Ritter Sport – Milk Chocolate Cashews

Occasionally it feels like nuts and chocolate have been going hand in hand since time eternal. But when you think of chocolate covered nuts, what comes to mind first? Almonds? Peanuts? Hazelnuts? Well whatever you imagine first, I find it hard to believe it would be cashews. In fact, I’m having trouble conjuring up the last memory I had of cashews with chocolate, or chocolate covered cashews.

In my experience, cashews are typically one of the more expensive nuts. It’s why you usually see peanuts or almonds as the main accompaniment to chocolate, since cashews are more expensive and don’t necessarily have the same texture that those nuts provide. Or flavour. I find cashews to be a bit more bland, but also softer. Perhaps more than the price of cashews, it’s the perceived value when you bite into one that leads more distinct nuts to be more widespread.

Part of what makes cashews so expensive is the processing that goes into making them edible for humans. Before going through a length process to make them safe to eat, they are toxic to even touch, so if you see something that looks like one in the wild, best to steer clear hombre. Price aside, I tend to prefer cashews in savoury treats or in actual dishes, rather than as a sweet. But this is Ritter Sport, and they have a good track record so I’m giving this a chance.

I can’t be sure if it’s because I haven’t had it in a while, but I am quickly reminded of how sweet milk chocolate can be. I guess it doesn’t help when it’s not balanced out by another flavour – the cashew flavour is barely there. I feel kind of silly saying that, because cashews don’t generally have a very strong flavour to them even if you roast them.

Maybe cashews can redeem themselves through texture. The chocolate itself is pretty standard affair, starts off firm but melts away pretty quickly to give way to the cashews. The nuts are fairly soft as expected, and don’t really add a whole lot to the experience. They add a little tiny bit of crunch, but it’s so soft that you’d be forgiven for thinking it was just the chocolate itself at times. Occasionally I’ll get a piece where two pieces of cashew are trapped in the same bite, and I get a more noticeable chew, but overall it’s just very soft and almost negligible. Kind of disappointing, really.

I typically love Ritter Sport and what they come up with, but this one is firmly in the maybe pile. Maybe as in, maybe I’ll try these again to see if my opinion changes, but as of right now I’m not sure I would like this enough to get it again. I’d say if you really enjoy cashews AND milk chocolate, this might be a good buy. But if you aren’t a big fan of either, maybe go for one of the other nut selection bars. Their hazelnuts and almond bars are top notch.