Monday, 2 February 2015

Lindt Excellence Caramelized Pistachio with a Touch of Salt

I expected much from this chocolate: dark chocolate with caramelized pistachios and salt! I may have mentioned before that one of my all-time favourites was Marabou's caramelized almond & sea salt that, sadly, doesn't seem to exist anymore. I hoped that this one, although a darker chocolate, might be a suitable substitute.

The wrapping is pretty, although not extraordinary. The chocolate squares, as in the other Lindt Excellence bars I've tasted, are rather thin but of a nice, generous size.

The scent is rich and chocolaty but lacks any particular characteristics, or at least I seem to be unable to distinguish them.

The cocoa content here is only 47 % which isn't very much, considering that the wrapping claims to contain dark chocolate. Whether that's a bad thing is up to everyone's personal taste – I happen to like both dark and milk chocolate and enjoy this sort of “middle ground” just as well, so I won't complain. The chocolate is rich and smooth, with something that crunches in my teeth. These additions have a great texture – they're crispy but not so hard that you fear for your teeth (in some chocolates, additions, and especially caramelized ones, tend to be terrifyingly hard). However, I can't quite define their flavour. I would probably have guessed that they were some sort of nuts, had I not known them to be pistachios. Neither the caramel nor the salt is easily detectable. They are there, but one has to concentrate to find the flavours. This is probably good if you don't like the sweet and salty combination, but that was the very thing I was hoping to find here.

In short, this did not live up to my expectations, but I'll admit those expectations were rather high. It's still a very nice chocolate, though!

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