Pricewatch product reviews: Dark chocolate

VALRHONA GUANAJA

€4.50 for 70g, €64.28 per kg

Okay, let's deal with the negatives first. This chocolate is not cheap and it is not easy to find. We tracked it down on the top floor of Brown Thomas in Dublin after we had saved up for months to cover the cost. Okay, it is not that dear but it is much more expensive than the Aldi chocolate. It is delicious, however: incredibly smooth, intense and with a wonderful bitterness that the other chocolates just can't match. We find ourselves eating too much of it, and, while we know a couple of squares of dark chocolate are good for us, an entire bar might not have such health benefits.

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Green & Black’s

Verdict: Wonderful. But dear.

Star rating: *****

ARTISAN DU CHOCOLAT ARAUCA

€4.50 for 45g, €100 per kg

At 72 per cent cocoa, this is the darkest of the chocolates we tried. The ingredients come from Colombia and the bars are produced in Bogotá, although the company is based in London. It is not a bad bar of chocolate – it wouldn't want to be, given the price tag – but we don't think it has the complexity of flavours of the Valrhona and there are few circumstances in which we could justify spending €100 on a kilogram of chocolate. At 45g, the bar is very small indeed.

Verdict: Expensive. But not wonderful.

Star rating: **

GREEN & BLACK’S

€2.99 for 100g, €29.90 per kg

This is almost certainly the best-known of the (relatively) high-end dark chocolates on the market. Since the company was taken over by Cadbury almost 10 years ago, the brand has kept growing. It is organic, which may make a difference to some people’s purchasing decisions, and – at least compared with the really fancy options – it seems relatively cheap. It is, however, our least favourite. It lacks the smooth texture and the really bitter edge.

Verdict: An average option.

Star rating: ***

MOSER ROTH DARK CHOCOLATE (ALDI)

€1.19 for 125g, €9.52 per kg

This is a real find. We reckon even the people at Aldi would accept that it is not as good as the dearer chocolates, but it is still very good indeed and great value for money. We like that the chocolate comes in 25g bars, as it helps us with portion control – something we are not always good at. We also like the thinness of the bars. The bitter edge is very much to the fore. We will certainly be going back for more.

Verdict: Great value.

Star rating: *****