Chocolate Shops in Victoria, BC, Canada

I recently visited Victoria, British Columbia for the first time, and in my first couple hours there I spotted a tourist magazine with a cover article about Victoria-area chocolatiers! My free-form trip suddenly had a focus; I cross-referenced the chocolatiers described in the article with Yelp reviews and my ability to get around, and ended up at three shops—and, sadly, forgot to take photos. So here are my reviews of three shops, albeit in pictureless form.

Of the three shops, one is all over Canada and has a U.S. presence as well, one is a Victoria-based chain that also sells online, and one is for local patrons only, which hopefully means there's something of interest here for everyone. 

International: Chocolaterie Bernard Callebaut

Chocolaterie Bernard Callebaut is based out of Calgary, Alberta, was founded in 1983, and otherwise doesn't go into much depth on its site. According to Wikipedia (and the Chicago-area Bernard Callebaut site), Chocolaterie Bernard Callebaut was founded by a descendent of the more famous Callebaut, he of the Belgian company that is now part of multinational Barry Callebaut. Chocolaterie Bernard Callebaut currently operates under the corporate name Cococo Chocolatiers and has stores (some corporate-operated, others independently owned) all across Canada, one in the Portland, Oregon area, and one in the Chicago, Illinois area.

The store I visited in Victoria was spare, with a long confections counter and shelves for bars, bags of chocolate shavings, and other creations. I ordered about a half-dozen chocolates, including the cinnamon ginger, trio, and bernard. So how were they? Nothing blew me away, but all were pleasant, with fine molding, creamy fillings, and subtle flavors. High-end but not all that interesting, though I had no problem finishing them off. Yum.

Order Online: Rogers' Chocolates

Rogers' Chocolates is totally Victoria: It was founded in 1885 in Victoria, and Rogers' eight stores are all located in British Columbia. I visited the “heritage storefront” on tourism-friendly Government Street and found it charmingly packed with confections and boxed items in an old-fashioned, wood-paneled setting. And the chocolates? Eh, they were okay, large and too sweet, so that divorced from their setting, back in my hotel room, I ate only bites of several before deciding I'd rather spend my calories on something else. But I would return to Rogers' for the ambience, focusing my purchases on the things I expect to be big and homey, like brittle and the turtle-like “Empress Squares”. So...meh.

Locals-Only: Chocolat Chocolatiere de Victoria

Chocolat Chocolatiere de Victoria's website just says that the company was founded in the 1990s nearby, then moved to downtown Victoria in 2004. Other articles note that the chocolatier is Helene Pappas, though I also found an April 2011 obituary for a Helene Pappas, though no other articles about her death (in, say, local business news), so perhaps that Helene is a relative. Regardless, Chocolat's storefront on a busy street had a family vibe, with an older gentleman (founder? father?) speaking familiarly with two women at the counter (daughters?) and with several visitors of various ages and appearances as they walked past the counter and chatted in a hallway in the back. There was a confections counter front and center, and to the left a case of chocolate desserts and a smaller counter for serving various chocolate drinks. A long set of seats along the front window and a separate nook of bistro tables and low, cushioned seats completed the sense of Chocolat as a great coffee-shop-like place where I wished I could become a regular.

So how was the chocolate? I ended up with nearly a dozen of the intriguing-looking and -sounding confections, among them Chocolate in the Raw, a Dark Mouse, Marzipan, Rosebud, and the wasabi-infused Samurai, and mostly saved them while drinking dark, thick, milk-free Xocolatl and watching the staff wrap red boxes in preparation for Valentine's Day. I nibbled on a few chocolates and saved the rest to finish later, in my hotel room, where I tried and savored them all. Some were more to my taste than others, but I had no regrets: Chocolat's confections look varied and interesting and taste evocative, fun, and creative, and I'd love to return. Excellent.

All My Sins Peppermint Mischief 70% Cacao Dark Chocolate Peppermint Coffee Beans

5.5oz (156g) bag

Ingredients: Fair trade unsweetened chocolate, ft. sugar, ft. cocoa, soy lecithin, ft. vanilla, ft. coffee, gum acacia, medium chain triglycerides, peppermint flavor, confectioner's glaze

8g sugar/35g serving (22.9% by wt.)

