Product Review: Dove Origins Dark Chocolate Bars

This article reviews Dove Origins, manufactured by Mars, Incorporated. The Dove Origins package I sampled includes three yummy, distinctive versions of chocolate at its finest. The flavors included in the 4.60 oz. bag included three varieties of rich, dark chocolate created with beans from Central America.

Each square of Dove Origins chocolate comes individually wrapped and I was delighted to find that the serving size indicated on the package is three squares. The bars are about the size of the familiar Hershey's Dark Chocolate bar in the variety bags from the grocery store. If you're a milk chocolate lover these probably won't appeal to you at all.

The flavor differences were certainly subtle, and if I were to conduct a blind taste test, I'm pretty sure I couldn't distinguish between the three. The Dove Origins flavors were all incredible, though, and each bar is 61% cocoa.

The first Dove Origins flavor, which is probably my favorite, has a rich taste of chocolate with "fruit and wine flavors" from cocoa bean grown in the Dominican Republic, according to the package information. I'm not a chocolate connoisseur by any stretch of the imagination, but I know good chocolate when I taste it!

The second Dove Origins chocolate is flavored with cocoa from Ghana and is full-bodied and robust-almost the way I think of coffee. You certainly know you've popped in a chocolate square when you try this flavor.

The final Dove Origins flavor I tried is made with cocoa beans from Ecuador. This chocolate bar had a light taste and the package indicates the beans are designed to have a fruity taste. I didn't pick up the fruitiness, but it was tasty.

As I read the Dove Origins package I learned that traditional Dove chocolates are made using a blend of cocoa beans. These particular bars were delightful probably due to the fact that they were created using hand-selected and "single-origin" cocoa beans.

While dark chocolate will never be classified as a health food, there are some health benefits to eating small amounts of dark chocolate. The cocoa phenols in dark chocolate have been shown to lower blood pressure and lower the occurrence of heart attacks in some studies. Dark chocolate is also reportedly a potent antioxidant.

I support companies that are working to make the world a better place, so I appreciate the fact that Mars, Incorporated has been a leader in cocoa science in the worldwide effort for cocoa sustainability. This effort is described on the website: Cocoa sustainability is a holistic, proactive set of activities designed to ensure future supplies of cocoa, and a responsible approach to its production, so that the community and environment in which it is produced can thrive.