Exactly a week ago I reviewed Terra Nostra’s Pocket Chocolates. My review was mixed, though overall it was pretty good. But this past week I was fortunate enough to try another Terra Nostra product, one that changed my chocolate buying habits forever: Terra Nostra’s Ricemilk Choco™ Bar.
Unless this product’s packaging proclaimed its vegan-ness, you would never, ever know it. The texture is so rich and creamy, and the flavor is PERFECT. Both Ted and I, who usually have differing preferences when it comes to chocolate bars, absolutely love this bar. We adore it. From the moment we took our first bite and stared at each other in wonder, we were hooked.
Terra Nostra makes three different kinds of Ricemilk Choco bars, though I’ve only tried the original. The Dark Truffle version looks interesting, though I have my heart set on getting my hands on the Choco Bar with Almonds sometime soon. For now, I’m perfectly happy with the original bar. The ingredients are so good, I don’t know what to do with myself. Here’s the product’s ingredient list:
Organic Raw Cane Sugar, Organic Cocoa Butter, Organic Rice Glucose Powder, Organic Cocoa Mass, Organic Hazelnuts, Vanilla Extract, Sea Salt.
Upon wondering what “cocoa mass” is, I turned to my trusty friend, Wikipedia. One of the many steps in creating chocolate bars from cocoan beans is called conching, during which cocoa and sugar in refined chocolate are broken down into fine particles, creating that “smooth” texture that’s so important. The resulting mixture is called cocoa mass. (Though there may be other processes whose resulting product is called cocoa mass, this was the only one I found). I love hazelnut chocolate, and though you can’t really taste the hazelnuts in this bar, I wonder if that’s what gives this particular product its perfection. (Hooray for alliteration!)
Even if you’re a meat-eating, milk-drinking, flag-waving American, you will love this chocolate bar. And if you are vegan, congratulations! Now you won’t be stuck with Tofutti Cuties as your only dessert option. Of course, you can always opt for a bag of Uncle Eddie’s, which I also adore. But for those times when you’ve just gotta have a chocolate fix, this bar is it.
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