4 Life Changing Chocolate Bars

Can chocolate change your life for the better? I'd like to think so, even if for just a tiny bit. Everyone knows or has heard about the health benefits of chocolate, old wives tales about what one is supposed to do with it, and yes, what, in some folks' opinion, what chocolate can take the place of. I've always had a really big sweet tooth and always looking for something out of the ordinary when it comes to food. What some folks are doing with the medium of chocolate these days, is mind boggling. Here are 4 favorites, in no particular order.

I'll admit, in the years since culinary school, I've become a bit of a snob when it comes to a lot of things food related. A simple Hershey bar from when I was a kid still has its place every now and again, but I'll be honest, mass produced chocolate just doesn't do much for me anymore.....unless that confectioner happens to be Germany's Ritter Confectionary.

Their dark and milk chocolates are of a decent quality for being mass produced, though the biggest draw I have found with the Ritter line, is the inordinate number of different variations on on a theme they make. I've had quite a few of them, and according to their website you can link to at the bottom of this hub, what you can get in the United States is just the tip of the flavor iceberg. Anything from simple bars of milk or dark chocolate, to bars with fillings like marzipan, cornflakes, whole butter cookies, praline, yogurt, and chocolate wafer cookies.

Because they produce in quantity, they can offer their wares at a reasonable price, anywhere from $1.75 to $2.99 for a 3.5oz square of chocolate. In an otherwise non-related piece of trivia, I always wondered why it was they called their chocolate line "Ritter Sport". After doing a little bit of digging on their website, I learned it is because the chocolate bar is designed in such a manner as to fit perfectly inside the pocket of a gentleman's sport coat. Leave it to the Germans to perfectly engineer...a candy bar. ;)

BT McElrath's entry into this list was the result of happenstance and a happy accident. I was living in Alaska at the time, and I was looking for a chocolate purveyor who was willing to send me a couple of bars of one of the other bars on this list (I won't say which one until the time is right), and when said store emailed me to tell me that they would not endanger the purity of said chocolate by *gasp!* putting it in a FedEx envelope and sending it up to Alaska, I looked around their site for find something different that they would send me. Turns out they were having a sale on these little beauties, and I jumped at the chance.

Minneapolis based BT McElrath works in artisan chocolate and nothing else. Compared to an industrial juggernaut like Ritter, McElrath has a very small yet amazing catalog of offerings to choose from. I singled out the Salty Dog, because to me it is one of those kinds of bars that falls into the "let it melt, dont chew it" category of chocolate bars. This particular flavor is packed with home made butter toffee and sea salt, enough to see the crystals of sea salt clearly on the backside of the bar. This is the kind of chocolate that encourages you to take it slow. As far as artisan chocolate goes, this is reasonably priced, $5.50 a bar from their website, and if you can't wait to try it out without waiting for it to come in the mail, you can get this bar, and all the others in his repertoire, at Whole Foods for about $6.99 a bar or thereabouts.

What can I say about Mo's Bacon Bar? Plenty, as it turns out. I was first turned on to this confection after rifling through a catalog from Zingerman's Mail Order several years ago (The same outfit that runs my foodie Mecca in Ann Arbor, The Roadhouse). Chicago-based Vosges Chocolate took their inspiration for this bar, from the experiences as a child the founder and master chocolatier of Vosges had mixing chocolate chip pancakes and bacon, and as for the name, the name comes from Mo Frechette, one of the higher ups at Zingerman's and a preacher of all things sweet, smoky, and salty. You can get this bar in either dark or milk chocolate, and features generous chunks of applewood smoked uncured bacon and just the right touch of alderwood smoked sea salt. Again, this is a bar best left to melt in the mouth, rather than chomp down on and eat quickly. Try this and you will never look at chocolate the same way again. Once only available in the Zingerman's Mail Order catalog for 10 bucks a bar, you can now find this beauty in stores such as Whole Foods for $7.99 a bar and up.

Amedei Porcelana....the name just sounds cool to begin with. What you're looking at here, is what is often referred to as the worlds most expensive chocolate variety, be it in bar or bulk form. Porcelana refers to the rare pure white cacao beans that are used to make this chocolate, which is so exclusive that each year, Tuscany-based Amedei does a single run of chocolate bars, each individually numbered for any given year of release. Such great care is taken when handling these bars, that stores that sell it, will NOT ship it anywhere, lest the bar be sullied somehow en route (makes sense now, don't it? :) ) It gets this attention to detail due to the rare nature of the beans used... and it shows in the price.

One single bar of Porcelana can set you back anywhere from 12.99 to a whopping 20.99 a bar depending on where you look for it. I managed to find one solitary bar at DeLaurenti's Italian Grocery at Pike Place Market in Seattle during my layover to Honolulu, and at $15.99 a bar I thought it a steal. At last quote, Amedei offers Porcelana by 1 pound blocks for a staggering 90 bucks a pound. Yes, it's spendy for your average bar of chocolate, but your taste buds will thank you for the experience.

So there have it, a quick primer to chocolate that will show you there's more to chocolate bars than a bar of Hershey's or a Baby Ruth. Links below if I've tempted you to the point of impulse buying!