Dark Chocolate Archives

Here are all the posts on Chocablog tagged with the term Dark Chocolate.

Chococo Chocolate Dipped Sundried Apricots

Turkish sundried apricots dipped in dark chocolate.

Zotter Scotch Whisky

Whisky and chocolate combined. What's not to love?

Thorntons Academy of Chocolate Gold Award Winners

A selection of three Academy of Chocolate award winning fresh chocolates, part of Thorntons' "Wonder Box".

Amano Dos Rios

Amano Dos Rios (Two Rivers) is a 70% dark chocolate made with beans sourced from the Dominican Republic.

Seed & Bean Pumkin Seeds & Hemp Oil

Another bar from Seed & Bean, the Nottingham based maker of fair trade, organic chocolate bars.

Donini Dark Chocolate for Wine Pairing

Ok, I’ll admit it. I bought this bar of chocolate because it was big – 250g – yet it cost the same as just about every other bar in the shop. And I’ll also admit that I had absolutely no …

Thorntons Chocolate Jubilee Easter Egg

Those of you who have been paying attention will know that this year is Thorntons’ 100th birthday. They’ve been working on a raft of new products to celebrate, and this spectacular egg is one of them.

William Curley Bounty & Marathon Bars

William Curley recreates some childhood classics as part of his nostalgia range.

Australian Homemade Selection

It’s been a while since I’ve had my hands on some Australian Homemade chocolate, probably because it’s been a while since I was in the Netherlands.

Poco Dolce Sea Salt Toffee Squares

I was casually leafing through a magazine at my dentist's, waiting to be told that I don't floss enough, and I was stopped in my tracks by a photo. Poco Dolce made me want them with that photo.

Cacao Sampaka Dark Chocolate Arabica Coffee

It’s slightly strange to see chocolate that doesn’t have a cacao percentage listed on the packaging. There’s plenty of nutritional information and a comprehensive list of ingredients, but nothing about the beans used or how much of them went into making these two 50g slabs.

Patisserie Vercruysse Selection

Geert Vercruysse is a Belgian chocolatier & patissier based in Kortrijk, close to the French border.

Lindt Variations Cacao

I haven’t picked up a Lindt box in a long time, but this one looked more interesting than most because it appeared to have a theme.

Café-Tasse Dark Chocolate With Orange & Black Pepper

We’ve seen lemon and pepper more than once, and I tackled a strawberry and pepper combination last year, but never orange and pepper. Until now.

Amano Chuao and Truffles

Starting off my journey were the berries, with some saltiness sparking up the halfway point. It’s deep like a black ocean...

Chocolatier Assortment

Chocolatier are an Australian company based in Melbourne who have been in business for over 25 years, strange that their products rarely show up in the mass market.

Madelaine 72% Premium Dark

The bar is divided into three large and thick pieces. They’re too large for my tastes, especially since you can’t really break them into smaller sizes because they’re so thick.

Delaviuda Bonbones

Two years ago, I looked at some milk chocolate truffles by Delaviuda, which I found to be pleasant eatables. Now I return with a box of dark chocolate dessert cups with a series of praline fillings. Like before, the box …

Choceur 70% Fairtrade Dark Chocolate

Dark, glossy chocolate with a good sheen, a crisp snap, and a slightly bitter cacao aroma. On the palette it’s quick to melt, delivering acidic, bittersweet cacao flavours with a slight burnt sugar top note.

Amano Cuyagua

The cacao origin here is Venezuela, specifically from the out-of-the-way Cuyagua Valley. The rich colored squares have a marshmallow aroma reminiscent of the Montanya bar, accented with a peppery feel.

Nero & Bianco Fairtrade Chocolate

Nero & Bianco are a High Wycombe based company, selling Fairtrade chocolate from Peru and The Dominican Republic.

Baruzzo Cape Gooseberries

They’re very grown up treats, particularly given that I paid almost ten pounds for this little bag, but believe me, I haven’t tasted anything like this before and I wanted to spread the word.

President’s Choice Swiss Praline Collection

I’m not a fan of the increased use of palm oil in chocolate, but sometimes it is more noticeable. In the case of this box, the chocolates feel greasy when you pick them up. Not a positive sign.

Snake & Butterfly Selection

I went with the 67% Madagascar bar, whose ingredients are limited to cacao nibs, sugar, and cocoa butter.

Astor Black and Tan

A bar that made with both milk and dark chocolate. Rather than being mixed together (which would spoil the individual light and dark colors), the dark was poured into the mold first, followed by a layer of milk.

The Tea Room Maté & Cocoa Nibs

The last thing I brought back from the San Francisco Chocolate Salon was this 51 gram bar by The Tea Room.

Choceur Plain Chocolate With Roasted Salted Almonds

So Christmas is over, VAT has gone up and the weather is still dreadful. What better time to pop into an Aldi in search of potentially tasty bargains?

East India Company Dark Chocolate With Red Peppercorn

The East India Company is probably not be a name you associate with chocolate. In fact, it’s probably not a name you associate with anything much in the modern world.

