Purdy’s Chocolates is one of the go-to chocolate companies in many parts of Canada. From their famous hazelnut chocolate hedgehogs to filled chocolates and chocolate bars, and even a selection of sugar-free items for the compromising Candy Addict, they’ve got something to please anyone.
I’ve written previously about Purdy’s Chocolate Chewie Bar and how I always associate the company with special occasions. Well, what should turn up in my Christmas stocking this year but – surprise! – a Purdy’s item. This year, it was the Purdy’s Blueberry Almond bar, a combination of 70% dark chocolate, almonds, and dried blueberries.
At first, I was a little skeptical of this combination. I love fresh blueberries, but often have trouble getting behind blueberry-flavored candies – it’s one of those fruit flavors that just doesn’t take the transition to artificial form very well. But real dried blueberries combined with two of my favorite candy ingredients – very dark chocolate and almonds – sounded like a completely different animal altogether. Would this combination change my feelings about blueberries and candy?
It’s a big glossy bar, the underside studded liberally with promising lumps (almost all of which turned out to be almonds rather than blueberries). Like other Purdy’s bars, this bar is an odd shape where most of the bar is divided into the usual break-off-able squares (in this case, little rectangles about half the size of a square of Hershey bar), but there’s a big chocolate piece in the center with a Purdy’s logo on it – it’s like they’re acknowledging that the bar tastes best in wee little bites, but they’re also giving you a big, giant chunk of it for some reason.
The bar smells like blueberries and dark chocolate, naturally. It reminds me of this blueberry almond Mueslix I used to eat for breakfast sometimes. Dark chocolate is the dominant flavor, and the almonds, which are buttery and toasty, add crunch. There’s an overall hint of blueberry flavor, but the dried blueberry pieces themselves are pretty small – I got one big, soft blueberry, but otherwise it was just little bits. When you get one, it’s mainly detectable as a very slight hint of fruity flavor under the stronger dark chocolate flavor. You have to chew very carefully to detect the blueberries, or you’ll swallow them without really tasting them. There might be a hint of blueberry flavor in the chocolate as well, but it’s a little difficult to tell.
Overall, the blueberry and chocolate go well together – I just wish the blueberry flavor were stronger. The dark, rich fruity blueberry flavor is a good complement to the dark, rich, fruity chocolate, but the almonds seem a little unnecessary – due to the small size of the chocolate pieces, you almost never get an almond and a blueberry together in the same piece and the extra textural element just distracts from the blueberries, which should be the focus here.
I generally like Purdy’s, but this is the second item of theirs I’ve reviewed that honestly could have spent a little more time in R&D. This is a decent bar (I might even buy it again), it’s just a bit flawed in the execution.
Mmm, this bar sounds good but I would probably be disappointed with so little blueberries. Almonds and dried blueberries together makes for a fantastic snack/trail mix, but covered in chocolate could only make it better!
January 16th, 2009 at 11:55 amin my experience, i find blueberries in white chocolate bars go very well together and you often get a lot more of them in there.
January 16th, 2009 at 5:48 pm