Corporate Info: Pop Quiz. Q: What's weird about All My Sins? A: The brand doesn't have a website, or any other identity as far as I can see. According to the package it's distributed by John B. Sanfilippo & Son, Inc., which according to this site filed a for trademark on the name (All My Sins With None of the Guilt) earlier this year. JBSS was founded in Illinois in 1922 and sources nuts commercially, for store generics, and as the brand Fisher. I found the All My Sins product at Whole Foods.

Today's Confection: This is All My Sins' dark chocolate item, which is why it's the one I bought!

Appearance: Shiny (that'd be the confectioner's glaze) and dark.

Smell: An appealing mix of chocolate and heady roasted espresso, with a light burst of mint.

Taste: Quite nice, if more or less what you'd expect. The chocolate coating isn't too thin or thick, and it holds up with its rich texture and dark but mild flavor to the crunchy, roasty coffee beans. The mint is kind of an afterthought, but I have to admit it adds a layer of refreshment to the dark and somewhat bitter (just because it's coffee) confection. I can't wax poetic about these—they don't have the gourmet texture or complexity of, say, Pacari's chocolate covered cacao beans—but there's nothing “off” in the balance of flavors, the thickness of the coating, or the beans.

Conclusion: All My Sins Peppermint Mischief 70% Cacao Dark Chocolate Peppermint Coffee Beans are a satisfying snack for those who like their candy caffeinated or coffee with their chocolate.

Stirs the Soul Salted Chocolate Pleasures

Ingredients (maybe?): Coconut palm sugar, coconut milk, chocolate liquor, cocoa butter, coconut oil, vanilla

Corporate Info: I'd never heard of Portland, Oregon's Stirs the Soul until near the end of my visit to Seattle's annual Northwest Chocolate Festival. (I was only able to stay a few hours, so I expect to discuss the festival in related posts rather than on its own.) By that point my head was swimming: I'd seen countless thin, flat, brown rectangles and tasted many smooth, complex chocolates that were mostly running together in my mind, though I hadn't yet been blown away by anything and was actually considering going home with nothing.

Near the back of the convention floor I stopped at Stirs the Soul's undeniably hippie booth and figured it was another company that put ideology over quality chocolate...and then I had my first surprise of the afternoon. Daren Hayes comes off as a chatty, earthy-crunchy hippie, a self-taught chocolate maker (albeit one with a culinary degree) who had the good sense to hire a chocolatier or two, and they're doing interesting work. I actually liked (though not loved) the bars, which are made using organic, raw cacao, with alternative sweetners (coconut palm sugar, date sugar, agave, honey) and fairly interesting flavors like hemp and maitake mushroom, spiced chai, and orange goji. The truffles I took home aren't available on the website, but they're what blew me away, and if you're interested in the bars and other confections, you can buy them online or at one of these natural food stores.

Today's Confection: Daren had two “Pleasures” available for tasting, the Salted Chocolate and another (I think Turkish coffee, which I remember also being excellent); I overheard him saying something about them being a sort of cross between a caramel and a truffle. There's no label on the little cardboard boxes he had for sale, so I asked him for the ingredients and he rattled off what I listed above, noting that there might be one or two more that he couldn't remember. I've tasted raw chocolate in the past and used all three of the coconut ingredients he mentioned, and while I like them, I expected something fairly oily and harsh. Instead I ended up buying a box of four.

Appearance: Imperfect squares, with a very dark coating and a light, haphazard sprinkling of salt crystals and what I assume to be crushed cocoa nibs.

Smell: Not strong, but earthy, smoky, and dark.

Taste: Texture is pliable outside, very soft and slightly chewy inside, which must be the “caramel” in the caramel-truffle cross. Flavor is intense: complex, moody, dark, smoky, roasted—but not especially bitter or sour. These remind me of strong coffee and the scent of pot smoke (I'll only admit to having attended concerts as a teenager, and eventually learning what I was smelling around me), with the salt crystals majorly punching up the flavor halfway through chewing. I have no idea what fine European-style chocolatiers would think, as the texture, intensity, and smokiness are a long way from many super-creamy, mild truffles and sweet, buttery caramels, but I could eat one of these daily and always feel impressed and satisfied. I wish I had more.

Conclusion: Stirs the Soul Salted Chocolate Pleasures' hippie pedigree and culinary aspirations make them an intense, satisfying surprise.

Newman's Own Organics Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

1.2oz in three peanut butter cups

Ingredients: Organic sugar, o. chocolate liquor, o. cocoa butter, o, soy lecithin, o. vanilla, o. peanut butter, o. whole milk powder, o. palm kernel oil, palm kernel oil, peanut flour, salt

12g sugar/34g package (35.3% by wt.)

