Candy Review Monday: Ritter Sport Dark Chocolate with Marzipan
Before Friday I had only ever seen Ritter Sports online. These square German candy bars aren't available at any health food or grocery stores in my area, but while I was at the farmer's market I spotted them in a display case at a German deli. I'd never even given the place a second look before, since they mostly sell meat and other extremely non-vegan items. But the lure of bright red packaging and the promise of chocolate covered marzipan were too much to resist; I plunked down $2.50 and then ran back to a produce stand to try and get the meat smell out of my nose.Of course yesterday I was at Target and I saw the very same bar (and the plain dark chocolate variety, which I'll review another time) for less than $2. Damn.
It's a nice-looking bar. I like the square format. It's chunky and cuter than the standard rectangular bar shape. The little squares snap apart easily and without much mess. The chocolate is glossy and smooth, with a nice little Ritter Sport logo stamped into the top of each square. The marzipan is a creamy color that contrasts nicely with the dark chocolate.
But the real question is, of course: how is it? Quite good, I have to say. The chocolate is creamy and pretty sweet for a dark chocolate. It melts nicely on your tongue. The marzipan itself is a bit crumbly and not terribly sweet or overwhelmingly almondy. When you pop a square into your mouth you mostly taste chocolate, but as you chew the marzipan flavor becomes stronger. I'd say it lends more texture than any pronounced taste, though. My favorite squares were around the edges, where the chocolate to mazipan ratio was a little skewed toward the chocolate side of things.
I'd give this bar an 8/10, because it's very tasty and pretty unique as far as candy bars go. I liked it enough to pick up another one at Target. But I like marzipan; when I had my boyfriend try it, he didn't care for it very much. I think it goes without saying that if you don't like marzipan, you won't like this bar. But if you do, definitely give it a try.
Labels: chocolate, product review
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Ritter Sport has VEGAN options??? Oh my gosh--It's all I can do not to leave work and drive to Target right now to get one. For some reason, I had written them all off as non-vegan. This is really excellent news :-) Thanks Vegancore!
Posted by
Jen |
9:47 AM
Marzipan is one of my all-time favorite things- and the Ritter Sport is delicious! I don't understand why more Ritter Sport dark chocolates aren't vegan...
Posted by
bazu |
9:59 AM
I'll be sure to keep an eye out for these on my next trip to Target, I LOVE me some marzipan.
Posted by
Shananigans |
10:19 AM
veg*triathlete - You're welcome! I'm all about spreading the vegan candy love. :) I think there are three vegan ritter sports - this one, the regular dark chocolate, and the peppermint one.
bazu - I don't know why all the dark ones aren't, either. They have a dark chocolate hazelnut one that, of course, has butterfat in it. Why??
shananigans - Marzipan is great! You'll love this.
Posted by
Amanda |
10:39 AM
Hey, I work at Wegman's.. which carries a lot of the more rare stuff.. German you say? I'll check in both the regular candy aisle and the German section of the ethnic foods aisle. Mmm I hope we carry this, it looks/sounds delicious!
Posted by
theONLYtania |
11:43 AM
I've seen a lot of the Ritter bars at Trader Joe's as well. I think for $1.99 a bar.
Cost Plus World Market usually has a large selection as well, which is where I first found the Marzipan Bar.
I hadn't noticed that the other dark bars contain butter oil ... what is up with that? I'm guessing it's a cheap extender.
Posted by
Anonymous |
12:05 PM
theonlytania - Wegman's may have it, I don't know for sure. I live in a Wegman-free area, unfortunately.
cybele - I'm having a moment of stunned silence over the fact that you're commenting on my blog. I love Candy Blog! It's addictive.
Next time I'm someplace with a Trader Joe's I'll have to see if they have the mint bar. I'd love to try that.
Posted by
Amanda |
12:34 PM
The Ritter Corn Flake bar is awesome, but not vegan. It is milk chocolate
Posted by
Unknown |
6:17 PM
Aw, no need to be stunned! I've been reading along since you started linking. I'm not a vegan (though I have been in the past) but I love whole grain cooking, so I like to check in.
And of course now with the candy reviews, how can I resist! It's good to see some perspectives on things like the rice milk chocolate from people who don't eat dairy milk chocolate.
BTW - Terra Nostra came out with some Truffles ... but they use that dang butter in them (they're dark chocolate otherwise).
Posted by
Anonymous |
6:18 PM
katherine - Ooh, a corn flake bar does sound awesome! Darn milk chocolate.
cybele - That's disappointing about the truffles. I hate how often dairy products are put into dark chocolate. It's so unnecessary.
Posted by
Amanda |
6:24 PM
I'm not a big marzipan fan, but if you EVER find the peppermint chocolate ritter sport, buy 100 of them. They're that good. Sadly I think they stopped shipping them to the US.
Posted by
jess (of Get Sconed!) |
6:36 PM
Oh, and now I want one 100x more, which means I'll never ever find one. Damn. I may have to get some online at some point. I love chocolate/mint.
Posted by
Amanda |
6:41 PM
i was coming here to say pretty much EXACTLY what jess just said about the peppermint. they are my favorite favorite favorite things in the entire free world. holy crap.
sometimes if you're lucky you can get them from pangea, but for the most part they're somewhat tricky to find in the states.
but! if you email me, i might have a little present to mail you.
xoxo
Posted by
Anonymous |
9:34 PM
Jess, I believe Pangea (www.veganstore.com) carries the Ritter Peppermint flavor (which is like a Peppermint Patty--get the sensation--I swear). I usually see it when I go into the store, but I hate that the thing falls apart in my purse--I'm not eating the whole thing at once, no way!
Posted by
Danielle |
9:54 PM
haha! I love to see that nothing gets comments flowing like a candy review!
I am a big time marzipan fan... so I love this bar. Back in my pre-vegan vegetarian days, I used to enjoy all sorts of Ritter Sport bars - especially when I was studying overseas. So, I was happy to find out that at least a few of them are vegan. But this one is my very favorite.
;)
Posted by
Amey |
10:08 PM
girl least likely to - I read about your deep love for peppermint ritter sports on your blog. :) All this talk really makes me want one. I'm going to email you in a few minutes!
danielle - Thanks for the tip about Pangea! They're available now.
springsandwells - Of course! Candy is universally loved. I really wish the hazelnut dark chocolate one was vegan. It seems so silly that it's not. I mean, their regular dark bar is, so why do they need to put butterfat in the hazelnut one? Weird.
Posted by
Amanda |
10:18 PM
I've never had marzipan before... I'm interested
teddy
Posted by
funwithyourfood |
11:19 PM
my sister doesnt know that im vegan) but she makes like to feed me) so today she was like im want to buy ritter-sport for you, its german, you love germans. i chose the marzipan flavor because i heard it was vegan, but on the package on the bottom it says that it may contain nuts DAIRY and wheat. now im not sure its vegan...
Posted by
Anonymous |
7:13 PM
I just ate an entire square chunky block of the Ritter Sport Peppermint chocolate. So tasty! I love the way it's not too sugary and let creamy but dark - who knows how those Germans manage it - very smart people with a fine grasp of chocolate - nay - all confectionary. I love to eat peppermint ritter one square at a time and then drink some really cold milk, then repeat on the next square until half a pint of milk has been slurped down and an entire block of Deutcher pfeifferminz schokolade - das macht spass!
Posted by
Jack |
7:13 PM
YUMMY This chocolate is amazing even it is fatty and unhealthy. It is just the heaven.
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