Fortnum & Mason Mexican Mole Spice

Posted by in Chocolate Reviews on August 26 2010 | Leave A Comment

The other day, I found myself in Fortnum & Mason wondering around the chocolate section (what else), looking for something interesting to buy. Being a poor blogger meant I could only afford a single item from Fortnum’s, so I wanted to make it a little bit different.

But the moment I left the shop with this bar, I had a nagging doubt. A feeling that despite never having reviewed any chocolate from Fortnum & Mason, we’d already seen this spicy little Mexican number.

A glance at the ingredients, and I was sure of it. This seems to be exactly the same bar as the Artisan du Chocolat Mole Poblano that Simon reviewed last year.

But given that I hadn’t tried that bar myself, and that most people won’t be aware of the link, I decided to review it anyway. The fact that I’d spent £5 on a 70g bar of chocolate may also have been a contributing factor!

I decided not to read back Simon’s review until after I’d tried the chocolate and come to my own conclusions.

So how is it? Well the chocolate has a nice look to it (not that apparent from the photo above, which was taken after I’d been carrying the bar around for a while). It’s not overly glossy, but has a nice clear snap and looks like a quality chocolate.

It has the subtle aroma of warm spices, but the chocolate is still evident. That sums up the flavour too. There’s more spice than chocolate, but it’s never overpowering. Although there’s chile in the bar, this is much more about the flavours than the heat. It’s gently warming, but nothing more.

But after the chocolate had melted, I found myself a little disappointed. If you like the Mexican flavours, then it’s fine, but that flavour seems to have been introduced at the expense of the chocolate. It’s not a particularly challenging bar, but the chocolate is lost in all that spice, and ultimately left me unsatisfied.

It’s also worth noting that you’re paying a small premium for the Fortnum & Mason name. It’s not a vast difference, but it does work out more expensive than the smaller Artisan du Chocolat bar. If you don’t mind paying for the name and want to try something a little different, then give it a try. Personally, I’d rather have my £5 back.

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Comments On This Post

  1. midge

    Artisan du chocolate do indeed supply F&M. I buy misshapes from Artisan at borough market and occasionally if I am very lucky I get some broken pieces of rose and violet chocolate, one I ate today that had fm on it… didn’t realise the whole bars were only 70g, that’s very stingy. If Artisan did whole bars of rose and violet themselves I would probably cave in and buy, but £5 is taking the petunia.

  2. Elspeth

    I just thought I’d add my disappointing Fortnum and Mason milk chocolate selection box experience, since it was so bad I have thrown a few away, some with bites taken out. Firstly, whilst velvety in texture, their milk chocolate seemed incredibly sweet. Actual cocoa flavour seemed non-existent. As with every where else “Chocolates” we’re mostly soft centres: very sickly truffles, marzipans, various nut clusters and praline crisps, with just one hard centre: a (delicious) chocolate covered caramel. Other than that, the chocolate dipped orange slice was a welcome flavour injection, the coconut quinelle, the crystallised ginger and the saffron and ginger fudge … all of these had enough flavour to counteract the sweet, sweet chocolate. If I’d wanted truffles, I’d have bought them … these made up a quarter to one third of the box. These mass-produced truffles are far from true truffles, really … thick chocolate cases filled with runny centres. Where are the hard centres today? Have just searched for a box, and will try Charbonnel and Walker … since they seem to be the only purveyor of such a box! This is England, pralines are continental, but they are everywhere! I adore marzipan, too, but when they constitute half a selection box they become boring. Please, someone, produce a satisfying box of milk and dark hard centres, with crunchy salty melt in the mouth peanut cracknel, nutty fruity chewy-chewy montelimars and nougatines, dark chocolate coconut and brazil nut hard caramels, please, chocolate purveyors, give us something to get our teeth into!

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