Corporate Info: Newman's Own was famously founded by beloved (seriously—can you find anyone who would disagree?) actor Paul Newman in 1982, and his daughter Nell founded Newman's Own Organics in 1993. They are truly separate companies, as while Newman's Own Organics started as a division of the parent company, it split off in 2001; even the websites are entirely different. The older company makes the salad dressing, microwave popcorn, and other products (some of which are organic), while the younger produces all the chocolate as well as other sweets, snacks, and assorted items. Newman's Own is well known for its philanthropic intent and follow through, while Newman's Own Organics seems to make organic sourcing its sole priority. So you shouldn't think your chocolate purchases are helping with Paul Newman's charitable causes, but you can still feel good about the whole thing.

Today's Confection: Newman's Own Organics produces five kinds of chocolate cups: Dark chocolate filled with caramel, peanut butter, or peppermint, and milk chocolate filled with caramel or peanut butter. Most ingredients are organic, the cacao is Rainforest Alliance Certified, and the cost they pay for the cacao is “tied to the Fair Trade market price of organic cocoa beans.” I found this package on sale for I think less than $1.50, not a major luxury price. I should also mention that the ingredients' milk powder and other elements were part of “organic yogurt coating,” which I suspect was combined with the chocolate rather than being a separate piece of the cup or mixed with the peanut butter, but I'm really not sure.

Appearance: Flattish, steep-walled cups in a milky, friendly-looking brown.

Smell: Like chocolate and peanut butter. The chocolate smells like real chocolate, a little beany and raw but not too much, and the peanut is subtle but present.

Taste: The chocolate is smooth, creamy, and rich, holding its own but not the deep, intense type of dark. The peanut butter is soft and flowy but not liquidy, so you'll get some on your lips but not drip it on the floor. It's mostly smooth but like natural peanut butter, which is to say mouth-fillingly oily rather than the greasy, thick consistency of common store brands containing hydrogenated oils. (I'm not saying those peanut butters don't have a sort of appeal, but you can't deny that they share a texture with Crisco.) What I really like is the balance between chocolate and peanut butter, both because of the quantities and because the chocolate is mild enough not to overwhelm the peanut butter, one solution to the problem I had with Justin's similar product. The flavors of both elements won't approximate a Reese's, if that's what you're looking for, but Newman's Own Organics does an admirable job with its own peanut butter cups.

Conclusion: Newman's Own Organics Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups are well balanced in texture and flavor, a good choice for organic, not-too-sweet peanut butter cups.

Justin's organic 2 dark chocolate peanut butter cups

1.4oz in two peanut butter cups

Ingredients: Organic cane sugar, o. chocolate liquor, o. cocoa butter, o. soy lecithin, o. vanilla, o. peanuts, o. palm oil, sea salt

14g sugar/40g serving (35% by wt.)

Corporate Info: Justin's—a.k.a. Justin's Nut Butter—is a nut butter company, not a chocolatier, but I like peanut butter cups and Justin's makes a dark chocolate peanut butter cup, so there you go. Justin's products are mostly organic, and they claim to be trying for sustainability in a whole assortment of ways. Good for them. Also, with a hometown of Boulder, Colorado, Justin's is neighbor to Chocolove and SunSpire.

Appearance: Pretty nice. The wide, flat cups, glossy chocolate, and (in cross-section) good amount of crumbly-looking peanut butter make these comparable to Reese's ultra-popular version. I have as much Reese's nostalgia as anyone, so a decision to emulate the big boys seems like a good one to me.

Smell: As you'd expect, but with a somewhat greater emphasis on the chocolate than most. That chocolate has a red-berry tartness to the smell rather than being the usual super-mild and sweet type.

Taste: On first bite, I think: sweet...very smooth and creamy chocolate...yes the peanut butter has some crumbly-crunchy going on...lingering sugar and red fruit tartness. I wish the peanut butter stood out more; I'm thinking that, compared to milk chocolate cups, dark chocolate ones need a higher ratio of peanut butter to stand up to the chocolate, even if the chocolate isn't crazy intense (and this isn't). Not bad, though.

Conclusion: Justin's organic 2 dark chocolate peanut butter cups are a fine organic, small-company Reese's substitute, but the peanut butter flavor tends to get overwhelmed by the flavorful chocolate.

