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Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Lava BarSometimes I buy chocolate and it melts. Lately that’s been happening a lot. Why not just buy already melted chocolate?
A dear reader sent me an email telling me about this new product called Lava Bar which is just that, liquid chocolate in a pouch. I wrote to the manufacturer and soon I had a few in my hot little hands to try! And this is one case where my hands being hot was not necessarily a bad thing! The Lava Bar is billed as the world’s first liquid chocolate bar. Since you’re probably curious, here are the ingredients: corn syrup, chocolate liquor, sugar, butter, water, high fructose corn syrup, whole dry powdered milk, vanilla extract and salt. Chocolate liquor listed there is not alcoholic, it’s just ground up roasted cocoa beans - it contains both cocoa butter and cocoa solids. So now that we know what’s in there, what’s it like? Well, it’s like brownie batter. Very, very good brownie batter. It’s smooth and thick, but not sticky. The chocolate is very sweet, which is a little disappointing, but has some nice complex flavors. Mostly it’s woodsy notes and some smoke. There’s a little bitterness to it, but I didn’t mind that at all. I don’t know if this could ever replace my desire for a chocolate bar, which has other things to recommend it from a sensual point of view - it’s a solid and then a liquid, you can break off pieces of it and share, you can stack the little pieces up or just admire the unwrapped bar. The dispensing system, which amounts to squeezing the stuff into your mouth is a little odd, too. Unless you squeeze it out and then lick it off, you never really see what you’re eating. The package holds two servings (2.5 ounces) but it’s not that easy to just reseal it for later (I’d recommend a clip or something for that). I think astronauts would love it though (of course M&Ms and Hershey Kisses probably travel well in space, too). The wrapper and website recommend using it as a sauce or dip, which I found much more satisfying. I squeezed a little on pretzels and almonds and found that to be great because I could control the proportions or each element. You can also add it to ice cream or use it in shakes. It’s certainly interesting, but lacked the sort of ultrasmooth true chocolate experience that I was looking for. I think it’s because of the lack of enough cocoa butter ... but if there were more cocoa butter it would be a solid and then it wouldn’t be the Lava Bar. I can see this being a great thing to hike with. You don’t have to worry about it melting, because it already is. As a nutritional replacement ala Chocolate Cliff Shots, it’s got a lot of fat: half the calories are from fat, some solid chocolate have 2/3 of their calories from fat. So if you use it as a sauce to satisfy a craving, this could be a way to keep on a diet. I could see the flavor extensions on this being quite interesting: mint, coffee & dulce de leche. Lava Bars should be showing up in stores soon, or if you can’t wait you can order online.
POSTED BY Cybele AT 6:29 am
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Meticulously photographed and documented reviews of candy from around the world. And the occasional other sweet adventures. Open your mouth, expand your mind.
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steph on 8/30/06 at 7:18 am #
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susan on 10/05/06 at 1:03 pm #
Commenting is not available in this channel entry.this reminds me of the hershey bar that got left in the car yesterday…my son found it and sucked it out of the wrapper!
this reminds me too much of GUs and clif shots (like you mentioned.) those make me gag. ick. so i think i’ll be giving this a miss.
Weird… sound like eating chocolate syrup.
Oh dear it looks messy. That was my first thought, also sucking on a package always seems to get a little unhygenic. Did you get any on your clothes?
This sounds yummy! I care not a whit for hygiene or cleanliness in a good choco fest, just get it in my mouth any way possible! I have begged my boss to install a chocolate fondue fountain in our office to no avail. This looks like a good substitute!
Nice with thick style wholewheat pancakes I’d imagine.
Steph - I guess that’s one of the benefits of the new plastic wrappers ... much harder to do that with the old foil ones!
Pam - I’ve never been able to bring myself to try Gu or Cliff Shots.
Nicole - very similar to syrup, but really more in consistency like frosting or batter.
Leigh - nope, not messy at all. Just the “keep some for later part”. I was carrying it back and forth to work in my bag, so I turned over the top and then stuck it in a ziploc.
As for hygiene, I suppose you could squeeze some out onto a spoon or something instead of sucking on the top. I would definitely recommend that if you’re sharing or saving it for more than a day or two.
Julilla - I was thinking about putting some in a dish and using it as a dip ... but by them I’d eaten too much of it.
GTO - yeah ... they should make a hazelnut version too!
“they should make a hazelnut version too!”
Couldn’t you just zap some Nutella in the microwave for the same effect?
Anyway this doesn’t really appeal to me, especially not for $2 a pop. I’d rather drop that money on a Cafe Tasse bar. This would be awfully hard to share with a friend unless you were REALLY good friends.
That’s an awful lot of corn syrup.
It really is like a bitter tasting hershey’s syrup…I really didnt like this product.
Packaging reminds me of powerbars!
but the taste, you say brownie batter..mmm
I picked one up at Gelsons market in Calabasas. Tasted like smooth creamy fudge. Great product.
I just caught this thread after looking for other places selling lava bars, and I’d like to say that I’ve tried this product, and if you haven’t tried it yet, don’t turn up your noses at it.
I bought it last week online and it’s really a pleasant experience. Besides being fun to eat, it’s filling, too.
Liquid chocolate makes sense to me. I envision hikers and people on the go appreciating a chocolate buzz without having to worry about melted chocolate or the mess. It’s not messy at all. The foil container is a standard item for the same kind of sports gels out on the market today, and hygiene buffs should just bring their wipes with them if they’re going to be so fussy.
Maybe they should make cookie dough, too. That’s another one of my favorites.
Just wanted to let you know that I received my order of lava
bars….ingenious, delicious, decadent…the best chocolate fix I ever had!!
The Lava Bar is great because you just need a little taste to satisfy that craving. Better than eating an entire candy bar and feeling guilty about the calories!
Hey, what a great idea…gourmet deep, dark chocolate in a packet, so you can take it along without worrying about a melted mess. We put the packets on the dashbord of the car, and were rewarded with a melted delight upon tearing open and squezzing out the warm melted delight. It would be really great on ice cream, fruit or anything at all, including a loved one. Beware though, they are addictive, however the other good news is there are no trans fats, so enjoy! Great for a dark chocolate fix anytime or anywhere.
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