Dars Crea Strawberry

My husband picked this box of Dars Crea up at Okashi no Machioka sweets shop for a mere 69 yen (76 cents). I'm not sure why they were so cheap when this is a somewhat new version of the Crea line. In the past, I've reviewed hazelnut and chestnut and caramel Dars Crea quite favorably. I wouldn't have purchased this, however, because it's strawberry and no good can come of it. Strawberry chocolates let me down 80% of the time, and I wasn't keen on seeing my beloved Dars line's reputation as the perfect consumer chocolate besmirched by an implementation that was unlikely to make my taste buds happy.

There are 9 chocolates in the box and each is 33 calories. The ingredients include sugar, vegetable oil, cocoa powder, whey powder, strawberry powder, and butter oil. With two types of oil, it's no wonder that Dars are rich and creamy chocolates. That being said, I'm not overjoyed with the fact that these candies are made with vegetable oil.

The scent is of chocolate with a vague hint of strawberry, and the texture is all that I've come to know with Dars chocolates. That is, it's smooth, creamy and fatty. The problem is the taste. The strawberry tastes too strong and fake, even though there is 2.5% "strawberry powder" in it, which I believe is supposed to mean there is real berry flavor in it. I guess part of the problem is that even when you start with real strawberries, their essential qualities are lost when processed into powder.

My concern when my husband presented me with this was that this was going to be the only Dars chocolate that I would have to give an unhappy rating to (at least to date), and I was right. Even my husband, who very much likes strawberry-flavored sweets, didn't care for these. Perhaps the bar was set too high, or perhaps these just are too fake tasting. Either way, I have no choice but to say I wouldn't buy these again and probably won't be finishing the box. The only thing that saves them from getting a "very unhappy" rating is that I wasn't really disgusted by them so much as greatly disappointed. I could choke them down, but the calories wouldn't be worth what little enjoyment I'd get.