Uli Mana Coconut Truffles

I was at Whole Foods the other day and passed by the chocolate aisle, so I couldn’t resist looking for chocolate truffles. I found these Uli Mana Coconut Truffles and decided to try some, mostly because there was a store clerk who told me quite convincingly that they were made by a local crafter and that they would be delicious. I’m up for anything local and hand-crafted, so I bought a jar.

Now, I should have looked at the ingredients before I bought them, because I do know the recipe for making truffles, and three of the main ingredients are chocolate (duh), heavy cream, and butter. Heat the cream, stir in the chocolate and some butter, then stir the mixture in a double-boiler until the chocolate completely melts. Wait for it to cool, then use a spoon to scoop out your – voila! – chocolate truffles. There are variations of this recipe if you want your truffles to be sweeter, nuttier, etc, but that’s the basic idea.

Well, if I had taken a closer look at the ingredients list of Uli Mana truffles, I would have noticed that nowhere does it list heavy cream as an ingredient. Which would explain why when I first bit into the chocolate, there was no feeling of rich, creamy goodness. It was actually rather bland – even the chocolate that was used wasn’t very high quality. The bitter chocolate was not rich at all, and the soft texture of the truffle probably came entirely from the butter. The heavy taste of the chocolate also covered the flavor of the coconut flakes. This truffle may contain some fancy stuff like agave powder or sea salt, but without plain ol’ heavy cream, it ain’t a truffle. I was sorely disappointed with them and will continue on my search for better chocolate truffles in Durham…


Ingredients List: Organic Cacao Powder, Organic Cacao Butter, Organic Agave, Organic Coconut, Organic Vanilla Bean, Celtic Sea Salt

Store: Whole Foods
Uli Mana Coconut Truffles
$13.99 for 5.5oz (156g)
- Not worth it. If you're really craving truffles, even Lindt truffles would probably be a better option.