Vosges Haut Chocolat Chocolate Bar Review

Dear readers,

I first discovered Vosges Haut Chocolat when I came across Mo's Dark Bacon Bar in a local supermarket in Davis, California. At work, I have been co-writing an article about innovative new confectionery products for Kennedy's Confection Magazine each month. During my searches I came across Vosges again and I have fallen in love! Some of their bars sounded really interesting and unusual and nothing like I had tried before.

I decided that I had to try some of them. I checked the cost of international shipping and was quite shocked to find that it was $75! When I used to live in California and posted things to friends at home it cost around $20. I have a friend who lives in Los Angeles so I asked him if he could do me a huge favour by going to a Vosges Haut Chocolat store in Beverly Hills, buying me some of these incredible bars and posting them to me and reimburse him. He happily accepted this assignment and, through the power of today's technology, he included me in the shopping experience by sending various images of the inside the store. We also exchanged a few phone calls through Viber.

There was an offer of 6 bars for the price of 5, so he bought the Effie and Katniss bars from their "Hunger Games Catching Fire" collection and the Matcha Green Tea, Reishi Mushroom & Walnut, Açai & Goldenberry, and Coconut Ash & Banana bars from their "Super Dark" collection. This came to a total of $37.50 which was expensive but I felt that it was worth it. He posted them and told me that it cost a whopping $52.50! I was shocked but it was too late to go back by then. I transferred the money - $90 for six 85g chocolate bars! This was painful, but I managed to justify it to myself because I have been lucky enough to receive many free chocolate samples throughout my career.

 The Effie Bar

Of course, the Effie Trinket bar had to contain pink and purple! I was a little unsure about combining dark chocolate with the subtle flavours of strawberry and violet but it works surprisingly well and the dark chocolate does not overpower the other flavours. There are subtle hints of both as one chews through the delicious dark chocolate. Effie would be proud! I would say, however, that the packaging could be a little more exciting and include a photo or, even better, an illustration of the character.

 

The Katniss Bar

This is the one that I was most excited about and I was not disappointed! The creaminess of the milk chocolate was a perfect match for the salty and smoky chunks of bacon. It was great to have something to chew on rather than just have the flavour running through the chocolate. I love the idea of putting pork and apple in a chocolate bar – I’m sure that wild turkey, squirrel or rabbit wouldn’t have gone down as well (for those of you who haven't read the Hunger Games, Katniss frequently hunted these animals)! Like every form of dried apple which I have tried in my experience, it softened and got a little stuck in the teeth on consumption. I assume that this is unavoidable, however, I would prefer more apple flavour in the bar as it was minimal. Again, I think that the packaging could be more exciting with an illustration of Katniss on the front rather than one block of colour.

 The Super Dark Matcha Green Tea, Spirulina and Cocoa Nib Bar

Although I’m not the greatest fan of green tea, Vosges have really hit the nail on the head with this bar. The balance of green tea flavour with the dark chocolate works really well and the bar is enhanced by a crunchy texture from the cacao nibs. Spirulina isn’t particularly tasty, so it’s great that I can’t detect this flavour in the bar (I think that the main reason for its presence is for the “super food” properties). I think the packaging is stunning!

The Super Dark Reishi Mushroom and Walnut Bar 

I was really excited to try this one, too. I love the idea of mixing savoury with sweet. I tried a cocktail with truffle flavour recently and adored it! I was really looking forward to tasting mushroom with chocolate but, to my disappointment, I couldn’t detect any mushroom flavour at all. I admit that I wasn’t entirely sure what to look for with the Reishi mushroom flavour. I could sense a subtle savoury note, but, ultimately, all I could taste was the dark chocolate with some walnut notes. Nonetheless, the bar was delicious. The dark chocolate was very smooth and flavoursome and the walnuts gave a wonderful nutty and earthy flavour and texture. If it were just a “walnut and dark chocolate bar”, I’d give it 10 out of 10, but it isn’t. I would deduct 3 for the total lack of mushroom flavour. I do like the packaging but I would prefer some walnuts on there, too.

