Christopher Elbow: No. 6: Dark Rocks

This bar cost me a whopping $6.99 (before tax!) at Food Emporium, Union Sq. But since I don't spend money on anything else really, and because this bar has POP ROCKS in it, I thought: why not? Here is what this bar is all about:

Christopher Elbow: No. 6: Dark Rocks

Cocoa content: 61%

Notable ingredients: "popping candy (sugar)"

Origin: Not at all. Blend, American company

This bar is funny in a way that the Ritter Sport Cornflakes bar was not, because Christopher Elbow is one of the classier American chocolatiers. Elbow, who usually works with high-content Venezuelan beans and sensual spice blends, dips into the low-brow scene with this, his bar no. 6. 

Make no mistake: popping candy means Pop Rocks, those flaky little carbonated crackling candies that, if consumed with Coke, would kill you or give you an abortion or something -- I don't quite remember. Anyway, those were eaten out of a bag, and these have been mixed into some of the finest chocolate made in the country. The result is mixed. The pop rocks themselves were unevenly dispersed: in my first few bites, I felt only a subtle crackling post-chew. In some bites to follow, I heard and felt a loud, satisfying pop almost instantly upon biting into the chocolate.

I cannot tell a lie: it was mad fun. But the suspense that the popping candies created kind of distracted from the chocolate, and when I made a point of paying attention to the chocolate, I was still annoyed by the crackling: I've always been unusually sensitive to carbonation, but I feel like even those who enjoy fizzy soda would agree that the popping sensation is incompatible with fatty, thick, or melting things. 

That said, what I enjoyed about this bar is what I enjoyed last time I ate one of Christopher Elbow's creations, his no. 2. The snap is sharp and the beans fruity, sweet. The packaging is really beautiful and everyone I gave a piece to enjoyed it: fun times all around! I give it a B.