Wild Coast Fruit – Dark Chocolate Blueberries

Brookside seems to be the big player when it comes to chocolate covered fruit jellies. Since they got big a few years back, I started seeing them everywhere. I imagine it’s an internationally known brand, given that I saw them all over the world during my travels. Whether or not they sold well is besides the point. The simple fact that they had allotted shelf space means that they were at least interesting or popular enough to be sold there.

I bring this up because since they’ve hit the scene, I’ve found it increasingly harder to find actual chocolate covered fruits, especially blueberries. I remember when they first were released, the way they were labeled and marketed, some people actually thought the Brookside chocolates were blueberries or berries covered in chocolate. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a fan of those tasty candies, but that’s all they are. Candy. Don’t expect to be getting any health benefits from them. Antioxidant and all that jazz.

I’m not exactly what you’d call patriotic, but I always enjoy supporting Canadian companies, especially since there’s really not that many in comparison to our brothers in the south. It’s just a volume and numbers game. That being said, I don’t let that kind of thing sway me into buying something if I’m not remotely interested in it. Suffice to say this did intrigue me. That’s why when I came across a brand selling actual whole blueberries covered in chocolate, I was hooked. It’s hard to find these days, and while they may or may not be as tasty as chocolate covered candies from Brookside and competitors, it’s different. And as you may know, I like different.

I don’t know too much about Wild Coast Fruit, other than they are based in British Columbia, and their blueberries are grown locally. Their blueberries are mixed with a bit of cane sugar and then dipped in dark chocolate. They say it’s all natural and the ingredients are non-GMO. I’m eager to find out how it holds up as a snack.

The chocolates are all very uneven and irregular, unlike the perfectly shaped, spherical chocolates of chocolate covered jellies. This is a good sign to me though, as I would be very concerned if the blueberries are all the same size. I can tell that some of them stuck together during the coating process, and there are a few blueberries that got fused together to create some sort of franken-blueberry. I’m kinda down for that sort of thing, as strange as it sounds.

These smell of dark chocolate. They smell more like a darker, 70% plus variety that is more on the bitter, smoky side then sweet. Not sure why but they remind me of chocolate covered coffee beans. Maybe it’s that slight smoky smell to them.

The flavour of the chocolate itself is indeed quite dark and bitter. It’s the kind of dark variety that has a distinct smoky flavour to it. The chocolate smokiness lingers for a bit, and the blueberries themselves are some what floral and slightly sweet with little to no tartness. The flavour of the blueberry is overpowered by the chocolate though, so to get a better idea of the blueberry itself I had to get rid of the chocolate first.

The blueberry on it’s own is reminiscent of a raisin in appearance only. The blueberry itself doesn’t have too much flavour, and has that mild floral berry flavour to it. Also, if you’ve never had a dried blueberry before, it has a bit of a grainy, almost seed like texture on the inside. Along with the chocolate, it serves to round out the experience, but doesn’t contribute that much when compared to the overpowering dark chocolate, which thankfully is tasty. Well, if you like dark chocolate.

Texture of the chocolate is what you expect form a dark chocolate, it is a little more brittle than a milk chocolate that sort of just melts into a mess. It has a bit of a chalky after taste so that if you have enough of these, it will leave a chalk like sensation in your mouth. It’s a common thing with darker chocolates, in my experience. The texture of the blueberry in the centre is that of any dried berry – like a raisin. The after taste of both the chalky chocolate and the grainy blueberry surprisingly doesn’t make the experience unpleasant. But the chocolate, like most dark chocolate will leave a chalky sensation in your mouth if you have too much. I’m sure a more learned person would know why, but I just know it’s an almost astringent sort of sensation. Guess it’s a good sign you should probably stop eating them though.

I quite enjoyed this snack. It’s a refreshing change from the usual chocolate covered “fruit” that saturates the market these days. I certainly don’t feel as guilty eating these, and enjoy that these aren’t that sweet. While the chocolate is a bit darker than I expect most people will enjoy, I do think these would go great in a trail mix or along with something sweet and/or savoury. I noticed they also had a cranberry chocolate, and I like these enough that I would give those a try.