The Trader Joe’s Black Cocoa Almonds have pretty much the same mixture as all of Trader Joe’s dark chocolate. They have some chocolate liquor and some Dutch chocolate. In this variation, they add an almond in the middle. The almond is dipped in the chocolate and dusted in chocolate powder. The result is delicious, if not super-chocolaty.
In general, Trader Joe’s dark chocolate has a very light flavor. They process it with Alkali (also called Dutch Chocolate) in order to reduce the bitterness. Unfortunately, this also reduces the deep, rich chocolaty taste. It also destroys almost all the flavonoids as well as greatly reduces the antioxidant capacity of the chocolate. So for those who use the recent health claims as an excuse to eat more dark chocolate… Dutch chocolate doesn’t count!
Here’s a view of the black cocoa almonds opened up (two of them cut in half by me):
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