Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Villars Swiss Milk Chocolate

Candy Blog reader Karen clued me in to Villars bars. I had no idea these Swiss-style milk chocolate bars had MALT in them! I’ve seen them at the checkout at Trader Joe’s for some time, but the old-fashioned looking packaging just didn’t grab me.

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Don’t be misled - they’re not malted milk bars or anything, must sweet, creamy Swiss milk chocolate with a little hint of malt. If I didn’t know better, I would have said it was hazelnut, but it’s definitely a malty quality.

The packaging is quite nice, a decorated box with a flip and tuck top for storing uneaten portions and the bar itself is cloaked in thin aluminum foil. A little thin for my taste, but it’s nicely designed with large and flat with flowers inside each of the squares (I’m going to say they’re edelweiss). This chocolate doesn’t have that cloying dairy flavor that some other Swiss chocolates have but it is creamy and certainly melts easily.

I ate the bar pretty quickly as it was hot this weekend and for most of the time it was the consistency of fudge because it was about 90 degress in my house. Instead of breaking off small pieces (after I’d broken into big ones for the photograph while it was still cool in the morning), the bar pretty much bent or tore. Holding the pieces in the heat was dicey too, as they got very slippery.

I fear that chocolate must be put aside for the rest of the summer or reserved for the early morning cool.

But back to the chocolate bar! It’s a great deal for a Swiss style chocolate with a more interesting malty hit than you might be used to. If you’ve got a Trader Joe’s around you, pick one up. They also have a dark bar (no malt) and a hazelnut bar (which I’ll be trying after it cools off).

Name: Villars Swiss Milk Chocolate
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Villars
Place Purchased: Trader Joe's
Price: $1.69
Size: 3.5 ounces
Calories per ounce: 157
Categories: Chocolate, Switzerland, Malt

POSTED BY Cybele AT 6:10 am Tracker Pixel for Entry    

Comments
  1. Similar in flatness to Cadbury’s “Animal” bar. They just fall apart in warm weather, the slightest bit of warmth and their all over the place, rendering the point of having animal designs on the bar, pointless.

    Comment by GTO on 7/11/06 at 8:17 am #
  2. Glad you likey.  The Hazelnut bar is particularly good, too (if you like hazelnuts), as it is chock full of them.  (30% hazelnuts if you believe the packaging).  It is so yummy.

    Villars may be the only brand whose milk chocolate I prefer to their dark, as I’m a dark chocolate fiend.  The time I tried it I found it a bit sweet and not nearly as compelling.  I had no temptation to buy it again.  I’ll be interesting in hearing others thoughts.

    Comment by Karen on 7/11/06 at 10:28 am #
  3. Edelweiss correctly identified!

    Comment by Kikishua on 7/11/06 at 10:32 am #
  4. If you’re not near a Trader Joe’s, I believe Chocosphere.com also sells Villars.

    Comment by Karen on 7/11/06 at 5:22 pm #
  5. I am looking for Villars Larmes d’Edelweiss.  Anyone know where to find in U.S. ?

    Comment by Karen on 7/30/06 at 6:36 am #
  6. As a chocolate hound for 50 years, I only learned this year that “alpine milk” meant they can use the whole milk and even creme in the making because of the high altitude.  Rather than powdered or dried milks as in most milk chocolate.  Ritter Sport was the only alpine milk brand I could find in retailers, and Trader Joe’s other milk choco’s were definitely not “alpine.”

    But this Villars bar is, and I like it more than Ritter Sport.  Less “cloying” or sticky on the pallette, and a tiny bit more cocoa.  NOT as sweet as the American milks, starting with Hershey’s.  I give it a 10, or “superb.”

    Comment by David Pearson on 9/22/07 at 7:14 pm #
  7. Hello!  I am also looking for the Villars Larmes d’Edelweiss! I picked some up in Appenzell,Switzerland this September and can’t find it anywhere to purchase in teh states- I want more and have friends and co-wrkers asking for it as well!
    I have the empty box in my hand right now- my drool is staining the box.  PLease anyone let me know if you find it or have a lead for me?  THank you much!

    Comment by Michelle on 11/24/07 at 4:13 pm #
  8. Completely agree with Karen, above. The Villars Milk chocolate is superb, yet their dark chocolate bar only ordinary… odd.  The hazelnut bar is absolutely gorgeous, and great value! This, and Scharffen Berger 41% Milk, are my favorite milk chocolates. And I generally only like dark.

    Comment by Sandra on 7/02/08 at 7:45 am #
  9. Villard is NO longer at Trader Joe.
    Where can I find it in USA ?
    The one replacing Villard at Trader Joe taste like Milka, a cheap swiss chocolat ( tasting more like Hershey ) and in Switzerland is distruted by Migros, and in US under the name Milka at World Market
    Thanks

    Comment by Michel on 2/14/09 at 1:16 pm #
  10. Michel-

    My Trader Joe’s (Seattle, so the Western region) still stocks Villars bars in four varieties (milk, dark, milk/hazelnut, and dark/hazelnut). They are now in brightly-colored Trader Joe’s brand wrappers, labeled “Trader Joe’s Swiss (blank) Chocolate”. But when you open them, they are still the same Villars chocolates with the same flower logo stamped into them.

    Comment by Cat on 3/02/09 at 7:16 pm #
  11. To those in search of Villars…

    I found Villars at Harris Teeter in the cheese section, of all places (up high, a bit above the cheeses).  I am trying to do a dairy-free diet, so I bought the 72% dark and LOVE IT.  I did a taste test comparison against Trader Joe’s “imported from Belgium” 72% Cacao Dark Chocolate, and there simply was no comparison.  Delicious!

    Comment by Tammy on 5/15/09 at 3:32 pm #
  12. A VILLARS CHOCOLATE HEADS UP!!!  New Yorkers!!!  Jack’s 99c on 40th Street btwn Fifth and Madison Aves has the Villars Milk Chocolate and White Chocolate bars for 99c.  They are in a bin just to the right of the 40th Street entrance as of today.  I haven’t checked their 32nd St/Sixth Ave store or the 45th St/Fifth Ave store yet.  I do prefer Lindt but for a buck, the Villars def beats any mass market wax-filled american brand.

    Comment by Leo on 3/18/10 at 1:08 pm #
  13. Cybele's avatar

    Leo - I appreciate your enthusiasm and help in spreading the word on a great deal.

    Just a note though - American chocolate is not filled with wax. (Some panned candies have a carnauba wax glaze but as a rule no chocolate sold in the US can contain wax as a filler. That doesn’t mean that the texture can’t be waxy ... that’s a whole different matter about cheap ingredients & processing.)

    Comment by Cybele on 3/18/10 at 1:11 pm #
  14. Ok I recently got addicted to Villars milk chocolate and now I can’t find it anymore. I am in Fort Worth,TX. There is a discount food outlet store that we go to every once in a while. They carry discontinued foods, restaurant, and grocery store overstock. I found villars there. They were 2 bars for $1. At first I only bought a couple. Then I went back and bought more. Anyway this past visit they no longer had anymore left. Now I don’t know where to find them. Now I wish I bought more.

    Comment by Kimberly on 11/06/10 at 7:06 pm #
  15. No, Lindt really does taste like it’s made from wax though, even if it’s not wink Can’t stand it, everyone in my family thinks i’m bonkers lol.

    Comment by Yurei on 11/08/10 at 5:32 pm #
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