Leysieffer Les Extra Fins Bittersweet (Edelbitter)

100g bar

Ingredients: Cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, vanilla

Corporate Info: (Copied from 6/9/12; see that post for more) Leysieffer was founded in 1909 and began making chocolate truffles in 1936. The company is still family-operated, but it now includes 19 confectionary shops throughout Germany as well as a half dozen “bistros” serving cake and whatnot. And if you're really curious, you can order its products online.

Today's Bar: In addition to all the flavored bars (and other products), Leysieffer does have an assortment of plain chocolate in various cacao percentages and origins. Today's Les Extra Fins Bittersweet is a fairly plain choice: It's not single origin and, at 61% cacao, it's only slightly darker than the 55% base of its semisweet flavored bars, which I thought might make for an interesting comparison.

Appearance: A rich, reddish brown not much different from the 55%, though I do think it has more red-orange in it. It's actually a rather lovely color.

Smell: Warm, beany but with rounded edges, nothing sharp there. Comfortable.

Taste: Texture is waxy, smooth, just a tiny bit chalky. Flavor is indeed deeper than the 55%, though the sweetness hits me first, which isn't my favorite experience in general. However, once the chocolateyness catches up, it's quite nice in an accessible way, like a bittersweet chocolate chip: a touch sour, enough bitter to taste like real chocolate, nowhere near raw but still within sight of the tree—as opposed to, say, those super-smooth, creamy chocolates that taste like they sprang up on their own in a Parisian chocolaterie. This isn't anything special, but it might satisfy some people's everyday cravings.

Conclusion: Leysieffer Les Extra Fins Bittersweet (Edelbitter) fits the label of bittersweet chocolate.

Leysieffer Berry (Beeren)

100g bar

Ingredients: Sugar, cocoa mass, dried berries (cranberries, sour cherries, blueberries), cocoa butter, soy lecithin

Corporate Info: (Copied from 6/9/12; see that post for more) Leysieffer was founded in 1909 and began making chocolate truffles in 1936. The company is still family-operated, but it now includes 19 confectionary shops throughout Germany as well as a half dozen “bistros” serving cake and whatnot. And if you're really curious, you can order its products online.

Today's Bar: Berry. Ordinarily I wouldn't have selected this from Leysieffer's more intriguing choices, because we in the U.S. see so many “mixed berry” drinks, yogurts, candies, and so on. The difference is that this bar isn't our lovely but common strawberry-raspberry-blackberry; instead, it's blueberry, which is popular here but not in chocolate; cranberry, which we mostly associate with Thanksgiving and plain “craisins”; and sour cherries, which we usually see only in pies but are very common in German jams and desserts. That hit my “novelty” button, so I went with it.

Appearance: Unlike the other Leysieffer bars I brought home, this one has large, irregular chunks visible under the chocolate on the back and revealed in cross-section.

Smell: Basically just plain chocolate, which makes sense given that the berries are intact.

Taste: Flavor is sweet chocolate plus sweet, just slightly tart berries, and texture is Leysieffer's smooth, slightly waxy base with chewy, moist chunks of whole berry; individual bites are likely to be mostly chocolate with a little fruit for additional texture and flavor. As I've said before, I think Leysieffer's 55% cacao base is a fairly ideal match for more ethereal flavors like elderflower and lavender, but here it doesn't work for me, and there's a lot of it. The dominant, sweet chocolate and rather sweet berries prevent me from appreciating the three particular fruits included here, reminding me of why I love Green & Black's cherry bar, with its darker chocolate and plentiful, sweet-sour fruit. I'd like more fruit here, but mostly this is an issue of what the eater considers “balanced”: For me, the sugar here is getting in the way of the rest of the experience, though for others it may be exactly right, making this a satisfying bar they want to return to again and again. So it goes.

Cranberry + sour cherry + blueberry + chocolate conclusion: Inconclusive, since I couldn't get past the sweetness to really appreciate the fruit.

