Is advent calendar chcoloate special?

December 2, 2005 8:23 AM

Is advent calendar chocolate made using a different process, or different ingredients than your usual chocolate bar chocolate?

It seems to me that Advent Calendar chocolate is much nicer than your bog standard chocolate bar you eat all year round. If it is the same then why does it taste so damn good?

posted by takeyourmedicine to food & drink (16 comments total)

One of the factors is which country it comes from. Europeans use much more cocoa powder than americans. It seems like every country has different percentages.
posted by blue_beetle at 8:25 AM on December 2, 2005

I am sure my Fortnum's advent calendar chocolate is better than a 1.99 Simpsons'.
posted by Frasermoo at 8:35 AM on December 2, 2005

Unless your advent calender is from the same company, and is the same kind (milk, semisweet, dark, etc) as your "bog standard chocolate bar", it's probably got different ingredients or different proportions of the same ingredients.

Different candy makers use different kinds of cocoa beans, different flavorings, different proportions of chocolate to sweetener, etc. (That's why Nestle chocolate tastes different than Hershey's chocolate, which tastes different than Droste, which tastes different than Ghiradelli, etc, etc.)

It's also possible that the advent calendar chocolate is fresher than your "bog standard" chocolate.
posted by jlkr at 8:40 AM on December 2, 2005

It's also possible that the advent calendar chocolate is fresher than your "bog standard" chocolate.

Not sure I agree with that. I would imagine that advent calendars are made in huge bulk way ahead of time to cope with the small window of sales time, whereas your standard choccy bars are manufactured and shipped to more precise 'just-in-time' methods.. which of course means nothing if your shopkeeper has stock in the back from months ago.
posted by Frasermoo at 8:44 AM on December 2, 2005

There might also be something in the fact you only get a little teaser taste, rather than the meals worth you get in a bar.
posted by Frasermoo at 8:48 AM on December 2, 2005

Relatedly, can anyone suggest a good place to get a good Advent calendar? The Trader Joe's one I got last year was pretty gacky. Is there a place I can quickly get a "fancy chocolate" advent calendar?
posted by neustile at 9:03 AM on December 2, 2005

I think it's that advent calendars use really crap chocolate and that the taste is different and just appeals to some people. I can appreciate the difference in taste while knowing that it will never replace Green & Black's cherry in my heart of hearts. Also I think the advent calendar chocolate evokes nostalgia for the taste from childhood, just as getting the calendar itself does. This may have positive impacts on the taster's perception.
posted by biffa at 9:06 AM on December 2, 2005

Here are some ideas for (hopefully) tasty advent calendars: harry & david, liquer-filled (doesn't ship to some states).

A moonstruck chocolate advent calendar seems to be the most pimped-out version I can find, but sadly it's sold out. I did find this retailer that seemingly has it in stock but errors on the page prevent me from putting it into a shopping cart. Perhaps you, or some nerd friends can help. Maybe they take phone orders. Good luck.
posted by cior at 9:37 AM on December 2, 2005

Best thing I can come up with is to buy your own non-disposable advent calendar and then fill it with Lindt.
posted by cior at 9:58 AM on December 2, 2005

As a European I'd say advent calendar chocolate is a lot worse than the regular.. but I've eaten enough poor American chocolate to know it's probably the other way round in the US.

Logically, it makes more sense to put lower grade chocolate in an advent calendar, as an advent calendar isn't bought for the chocolate.
posted by wackybrit at 10:05 AM on December 2, 2005

Growing up we always rated chocolate on a scale from "calendar chocolate" to "excellent". The calendar chocolate has always been synonymous with bad - really bad.

However, I have been meeting people lately who have professed to loving the calendar chocolate, so I tried it again. I'm not sure it's even chocolate, to be honest. Maybe it's just candle wax mixed with rancid vegetable oil. I'm biased, however. I generally like 70%+ dark chocolate. Right now I'm eating a Valrhona 85%. yum.
posted by tom_g at 10:33 AM on December 2, 2005

Some people genuinely like cheap, waxy chocolate. Most Advent calendars (that is, all but the brand-name chocolate ones) use cheap chocolate.

I'm interested to see how many people like Lindt. it's not really very high-quality chocolate, either. It's very fatty -- they use a ton of cocoa butter.
posted by Miko at 12:24 PM on December 2, 2005

Depends entirely on the calendar. The flimsy-paper kind probably have chocolate that's worse than the usual. A nicer kind with better pictures and glossy cardboard may have nicer chocolate. Or perhaps it's reversed -- they've spent all their money on good printing and don't have enough for good chocolate.

Advent-calendar chocolate may also come from the country where the calendars are assembled. This would make it taste different from what you're used to.

I have a reusable one that's filled with stuff I like. I wouldn't be adverse to filling it with Lindt's little Lindor truffles (I like those a lot, but mostly for the fillings). However, it's filled with Hershey's. I like plain old Hershey bars, so you can tell I have no taste whatsoever, but these are mint Hershey minibars and kisses. Also, mint M&Ms, which I firmly maintain are the best chocolate possible.
posted by booksandlibretti at 1:30 PM on December 2, 2005

I like plain old Hershey bars, so you can tell I have no taste whatsoever

Funny, booksandlibretti, I was just doing some reading about chocolate tasting and evaluation. It turns out that a sizeable number of chocolate experts have good things to say about Hershey's. Although no one would call it a truly fine chocolate, many people enjoy its slightly grainy texture, pronounced milk flavor, and crisp 'snap' when bitten. It carries a nice strong cocoa flavor and is well balanced overall.

These are the same people who hand a ration to Lindt, Nestle's, and those horrible generic Christmas-ornament-shaped deals. So congratulate yourself on your innate good taste and enjoy that Hershey's.
posted by Miko at 2:53 PM on December 2, 2005

Wow, Miko, that's interesting! I figured it would be typical mass-market crap. Those are all definitely things I enjoy about Hershey's, but to derail farther, I have to confess that my favorite identifiable thing about Hershey's is one of its unique properties.

To get this to work properly, you need the old-school bar of plain old milk chocolate, the kind that used to come in the brown sleeve with the foil (don't get me started about the change).

Next time you have one, break off a square. With a corner of that square, you can draw and write on the back of the rest of the bar!

And then you can eat it all.
posted by booksandlibretti at 4:11 PM on December 2, 2005

Calendar chocolate is generally compound chocolate, which means the base is generic vegetable fats rather than cocoa butter. That makes it hard, waxy, pale and disgusting. It will usually turn white powdery/gritty at the slightest excuse.

It's not even chocolate, really. Just a brown solid that happens to contain a small percentage of cocoa solids.
posted by polyglot at 5:36 AM on December 3, 2005