Endangered Species Chocolate is another one of the very small handful of Fair Trade chocolate companies here in America.  They have a pretty extensive line of chocolates, and I have resolved to work my way through their product line.  It's a tough job, but someone's gotta do it!  Think of the children!  Etc.

This one has a rhinoceros on the label.  I have learned that the label doesn't mean that your purchase specifically supports that species. 

Which honestly was a relief, because at one point ages ago I remember standing in the aisle trying to decide which I liked better: otters or manatees?  It was too difficult a choice, flavor or species.  I'm glad to learn that it's just the packaging!

The inside of the label has information on the black rhino, as well as general helpful tips on how to save the planet.  I have trouble suppressing my skepticism at some of the suggestions for taking "Compassionate Action for Rhinos."  

Will recycling here in America really help the cause of the rhino in Africa?  I have my doubts.  You know what would help rhinos?  Convincing the consumers of traditional Chinese medicine that it's a load of hooey, that powdered rhino horn is ineffective except as a placebo, and that the world's savannas and rainforests and oceans are not China's medicine cabinet.

But I digress.  Chocolate!  We were talking about chocolate!  Happy, delicious chocolate.

This is a 72% cocoa bar, which makes it fairly dark.  It definitely has that crumbly, bitter thing going on.  It is formed into appealing little pillows with a nice, glossy finish.  The pillows snap apart with a clean break, leaving behind little traces of crumbs at the break line.  This is a chocolate that goes well with coffee.  (You'll want something to drink with it, at any rate.)

When I skimmed the package at the grocery store, I thought it included hazelnuts AND toffee.  It turns out to include bits of toffee made from (with?) hazelnut.  At any rate, the hazelnut toffee presence is fairly understated.  There's a bit of a crunch factor, but it's very minimal.  

I kept taking a nibble off the bar and then peering at it, looking to expose a bit of toffee to visual inspection.  After five or six of these nibbles it was getting a little gross and spitty, and I gave up.  I could feel them in the bite, giving their little bit of texture, but I wasn't able to spot them.

One thing that I found a bit odd about this bar is that it contains beet sugar instead of, you know, sugar.  Beet sugar is notorious as a cheaper ingredient which doesn't taste as good as cane sugar.  However, according to the Endangered Species Chocolate website, beet sugar is more pure than cane sugar, and it can be filtered over something other than charcoal (bone char), which allows them to use it in their vegan chocolate products.  But they also source from an organic cane sugar which is used in their organic line.   So… who knows.

This candy is confusing sometimes!