Leysieffer Sloe (Schlehe)

100g bar

Ingredients: Sugar, cocoa mass, cocoa butter, sloe extract, soy lecithin

Corporate Info: (Copied from 6/9/12; see that post for more) Leysieffer was founded in 1909 and began making chocolate truffles in 1936. The company is still family-operated, but it now includes 19 confectionary shops throughout Germany as well as a half dozen “bistros” serving cake and whatnot. And if you're really curious, you can order its products online.

Today's Bar: Sloe...? Before I did a little research, I knew basically nothing about sloe except for the vaguely familiar phrase “sloe gin.” Sloe, a.k.a. blackthorn, is a small tree/big shrub in the stone fruit family, and the “berries” it produces are kind of like tiny, bitter plums. You wouldn't eat sloe off the tree, but it's good for jams or to infuse liquor, that sort of thing. I didn't notice much sloe in Germany, but the plant is native to Northern Europe (among other places), whereas in North America it's nonnative and appears to be grown mainly only in the very Northeastern U.S, so it should be less surprising to find it there than here.

Appearance: Leysieffer's usual, because this is just flavored with extract.

Smell: Here's where it gets interesting! The aroma of mild chocolate is well-melded with something fragrantly fruity, sticky-moist, like a dark honey or dried-but-not-too-dried plums and cherries, the sort you bite into and find syrupy sweetness inside.

Taste: This works so well with the mild chocolate that it doesn't taste like an additive to me so much as a whole different kind of chocolate, as though these particular cocoa beans were rich and darkly fruity instead of the usual tart and bitter. Or you can think of it like many flavored truffle centers, with their orange or rum or strawberry balsamic subtle yet thoroughly incorporated. I'm having trouble describing the sloe, since it tastes rather familiar...I'm not sure why...but isn't quite like anything else, just sweet and juicy and deep, and lingering for quite a while after I finish.

Sloe + chocolate conclusion: In Leysieffer's mild base, sloe's deep, honeyed sweetness makes for a perfectly rich, mellow bar.

Leysieffer Poppy Seed (Mohn)

100g bar

Ingredients: Sugar, cocoa mass, cocoa butter, poppy seed, soy lecithin

Corporate Info: (Copied from 6/9/12; see that post for more) Leysieffer was founded in 1909 and began making chocolate truffles in 1936. The company is still family-operated, but it now includes 19 confectionary shops throughout Germany as well as a half dozen “bistros” serving cake and whatnot. And if you're really curious, you can order its products online.

Today's Bar: Chocolate and poppy seeds! I noticed more poppy seed in Germany than here in the US. We're not talking on pizza or anything, but anyone familiar with hamentaschen has tried poppy seed in desserts of German origin, and I saw them in the odd pastry or bagged for sale with other nuts and seeds. I don't know if Leysieffer has included them whole or ground or what, but I guess I'll find out.

Appearance: On the outside, this looks like any other Leysieffer bar, but a cross section shows tiny white flecks. I think of poppy seeds as black, so either these are magically different or it's what you get when you break one. How about that.

Smell: I think just chocolate? If there's something more there, it's not obvious to me.

Taste: Man, I don't know. It mostly just tastes like chocolate, but with a slightly gritty (not sand-like, something softer) texture. These poppy seeds are either ground/broken up or really easy to chew, leaving little bits hanging around in your mouth as an aftertaste of sorts. Not sure about any particular flavor, though my sometimes co-taster claims it “tastes like poppy seed.” “What does that mean?” [Long pause.] “I don't know, poppy seed?” Given how low-key this is—just a light texture as far as I can tell—I'm not sure why anyone would search it out. Maybe people who eat a lot of poppy seed products become sensitive to their subtle flavor, or buyers just want that texture?

Poppy seed + chocolate conclusion: Underwhelming, but fine. I'd like to try something with a higher poppy seed content, or even a filling of poppy seed paste, as perhaps that would emphasize what the ingredient has to contribute to chocolate.

