I have somewhat unusual preferences in chocolate:
I want it to be very smooth, and about the right shape to sit against my hard palate. If it has corners it’s difficult to refrain from chewing (though this isn’t the only factor). This means most of the standard shapes for chocolate don’t work very well: if I break a piece off a larger bar it’s going to have some sharp parts.
I don’t want it to be very sweet. I enjoy sweet chocolate, but I’d like to be eating less sugar. I would also ideally have a piece and think “that was good, but I don’t want more”, which is less my experience with sweeter chocolate.
I don’t want something fancy. So far I have managed not to develop a taste for expensive chocolate, and I’d like to stay that way if practical.
I haven’t found anything that fits these preferences very well. For example, Hershey’s Special Dark nuggets do well at being non-fancy and smooth, but they’re about twice the size I’d like (10g; 5g would be better) and they’re too sweet (~50% sugar). Looking online, two ideas that might be about right:
Guittard 74% wafers. At 26% sugar these might be too sweet? Hard to tell how big they are.
Dove Deepest Dark 82%. These are 16% sugar, which might be about right? They’re 8g each, which is a little bigger than I’d like but probably ok. Individually wrapped, which is mildly convenient but not necessary.
I haven’t tried either of these, though, and they’re a bit more expensive than I’d like (both are $0.69/oz, $11/lb). Maybe the best place to look is chocolate intended for baking? Anyone have suggestions?
Comment via: facebook
Buy callets (e.g., https://www.chocosphere.com/default/catalogsearch/result/index/?manufacturer=131&q=callets ). These may be at the high end of what you’re looking for, but you can choose a sweetness and the shape seems like what you seek.
Buy a mold, buy bulk chocolate that you like, melt and temper it. Possibly you could also make little, mouth-sized puddles of tempered chocolate instead of using a mold.
Take dark chocolate melt it and pour it in bits of the form and size you like.
This would risk messing up the temper, right? And I’d need to redo that?
Yes. Here’s a guide: https://www.facebook.com/SoChoklat/videos/1132903850118884/
If you’re doing that, you might also like to pour some on a diffraction grating.
Yes the technical details are not easy at all.
it’s not that hard so long as you have an instant-read thermometer. I have done it following instructions online and had a very good success rate. If you mess it up, it’s also possible to just re-melt and try again.
Have you tried Taza? I think their manufacturing is local to you and I remember being impressed by their dark chocolates.
Their method makes the chocolate gritty, which I don’t enjoy.
It’s also not especially mouth shaped, and kind of fancy.