Can I say that while it may not be the worst, some American manufacturers have managed to let their chocolate taste like cardboard and wax? Was it Hershey's that's become basically tasteless?

Totally agree Alex. U.S. Chocolate is terrible.

I find it surprising that it sells considering how rich yallses freshly made fudge and brownies usually are. It's not like standards for tastyliciousness are that low, even if American pastry is usually a bit too in your face with its lardy sweetness for European tastes.

There are chocolate truffles that you can get from Costco that will kill you they're so good. They're probably not made in the US tho...

Yeah, mainstream US chocolate is pretty dismal. Some of the milk chocolate products are OK for what they are, but the mass produced dark chocolate is just bad.

As with everything else, there's artisan stuff that's the exception to the rule.

Perhaps that's why I prefer milk to dark choc...

(August 19, 2015 at 11:01 pm)Alex K Wrote: I find it surprising that it sells considering how  rich yallses freshly made fudge and brownies usually are. It's not like standards for tastyliciousness are that low, even if American pastry is usually a bit too in your face with its lardy sweetness for European tastes.

I hate quite a few common desserts in the U.S., at least as commonly made.  Many are way too sweet, and have no other prominent flavor.  I liked the deserts I ate when I was in Germany.  They were sweet, but they were not like just eating sugar.

Trader Joe's, a grocery chain in the U.S., used to sell a frozen apple strudel imported from Germany.  It was very good for a frozen desert that one bakes in one's oven.  It was sweet, but one tasted the fruit in it, not just sweetness.  It was also nice that it was fruit that was the dominant flavor, as opposed to some strange chemical taste that is all too often a part of American desserts.  (If one goes to fancy restaurants, then the desserts tend to get better here, but ordinary deserts are often revolting.)  Unfortunately, the last time I looked, they did not seem to be selling it anymore.

Many Americans seem to like having just sweetness.  If I liked that, I would just eat sugar or straight honey, which would be better than many disgusting things that one typically finds.

Anyway, I think the interest in just something sweet explains why bad chocolate sells in the U.S.  All that seems to matter to some people is that the thing in question is very sweet.

It is also worth mentioning that there are a variety of smaller, less famous chocolate and candy makers in the U.S., and not all of them exclusively make revolting things.  Still, the chocolate that I presently have in my home is from Belgium.

I've definitely noticed that my taste in deserts has changed over the last several years. I used to be all about choc-choc-chocolate stuff, but my new favorites are a chocolate ganache with a marionberry glaze that is just to die for, and creme brule. I also need to start ordering lemony desserts more often; I never do but whenever I taste one I always think "why didn't I get this instead?!?"

I like ladoos

The very best dessert in the world is called "serradura" - that translates to sawdust.
It's a layered thing...
Bottom layer: condensed (also known as evaporated) milk and eggs (6 eggs for a ~400g can) - mix the condensed milk with the egg yolks and cook in a pan, slowly so it doesn't stick. Let it boil.
Middle layer: maria cookies - I've found similar in the UK called "rich tea" cookies... I don't know if you have anything like it there in the US... just one layer of cookies - if you're serving it directly on individual cups, just one cookie is enough for each serving.
Top layer: Cream... whipped cream all over the cookies.
And over the whole thing, crumbled maria cookies. You could blend them so you get a fine cookie dust... that's the sawdust!

Here's what a cross section of the thing can look like:


A normal person can only have an individual dose of this. I have two and have trouble reaching the end of my second... but give me half an hour and a few glasses of water... and I'm ready for some more!