Ghirardelli Chocolate Sweet Ground Chocolate & Cocoa Beverage Mix, 10-Pound Package

Good For Smoothies , Shakes Etc

I used to purchase this in normal human retail sizes; it makes the best fudgie brownies that my partner has been obsessed with for the duration of our 20 year relationship. We now purchase in bulk so we don’t run the risk of being unable to find it in stock locally. This just means I am now able to make brownies to share.

This is a very good value. The price has increased over the past year, but that seems to be true with most things. It is a far lower price than retail and the flavor is so much richer than the standard chocolate powders in the common supermarkets. In response to those who complained about the box containing a plastic bag with the plastic tie as the only closure, what do you expect from bulk purchases? How do you think restaurants receive their bulk goods? It is something to be expected and I have no fear of contamination since it comes directly from the factory. I am quite happy with my purchase. This is real chocolate that must be mixed into milk...not water, as it does not contain powdered milk or artificial oily milk substitutes. I don't buy those as I like my chocolate made with real milk. This powder does not dissolve quickly in cold milk, but I make a syrup of it (1 part water to 1-2 parts chocolate powder) and keep a small jar of it in the fridge for summer days when I crave some cold chocolate milk. This is a good all purpose chocolate powder and can be used for baking when a sweetened chocolate powder is called for. When I want truly gourmet hot chocolate for special occasions, I dissolve pieces of dark solid chocolate in hot milk and whisk vigorously while heating the milk on the stove. For normal use, Ghirardelli's is great. I did check the weight of my product and it was a full 10 pounds. I had not thought to check the weight on previous shipments.

We've been buying the Ghiradelli Sweet Ground Chocolate in the 1 lb cans for a long time. It makes a wonderful hot cocoa and is especially good in coffee. It dissolves into drinks easily and is just the right level of sweetness. Note that this is ground chocolate, not ground cocoa. Cocoa is unsweetened; chocolate contains sugar. Buying cocoa and then adding your sugar yourself is probably more cost-effective, but it is less convenient for beverages, especially since even Dutch process cocoa does not dissolve as well as this ground chocolate does. However, I got tired of the 1 lb cans piling up, and so I decided to try finding a larger size online. This 10 lb package is a definite price saving over the 1 lb cans in the supermarket (at the price I paid; don't forget to add up the shipping!), and it means I won't have to buy so often, nor will I feel bad about discarding all those sturdy cans. It comes in a bag, tied with a reclosable zip tie, in a box - nothing fancy! I have a Camwear Polycarbonate Square Food Storage container, 6 Quart 6 liter square plastic container that turned out to be exactly the right size for this ten pounds of powdered chocolate. You probably won't want to go through the ten pounds with it staying in the plastic bag inside the cardboard box if you're using a tablespoon at a time. Alternately, if you have the cans or other jars around, refill them from the box and you'll do just fine.

I love cocoa. I usually have one cup a day. But it is hard to find a cocoa mix that doesn't have corn syrup solids. Both Swiss Miss and Nestle's Quik have corn syrup in their powdered mix. Thankfully, Ghirardelli Chocolate Sweet Ground Chocolate and Cocoa Beverage Mix just has sugar, cocoa, unsweetened chocolate, soy lecithin and vanilla. Ghirardelli is known for quality chocolate, and this powdered mix doesn't disappoint. It has a rich, decadent chocolate flavor. Much better than any cocoa mix that I've used in the past. I find that I can use much less of it than they suggest for each glass of cocoa, because it is so rich. I have modified my cocoa recipe to try to limit the amount of sugar in each cup of cocoa. I add 15 or so drops of chocolate flavored liquid stevia to the warm milk--I use Sweetleaf Chocolate Liquid Stevia. Then I add the powdered cocoa mix. For a 20 oz. glass of warm milk, I add the stevia drops, then two rounded teaspoons of the Ghirardelli cocoa mix, and I'm good to go with much less sugar. But I still get a very rich, chocolaty cup of cocoa. Ghirardelli's cocoa mix is more expensive than Swiss Miss or Nestle Quik. But I don't want the corn syrup in my cocoa. After tasting the Ghirardelli's cocoa mix, I realized that the other cocoa mixes just don't have the true chocolaty flavor that I crave. I buy my Ghirardelli cocoa in the 10 lb. box, as it is much less expensive this way. I store it in canning jars, and it keeps quite well.