Recchiuti Dark Milk Chocolate Bar

Posted by Edmund in Chocolate, Gourmet Chocolate Bars, USA | 0 comments

55% Cocoa.
$7 for 4 oz.

If nothing else, Recchiuti’s Dark Milk Chocolate Bar comes off as aesthetically pleasing. It comes in a large bag of sorts, but that bag has a lot of nice little touches, like Recchiuti’s seal and signature, a little blurb about trying to change people’s views on chocolate, etc. It may be confusing to actually get the bar open, though—you have to tear a perforated bottom, which to me is just a bit over-the-top—but it’s definitely something I haven’t seen anywhere else. The bar itself is, by contrast, very simple, divided into numerous very small squares with little decoration.

The aroma also impresses, though it was very short-lived. Because of the way the bar is packaged (almost vacuum-sealed), as soon as you open it up you get this concentrated burst of aroma coming straight out of one side of the package. It’s very intense and reminds you just how strong the cocoa will be, even in this rather milky treat. Unfortunately, the aroma was gone in less than a minute.

And that’s really how the taste of Recchiuti’s Dark Milk Bar goes. It’s all boldness and little nuance, with a flavor that hits you strong but leaves you with little to savor, either in length or complexity. That’s not to say the bar is bad per se. I actually love how milky this bar tastes for something with 55% cocoa. It has, moreover, a very caramel-like quality to it, especially in its sweetness, which seems much stronger than what I’d expect from a 55%. The bar can, however, get just a little bit too sweet at times, though I wouldn’t go so far as to call it cloying. More problematically, it has very few undertones to it (I really couldn’t taste anything pronounced), and it will not surprise you in any way.

The bar, though, has some technical difficulties. The melt is okay, but it’s surprisingly slow for something so milky, to the point that I found myself munching the bar down. Something is just missing from that melt, which isn’t constant or even, and the bar has a very slight waxiness (from its use of lecithin) that can be off-putting. Nor is the bar very long, as the flavor, like the aroma, dissipates after a couple minutes.

Still, the Recchiuti Dark Milk Chocolate Bar is one of the better executed dark milk chocolates on the market, though it lacks the complexity or technical excellence to truly set it apart.

Presentation: 4.5/5.0
Taste: 3.2/5.0
Melt: 2.1/5
Length: 2.2/5.0
Value: 3.0/5.0
Verdict: 2.8/5.0