Serious Eats: Sweets
Sponsor Post: Vote For The Next Ghirardelli Intense Dark Flavor
This sponsor post is brought to you by Ghirardelli Intense Dark Chocolate. The views expressed here are solely those of the sponsor and do not necessarily represent the views of Serious Eats.
When news about the health benefits of dark chocolate emerged, chocolate lovers rejoiced. Wait, we can eat more chocolate now? And it's healthy?! Like anything, it's only good in moderation. Still, chocolate makers have since gone to great lengths to expand their offerings. While a few companies have always offered one or two dark chocolate options, the choices available now are truly staggering. Ghirardelli has taken their dark chocolate a step further by creating the Intense Dark line, which offers such flavors as Twilight Delight and Espresso Escape. The company recently gave true chocolate lovers the opportunity to create their own Intense Dark flavors with their Bring Your Dark to Light contest, and now it's up to fans to vote for the winner.
Ghirardelli received numerous entries, which were judged on criteria such as flavor appeal, creativity/originality, and manufacturability. The winning entry will ultimately become the next Intense Dark flavor produced by Ghirardelli, and will be available in stores in 2011. Chosen by a panel of expert judges, the top five all sound tempting: Cherry Bliss, Tahitian Treasure, Spicy Pecan, Moonlight Fantasy, and Hazelnut Heaven.
The judges who narrowed the list down to those five flavors are no strangers to decadent cuisine, either. Among them are renowned cookbook author Alice Medrich, Bon Appétit chef and former Food Network recipe developer Jonathan Lindenauer, and Kevin Tamaki, the head chocolate maker at Ghirardelli.
Now it's up to you. Register with the contest website to vote for the flavor you would most
like to try. Every two weeks, the flavor with the least votes will be eliminated. You can vote once a day, and each vote enters you to win one of thousands of prizes, including Intense Dark chocolate bars and gift baskets. One lucky voter will receive free Intense Dark chocolate for a year. Go to the Ghirardelli site now to vote for your favorite flavor!