Sahagún Palomitapapá

25g/0.9oz bar (self-weighed)

Ingredients: Cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter, vanilla, corn, soy oil, fleur de sel, chile (cocoa is Ecuadorian)

Corporate Info: Sahagún (or, judging by the website, Sahagun) is a tiny little company that currently makes a few barks, a couple filled confections, and one coffee flavored bar. I must have bought funky little Palomitapapá at Cacao in Portland, drawn in by the “exploded corn” in the ingredients list. (Note: I can only find this bar as part of a bark three-pack, which I'm guessing means the company switches up its flavors from time to time.) If you're interested in Sahagún's South American names and ingredients, philosophy, or future plans, you can read an interview with owner Elizabeth Montes here.

Appearance: Nubbly and barky, with exposed salt crystals on top.

Smell: Not too much, actually.

Taste: First chile, more than I was expecting but not to a give-me-a-glass-of-water extent. Then salt, then the relatively subtle flavor and not at all subtle texture of the corn kernels, which are more chewy-crunchy than puffy like popcorn. The spiciness lingers, and the kernels get stuck in my teeth, and all in all the chocolate is just a flavor element rather than the headliner here. Hm, there's not a lot to say except that this is a fun experience if you're into the ingredients.

Conclusion: Sahagún Palomitapapá is fun if you want chile, crunchy corn, and salt with your chocolate.

Pacari Chocolate Covered Cacao Beans

90g (3.17oz) box; mine contained 31 chocolate covered beans

Ingredients: Organic cacao beans, o. cane sugar, o. cocoa powder, o. sunflower lecithin

Corporate Info: Pacari Chocolate is single-origin (Ecuador), organic, and according to them, fair trade minus the certification. Most of what I'm seeing about the company is from commercial sites, so I'll just say that they sound good, in an upscale, rainforesty sort of way: Pacari offers local-origin bars from different plantations, flavored bars, chocolate covered tropical things (fruits, coffee beans, etc), and a few other earthy-crunchy-super-local items, including today's chocolate covered cacao beans dusted with cocoa powder.

Appearance: Dusty, oblong, irregular. Appealingly rugged.

Smell: Intense, sharp, with warm notes—ginger, cardamom, that kind of vibe.

Taste: In layers, what you've got is: First, a fine dusting of powder that has almost no taste; its only real effect is allowing the chocolate underneath to remain both protected and creamy, which is to my mind preferable to to the shiny, shellacked texture of some other chocolate-covered treats. Second, a medium-thin layer of creamy, tart chocolate. If you sit and savor that layer it's actually raw-tasting compared to other chocolate, but if you mostly chomp down like I am, the contrast with the cacao bean makes it seem very smooth and sweet. Finally, a large cacao bean with a papery outside and nut-textured, crunchy-crumbly inside. The bean is almost deceptively neutral flavored in its unrefined, unsweetened, low-bitterness, nutty non-intensity. I've eaten nibs that had a more distinctive, banana-tropical flavor that these beans don't, and I like these here. Very good.

Conclusion: Pacari Chocolate Covered Cacao Beans are rustic, have nice texture and flavor contrast, and are easy to keep eating. Warning: Too many can make you (me) hyperactive!

Colorado Chocolate: Enstrom Candies' Toffee Petites

I recently visited a friend in Grand Junction, Colorado, home of Enstrom Candies and its “World Famous Almond Toffee”. We checked out their factory store, which carries not only Enstrom's chocolate covered toffee but also behind-the-counter chocolates, an assortment of boxed confections, some fun candies from other companies, ice cream, and a few baked goods. I bought myself a tiny box of their dark chocolate toffee “Petites,” some imported salty licorice, and a few interesting confections like dark chocolate mints (basically fancy Andes) and a tasty chocolate-dipped coconut caramel. Aside from the house-made toffee, prices are fairly reasonable; the confections aren't super-upscale molded and printed confections with creative fillings but rather homey dipped turtles and chews.

As for the Toffee Petites, they're fine but not my personal ideal. FYI, Unless you're the type who eats a Snickers in under a minute, the fat “petites” are really two or three bites. The crushed almonds on top don't stick well and end up getting everywhere. The dark chocolate in the coating is fairly forgettable, is thicker than I would have wanted, and tends to flake off the toffee, so it mostly gets in the way. I'd prefer a thinner coating of chocolate, as in Enstrom's regular toffee product (at least that's how it looks in the picture), and of course I would like it to be darker. The toffee nuggets, though, are pretty darn good, all butter and sugar. Next time I would eschew the Petites and go for regular toffee.

