Friday, February 1, 2008

Cacao Reserve

Today I was walking in Macey's, on my break, as I usually do. See, at work they give us a few 15 minute breaks during the day - one at 10:00 and one at 3:00 - to make the good days better and the bad days bearable. I've always liked the breaks.

So, as it was, I happened to be passing a large candy display. It was on aisle 6, at the southeast end. There were rows of beautifully packaged bars. They looked so foreign... perhaps Columbian. By the way they looked, one might guess that their contents were something along the lines of a fine, rich tobacco. Only this was Macey's - the grocer for the common Mormon man. There would be no tobacco in these boxes.

So I stepped up for a closer look. It was chocolate. "Hmm." On sale. "Hmm." Two dollars and thirty-nine cents. "Wha?" This seemed like a lot of money for a chocolate bar, which immediately intrigued me. Just down the aisle they sold some chocolate, albeit with much less fancy packaging, for only thirty-three cents a bar. My interest was piqued. "Cacao Reserve - By Hersheys" was printed on the top of the tidy package in a bold, and subtly intelligent font. Below it was a description of the product - "Dark chocolate with cacao nibs. Sixty-five percent cacao."

My mind mulled over the meaning of this.

"Sixty-five percent? Gosh, that's gotta be good. Dark, but good. Barry, you've gotta buy this. Think about it. You'll never go to wine tasting parties. You'll never smoke a fifty dollar cigar with your buddies. This is the moment in your life where you rise into the glorious ranks of pretentious food tasters! Damn it, Barry... it's your right! Your right to Cacao!"

So I bought it.



Back at the desk, I carefully tore open the protective cardboard shell. What lay beneath was dressed in robes of foil. I unwrapped it delicately. After all, this was no ordinary candy bar - this was the Cacao reserve! I broke a small piece off, and imagined a chocolate dealer somewhere in the Cacao plantations of South America. He sat at a desk with a machete; a large, healthy smile on his face as he chops off a small portion of chocolate. "My friend," he says, "I have reserved for you this morsel of our finest Cacao!"

My first reaction, when I put the chocolate into my mouth, was that it had a really nice melting point. It didn't instantly melt and it wasn't waxy. And as it slowly dissolved onto my tongue, I realized how natural it tasted - a very mild, earthy flavor with just a hint of traditional chocolate. I was duly impressed. I don't think the Cacao nibs did much for it. They didn't have much flavor; or if they did, it was entirely masked by the flavor of the dark chocolate. Overall, though, the experience was gratifying. I could taste this stuff regularly. I recommend that you do the same. Seriously, try it. Even if you don't like dark chocolate (cause I didn't). Plus it's got flavinol antioxidants... which are... good for us?

Better, anyway, than, say, cigars... :)

-Barry

1 comment:

  1. I want a piece of Cacao now!!! Andrew and I are laughing our tails off! I totally got the visual of the man sitting with the machette (sp?) saying, "Here my friend, eat the Cacao!" hehe...
    Way to indulge!

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