The Super Dark Coconut Ash and Banana Bar 

Since the packaging states "Sri Lankan coconut" as well as "charcoal coconut ash" and has images of coconut pieces as well as ash, one would assume that this bar contained coconut. Upon trying the bar, banana was all I could taste with the dark chocolate. I checked the ingredients list and it read coconut ash and no other form of coconut. I think that, although I find the packaging very artistic and eye-catching, it is also a little deceiving. Like the spirulina, I think that the coconut ash is there purely for the "super food" properties. I did enjoy the subtle, natural banana flavour in this bar, but I would have preferred a little coconut flavour and texture.

The Super Dark Açai and Goldenberry Bar

I admit that I’m not familiar with the flavour of açai but I expected it to be quite tart, like the physalis. I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed the acidity of the fruits with the bitter dark chocolate. The flavours work really well together and give the bar a refreshing zing, different from that of citrus. I think that the packaging is very attractive along with the rest of the collection.

 I'm fascinated by many of the products from Vosges and wish that I could try them all. I hope that they expand their business to the UK at some point. I have added these bars to my mini "Chocolate Library" which I keep in a shoebox. I look forward to expanding my collection as I discover more exciting chocolate bars!

Wasabi and White Chocolate Cheesecake; an experiment!

I absolutely love all foods with pungence (also known as piquance, spiciness, hotness or raciness). Capsaicin in chillis, piperine in peppercorns, gingerol in ginger, allicin in garlic and allyl isothiocyanates in mustard, horseradish and wasabi.

I have been dreaming about this glorious combination for quite some time. I wanted to make this an unbaked cheesecake, and as I have stated before, I deteste gelatine in cheesecakes. I eventually got around to making it and adapted a recipe that one of my friends created during her GCSE Food Technology, many years ago. This recipe uses chocolate, cream cheese, condensed milk, cream and wasabi. For the base, I decided to use digestives and they are quite plain. The wanted the main flavour of the cheesecake to come from the cheesecake body and didn't want the base to take over (unlike my Speculoos and lemon cheesecake).

Once I had mixed the chocolate, cheese, condensed milk and cream together, I added the wasabi slowly by half teaspoonfuls, because a drop I had tasted before rapidly cleared my sinuses! Many teaspoonfuls later, I realised that it needed a lot more than I had anticipated. I then started adding the wasabi by long squeezes and the mix surprisingly needed almost half a tube to achieve the heat and taste I desired!

Unfortunately (and also unsurprisingly) the cheesecakes did not set. My friend's cheesecake mixture without the wasabi did set, so my guesses are that the wasabi interfered in the setting process, I have used slightly different ingredients to her, or I whipped the cream for too long (this last guess is most likely as I added the wasabi very slowly and mixed thoroughly between each dose!).

I made these into individual cheesecakes in ramekins. I tried to cut into a cheesecake and it literally resealed within seconds. I decided the best thing to do would be to turn them into a frozen cheesecakes. So they could almost be... ice cream cakes?!

Frozen wasabi and white chocolate cheesecake dusted with matcha

After the cheesecakes had frozen, I let them soften up a little and dusted them with some matcha - to extend the Japanese theme.

The wasabi flavour somehow tasted stronger than it did when it was in the mix, yet the intensity of the heat didn't follow the strength of the flavour. This could have been due to the temperature of the cheesecake when eating it (below zero), as no volatiles would have disappeared during the cooking as it was unbaked! My mum claims she's "unsure" about cheesecake, however, she ate it all up. I agree that the wasabi flavour was particularly bitter and that there was a slight cabbagey aftertaste. I think that another flavour needs to be present in order to take the edge off the bitterness such as lime. It would be best served in miniature portions for those with an acquired taste.

This was an experiment so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I have learnt that I should follow a different recipe for an unbaked cheesecake (or just use my baked one!) and to perhaps use less wasabi next time, or make the cheesecakes bite-sized!