Goumas: Chocolate-Covered Nuts

Phew. We sure talked about the Goumas turtles for a while, didn’t we? I mean, there were SEVEN VARIETIES. I love caramel as much as the next person, but after all those turtles, some simplicity seems necessary.

Simplicity that comes with plain chocolate-covered nuts. Such as this milk chocolate cashew cluster, which is nicely identifiable by the clear cashew shapes and a pleasing aroma of roasted nuts.

The piece is overall quite salty, and it is difficult to identify any characteristics of the chocolate aside from the creamy melt and a slight nutty flavor. The cashews themselves are nicely roasted, crisp, and flavorful. The piece is not complex, but the combination of sweet and salt coupled with creamy and crunchy is delightful enough to make me want to snack on these pieces all day.

Don’t ever buy these for me. I don’t have time to shop for new pants.

After prying myself away from the milk chocolate cashew clusters, I saw my next zipper-busting demon: the dark chocolate cashew cluster.

In this case, the cashews are a bit more raw than they were in the milk piece, and are substantially less salty. This allows the earthy flavor and coffee undertones in the chocolate to come through, and the smooth chocolate melds well with the nuts. It’s not nearly as sweet-salty as the milk piece, and therefore not as addictive, but is a delicious piece nonetheless.

One more chocolate nut cluster looked at me: a dark chocolate almond cluster.

Chocolate can see. Seriously.

Now when you look inside this thing, you can see that it is made with whole almonds, which I generally don’t like because of the non-uniform distribution that results.

The almonds themselves are a bit raw, but still crisp, and comprise most of this piece with just a little chocolate along for the ride. The chocolate that is there is creamy and smooth with nutty and caramel notes, which is odd for a dark chocolate. The piece is overall enjoyable, but I’d prefer just a bit more chocolate emphasis.

In chocolate covered nuts, should there be more chocolate or more nuts?