Craving Chocolate?

Coke vs. Pepsi, Democrat vs. Republican, Protestant vs. Catholic… all important divergences of thought, but they pale beside one important issue:

The world’s best chocolate.

Full disclosure: I’m not a chocoholic. If I want a treat, vanilla ice cream beats chocolate 99% of the time. But every now and then, if I want chocolate, I want it to be good. None of this waxy gritty bland stale nonsense. So I asked: what’s the best chocolate? – and here’s what I got.

• @CorinneAM Definitely Lake Champlain (@LCChocolates) and Max Brenner. I finished the fondue at Max Brenner‘s with a spoon. #noshame
• @Simon_V_RadioDJ Cadbury‘s Caramel mixed with Cadbury’s Fudge. Fruit & nut with Baileys ice cream.
• @CSSully M&M’s all the way. Behind that, an old-school Hershey’s bar is hard to beat. Hershey Kisses probably come in third.
• Erin Valrhona Manjari. Best chocolate in the world. Period.
• Jacqueline Probably not really defined as “chocolate” (not a huge chocolate fan) but Nutella is my favorite. It is a staple in our house and it is illegal to run out of it!
• Erin Dairy Milk from New Zealand. Or anything dark.
• Robin Maybe not entirely chocolate, but mint chocolate chip ice cream from Baskin-Robbins is awesome. And for those local to Rockville, Maryland, very few things beat the chocolate everything ice at Carmen’s Italian Ice & Cafe.
• Steve The original Mars bar.
• Aimee Vosges Aztec bar is one of my favorites. Peanut M&Ms and buckeyes.
• Donna My favorite is the Milky Way bar! It doesn’t take much to make me happy!
• Wendy Green and Black’s Maya Gold is a favorite. I can’t recall the brand, but I recently bought a bar of dark chocolate with cherries and cayenne, and it was fantastic. For bonbons, I like Chocolaterie Stam and Vosges.
• Maria When Chris’s brother was in London, he bought me Cadbury Dairy Milk. So delicious. They sell it at Wegmans, but it isn’t the same.
• Alexis La Maison du Chocolat, next time you’re in NYC. And chocolate from Belgium. (Did you know that Godiva in Brussels tastes different than Godiva in the U.S.? It’s a different recipe.) I love Leonidas for fun and Pierre Marcolini for luxury. Even Neuhaus tastes better there.
• Susan Dark chocolate covered pretzels from the candy store in Smithville.
• Brenda Cadbury Mini Eggs.
• Heather Lindt directly from the outlet store in Lachen, Switzerland! Yum. O.

I second the votes for Vosges and for ex-U.S. chocolate (it really is different), and I’d add Ethel M. (high-end M&M), Gertrude Hawk, Antoinette Chocolatier and The Fudge Shoppe. Have we left any out?