The Good: Good ingredients, Wonderful flavor
The Bad: Not the world's darkest chocolate
The Basics: Brookside Chocolate Mango Coconut Crisp Dark Chocolate Bars were a pleasant surprise, blending well the fruit and chocolate flavors they promise!
Lately, it seems like I discover new products most frequently when they are being clearanced at my local grocery store. It was there that I found the Brookside Chocolate Mango Coconut Crisp Dark Chocolate Bars and when we found them, my wife suggested we pick up as many as they had because it seemed like something I would like. I have had mixed experiences with chocolate bars with fruit, so I suggested we only pick up a couple.
I was wrong!
I should have picked up as many of the Brookside Chocolate Mango Coconut Crisp Dark Chocolate Bars as I could while they were locally-available. The Brookside Chocolate Mango Coconut Crisp Dark Chocolate Bars are delightful and a true blend of all of the promised flavors, which is less common than one might think with chocolate and fruit combinations.
Basics
Brookside Chocolate is an imprint from Hershey's, which seems to be one of their mid-range options. The Mango Coconut Crisp Dark Chocolate Bars are evocative of the line in that they blend chocolate and fruit.
The Mango Coconut Crisp Dark Chocolate Bars come in a 3.17 oz. chocolate bar that is foil-wrapped and inside a cardboard wrapper. Each bar represents a two servings and Brookside Chocolate bars are segmented as squares that can be broken apart to make the proper servings. The whole bar is presented as a 2 7/8” wide by 6 1/2” long segmented chocolate bars. Each segment snaps apart from the bar and is textures on the bottom and smooth on the flat top with the Brookside symbol stamped on some of the blocks. There are eight squares and a middle strip of chocolate to make up the whole bar. This makes the Mango Coconut Crisp Dark Chocolate Bars very easy to portion out to have less than a full serving, which is nice for those who might be watching their waistline!
Ease Of Preparation
Eating Brookside Chocolate Mango Coconut Crisp Dark Chocolate Bars is not a real challenge. After removing the cardboard and the foil wrapper, simply pull out the bar or break a segment off and stick it in your mouth. There is no particularly complicated equation to eating these chocolates. This is an entirely ready-to-eat food!
Taste
Unwrapping the dark chocolate bar, the smell of mango is impressive and very clear. There is a faint afterscent of coconut in the bouquet, but not even a hint of chocolate in the Dark Chocolate Mango Coconut Crisp's aroma.
The Mango Coconut Crisp Dark Chocolate Bar is sweet and dark, but not at all dry or unpleasant. The Brookside Chocolate Mango Coconut Crisp Dark Chocolate Bars have an amazing blend of fruit flavors with the chocolate. The crispy rice in the dark chocolate makes for an interesting texture and contrasts the soft, chewy mango pieces. The coconut flavor manifests as a sweet and dry aftertaste that is distinctly different from the crispy rice. The Mango Coconut Crisp Dark Chocolate bars have all of the promised flavors in perfect proportions; the mango is fruity and muted by the dark chocolate, which is sweetened by the coconut!
There is virtually no aftertaste for the Brookside Chocolate Mango Coconut Crisp Dark Chocolate Bar, which is somewhat surprising given that the chocolate is fairly dark.
Nutrition
Brookside Chocolate chocolates are intended as a dessert product, so anyone attempting to live off them is going to feel silly trying to get their fruit this way! These 3.17 oz. Dark Chocolate Bars represent a two servings and those looking for real nutrition will have to look elsewhere. Made primarily of dark chocolate, sweetened dried mangoes and crisp rice, there are no unpronounceable ingredients in this chocolate bar. They were produced on equipment that forces them to add a disclaimer about peanuts and almonds. Because they contain milk fat, they are not at all vegan compliant and are not marked as gluten free or Kosher.
Brookside Chocolate's Mango Coconut Crisp Dark Chocolate Bars have 220 calories in a half-bar serving, 110 of which are from fat. A full serving represents 45% of one's RDA of saturated fat and 1% of the RDA of cholesterol. There are 55 mg of sodium in these bars and 2 grams of protein. These are not a significant source of any vitamins or minerals, though they do have 10% of one’s daily RDA of Iron.
Storage/Cleanup
As a chocolate, Brookside Chocolate Mango Coconut Crisp Dark Chocolate Bars are fine as long as they are stored below 65 degrees Fahrenheit. The bar we picked up on clearance a month ago had an expiration date of June 2017. Given that mine is gone already, I cannot comment on how well they endure as they come closer to the expiration date.
If, however, they melt, they will stain. Consult your fabric guide if they melt as dark chocolate can be a bear to clean up when melted into light fabrics. Otherwise, cleanup is simply throwing the foil wrapper away and recycling the cardboard exterior when you are done with the chocolate bar.
Overall
Brookside Chocolate Mango Coconut Crisp Dark Chocolate Bars are very good and reasonably priced. I tend to prefer a darker chocolate in general, but the execution of the Brookside Chocolate Mango Coconut Crisp Dark Chocolate Bars makes it very hard to complain about them!
For other reviews of chocolates with fruit, please check out:
Ghirardelli Chocolate Squares Intense Dark Cherry Tango
Lindt Intense Orange Dark Chocolate Squares
ChocoMe Dark Chocolate With Ground Cocoa Beans, Freeze-Dried Sour Cherry Pieces, and Freeze-Fried Strawberry Pieces chocolate bars
8/10
For other food and drink reviews, please visit my Food And Drink Review Index Page for an organized listing!
© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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