, so preparing them is as simple as opening the wrapper from around chocolate bar, breaking off a segment and consuming. The seams between the different segments make it exceptionally easy to break the bar apart and leave the rest of it intact. There is no grand secret to eating the Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate With Almonds chocolate bar.

Taste

The Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate With Almonds chocolate smells dark, like fresh-brewed coffee. It is a distinctive, dark chocolate scent and it is appropriately inviting to fans of dark chocolate.

The Dark Chocolate With Almonds bars are dark and tastes dry and surprisingly sweet for a dark chocolate. This is strong enough to be distinctly not a milk chocolate flavor and it is dry with a dry aftertaste. As one who is not a fan of nuts, I was impressed by how little the almonds contribute. In fact, outside the crispy texture, the nuts do not contribute to the flavor.

Interestingly, the Dark Chocolate With Almonds does not have a terribly try aftertaste. Instead, the sweetness of the sugar leaves the mouth delightfully moist and satisfied.

Nutrition

These are candy, so they are not particularly healthy. Even so, the Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate With Almonds chocolate bars are not nearly as bad as they could be. The primary ingredients are cocoa mass, sugar, and almonds. There is nothing unpronounable in these candies and that was pretty reassuring.

A serving of the Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate With Almonds chocolate bar is considered a single bar. From one bar, one consumes in 250 calories, including 160 calories from the 17 grams of fat. There is no cholesterol or sodium, but each bar has 3 grams of protein. There is, surprisingly enough, 35% of one's daily iron and 2% Calcium in a bar, so that is nice.

These are not Vegan-compliant, nor are they recommended for anyone with a nut allergy as they include a lot of almonds. They are, however, (surprisingly enough) kosher.

Storage/Clean-up

The bars of Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate With Almonds chocolate remain fresh for quite some time. The ones I was gifted last week would have expired on August 8, 2013, but I beat it too it! One assumes that if they are kept in a cool, dry environment they will not melt or go bad for quite some time. Given that they are foil wrapped in a fairly sealed package, it is hard to imagine just what it would take for these to go bad outside melting and refreezing.

As for cleanup, simply throw away the paper when you are done with the candy bar. 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 this chocolate bar melts into most fabrics, it will stain.

Overall

I might not usually be a fan of almonds in chocolate or milk chocolate in general, but Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate With Almonds chocolate bars is good, if not exceptional for enjoying chocolate with nuts!

For other Chocolate reviews, please check out:
Ghirardelli Luxe Milk Almond
Coconut 3 Musketeers Bar
Lindt White Chocolate Truffles

5/10

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© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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