Sri Lanka is a lovely island with delicious cuisine and kind people. Yet, with so much information already available on Sri Lankan food, activities to do, and places to see, I chose to write about something different: the chocolate choices. Despite the fact that Sri Lanka has been farming cocoa since the 1700s, I wasn’t expecting much.
Right now, the island is more recognized for cinnamon than cocoa, which is exactly what it should be. Nonetheless, the island has chocolate, most of it produced in Sri Lanka. This isn’t always a good thing (see below). We only somewhat liked two of the nine chocolates we chose based entirely on what looked fascinating and sounded more distinctive and not too clearly horrible. The treats are listed below in the sequence in which my mother and I sampled them; ratings are provided by me.
There were no exceptions to the fact that everything we tasted was excessively sweet, and there was a lot of extra vegetable oil. The majority of the chocolate on the exterior of the candy bars we selected was either very thin or waxy (or both). However I must admit that all of this was incredibly inexpensive, costing just Rs825 (about $4.50USD) for all nine bars. We shot these photos and conducted the tasting on the train from Kandy to Ella.
Contents
Kinder Surprise
Ferrero Lanka Ltd. is the company.
The first three ingredients are sugar, palmolein, and skimmed cow milk powder.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Kinder eggs are the same in Sri Lanka as they are elsewhere: half plastic toys and half melty chocolate with crunchy bits within. Although being primarily wheat and oil, the goo tastes very sweet and creamy, with just a hint of oiliness. It tasted like ice cream, and I felt bad about myself for eating it; the cream was plainly made to be exceedingly sweet and textured, and then completed. Given that the cream & crunches contains just 4% cocoa by weight, chocolate is an overstatement.
Milk Chocolate Revello
Ritzbury is a company.
The first three ingredients are sugar, milk powder, and cocoa butter.
0.5 out of 5 stars
This bar smells like Hershey’s chocolate, with the somewhat sour milk taste that I’ve grown to anticipate from American mass-market chocolate. Yet, it has a far more goopy, mud-like texture than its American cousin. Even with the air conditioning on, the bar is melty, with a bitter and unpleasant ending before a milky and creamy sweet finish. Mom stated the taste was unpleasant.
Tropica
Ritzbury is a company.
The first three ingredients are sugar, dessicated coconut, and glucose.
2 stars out of 5
This is designed to appear like a Sri Lankan Bounty bar, even down to the box. As we bit into the bar, it was pretty sweet at first, then a little oily as we got closer to the coconut core. Quickly, the coconut taste takes over and drowns out the ostensibly chocolate flavor. Although the coconut flavor is pleasant and you can detect particles of coconut inside, the sugary finish is more reminiscent of a pia colada than a chocolate bar. Extremely simple.
Orange Chocolate Choco-La
Ritzbury is a company.
The first three ingredients are sugar, vegetable fat, and milk powder.
0.5 rating
This bar first tastes like orange, but sugary like bubblegum’s fake orange flavor, and later exceedingly sweet with no chocolate flavor. This chocolate bar tastes like sweet orange and little else. Mom grimaced and said, “It’s also unpleasant” (see above). I concur. This was my least favorite of all the dishes we tasted (until #8).
POPit
Ritzbury is a company.
The first three ingredients are sugar, vegetable fat, and milk powder.
0.5 rating
Are they dark chocolate-covered wheat crumbs? A wheat-based covered in a dark brown substance claiming to be chocolate. The malted chunks have a sweet flavor and a crunchy honeycomb-textured core. Then it’s all over. Overall, they’re really simple to chew, incredibly glossy, and have a bland taste. Mom describes the chocolate-like covering as waxy and revolting.
Caramel Crème Kandos
Ceylon Chocolates Ltd. is the company.
The first three ingredients are sugar, full cream milk powder, and cocoa butter.
0.5 rating
We photographed each of these bars before testing them. This bar has a medium-yellow liquid core that appears wonderful in photos but that I didn’t taste at all other than the sweet irritation of overly-sugared chocolate, which felt greatest in the back of my throat. The chocolate itself melted swiftly and ended quite pleasantly. It’s just a little tasteless. There is no chocolate taste in this sweet and simple dessert.
Kandos Cashewnut Milk Chocolate
Ceylon Chocolates Ltd. is the company.
The first three ingredients are sugar, full cream milk powder, and cocoa butter.
Rating: 3 out of 5
This solid milk chocolate has cashew pieces. The chocolate itself is incredibly sweet, and the cashew pieces nearly taste caramelized when you eat them. Although the bar is very sweet and little milky, with a curiously nutty aftertaste, it is one of the most flavourful items in the collection. This was my favorite of all the dishes we tasted. Mom said the chocolate was watered down but not unpleasant.
CaraMilk
Ceylon Chocokate Ltd. is the company.
Sugar, cocoa butter substitute, and full cream milk powder are the first three ingredients.
0Ratings: 5
After accidently glanced at the contents prior, I was not enthusiastic to taste this bar. When you open the bar, it smells like outdated milk, similar to the Revello (made by a different company). It tasted like gritty milk, followed by oil that separated and clung to the roof of your mouth. This, to quote Mom, was horrible. She stated it was unremarkable and YUCK God, fetch me a Mars bar #retweet.
Enhance Your Chit-Chat
Ritzbury is a company.
The first three ingredients are sugar, vegetable fat, and wheat flour.
0.5 rating
This bar smells just like wheat when you open the package. The taste is similar to a standard chocolate hazelnut wafer cookie, however the chocolate on the surface is waxy and thin. It’s not terrible, but I wouldn’t buy another one. Mom’s ideas were similar to mine.
So that was our convenience store taste of Sri Lanka chocolate bars! When we went, we discovered a few dozen selections but, unexpectedly, no handmade chocolate. The Sri Lankan chocolate business is still in its infancy, with few people purchasing chocolate in general. I expect to see this change in the future years as locals recognize the riches they have with locally produced cocoa, but I have yet to see it.
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