Leysieffer Lavender (Lavendel)

100g bar

Ingredients: Sugar, cocoa mass, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, spices, nutmeg extract, lavender extract

Corporate Info: (Copied from 6/9/12; see that post for more) Leysieffer was founded in 1909 and began making chocolate truffles in 1936. The company is still family-operated, but it now includes 19 confectionary shops throughout Germany as well as a half dozen “bistros” serving cake and whatnot. And if you're really curious, you can order its products online.

Today's Bar: Lavender, which I noted includes “spices” and nutmeg extract as well as the lavender. Interesting.

Appearance: Similar to last week, semi-glossy, very medium brown with a warm, yellow-orange undertone. Possibly half a shade lighter, or maybe not.

Smell: Huh. Definitely lavender, but not just floral, and it doesn't merely lay unmoored on top of the chocolate flavor. I never would have thought of nutmeg as a complement, but that and/or the “spices” seem to act as a bridge connecting the earthy chocolate to perfumey lavender to make it smell more complex and melded. I can't wait to see if this carries over to the taste.

Taste: Lavender sticks out first and stays there, while chocolate comes up from behind along with a warm spiciness. I can identify nutmeg, and if there are other spices I'd guess something darker and spicier—allspice or something like that—but only just a touch. As with last year's elderflower, I think this floral might not pair well with a darker, more sour or bitter chocolate, but here and with the bridge of “spices,” it actually works. A unique experience.

Lavender + chocolate conclusion: I don't know what it would be like with a different chocolate or only lavender as a flavoring, but in mild chocolate and with additional spices to connect the two flavors, lavender imparts an intriguing floral note.

Leysieffer Honey (Honig)

100g bar

Ingredients: Sugar, cocoa mass, cocoa butter, honey, honey oil, soy lecithin

This May I was back in Germany and again visited the small city of Osnabrück, home to Leysieffer and its interestingly-flavored bars. Last year I tried their 55% cacao with pink peppercorns, rose oil, cardamom, and elderflower, and this year I brought back five more flavored bars and one plain one. As I did then, I'm focusing on flavors that are new to me, at least as chocolate additives, so even if you can't get your hands on Leysieffer anytime soon, it might be fun to hear about these funky combinations.

Corporate Info: Leysieffer was founded in 1909 and began making chocolate truffles in 1936. The company is still family-operated, but it now includes 19 confectionary shops throughout Germany as well as a half dozen “bistros” serving cake and whatnot. And if you're really curious, you can order its products online.

Today's Bar: Honey! Germans seem to be into honey, relatively speaking—not that it's everywhere, exactly, but the typical hotel breakfast buffet spread of breads, cheese, meat, jams, and so on always includes honey of some sort, and in Cologne I walked by a store whose entire stock was honey-related. So while I didn't see a lot of honey-infused chocolate floating around, neither was I surprised to find it as a flavoring in Leysieffer's large product line. As with all the flavored bars I'm reviewing, this is in 55% cacao. Also note that the “honey oil” in the ingredients list seems to be some sort of essential oil, not a honey-dosed vegetable oil or, obviously, oil in the drug-related sense that you'll discover if you Google the phrase.

Appearance: Aside from a few bars with inclusions, Leysieffer flavored bars in 55% cacao look more or less the same, a semi-glossy, very medium brown with a warm, yellow-orange undertone.

Smell: Mild, with a light, complex sweetness.

Taste: As I knew from last year, Leysieffer's dark chocolate base is mild, smooth, and sweet, not a challenging base to the flavorings it uses. So, more importantly, what about the honey? It's not strong, but more a particular take on the sweetness common to any (not-too-dark) chocolate. Imagine several sweeteners—say, honey, maple, cane sugar (white, brown, raw, whatever), and some artificial sweetener—and how, if you mix each into a cup of coffee or yogurt, it ends up sweeter but with a slightly varied perfume, which may or may not work with the other flavors and be what you want in that moment. This bar basically tastes like a fairly sweet dark chocolate, but with a touch of the succulence of a light honey. It doesn't do anything for me, personally, but it's a rather innocuous take on flavoring chocolate.

Honey + chocolate conclusion: Fine, just a slight variation on a usual sweetish dark bar. However, Leysieffer's version uses quite a light honey, and I'd be curious to try a more robust take on the combination.

