Candy Bar Lab

Whatchamacallit brings back memories of my 80’s childhood. Not because I actually ate many of them, but because I can remember those cheesy ads I used to see on TV. Back then, Hershey’s actually used real chocolate to cover this product. Sadly, today they use vegetables oils instead of cocoa butter because it’s cheaper and therefore, print “chocolately coating” on the packaging.

Structure
A peanut flavored crispy interior topped with a layer of caramel and enrobed in a milk chocolate coating.

Texture
The crispy center reminds me of Cheetos. Ok, that sounds weird, but imagine a Cheeto without any cheese on it. That’s what I thought of when biting into the center. Sadly, but expectantly, the chocolate coating is gritty. I wish I could go back and sample this Hershey’s product with real chocolate. The chewy caramel layer works nicely to provide some balance and depth to the texture of the bar.

Taste
The Whatchamacallit flavor experience is packed with sugary sweetness and vanilla. There’s really no chocolate flavor to be found, which is sad considering that I carefully taste candy bars looking for flavors. The caramel has a bit of saltiness, which cuts the sweetness a little, but it also has an artificial caramel taste that isn’t very pleasant.

Verdict
After I was done, I figured out what this candy bar reminded me of; these big tins of chocolate drizzled caramel popcorn my dad used to get for Christmas. I used to love that stuff. However, these days I’m not a fan of Whatchamacallits.

I received this bar as an Easter gift a while ago, but with so many candy bars lying around in my place waiting to be reviewed, it’s taken me a while to get to this one. I see these Chocolove bars all the time at Target, but since I actually don’t like the packaging design, I’m never tempted to buy them. If I hadn’t received this as a gift, I probably wouldn’t have picked it up for myself. Of course, I’m happy to try out any new candy bars and this is no exception.

Structure
It’s 18 segments of molded dark chocolate with pieces of toasted almonds and dried cherries mixed in.

Texture
The first thing you’ll notice is the strong snap to the chocolate when you bite in. It’s definitely one of the best tempered chocolates I’ve had. The almonds are chopped up pretty small and are toasted well, so they have a nice crunch. The dried cherries are a little chewy and stuck to my teeth after the chocolate had melted away.

Taste
You can taste right away that the Belgian dark chocolate is high quality. It’s only 55% cocoa, so it’s fairly sweet for dark chocolate, which is good because it counteracts the slight sourness of the dried cherries. The toasted almonds have a nice subtle flavor that complements the other components well.

Verdict
I didn’t love the dried cherries and would have enjoyed the bar more without them. Even so, this is a quality candy bar that I thoroughly enjoyed. I’m anxious to taste some of Chocolove’s other varieties. In fact, I have a Crystallized Ginger in Dark Chocolate bar sitting around that I’ll have to try out soon.