Enstrom has three stores in the Grand Junction area and two in the Denver area. If you're visiting Colorado and have a hankering for sweets, you might find what you're craving at Enstrom Candies.

Divine 70% Dark Chocolate

3.5 oz in 20-something small candies

Ingredients: Fair trade cocoa, ft. sugar, ft. cocoa butter, soy lecithin, ft. vanilla

11g sugar/41g serving (26.8% by wt.)

Corporate Info: I've written about Divine before, and while I didn't love the chocolate, the company is pretty amazing. It grew out of a Ghanaian co-op run by and for small-scale family farmers with a mission to buy the farmers' cocoa at fair prices, increase women's involvement, and work toward environmentally sound growing methods. The co-op eventually decided to produce its own chocolate, and in 1997 formed Divine Chocolate with investment capital from an assortment of socially conscious groups including for-profit corporations, nonprofits, and faith-based charities. The beans are grown in Ghana, the chocolate is produced in the UK, and subsidiaries distribute the finished product in North America and Europe. The investing organizations and the farmers' co-op all receive dividends from their shares in Divine—and the farmers' corporate presence means they're also part of decision-making processes. Everyone benefits in a fascinating globalized web of grass-roots organizing, international business, and social responsibility—it can be done! Divine is listed highly in both my sources of socially-focused chocolate producers, though while nearly all ingredients are fair trade, they are not organic.

Appearance: Dark, with a dull finish.

Smell: Dried fruit, like cranberries or golden raisins.

Taste: Very raisiny, just a little bitter, turning into something still concentrated and succulent but lighter, maybe like dates. Lingering dried fruit aftertaste. Texture is initially hard then melts into dense and creamy.

Conclusion: Divine 70% Dark Chocolate is good for those who like chocolate with a deep dried fruit vibe and/or want to support a really outstanding chocolate company.

Claudio Corallo 3 Locuras de Cafés com Chocolate

150g box

Ingredients: Cocoa, sugar, cocoa butter, coffee

I bought Claudio Corallo's chocolate covered coffee beans after trying one in the store and liking it, but also in no small part because I was about to take a road trip and thought they might be a good way to stay awake. Fortunately I wasn't driving when I opened the box, as it turned out to be a bit more complicated than just a bag of candy: Nestled in the box were three neatly rolled cellophane bags labeled CAT 1, BB 2, and NM 3, and a full-size piece of paper printed on the front and back. An intriguing start, to say the least.

In brief, the note explains that the three bags contain three different coffee varieties—CAT, BB, and NM—and though all are Arabica, from the same plantation, and covered in the same 55% cacao chocolate, the flavors of the three types of beans are distinct, offering a sort of tasting adventure. Instructions recommend that tasters try the chocolate in the order given, and describe the sensations that should come across.

CAT is expected to hit with a strong punch and then vanish with little lingering coffee flavor, and I that is indeed how I experienced it. The bean has the bitter flavor I associate with a darker roast (mind you, I'm no coffee connoisseur), a contrast with the sweet chocolate on the outside. Once I swallow it, the coffee is virtually gone, with just a hint remaining from anything stuck in my teeth. (How's that for an appetizing image?)

According to the note, BB should taste only of chocolate at first, with coffee then arriving “sweet,” “delicate,” and “with extraordinary persistence,” sticking around “longer than the chocolate.” That sounds about right: To me, this confection tastes mellow, sweet, and creamy, more melded with the chocolate than the CAT was, and with a long aftertaste. It's like a good, rich mocha drink.

The NM is less vividly described, only as a “rare equilibrium” and “unique experience that will linger.” To my taste it's both less and more interesting than the other two: While the CAT was a bit harsh and the BB very enjoyable in an easy way, the NM seems more delicate but also subtly pleasant, like a mocha I could drink every day without being over-bittered (CAT) or riched-out (BB). I'm not sure that's what Claudio Corallo was getting at, but I will say that for general snacking, NM is my favorite of the three.

Of course, I can't forget the chocolate! I like it because it's thankfully non-shellacked, more soft chocolate than hard gloss, which I think matches much better with a crispy coffee bean than the common shiny coating. The flavor might be a bit sweet for me personally—I'm tasting more cream and sugar than deep fruit—but I do think that if it were more than 60-70% cacao it wouldn't balance the coffee well, and I'd allow that even 70% might be too dark to highlight the distinctions among the beans.

