So I am recently back from a lovely trip in Eastern Europe with my friend Chava, where we visited both Berlin and Krakow, stuffed ourselves on pretzels and pierogis, stayed in a caravan, and took advantage of nearly every mode of transport each city had to offer, being the transportation planner nerds we are. Ah, it's nice to be amongst your people. :P But on to the important bit - how was the chocolate?
I skipped reviewing anything in Germany, as I had done such a thorough job last time, but never fear, dear reader - I ATE an awful lot. Highlights include Neideregger marzipan and dark chocolate hearts and the amazing array of Easter candy on offer - the chocolate section at KaDeWe put the English Easter chocolate onslaught to shame. I briefly considered bringing back a 2-foot tall chocolate bunny, but then thought that my suitcase capacity could be put to better use (and it was - who knew instant packets of zurek could taste so so good)?
As Poland is a new addition to my list of countries reviewed, I got not one but two bars to review - a 3 Bit and a Pawatek – so far, so good. And it seemed fitting to get the 'official candy bar of Euro 2012' (or at least this is what my rudimentary translation led me to believe - I also think I could win tickets if I was clever enough to learn Polish), as wherever we went in Poland seemed to be frantically putting the last touches on all the new infrastructure before being flooded with tourists this June.
The 3 Bit was the first experiment, and at first it all seemed to be going well. Nice thick milk chocolate on the outside, nice crunchy biscuit base...all ruined by the layer of white chocolate in between the two. Ew. Why does all cheap white chocolate only taste of vegetable oil? I was hoping it was some kind of marshmallow goodness, but it only disappointed in a big way. I swiftly gave this one up to the team to share, and desperately tried to get the taste of white chocolate and disgust out of my mouth. Further disappointments when I turned the bar over to see that it was actually made in Budapest, not Poland, and by Kraft, no less. Blargh. 1 bar, if only for the bits that weren't ruined by the white chocolate.
The next bar seemed a little more promising. It was made by Wawel, which in addition to being fun to say, is the name of the castle Krakow is built around, and seems to be an older candy company (again, based off my rudimentary Polish-to-English skills). This was far better. The bar had a nicely substantial outer coating of milk chocolate, with a smooth, intensely fruity filling that was the same kind of intense pinky-red as my parents' dining room, for those of you who have seen it. Some Google Translate help allowed me to identify the filling as cherry, although it could just as easily been strawberry or raspberry. In any case, it had that vaguely alcoholic twinge I remember from Barb’s grab bags of Polish candies, helpfully supplied by her mother when we were in college. The Pawatek very nostalgically reminded me of this taste of exoticness – if Eastern Europe can be considered exotic! I could probably eat about half of this bar at a time, but very nice indeed - 3 bars.
Eating the official candy of Euro 2012 inspired me to create my own league table for my random sampling of European candies tested so far. Let's see how they all add up:
Sweden: 3.5
Denmark: 2
Germany: 3.5
France: 3.5
England: too lazy to average them all, will go with 3 to be safe.
Ireland: 4
Italy:1
Switzerland: 3
Latvia:4
Poland: 2 (combined score)
So, Ireland and Latvia emerge as the surprise leaders (bet you won't be seeing anything like this in the actual European Championships). If anything, this made me realise how many more European countries I need to eat chocolate in. Onwards!
I skipped reviewing anything in Germany, as I had done such a thorough job last time, but never fear, dear reader - I ATE an awful lot. Highlights include Neideregger marzipan and dark chocolate hearts and the amazing array of Easter candy on offer - the chocolate section at KaDeWe put the English Easter chocolate onslaught to shame. I briefly considered bringing back a 2-foot tall chocolate bunny, but then thought that my suitcase capacity could be put to better use (and it was - who knew instant packets of zurek could taste so so good)?
As Poland is a new addition to my list of countries reviewed, I got not one but two bars to review - a 3 Bit and a Pawatek – so far, so good. And it seemed fitting to get the 'official candy bar of Euro 2012' (or at least this is what my rudimentary translation led me to believe - I also think I could win tickets if I was clever enough to learn Polish), as wherever we went in Poland seemed to be frantically putting the last touches on all the new infrastructure before being flooded with tourists this June.
The 3 Bit was the first experiment, and at first it all seemed to be going well. Nice thick milk chocolate on the outside, nice crunchy biscuit base...all ruined by the layer of white chocolate in between the two. Ew. Why does all cheap white chocolate only taste of vegetable oil? I was hoping it was some kind of marshmallow goodness, but it only disappointed in a big way. I swiftly gave this one up to the team to share, and desperately tried to get the taste of white chocolate and disgust out of my mouth. Further disappointments when I turned the bar over to see that it was actually made in Budapest, not Poland, and by Kraft, no less. Blargh. 1 bar, if only for the bits that weren't ruined by the white chocolate.
The next bar seemed a little more promising. It was made by Wawel, which in addition to being fun to say, is the name of the castle Krakow is built around, and seems to be an older candy company (again, based off my rudimentary Polish-to-English skills). This was far better. The bar had a nicely substantial outer coating of milk chocolate, with a smooth, intensely fruity filling that was the same kind of intense pinky-red as my parents' dining room, for those of you who have seen it. Some Google Translate help allowed me to identify the filling as cherry, although it could just as easily been strawberry or raspberry. In any case, it had that vaguely alcoholic twinge I remember from Barb’s grab bags of Polish candies, helpfully supplied by her mother when we were in college. The Pawatek very nostalgically reminded me of this taste of exoticness – if Eastern Europe can be considered exotic! I could probably eat about half of this bar at a time, but very nice indeed - 3 bars.
Eating the official candy of Euro 2012 inspired me to create my own league table for my random sampling of European candies tested so far. Let's see how they all add up:
Sweden: 3.5
Denmark: 2
Germany: 3.5
France: 3.5
England: too lazy to average them all, will go with 3 to be safe.
Ireland: 4
Italy:1
Switzerland: 3
Latvia:4
Poland: 2 (combined score)
So, Ireland and Latvia emerge as the surprise leaders (bet you won't be seeing anything like this in the actual European Championships). If anything, this made me realise how many more European countries I need to eat chocolate in. Onwards!
Bar-o-Meter
