# This chocolate tastes disgusting!



## Soma (Jan 29, 2012)

I bought two bars of this Mayan chocolate at the airport in Cancun, Mexico. It wasn't cheap! ($11. U.S. for one bar). I unsuspectingly bought two bars, one to try, one to gift to a friend.
It tastes like soap. Both bars are going into the garbage - or perhaps the soap pot. Dang!


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## PrincessFiona60 (Jan 29, 2012)

Soap making should neutralize the capsacin...

Too bad, Soma.  I've had some really good Chile Chocolates.


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## Dawgluver (Jan 29, 2012)

It looks like it may have chile in it.  Unsweetened?  Old, maybe?  I've not seen that brand in Mexico.  Usually their chocolate is outstanding.

I'd have a hard time throwing away $22 of chocolate!  Not a bad idea to try it in one of your soaps, Soma.


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## PolishedTopaz (Jan 29, 2012)

*Chocolate goes bad??? Unsweetened does taste gross to me, also a high coca content 70%+ doesn't taste good to me either even with the sugar. But old or rancid? This is a new one on me.*


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## Dawgluver (Jan 29, 2012)

Shelf life is a year or two.  I would bet it was the chile that made it taste soapy, though Mexican hot chocolate usually has a hint of hot stuff.  Would it work in something like that, or is the flavor just too hideous?


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## justplainbill (Jan 29, 2012)

Might be usable in a molé sauce.  Habanero peppers taste soapy to me.


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## GLC (Jan 29, 2012)

It's possible there was an error in processing the chillies. Leaving too much skin on can make for a "soapy? taste. Or, if chocolate has been alkalized (Dutched), it can be too alkaline, and that risks a reaction that produces a soapy flavor. Some of the chemistry is very like making soap, and it takes care to see that it's not over done so that it literally becomes soap. 

On the other hand, from a U.S. perspective, Mexico has some peculiar tastes in candy. It can be difficult to believe some of it is accepted as candy. I once bought a big bag or Mexican hard candy at a flea market where little English is spoken. It looked like any other hard fruit flavored round candies. The taste was very far from what we think of as candy. Horrible kind of describes it. I ended up leaving a big bowl of it on my desk. No one hit it twice. Very useful for dealing with the more obnoxious sort of children, too.


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## Steve Kroll (Jan 29, 2012)

Hate to say it, but it almost looks like it sat on the shelf for too long. I realize it's hard to tell from the photograph, but there appears to be some discoloration.


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## GLC (Jan 29, 2012)

Soma - Is this you, too? Or do Canadians just have the worst luck with chocolate from Cancun duty free? It's the only other reference I can find to funny tasting Maria Tepoztlan.
Mexican candy - Playa del Carmen Forum - TripAdvisor


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## Alix (Jan 29, 2012)

The photo says its soap. No really...it does.


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## Dawgluver (Jan 29, 2012)

Soap is Jabon in Spanish.  GLC, you may be on to something.  Alix, where does it say soap in the pic?  I missed it.


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## Alix (Jan 29, 2012)

No, when you scroll your cursor over the pic it says h ttp://www.soapmaker.ca/SoapPics/MayanChocolate.JPG If you edit out the space I put in the URL it will show you the same pic.


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## PrincessFiona60 (Jan 29, 2012)

That's Soma's website!!!   LOL!  She is a soapmaker, she likely has the picture uploaded and then linked to her website.


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## Alix (Jan 29, 2012)

Whew. OK, thought I was going nuts there.


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## Soma (Jan 30, 2012)

Good detective work, Alix! hehe. PrincessFiona is right - I do upload my pics onto my soapmaker website (actually, it's my husband's website - mine is different; his sells a program for soapmakers to use for inventory control; mine is just about soapmaking, but I keep mine rather inactive these days, haven't updated it in years so even the pics are out-of-date).

and that's also why I said that this chocolate is going into the soap pot! Seriously, I have used cocoa to color chocolate, and if this has fats in it, it might actually make good chocolate soap! At least I won't have entirely wasted my money.


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## PrincessFiona60 (Jan 30, 2012)

Huh?  I was right?   Wow, that so rarely happens....


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## FrankZ (Jan 30, 2012)

PrincessFiona60 said:


> Huh?  I was right?   Wow, that so rarely happens....



Oh great... wonderful.. there goes my week.  Won't hear the end of this..


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## PrincessFiona60 (Jan 30, 2012)

FrankZ said:


> Oh great... wonderful.. there goes my week.  Won't hear the end of this..



muahhahahahah!


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## buckytom (Jan 31, 2012)

i agree with steve, it does look kinda old and discoloured. like most dairy, i've found chocolate can pick up "refrigerator" flavours, or the aromas of stuff that it's stored next to.

also, i'm not so sure if i'd buy mexican chocolate at all. ever since i saw a warning in our pediatrician's office, i'm very wary of buying any candy from mexico or central/south america. the article warned that things flavoured with tamarind, certain fruits, and chocolate contain unacceptable levels of lead. just what you don't need to be feeding to young'ins.


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## Soma (Jan 31, 2012)

Oh my, buckytom!....this does sound like a good reason to discard the chocolate. I was pondering putting it into a chili, as in mole sauce....but now I won't bother. Thanks for the warning, I hadn't heard anything like it.


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## justplainbill (Jan 31, 2012)

buckytom said:


> i agree with steve, it does look kinda old and discoloured. like most dairy, i've found chocolate can pick up "refrigerator" flavours, or the aromas of stuff that it's stored next to.
> 
> also, i'm not so sure if i'd buy mexican chocolate at all. ever since i saw a warning in our pediatrician's office, i'm very wary of buying any candy from mexico or central/south america. the article warned that things flavoured with tamarind, certain fruits, and chocolate contain unacceptable levels of lead. just what you don't need to be feeding to young'ins.


Is all chocolate considered dairy?


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## buckytom (Jan 31, 2012)

soma, i don't mean to be alarmist about it. if it's a reputable brand, you might be ok. you should research the brand and known bad ones.

jpb, that's a good point. milk chocolate is dairy, but maybe not darker chocolate, or in really dark the dairy might be negligible.


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## Dawgluver (Jan 31, 2012)

Cancun airport has a very good reputation, I highly doubt it would sell unsafe chocolate!


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## buckytom (Jan 31, 2012)

they sell unsafe candy in bodegas in this country.


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## taxlady (Jan 31, 2012)

It looks like chocolate bloom to me: Chocolate bloom - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## justplainbill (Feb 1, 2012)

taxlady said:


> It looks like chocolate bloom to me: Chocolate bloom - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


+1


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