What really struck me about this set of chocolate covered coffee beans is that it engenders an interactive experience (review blog or no) and that I found the predictions borne out even by my only semi-sensitive palate. Very cool.

Conclusion: Claudio Corallo 3 Locuras de Cafés com Chocolate is a unique, guided tasting experience.

Bissinger's Naurals Chocolate Covered Pumpkin Seed Crunch

5oz (142g) bag

Ingredients: Pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, rice malt, organic cane sugar, sea salt, dark chocolate (sugar, unsweetened chocolate, cocoa butter, butter oil, soy lecithin, vanilla)

8g sugar/29g serving (27.6% by wt.)

Missouri-based Bissinger's makes a whole host of confections, chocolate and otherwise, which aren't the sort of thing I usually review. But I saw these dark-chocolate-covered pumpkin seed clusters when I was trolling the candy aisle at Whole Foods (as I am wont to do), and while they don't list the percent cacao content, they fall within my sugar limit because much of the weight of a serving is made up of nuts. It's kind of a cheap way to sneak in candy, but these things happen when I shop hungry.

The good news: They're pretty good! Each piece is one or two bites' worth of pumpkin seeds and a sprinkling of sesame seeds bound by a minimal sheen of sweet lacquer and enrobed by a thin layer of inoffensive, generic dark chocolate. Because the pumpkin seeds are fairly delicate and the syrup and chocolate are applied with a light hand, the whole thing ends up airy and really quite nice. I'm not big into nuts and seeds, so I had my doubts, but I'd be happy to recommend these to folks who want a sweet chocolate snack that actually tastes reasonably healthy. Good going, Bissinger's.

Conclusion: Bissinger's Naturals Chocolate Covered Pumpkin Seed Crunch is pleasantly light and not too sweet.

Taste of Hawaii 70% Cacao Dark Chocolate Whole Macadamia Nuts

13 candies in net wt. 5oz (141g)

Ingredients: Semisweet extra dark chocolate (chocolate liquor, sugar, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, vanilla), dry roasted macadamia nuts.

10g sugar/40g serving (25% by wt.)

When I was growing up in Honolulu, I routinely walked through my local Longs drugstore without thinking twice about the entire aisle of macadamia nuts. Sometimes I needed to bring gifts to folks on the mainland, in which case I waded into the boxes and cans, identically-sized and shaped except for their contents: roasted, salted, spicy, chocolate-dipped, glazed, crushed, crunchy in toffee, chewy in caramel, folded into brittle, tossed with popcorn. Now one brand even offers a SPAM-flavored mac nut, a novelty borne of a real Hawaii obsession. In recent years I haven't been able to eat any of the macadamia candies, though, because they've all been too sweet. The product was always about gift boxes of nuts with pretty pictures of palm trees, leis, and hula girls, not high-end chocolate, which meant no single-origin, organic, or fair trade, and nothing super dark.

During my recent visit home, I had a macadamia nut breakthrough: Hawaiian Sun, maker of popular drinks and jellies as well as chocolates, now produces chocolate covered mac nuts using 70% cacao content under the Taste of Hawaii label. Seeing as how I only had one option (and trust me, I looked for others on the shelves and this was it), I bought a bulk pack at Costco. I handed out a few boxes and kept a few for myself, but they've been popular and I'm down to half a box.

So are they that good? Well no, they're not the best chocolate or macadamia nuts that I've ever had, but they are quite enjoyable. There are 13 candies to a box, each a dollop of chocolate encasing one and sometimes two whole mac nuts and molded into a cup shape by a tiny ruffled muffin tin liner. The chocolate is very mild and smooth, dark but with no sharp edges, which makes sense given the context and market. The nuts are pleasant, though I'd venture that they might benefit from a very light dusting of salt to bring out their flavor, because aside from the crunchy texture they tend to disappear under the chocolate. Incidentally, among the many of these that I've eaten I've encountered a couple nuts that tasted off, perhaps on the edge of rancid; fortunately this experience has been fairly rare.

Conclusion: If you like very dark chocolate, are visiting Hawaii, and want to take back a few souvenirs, you now have a decent option: Taste of Hawaii 70% Cacao Dark Chocolate Whole Macadamia Nuts.