Review: Ithaca Fine Chocolates Art Bars

Monday, March 20, 2006 - by Brian

There comes a time in one’s life when you need to put away childish chocolates and try some real adult chocolate. Art Bars fit the bill nicely. Art Bars come in four varieties: Milk Chocolate, Milk Chocolate with Hazelnuts, Dark Chocolate, and Dark Chocolate with Coconut and all are made with help from a Swiss chocolatier. They are organic, fair trade certified, and the ingredients list is readable by non-chemists and fourth-graders alike.

Each Art Bar contains a mini-reproduction of a work of art from a diverse selection of child and adult artists. Also, a minumium of 10% of the profits from the sale of Art Bars is donated to local and global art education organizations.

So, that’s the 411 on Art Bars, but how do they taste? Good. Damn good:

• Milk Chocolate (32% cocoa): The milk chocolate has a very rich flavor – almost nutty, and it almost has a coffee flavor. This is the kind of chocolate you should just savor and not just chew really quickly. Excellent flavor.
• Milk Chocolate (32% cocoa) with Hazelnuts: This is the same chocolate as above, only with whole hazelnuts. I didn’t realize how much I like hazelnuts….this is a really good combo with the chocolate.
• Dark Chocolate (58% cocoa): Though some people dislike dark chocolate (my wife won’t touch it), I’ve always enjoyed it. This has a good, rich flavor to it…slightly bitter with a good bite to it.
• Dark Chocolate (58% cocoa) with coconut: I wasn’t sure what to expect with the coconut – I wasn’t sure how they had put it into a chocolate bar. The wrapper lists it as “coconut flakes” – they are very small and mixed in thoroughly with the chocolate and there is a lot of it in there. Coconut is hit or miss with me, sometimes I like it in candy and sometimes I don’t. I don’t like Mounds or Almond Joy, but I do like fresh coconut and plain shredded coconut straight from the bag. The coconut in the Art Bar is a good fit with the dark chocolate – it complements it nicely.

Art Bars are available in both 45g and 100g sized bars and are available at retail outlets in most of the 50 states and are available online direct from their website for those that don’t have a retailer near you. If you’re looking for a really good chocolate for yourself or to give as a gift, I can heartily recommend Ithaca Fine Chocolates Art Bars. My wife wife will be pleased to see I have finally written this review so now we can finish them off.

• Ithaca Fine Chocolates

candy, sweets, chocolate, chocolates, review, reviews, ithaca, ny, hazelnut, hazelnuts, dark