Vosges Black Salt Caramel Bar

Posted by Edmund in Chocolate, Gourmet Chocolate Bars, USA | 2 comments

Jan 17, 12

Composition: Black Hawaiian Sea Salt, Burnt Sugar Caramel, 70% Dark Chocolate.
Region of Production: USA.
Price: $7.50 from Vosges’ site.

Since this bar was shipped from the Vosges store itself, it hasn’t suffered from any storage or transportation issues. It is clean, polished, and completely smooth to the touch. I also appreciate how Vosges integrated the caramel into the bar, so that it never oozes out from other pieces. At the same time, this bar is definitely one of Vosges’s most fragile. Without a solid chocolate interior, the shell breaks apart rather easily, getting caramel all over the place. Just make sure to carefully snap off each square.

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Flavor-wise, this bar hits you in phases: first the chocolate shell gives you some texture but with little immediate intensity; next, the caramel gushes out in a sweet rush; finally, the chocolate re-emerges with a marked, earthy smokiness that leaves your palate literally fuming with a coffee flavor. The caramel at first feels like it will dominate and potentially overpower the chocolate, but just as the bar becomes too sweet, the dark chocolate re-emerges and nearly eliminates all trace of the caramel. The bar manages to run the gamut from extremely sweet to rather bitter seamlessly.

Moreover, I was surprised not just by the balance among the ingredients, but also within them. Most caramel tends to taste artificial or sugary. This one, in contrast, has a slight honey-like taste that I find refreshing. Moreover, the mouth feel is great, as the caramel combines the buttery feel of butterscotch with an almost watery consistency, going down very smoothly. Dark chocolate, on the other hand, can be far too bitter, but here it emphasizes smokier notes, which help to cover up that bitterness. That chocolate lasts on the palate, too—much more so than most Vosges bars.

The one true disappointment is the sea salt. I personally love getting that salty kick at the end of a good sweet, but here the taste comes through slightly in the beginning and only infinitesimally at the very end. As it is, the bar is more or less a two-flavor  affair.

As for the melt—well, it’s probably better to just chew the bar down, since it has all that watery caramel in it. The lecithin thankfully doesn’t add too much waxiness, partially because the chocolate itself is so intense.

Disclaimer: This bar was a gift from Vosges Haut Chocolat. I have tried to keep the review as fair and objective as possible. Take the scores for what you will.

Scores

Presentation: 4.0/5.0
Taste: 4.0/5.0
Flavor: 4.2/5.0
Length: 3.0/5.0
Value: 3.5/5.0
Scores: 3.9/5.0