The last handful of weeks has been busy and stressful. I have a dozen irons in the fire and just haven't been able to find the time to take care of some of the 'less important' things like blogging. And while I haven't been writing about chocolate as much chocolate has helped me deal with all of the stress and confusion. Well, tonight I reached into my review stack (which I found buried under a pile of literature on rabbits while trying to restore some sense of order to my horribly messy world) and pulled out something I can't believe I haven't taken the time to try yet: the Green & Black's Organic Ginger bar.

The idea of ginger and chocolate playing together is really rather a new one for me. I had seen the Chocolove Crystallized Ginger in Dark Chocolate bar at Wild Oats but had never bothered to pick one up, sticking instead to the straight dark chocolate bars. It wasn't until Whole Foods opened up almost next door to me that I gave the bar a try. There were a pair of people from Chocolove in the store on opening day handing out samples and I'm really not one to shy away from free chocolate, especially when it's from a company I love. They gave me a piece of the crystallized ginger bar and it blew me away. The bar has been one of my favorites ever since. Okay, yeah, it's only been a few months, but it's still one of my favorites. So when I saw that Green & Black's had a ginger bar as well I resolved to give it a try.

The first impression Ithe bar gives is in the aroma - you can smell the ginger in it. The taste opens up with what I consider the Green & Black taste. There is something about Green & Black's chocolate that - at least to me - is unique to them and very easy to spot. I don't really know how to describe it other than that it's an earthy organic flavor (oh, that sounds like a cop out - saying "boy that organic chocolate tastes organic" ^^). This bar has that characteristic taste to it and it takes a moment for the ginger to make it's presence known. Once it does it's nice and tangy and spicy. It's really a very balanced bar. It isn't overly sweet and the ginger isn't overpowering and between the earthy chocolate and the warm spicy ginger you get a really nice chocolate experience. I think that the ginger not being too sweet really makes it a good match to the chocolate.

It's funny - when I first tasted the bar I mentally compared it to the Chocolove bar that I so enjoy and thought to myself that I just didn't like it. It wasn't as sweet and mellow. It was darker and spicier and it just didn't sit well with me at first. Once I got past the comparison and started to just absent-mindedly eat the bar I found it to be very enjoyable. It's different from the bar I love but different isn't to be confused with bad (oops, that's just what I did). I think this is a bar that I'll have to be in the mood for, but it's one I know I'll be in the mood for again. The only complaint I have about the bar is that it sort of stings my throat a little. Don't know why that is or what precisely it means, but if I have something to drink along with it or have small enough servings of it (and that is easy for me - a 3.5oz bar like this one lasts me a week) I won't have any problems. I'm running with a solid 8.75 out of 10. Good stuff. It's one of the flavors of ice cream they offer as well. Not that I can get their ice cream or anything, but I can dream.