German Chocolate: Two Pink Peppercorn (Rosa Pfeffer) Bars

REWE Dark Chocolate 66% Cacao Pink Peppercorn (Rosa Pfeffer)

 

75g bar

Ingredients: cocoa mass, sugar [translated as either “cane sugar” or “sucrose”], cocoa butter, pink peppercorns

37.3% sugar by wt.

Leysieffer Dark Chocolate with Pink Peppercorns (Rosa Pfeffer)

 

100g bar

Ingredients: sugar, cocoa mass, cocoa butter, pink peppercorns, soy lecithin

The last two of my German chocolate bars share an inclusion uncommon in the U.S, pink peppercorns. Pink peppercorns come from two non-pepper plants from Central and South America, and while I've seen them here in spice shops and peppercorn mixes, for whatever reason they seem to be more popular in Germany. One of these bars was my first random chocolate buy, a funky flavored, inexpensive store brand from a big chain supermarket called REWE (“RAY-vuh”) that was near one of our hotels. Later, when I was selecting flavors at Leysieffer, I decided to buy one of their rosa pfeffer bars for comparison's sake. The REWE bar is 66% cacao, and the Leysieffer is their usual 55%.

Both bars mostly smell like chocolate, but they certainly taste like more! The REWE bar is thin, with crispy, slightly chewy peppercorns. The chocolate is pretty mild, of the creamy/chalky variety, and the peppercorns have a little pepperiness, but it's not strong—herby flavor, no bite. The Leysieffer chocolate is thicker, sweeter, and waxier, and its peppercorns have more spice and maybe more crunch to them as well. FYI, the shiny, crisp peppercorn skin doesn't really taste like anything; it's the crunchy little UFO-shaped seed inside that has the bitter, resiny flavor that feels like a super-light cousin of spicy black pepper or numbing Sichuan peppercorns.

For me, the REWE bar was kind of insipid, and the Leysieffer chocolate's sweetness didn't do anything for the herby peppercorns the way they did for elderflower and rose. Contrary to expectations, I ended up finding pink peppercorn chocolate boring, and I wonder if I wouldn't like this better with a darker chocolate and maybe a small amount of another type of peppercorn, upping the intensity of both chocolate and inclusion. For what it's worth, my co-taster thought the Leysieffer was pretty good.

Pink peppercorn + chocolate conclusion: For me, the mild chocolate and complex but relatively quiet pink peppercorn flavors just weren't enough, but I could see how others might like the combination.

[Note: I traveled with these and also moved them around a bit before opening them, so both the chocolate and peppercorns are more broken than when I first bought the bars.]

German Chocolate: Leysieffer Dark Chocolate with Rose Oil (Rosenöl)

100g bar

Ingredients: Sugar, cocoa mass, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, “spices,” rose oil extract

Today we're back to Leysieffer for another odd-to-me flavor, rose. Like last week's cardamom bar, this one has a big ol' fragrance, smelling just like rose-scented lotion, perfume, and of course roses, plus a little chocolate underneath. That's how it tastes, too, albeit somewhat less overwhelming. It's not a bad combination, actually, heady rose and mild chocolate melding into the same sort of heavy sweetness that polarizes people who use perfumes and home fragrances—you'll love it or hate it, depending on how you feel about rose in general.

Also, I suspect Leysieffer's relatively mild dark chocolate is a better match for rose than a darker, more intense chocolate would be, as the latter's usually sharp edges might compete with the powdery floral. As with the elderflower bar, though for totally different reasons, Leysieffer's 55% base is a good pairing.

Rose + chocolate conclusion: For rose lovers and adventurous eaters.

German Chocolate: Leysieffer Cardamom Dark Chocolate (Kardamom Schokolade)

100g bar

Ingredients: [I forgot to write these down, but I believe they were just sugar, cocoa mass, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, and cardamom.]

