The Good: Good bulk options, Generally decent ingredients
The Bad: Light salt flavor, Lack of distinct flavor
The Basics: The Lindt Sea Salt Lindor truffles taste like fine milk chocolate, but are thoroughly underwhelming for the promised flavor.
As Lindt continues to expand its Lindor truffle, it is getting more imaginative with its flavors. Every now and then, though, even a wonderful company like Lindt has a flavor that does not quite land. While sea salt caramels are trendy right now, the Lindt attempt with their truffles is Sea Salt. The difference is all the difference and Sea Salt Lindor Truffles are surprisingly underwhelming; mildly salting chocolate is nothing, apparently, like wrapping chocolate around dry, buttery, salty caramel.
Basics
Lindt Lindor Sea Salt truffles are one of the newest chocolate truffles from the Swiss chocolatiers Lindt & Sprungli and their U.S.-based subsidiary. Each truffle is a one inch sphere of milk chocolate with a shell about an eighth of an inch thick. This shell covers a thick brown chocolate ganache ball inside and that center ball is a softer substance than the outer coating. Each of the truffles comes individually wrapped in a dark blue foil wrapper, which is very easy to distinguish from other Lindt Lindor truffles. 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 smooth milk chocolate globe sealing in a soft creamy ball inside. Currently sold individually (at approximately $.75/ea), by the pound or in various-sized packs outside the Lindt retail stores, Sea Salt Lindor truffles are priced on par with the rest of their non-exclusive truffle flavors.
Ease of Preparation
These are candy, so preparing them is as simple as unwrapping the foil wrapper around the actual chocolate truffles. There is no special way to unwrap or eat Lindt Lindor Sea Salt truffles; it's not like harvesting one’s own salt from the Dead Sea!
Taste
Opening the wrapper from the Sea Salt truffles, one encounters what appears to be a very typical and unremarkable milk chocolate truffle. The (mostly) smooth sphere smells only of chocolate, without any hint of any other flavors from the aroma it possesses.
The Sea Salt truffle tastes like milk chocolate when it is placed on the tongue. As the chocolate melts, or is agitated by the tongue, tiny crystals of salt are exposed. The offer a slight salt flavor that cuts the overall sweetness of the chocolate, but does little else. Instead, this tastes mostly like a milk chocolate truffle with minimal embellishment. Interestingly, I could find no hint of salt in the ganache alone, so the salt seems to be in only the outer coating!
The Sea Salt flavor seems to reach its potential as an aftertaste. These truffles have a fairly strong, dry salty aftertaste that lingers in the mouth for a minute after the truffle is consumed.
Nutrition
The Sea Salt Lindt Lindor truffles are candy, so they are not intended to be a bastion of good health. Lindt Lindor truffles are made of good ingredients, which is probably why they are so expensive. The primary ingredients are milk chocolate, vegetable oil and sugar. There is nothing unpronounceable in these candies, which is something I have come to expect from Lindt.
A serving of the Lindt Lindor Sea Salt truffles is one truffle. From a single truffle, one consumes 70 calories and 6 grams of fat. There are twenty-five milligrams of Sodium, but no cholesterol in these truffles. This flavor is also devoid of any vitamins. There is, however, one gram of protein and 2% of the RDA of Calcium in each truffle.
Honestly, these are candy and anyone looking to them for actual nutrition has unrealistic expectations for them. 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 marked as kosher dairy, but are not gluten-free.
Storage/Clean-up
The Lindt Lindor Sea Salt truffles remain fresh for quite some time. However, they ought to be kept in a cool environment between 60 and 68 degrees Fahrenheit. Kept in such an environment, the truffles we bought a month ago would easily have lasted until next year, but with holiday snacking these will not.
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 clean-up, be sure to consult a fabric guide for whatever you stained.
Overall
The Lindt Sea Salt Lindor Truffles do not make a splash on the tongue and as a result, the consumer is left feeling like they have overpaid for a Milk Chocolate truffle.
For other Lindt treats, please check out my reviews of:
Lindt Strawberries & Cream Lindor Truffles
Lindt Coconut Lindor Truffles
Cappuccino Lindt Lindor Truffles
4/10
For other 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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