Chocolove: Crystallized Ginger

My friend Codey bought this bar for me -- somewhere in Bronxville or Yonkers, I'm guessing. There IS a poem inside, and it's by Shakespeare. I've had a lot of Chocolove bars in my day, but I don't think I've reviewed one on this blog yet. Here it begins -- some stats:

Chocolove: Ginger Crystallized in Dark Chocolate

Cocoa content: 65%

Notable ingredients: crystallized ginger

Origin: Should I discontinue this category? Blend, Belgian chocolate, made in Colorado

What is up with the name of this chocolate? Why is it called Ginger Crystallized in Dark Chocolate? What would that even mean? There is definitely crystallized ginger in here, but it was already like that when it went into the blend. I'm guessing. The packaging is, otherwise, cute and green, and there is a little stamp in the upper right-hand corner (can you make it out?) with a picture of a ginger root.

I have long been a fan of ginger. I like crystallized ginger and ginger hard candies and ginger tea and raw ginger root -- the only thing I don't like is pickled ginger. Ginger is good with chocolate the same way chili is good with chocolate -- the spice is mitigated by the fullness of dark, but the warmth adds a lot to the taste. Padma Lakshmi would call this the "flavor profile."

And Chocolove does the crystallized ginger thing really well. Not quite as well as Green & Blacks, maybe, which uses a sweeter 60%, but in some ways better because the ginger is chunkier and thus more sticky. I know, I know: I was singing a different tune when I ate Green & Blacks Cherry a few weeks ago. But the ginger in this bar doesn't interfere with the perforations at all, nor does it overwhelm the taste of the chocolate in any way. I like this bar very much. I award it an A-.