Intriguing… Right off the bat I notice that the 72% is actually darker in color than the 86%. It’s a subtle distinction, but you can tell when you place a square from each side-by-side. Turning to the ingredients I see that the 86% one includes milk fat, but not the 72%.
So how do they taste?
86% Intense Dark
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The 86 percenter reminded me of baker’s chocolate. A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, I tried to diet. I thought that maybe I’d eat baker’s chocolate instead of regular chocolate — that way I’d still get my chocolate fix while avoiding all the empty sugar calories. It took one bite for me to realize what was wrong with my plan. I tried very hard to get used to the baker’s chocolate bricks, but something about sugar brings out the chocolaty-ness like salt brings out the flavor in food.
…and thus it is with the 86% Ghiradelli dark chocolate bar. The bar is edible, but rather flat and very bitter tasting. Oddly, it is not low in calories! So if you really want chocolate with minimal calories, best to skip this and head straight to the baker’s chocolates.
72% Intense Dark
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…much better! Still high in bitterness, but a substantial portion of the flavor has been restored. Even after I put it away and then pulled it out a few days later to eat by itself I still enjoyed this chocolate bar. A bit juicy tasting, pleasantly bitter, and deep chocolate flavor.
