Countdown Continues: Wild Ophelia The Hunger Games: Catching Fire Mined Salt And Milk Chocolate Bars!

The Good: Embodies all of the promised flavors perfectly, High quality, Does not melt easily
The Bad: Pricy.
The Basics: The Wild Ophelia The Hunger Games: Catching Fire Mined Salt And Milk Chocolate Bars are perfect. Period.


I am not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. I like when companies try to be ambitious and make flavorful foods that I might like, even when I am disappointed when they do not attain their goal. So, when a company scales back on something they might have presented ambitiously and failed at, but succeed with the scaled back version, I try to give credit where credit is due. As I have been doing daily reviews of Wild Ophelia The Hunger Games: Catching Fire candy bars (oh no, I’m about to run out!), as my own little celebration leading up to Friday’s DVD/Blu-Ray release of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (reviewed here!), I have occasionally found myself disappointed by a bar that promises a complex flavor, but does not live up on all fronts. So, it is with quite a bit of excitement and legitimate praise that I come to today’s bar, the Mined Salt And Milk Chocolate bar. Representing Katniss’s own Panem District 12 is the Mined Salt And Milk Chocolate bar. That chocolate bar tastes exactly as it is supposed to with its flavors of chocolate and salt.

The Wild Ophelia Mined Salt And Milk Chocolate Bars are my fifth experience with Wild Ophelia chocolate bars and these premium chocolate bars are pricier than many other candy bars, but on par with other premium chocolate bars and given how well these live up to their promised flavor, they are priced appropriately. The bars that represent District 12 in Panem are a flavorful blend of sweet, creamy chocolate and exciting-on-the-tongue salt!

Basics

The Wild Ophelia The Hunger Games: Catching Fire Mined Salt And Milk Chocolate Bar is a solid milk chocolate bar from Wild Ophelia. Each 2 oz. chocolate bar is wrapped in a cardboard wrapper indicating that it is from District 7. Inside the cardboard case is a thick metallic plastic wrapper (with a seam resembling a Pop Tart more than a chocolate bar). The actual chocolate bar is 4 1/2” long by 2 13/16” wide by 1/4” thick. The Bar has no identifying marks or logos on it, but it is segmented to make three 1 1/2” wide by 2 13/16” long bars. The top features ribbing that give the bar a very Art Deco look that is distinctive.

The chocolate is not at all waxy, but it is softer than other Wild Ophelia bars I have tried so far. Individually, the bars are found in the $3.99 range, which is expensive, though I found mine on clearance for $2.99. For those who like the gourmet combination of chocolate and salt, this is well worth the price (especially compared to other niche chocolates).

Ease Of Preparation

Wild Ophelia The Hunger Games: Catching Fire Mined Salt And Milk Chocolate bars are chocolate, not mining salt with one’s bare hands! Preparing them is as easy as unwrapping the candy bar. Because the chocolate is a premium chocolate product, I recommend eating this a little at a time, not just biting right into the bar.

Taste

The Mined Salt And Milk Chocolate chocolate bar smells solely of chocolate. The Mined Salt And Milk Chocolate bars smell only like the creamy, sweet chocolate they are supposed to and that prepares the consumer well for the taste experience!

The Mined Salt And Milk Chocolate chocolate bar is sweet and delightful, a perfect embodiment of milk chocolate. The smooth, sweet, milk chocolate flavor coats the tongue in a pleasant, inviting way and then cedes to the recognizable, strangely complimentary flavor of salt. The blends with the creamy sweetness of chocolate before evaporating on the tongue . . . leaving only a sweet aftertaste in its wake.

The The Hunger Games: Catching Fire Mined Salt And Milk Chocolate bar has a sweet aftertaste that endures on the tongue for about a minute after the salt flavor has dissipated and it is delightful.

Nutrition

Wild Ophelia makes their fine chocolates with quality ingredients, which is arguably why they range in price in the real world and online anywhere from $2.99 - $10/bar! With the primary ingredients being milk chocolate (41% cacao) and pink Himalayan salt, the Wild Ophelia The Hunger Games: Catching Fire Mined Salt And Milk Chocolate bars are a candy bar, not a legitimate source of nutrition needed to survive. That said, Wild Ophelia uses natural ingredients and organic ingredients where possible; none of the ingredients are unpronounceable. In a 1 ounce serving (which is unfortunate because the seams make the bar breakable into thirds, not halves!), there are 150 calories, 110 of which are from fat. This represents 19% of one’s RDA of fat (38% of the RDA of saturated fat). Each bar has 50 mg of Sodium and 2 grams of protein. There is a smattering of Calcium (2% RDA), Iron (20% RDA) and Magnesium (15% RDA), but no other vitamins and minerals. In other words, this is not a snack to try to survive on.

While the bars are all natural with no artificial ingredients and have no preservatives, they do contain soy and milk. As well, there is an allergy warning for tree nuts, peanuts, sesame seeds, milk, wheat, and soy. Obviously, with the milk, these The Hunger Games: Catching Fire bars are not Vegan-compliant, though they are Gluten-free.

Storage/Clean-Up

Because the chocolate is soft, as most milk chocolate is, the Wild Ophelia The Hunger Games: Catching Fire Mined Salt And Milk Chocolate bars are fairly susceptible to heat. These should be kept cool in order to not melt. As long as they are kept cool and dry, these bars will last almost a year (the one I picked up yesterday would have lasted until August 29, 2014, had I not consumed it already).

Clean-up is easy, so long as the chocolate does not melt. The Wild Ophelia Mined Salt And Milk Chocolate bars have wrappers that ought to be properly disposed of, but otherwise, the chocolate washes off skin and non-porous surfaces. It the chocolate melts onto fabric, consult a fabric guide.

Overall

The Wild Ophelia The Hunger Games: Catching Fire Mined Salt And Milk Chocolate Bar is an arguably unimaginative flavor of chocolate bar (but hey, District 12 is simple, dirty, and poor, so a gourmet bar would hardly make sense, right?), but Wild Ophelia perfectly nails the flavors it promises to with it, making it an unlikely perfect candy bar worth every penny!

For other Wild Ophelia The Hunger Games: Catching Fire candy bars, please check out my reviews of:
District 5 Power Crispy Crunchy Caramel Corn And Dark Chocolate Bar
District 7 Lumber Smoked Chipotle Chili And Milk Chocolate Bar
District 10 Livestock Beef Jerky & Smoked Mesquite And Milk Chocolate Bars
District 3 Technology Arabica Coffee & Crystal Salt And Dark Chocolate Bars

10/10

For more chocolate reviews, please check out my Chocolate Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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