I always love to find an organic alternative and especially when it comes to candies and/or chocolates. So many chocolates are so sugary and sweet that the last thing you can actually taste is the chocolate itself.
Betty Lou's was running a nice little promotion via Facebook where if you entered your information, they would send you an item for free in exchange for a review. It's chocolate so I was game!
Soon after a candy bar arrives via mail and with California's hot weather, I was worried it wouldn't be intact but miraculously it was. I see it says dark chocolate that it has a rich cocoa and almond center, so I'm thinking it's like a truffle bar and just richly filled with goodness. Being that it was early in the day and I'm an advocate that chocolate is good at anytime, I figured I wait and split the bar with my Husband later in the evening.
We have dinner and we are a "sweets family", so we always end our meals with a small treat. I take out Betty Lou's Angell bar and split it in half. I noticed the center of the bar, which stated was rich in cocoa and almond.....is not really visible to the eye and the nut pieces are spread throughout the bar. No matter, I take a bite.
Hmmmm......I don't taste a rich dark chocolate outer layer or a rich center of cocoa at all and especially with it listing 72% on the packaging. My mouth fills with grit textured pieces that when I can focus on catching one, I decide to check-it out because I don't taste almond. I also have not chewed sufficiently for the product to be this minced. Sometimes chocolate is not tempered right and maybe this why there is no center, maybe it got lost through out the bar versus staying where it should. I notice what I see is not what it should be, almond. It's texture is to mush-like and flexible to be a hard nut that resembles almond so I do what I should have done before, check the label with the list of ingredients.
The label starts with organic chocolate, cocoa butter, organic soy lecithin, organic tapioca syrup, followed by organic almonds and then the culprit......organic gluten-free OATS! Okay, it may be organic in nature but a filler even though it's not positioned in the center of the bar, is a filler nonetheless. That grit that does not taste like a nut are minced up oats. Not what I expected and even if I get past the unfavorable texture, the flavor is not desirable. The chocolate's intensity is just not present and after my first bite, I jumped ship and in my chocolate world, this is a rare action in my part. My Husband who is a severe chocoholic than I am, finished his 1/4 piece but said, "I'm not finishing it......something is really off".
I wanted to love Betty Lou and her chocolate because we are so limited in selections at the market, which then means I have to drive over to Sprout's or Trader Joe's to find a good quality product through and through. I am for organic products but origin is one thing that should not alter taste. Most time organic products have delivered incredible results and especially if you get Fair Trade labeled products. I don't like blogging with the intent to share something negative about a brand and product. This is the only Betty Lou product I have tasted and unfortunately it just was not a favorable experience. I saw they carry an array of goods from even powdered peanut butter, a product that I have been super curious about and I hope to taste and flip this review from a :( to a :).
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The above product was sent free of charge from Betty Lou. I am not obligated in providing a favorable/positive review, just my honest opinion. My review is based on my experience with the product, which may differ from yours.
