Fruit and Dark Chocolate Bars from Alter Eco

I was sent two types of Alter Eco's Blackout line of bars to try. Since we are talking about higher levels of cacao, I split them into two groups. Our first report on this line includes four varieties of their 85% bars – Raspberry, Orange, Almond, and Classic. I was sent free bars in exchange for honestly sharing my experiences with them today; no other form of compensation was received.

For the testing, I made sure to have water on hand because at this level of cacao content, it will dry your mouth out. I also took the testing slower than my normal pace to give my taste buds time to recover because I know this will be intense.

I started with the Classic Blackout bar. I took all my photos for this post at the same time under the same conditions and then used the exact same brilliance point in editing so you can see the bars better but also compare there. I think the Classic Blackout is darker in color than the other three bars we're looking at today. This makes a loud snap when I break the sections apart for testing. Oddly, biting into a section did not make a sound. The scent is so intense that I would guess this was cocoa powder and not chocolate. It takes a bit for the flavor to build up after the first 1/4 of the section is consumed via chewing. It is less bitter than I thought it would be, but I'm in no hurry to try the next test given what I know from years of using this method. I bite off another 1/4 of a section and let it melt in my mouth. It takes only seconds for the flavor to hit me and then is builds up quickly to a deep bitter level that really kicks off the cocoa buzz for me which makes my sinuses open and my pupils dilate. I am so lucky to be able to enjoy the cocoa buzz! The level of bitterness changes about a minute and a half of letting it melt and the chocolate starts to take on a sweet edge that increases with each passing second. I was not expecting that! I can't say which way of eating that I liked best, but I want to try melting it into oatmeal to see how that works.

Next I went with the Almond Blackout because while nuts do affect a product they should not change the basic flavor of the chocolate. As you can see in the photo, on the back of the bar there is evidence of long slivers of almonds. These sections make a softer sound when I break off a section but a louder when I take a bite. At first, the chocolate is balanced well by the almonds. Then the bitterness builds up nearly covering up the nuts until the final couple of chew when the chocolate has melted and only bits of the almonds remain. Letting a piece melt in my mouth allows the chocolate to dominant from the start and that bitterness turns sweet sooner this time. Doing this allows me to feel the slivers better and I discover they are not as long as they appeared in the chocolate and they have a bit of salt which I didn't get by chewing. Again, I'm torn between which method of consuming this that I prefer because they each have positives and negatives. If you don't like truly darker chocolate, I recommend letting this one melt.

I had our raspberry lover among the chocolate acolytes (trained volunteer tasters) work with the Raspberry Blackout bar. Here's what our tester reported: From the top, the bar looks like many other Alter Eco products – dark chocolate scored into rectangles with their logo stamped on them. But from beneath it is clear that there are pieces of fruit within the chocolate; the bottom of the bar is rough,and some of the bits show through. That is the dried raspberries listed in the ingredients. It snaps cleanly, with a sharp sound, but doesn't necessarily follow the scored lines. There's a bit of chocolate scent, but no raspberry scent to it. In the mouth there is at first no flavor at all, until it begins to melt, and then the dark chocolate comes strongly. Raspberry flavor is present, but as a note within the chocolate. The fruit bits add texture to the chocolate, but they do not dissolve; they must be chewed, releasing more raspberry flavor when they are.

Finally, I tried the Orange Blackout that is made with candied orange peel so I expected it to be sweet. Hopefully you can make out the small light colored spots on the bar which are visible on the front not the back as with the previous bars. What you can't see is that these spots were sticky in some places which makes perfect sense if you have ever had candied orange peel. That stickiness makes breaking off a section a messy affair, but each pieces makes a wonderful loud snap when I do so. I start with a bias toward this bar because I love dark chocolate coated candied orange peel, but this will be the darkest one I've tried yet.  The orange scent is strong when I unwrap this bar and it gets more fragrant when I snap off sections. Like the Classic bar, this doesn't make much sound when I take a bite. I get slightly sour orange flavor, not sweet like I was expecting, which stands up with each chew to the intense chocolate. I wonder if the sweet combined with the 85% cacao is what I'm perceiving as sour. When I let a bite just melt in my mouth, the sweetness comes out and fights the bitterness until I'm left with the candied peel that is still sweet. If you wondering why Alter Eco would candy the orange peel and not just include it, that is probably because while the peel is edible, it tends to be bitter and doubling down on bitterness in dark chocolate is not going popular for most people.

Of the four bars, I prefered the Orange Blackout, but I liked them all because I was pleasantly surprised by the smoothness and sometimes sweetness of these blackout bars. For their flavor and ingredients, these earn Sacrament status!