Then check the nutrition panel, and check the amount of fat present. For example, suppose I have 55% cocoa solids, and it is 25% fat (you might have to look in the amount per 100 grams column, which gives percentage automatically). Then you have your answer.

The reason for checking the ingredients list is only to check out what’s in it. If you want to avoid vegetable oils and fats, they have to be listed. If you find something with those in, then put it back and choose another. By definition, if there is fat there and it only came from one source, it must be cocoa butter.

Chocolates with nuts in. Read some of my other reviews here. Nuts need to be BIG. Lots of them. And toasty/crunchy. Small pieces are horrible, so are not enough. There are some fantastic Polish chocolates with nuts in.

And my favourite – Ginger chocolate. It needs to be dark (>50%, preferably about 70%), and it needs to have plenty of big chunks of crystallised ginger. There are some good examples out there, and some awful. Australian ginger is good, we should exploit it. Again… read my reviews of ginger choc. I bang on about what makes a good ginger choccy. You’ll get the message soon enough :)

Go a bit higher in cocoa (there are some REALLY good 70% to 85% chocs out there, and in spite of being high in cocoa you don’t get your socks blown off like you might sometimes expect).

Don’t whatever you do source anything with the dreaded vegetable fat in it. Thats just sacrilege and yuk.

Make sure what you buy gets tasted, by somebody who likes things a bit more complex than “Dairy Milk” from that well known mega-maker.

Avoid harsh flavours, and strange flavours (except see below).

If looking for something a bit off-beat, then go for unusual flavours due to the original of the cocoa rather than additives. But make sure you have a suitable name as a warning to the consumer.

Strange / stand-out / funky packaging adds interest. Just make sure the contents match!

Take tasting notes, and check now and again to make sure its all still what you thought you have sourced.

Use more than one taster. (Send me a sample and I’ll check it out for you!)

And steer clear of whoever makes the Woolworths Select stuff, which I’m afraid to say is pretty ordinary. (I know you are the same company, I’m VERY familiar with Woolies). No. The select is actually pretty awful. Those of us in Oz who have tried it won’t ever touch it again.

Above all remember – life is too short to eat bad food / drink bad wine, and this applies to chocolate. Sell a good product and you get loyalty for life. Sell a bad product, and you have an enemy for life, who will never trust you again. And doubly so with chocolate! You only get one chance with Joe Public. If the chocolate is crap and you change the supplier, tough, you’ve lost ‘em forever.

Kind regards
James