Endangered Species Dark Chocolate with Hazelnut Toffee 72%

3oz (85g) bar

Ingredients: Bittersweet chocolate (chocolate liquor, beet sugar, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, vanilla), hazelnut toffee (butter [cream, salt], beet sugar, roasted hazelnuts, tapioca syrup, soy lecithin)

13g sugar/43g serving (30.2& by wt.)

My favorite candies pre-sugar restriction were Sour Patch Kids and the like, super-sour chewy wads of sugar that I frequently craved and often purchased en masse from pay-by-weight mall candy stores. In the long run, though, the sugar, corn derivatives, and artificial colors and flavors were tangibly empty calories: I would scarf them mechanically until I realized I'd eaten the whole bag, and then I'd feel a bit ill. On the other hand, caramels and toffees, while not my treats of choice, actually satisfied. One or two pieces provided buttery richness and gave my teeth a workout, and I would think, “That was tasty, and I've had enough candy.” Now imagine me in my current state, deprived of creamy sweets, and you're sure to understand why I occasionally pick up Endangered Species' toffee bar. It's usually not expensive and sometimes even on sale, and it slides below my 1/3 sugar limit despite including candy as an ingredient. I appreciate that it's an option.

The inevitable downside of this bar is that it's not all that good. Don't get me wrong, it's not terrible or I'd stop buying it, but it doesn't live up to the name. The chocolate is Endangered Species' usual simple sweetness (I'm starting to wonder if using exclusively beet sugar affects the taste in some way); I keep detecting an odd cooling sensation, like a very subtle mint or menthol; and the toffee is undetectable as fragrance or flavor, its presence limited to the texture of a few small crunchy crystals. And I won't even touch on the promise of hazelnuts.

Conclusion: Endangered Species Dark Chocolate with Hazelnut Toffee 72% conforms to my restrictions and is seductively named, but to my taste it's really just another mediocre Endangered Species bar.

Endangered Species Chocolate Dark Chocolate with Deep Forest Mint 72% Cocoa

3oz (85g) bar

Ingredients: Bittersweet chocolate (chocolate liquor, beet sugar, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, vanilla), mint flavor

12g sugar/43g serving (27.9% by wt.)

For me, Green & Black’s 85% is intense, perhaps too much in large doses but also loyal and worth returning to again and again. In that context I’ve found the Endangered Species bars to be affable filler: appealing at first glance, easy to keep around, a pleasant diversion, but never delivering more than expected--and sometimes less. To their credit they are available all over the place and at a reasonable price point (often on sale), come in several strengths and flavors that fit my requirements, and taste good enough. I often buy two or three at a time and keep them around for when I want to choose from a variety of flavored bars. Where they fall short is simply that there’s better out there: more interesting, more vivid, more whatever.

The mint flavored bar is a typical example. It’s sweet but not saccharine, a bit chalky, with a mild but not faded chocolatey-ness. There’s only a hint of mint, barely enough to cool your breath. I’m not saying a bar should wallop you over the head with its mix-ins--if you’ve read my other posts you know I’m sensitive to balance (albeit based on my personal tastes)—but there’s something to be said for having a mint bar taste of mint, you know?

Still, it’s perfectly fine, and I think sometimes it’s okay to pass on the challenging and passionate and fill out your dance card with the ready and amiable.

Conclusion: Endangered Species Dark Chocolate with Mint 72% Cocoa is over-mild, but it will do.