Belgian Chocolate

My name is Dori, and I'm a dark chocoholic (preferably 60% or higher). So, when my friend and former opera co-worker Jen K. brought several types of dark chocolate back from Belgium for many of us, I was thrilled. I enjoyed the 72% choc. bar she brought me, as well as everything else I tried...except for 1 of the Zaabar chocolate flavors in the 4-pack she gave to Eileen. Actually, I must be honest and say that I didn't get two of the flavors -- apparently they were SO good, they were gone before I was able to try. Bummer. On to the mint and clove flavors. You'd think you couldn't go wrong with anything that they put into the chocolate. Well, you can. From the fun packaging, you'd think it was going to be amazing. It looks just like a pack of notecards you might buy in a pre-made folder, where you open it and the cards are on the left and the envelopes on the right. In this case, you open it and there is chocolate vacuum packed on the left AND right.
It says -- in 8 languages -- that it was packed immediately after production and that this technique is the only one to guarantee the perfect food values, natural flavours and freshness of the product its lifetime. Wow, chocolate has a lifetime! I love it. The packaging box mentions that they have combined flavours of remote spices, herbs, flowers, and fruits, all with pure happiness of a rich and fine chocolate. Huh??? It also says to "open, feel, taste, and escape in the world of Zaabar."
Enough about the packaging. Back to the actual taste of the chocolate The mint flavour (might as well stick with the european spelling) was pretty good. It definitely tasted like a mint leaf in your mouth, instead of the mint flavour we are used to, such as a thin mint cookie, Junior Mints, or mint choc. chip ice cream. It was pretty good. However...when you try the clove flavour, it's quite a different feeling...I escaped into a world of unpleasant chocolate. As my friend and co-worker Sam said, "it tastes like a pack of cigarettes." Even if you are a smoker, I don't think you would enjoy it. To me, the clove flavour was like shrimp...I want to enjoy it, but I just don't. There is just something about it - with shrimp, it's the texture. With the clove-flavoured chocolate, it was really the aftertaste...which stays with you for way too long. So, if anyone would like to have the package of 8 small squares of the clove flavour, let me know and it's yours! While I'm on the topic of chocolate, I will say that godiva dark chocolate is my favorite -- and Jen K. kindly brought me some of that when she attended my gathering to watch the Oscars.
# of dishes for MINT chocolate: 3 out of 5
# of dishes for CLOVE chocolate: 1 out of 5