vegan columbus: vegan living in central ohio

This Valentine's Day, I'm lucky enough to be able to give personal reviews of each variety Vosges vegan chocolate! Where to begin?

• Red Fire Bar: Wow. If you are one of those people who likes cayenne in everything, from hot chocolate to peanut butter to hummus (I'm looking at you, bmcclary.) then you will love this. I am not one of those people and I love it anyway. It definitely has a little sting to it, and I thought it was just perfect even though I'm a wimp when it comes to capsaicin.
• Organic Enchanted Mushroom Bar: I love mushrooms. A lot. Regular button mushrooms, shiitakes, and more exotic and expensive ones as the occasion and budget call for. And still I was very wary of this bar. Its appearance isn't as inviting as the other chocolates: it's a bit paler, drier, and brittler. It smells just like a regular bar of chocolate. But oh my goodness, it is delicious. The little pieces of mushroom have a texture that reminds me vaguely of the marshmallows in Lucky Charms. It has a strong but subtle, earthy, and, well, organic flavor to it.
• Black Pearl Bar: This one contains wasabi, ginger, and sesame seeds. The ginger flavor was subtle, the wasabi flavor barely there at all. It's certainly not spicy in any way. The sesame flavor is by far the most prominent. It took a few nibbles before I began to appreciate the complement of sesame and chocolate flavors, but it's hard to resist enjoying this unique combination of flavors. This one is probably the most "exotic" tasting of them all, with a truly unusual flavor.
• Creole Bar: This one is just a really good espresso and chicory flavored chocolate. Nothing too out of the ordinary, just done extraordinarily well. I loved chewing the little bits of espresso beans that remained in my mouth after the chocolate itself was gone. All of these chocolates except the Fire Bar have a little crunchy something embedded in them.
• Calindia Bar: To some, cardamom is an Indian spice. To me, it conjures up Scandinavian Christmas treats, enjoyed all winter in my native Minnesota, despite the fact that my family is neither Scandinavian nor Christian. For those unfamiliar, cardomom is used in place of or together with cinnamon in holiday cookies and such. However, to me too much cardamom can easily be overwhelming. The Calindia bar contains just the right amount. The taste is pronounced and strong but in perfect harmony with the chocolate flavors. The dried plums are mild and give a little chewyness to add complexity to the texture. My husband, who was shy to try any of the other flavors, liked this bar. This is a good bar to give someone with rather vanilla tastes, who might still appreciate a little break from the ordinary.

Delicious, one and all. Which is to be expected from a woman who attended Le Cordon Bleu in Paris before setting off on a gastronomical world tour. That's right, these awesome vegan treats come from a woman-owned company with a "green mission". Life is good.