Last week I introduced Leysieffer; today's question is about the combination of chocolate (in this case a mild, somewhat-dark chocolate) and cardamom. I usually associate cardamom with Indian curries, where their cool, spicy intensity is combined with a host of other spices, so I don't spend a lot of time with just cardamom. This should be interesting!

Here's a little background on cardamom: Cardamom is related to ginger, but the spice we use in cooking is a seed pod, not a root, so you won't notice any similarity aside from strong flavor. Two varietals are cultivated widely, one small and green and one bigger and brown. The oblong seed pod or ground seeds are used in many different types of preparations—food, drink, medicine—in India, the Middle East, other parts of Asia, and some Northern European countries (presumably a colonial remnant). I couldn't tell you which type is in this chocolate, but the picture on the front is of stylized brown seed pods.

So, cardamom in chocolate.... It smells great: bright and spicy. Here the cardamom is front and center, and the chocolate is more of a foundation, filling out the scent's complexity. The flavor is similar, not shying away from the cardamom at all, with the chocolate playing backup. I'm not sure I'd say cardamom's piney (wikipedia says “resinous”) flavor is a total natural with chocolate, but it's not a total mismatch, and to be fair I'm also not accustomed to cardamom as a standard sort of ingredient.

Cardamom + chocolate conclusion: For cardamom lovers and adventurous eaters.

German Chocolate: Leysieffer Elderflower Dark Chocolate (Holunderblüten Schokolade)

100g bar

Ingredients: Sugar, cocoa mass, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, elderflower extract

Leysieffer is one of those brands I mentioned in this post that has its own shops, and I saw a few of them in various cities. Unbeknownst to me, the place where I finally bought several bars, an off-the-tourist-path, small city called Osnabrück, is also the place where Leysieffer began in 1909 (though they didn't begin working extensively with chocolate until 1936), and the production facility sits outside the city today. The history isn't all that interesting, mostly for the pretty positive reason that Leysieffer is still owned by the family that started the company; it just grew and developed. At this time there are 16 chocolate shops and six “bistros” as well as a lot of “partner shops” that I'm guessing sell Leysieffer products along with other brands.

What made Leysieffer so exciting to me is that it uses all sorts of interesting flavors and inclusions, like Darjeeling tea, poppyseed, and ground black pepper. Unfortunately only a few plain bars are verydark, so I compromised and bought several super-keen flavors in Leysieffer's 55% cacao dark chocolate base. I'll review them over the next few weeks with an eye toward how well their unusual flavorings work in chocolate.

Today's bar is Elderflower (Holunderblüten). You may or may not have tasted elderflower before, as it's not used much in the U.S., but it's not uncommon in parts of Europe, and on a walk in Germany I was able to smell a cluster of the tiny flowers on a nearby tree. (Note: Elderflowers come from the same plant as elderberries, which are also found in various food preparations. If you're looking for the flavor I'm discussing here, make sure you've found the flower!) How to describe it...well, I bought a bottle of “elderflower drink concentrate” from Ikea a while back, on a whim. That syrup also includes sugar and citric acid, but aside from the sweet-sour flavor of those two, the syrup has a lovely floral fragrance that isn't super-perfumy like rose but more light and refreshing, an easy match for candy.

On to the chocolate. It sure doesn't smell like anything aside from chocolate, but it tastes quite nice! For starters, Leysieffer's dark chocolate base is very mild, sweet but not too sweet, more waxy than chalky—not interesting on its own, but a good match for delicate flavors like elderflower. The elderflower is a great addition...I keep wanting to use words like nice, lovely, and delightful, which indicate a sweet, refreshing, light treat, nothing challenging or cloying.

As in the syrup I own, the elderflower works well in something sweet, which makes the flavor more than just flowery. Can you imagine a sugar-free strawberry, peach, or cantaloupe? Sweetness helps luscious fragrance become fruity flavor, and I think it really contributes to what elderflower does when combined with chocolate.

Leysieffer's 55% dark chocolate conclusion: Mild, not overwhelming in any way; a good base for light flavorings.

Elderflower + chocolate conclusion: If used well—not too much, not too little, in the right base—elderflower is floral, light, and refreshing in chocolate.