Nestle Bros Aerated Milk Chocolate Bar

I was once again felled by the power of the "SALE " tag.  Let´s admit it,  the bulk of the stuff we buy on impulse during a sale are  stuff that we don´t normally buy.  It´s just the way we´re wired (or screwed).  We hunt for great deals,  and when we see the sign, S-A-L-E, we go gaga and think that we must  pounce and get as much savings from the sale as possible by, of course, buying. Not too logical, no?

This was how I was able to finally try Bros, a fairly common chocolate bar here in The Netherlands.   It´s in the same price range as the more popular Milka bars.  And perhaps that´s why I never ever tried it before, there was just no incentive to try Bros.  If I can buy myself  a Milka Oreo Bar at the same price and know that I will enjoy it immensely, why would a venture into trying something new?

So let´s blame this post on the sale sign! How one day I saw the Bros bars on sale at my neighborhood drugstore.  And I knew, I just knew that it was time to finally try it (cue in melodramatic music).

                         Bros Aerated Milk Chocolate Bar 

What´s so special about Bros?  Well, the fact that Bros is an aerated chocolate bar.  It´s a bit hard to describe aerated chocolate,  so we´ll let the chocolate speak for itself:

    Cross-section of Bros Chocolate Bar:  You see the bubbles?

Aerated chocolates are made using a whipping siphon,the kind where you need to load N2 cartridges to create those tiny bubbles. Almost a decade ago, Heston Blumenthal demonstrated in his awesome cooking show, In Search of Perfection, how to aerate chocolate using home appliances, including a vacuum cleaner.  The mad wannabe scientist in me hopes to one  day try my hand at making aerated chocs too, but since I still don´t have a whipping siphon, this aerated chocolate dream shall go into the already long list of kitchen experiments I hope to do within this lifetime.

But the question really is, why would chocolate makers go to such lengths to tweak and add bubbles to an already awesome food?  Can chocolate be even better with bubbles in it?

Well, that was my question when I bought my inexpensive, on sale Nestle Bros bar.

The Verdict:  Okay, so I think I get what these tiny bubbles do to the chocolate experience.  At firs bite, the chocolate flavor appeared mild, but then as my mouth warmed the chocolate and the bubbles were exposed,  there was thatsilky, light as air texture , and the chocolate flavor seemed to be stronger, more intense. The reason, it seems, is because the aerated chocolate has greater surface area than a regular bar.  Because of the bubbles, points of contact between the flavor sensors in the tongue and the chocolate is way greater.   As the tiny bubbles and the tongue get in contact,  melting occurs faster, and there are tiny burst of chocolatey flavor.

The main draw of aerated chocolates is that they provide  light as air, intensely chocolatey experience.  Did Nestle Bros achieve this?

The Verdict:  Eating this indeed makes for a very velvety, light-as-air yet very chocolatey experience.  One problem though, the chocolate used for Bro is very sweet, almost cloying.  So yes it´s very chocolatey and very light, but way too sugary!  Now I feel the cocoa used for this bar wasn´t really of high quality chocolate.  But maybe that too is too much to ask for, since Bros of the same ilk as Mars, Nestle Crunch, Milka and Hershey´s.  And these chocolates, which we all loved when we were kids, tend to be too sugary.

Allergen Alert: Contains sugar, lactose

Recommendation: So-so.  But I figure that kids, since they like everything sweet, would enjoy the novelty of this ¨bubbly¨ chocolate.

Availability: Available in France, Holland, Belgium, Germany.  Sold in supermarkets, drugstores and newspaper and candy stalls.