[DoctorEldritch]

@DracoTarot Chocolate moose is tasty as well, but different in the sense that it needs eggs (and in some recipe variations other ingredients like butter). That is important to that "fluffy" texture of the moose but dilutes the chocolate itself.

There is an Italian version of chocolate from my childhood. @Ken3cento may know more about it, but from what I could find, in that version sugar is used as a sweetener, and corn starch for thickness.

Not the case for the chocolate we make, we go for as much purity as possible. In my country, that hot chocolate is made by melting milk chocolate bars in a pan and mixing it with milk (or cream) and highly concentrated chocolate powder, to preserve the chocolate percentage as much as possible. The result is thick but drinkable semi-liquid, with a very rich chocolate taste and distinct notes of bitterness and mild acidity associated with proper dark chocolate.

Ah, even remembering that flavour is almost tasty... 😋

[DracoTarot]

@DoctorEldritch I do not mind how the chocolate is prepared and not really picky. If it has chocolate I'm happy. 😊

Dark chocolate is of course my favoured of them all. I also like to take plain yoghurt and mix it with chocolate. Plain yoghurt breaks the sweetness a little especially if I'm adding caramel bars to the mixture.

[DoctorEldritch]

@DracoTarot I wish I could share your outlook, but I've been a victim of the winds of change. We had a chocolate factory back in my homeland that used to make quite tasty chocolate, but then it changed ownership, and I am not sure what they did, but it does not take that good anymore.

Could be just nostalgia talking, but I think they replaced some ingredients with cheaper substitutes. So since then, simply having chocolate in something is no longer good enough for me, it has to be good quality and high purity chocolate to make me happy.

About yogurt, do you mean the Greek one?

[DracoTarot]

@DoctorEldritch I also experienced the same with various products and not only chocolate. I guess the original recipe will move on with the precious owners. Maybe they don't want to share the secret recipes.

I always make sure I buy a specific brand and also tested a few I've shortlisted. I haven't noticed any difference lately from the manufacturers.

Yes, plain old Greek yoghurt. Some brands have a little bitterness to it and it helps to rid the chocolate of sweetness. Even plain vanilla ice cream does the job but then I will add Orio cookies into the mix.

[DoctorEldritch]

@DracoTarot I thought the whole point of buying the factory brand was to buy rights that extend to the brand's products as well, the patented recipes and formulas, and so forth. But really, I am not sure how it all works these days. I just know that the taste is not the same.

But it is the case for many products from my homeland. The Soviet Union, for all its faults, had a decent quality control system in place, and during that time the produce was better, and it dragged on for a while after it collapsed, too. But then gradually more and more products started to either change or disappear. Sad but true.

Greek yogurt is a bit too sour for me to enjoy with chocolate, I'm afraid. The proper dark chocolate is acidic on its own, if I try to mix those two, it is a bit of an overload for my taste buds. Maybe if I tried sweeter chocolate it would work better.

[DracoTarot]

@DoctorEldritch It seems it doesn't always happen and the new owners decide to rebrand some products. They want to be unique in their own way. Sometimes it works or fails miserably.

In SA products are becoming smaller and less tastier. Quality seem to have gone out the door. Nothing is the same that's why I'm so picky when buying groceries. If I cant find the specific chocolates I'm looking for in one shop, I will go to another.

I do like trying out new products but a sample is needed beforehand to make up my mind. Otherwise I'll just skip it all together.

I forgot to mention when having dark chocolate with the yogurt I would also add a pinch of salt. It helps with the sourness. Sometimes the yogurt doesn't even have any taste at all depending on the brand. It tastes plain and dull.

[DoctorEldritch]

Well, the fact that the factory changed owners is a bit of an open secret this time. It was not announced publically almost at all, but everyone knew anyway, workers told their families and friends, and so forth. So it is not the case of "Try our new and improved classic". Seems just a plain simple money-saving thing.

And it is not just SA, I'm afraid. Some of the products I loved disappeared over the recent years. In the theme of this discussion, Gu company used to make a very nice chocolate torte:



It was so good, moist and rich in flavor. But they stopped, and I can't find something similar anymore. Sad.

Salt may help, though maybe it will be easier to stick to a good old simple chocolate bar.