New Zealand Chocolate Round-Up

The family and I are travelling around the South Island of New Zealand. Naturally, when in another country there are many things to do: places to see, countryside to look at, and food to taste.

Niederegger Marzipan Desserts Selection

Another little souvenir of a trip to Europe, where marzipan seems to be much more popular than it is here in the UK.

Original Beans Beni Wild Harvest

The tasting notes were as concise as the ingredients list - cognac, raisins, honeyed black tea. The cacao flavours are light and fruity, and the sugars do indeed give off this amazing rush of light honeyed sweetness.

William Curley Chocolate Caramel Mou

The chocolates themselves look beautiful, much as you'd expect from anything with William Curley's name on it. They're elegant and unfussy with a simple decoration of cocoa nibs on top.

Neuhaus Valentine’s Selection

These two Valentine’s Day pieces came to me from Belgian chocolatier Neuhaus. First is a heart box filled with nineteen pralines. Its red siding gives a modern look to the box’s top pattern of a lace pattern of grey-on-white.

French Broad Aphrodisiac Collection

On first look, I thought this box of truffles I received from French Broad Chocolates was just another simple, handmade affair...

Asda ‘The Collection’

I’m always a little wary when supermarkets send their own brand chocolate samples, so when Asda asked if we could review their latest “The Collection” (imaginative name) chocolates in time for Valentines Day, I can’t say I was looking forward to them...

Paul A. Young Valentine’s Selection

Time for more Valentine’s chocolates, this time from the always awesome Paul A. Young. As you’d expect from Paul, everything looks amazing, so I just thought I’d show you lots of pretty pictures.

Chococo Valentine’s Gift Set

Here’s a bit of Valentine’s fun from Chococo. A 125g dark chocolate heart with white chocolate cherubs and little sugar hearts and a selection of 16 fresh chocolates. Let’s start with the heart. You can pick from other varieties of …

Momotombo Chocolate Factory Assorted Chocolates

When trying a sample of the Momotombo Chocolate Factory’s chocolates at the Chocolate Salon, I instantly found it a unique experience. Unique, too, that the company is right out of Nicaragua, using cacao grown in the country. Their symbol is …

Charbonnel et Walker Delicious Art

Mr Ramsey Finchley London Mrs Minnie Walker 173 New Bond Street London 1st February 1878 My Dearest Mrs Walker I do hope this note finds you in good health. It has been some time since we last corresponded, but Mme. …

Vice Chocolates Dark Chocolate With Fleur De Sel

Although I have said that Vice Chocolates had quite an eye-catching booth at the San Francisco Chocolate Salon, I find myself slightly disappointed to be at home with only a plain dark chocolate and sea salt bar rather than a …

Soma Chuao 70%

Canada’s Soma Chocolatemaker is one of our very favourite bean-to-bar chocolate manufacturers, and their Chuao 70% bar is one of their best creations. Michael and I managed to get our hands on two bars from the same batch, and frankly, …

Carluccio’s Dark Chocolate Grissini

These grissini (breadsticks) were a gift from my friend Judith of Mostly About Chocolate late last year, so I thought it was about time I got down to writing about them. We split the 400g box between us, and you …

Choccreate

Choccreate is another of the make-your-own chocolate bar companies, all of whom seem to be named with the oh-so-original prefix “choc.” But after all, it is your own creativity that is supposed to reign in these cases. When Choccreate invited …

Amedei Porcelana

A beautiful dark chocolate made from Venezuelan Porcelana cocoa beans.

Wei of Chocolate Wei Happy

I am pleased to say that I have finally found a chocolate maker in Phoenix. I discovered Wei of Chocolate at a farmer’s market, educating passers by about how to get the most nutrition-wise out of your chocolate. After sampling …

Madécasse 70%

Even with less than two days in San Francisco, I still had to peer into a couple of chocolate shops in the area. (Ghirardelli Square doesn’t count: it’s a great place to spend the afternoon but not a major chocolate …

Mast Brothers Grand Cru 81%

When Dom reviewed the first Mast Brothers bar I felt a genuine pang of envy. Seriously. When I read the review I immediately lusted for a taste of this wondrous chocolate that those bearded brothers were bringing to life in …

Divine Dark Chocolate With Ginger & Orange

Despite having had Divine chocolate in cocktails and brownies recently, it’s been a while since we’ve reviewed any of their actual bars, and being a bit of a ginger fan, I thought I’d give this one a try. This is …

Jersey Devil Hot & Spicy

Jersey Devil Chocolates, being a new company, currently have a single product: a 54% dark chocolate bar with chipotle chili and cranberries that sells for $3.50. The premise is the Jersey Devil folklore of a flying, hoofed creature in New …

Ayala Moriel Espionage Perfume Bar

Well, this is an interesting idea and as far as I know, something really quite unique. Perfume maker Ayala Moriel has collaborated with Vancouver chocolatier Rachel Sawatzky (also known as the CocoaNymph) to come up with a trio of chocolate …

Zotter Coffee Plum With Caramelised Bacon

Well would you look at that. Another slightly mad chocolate bar from Zotter. Who would ever have thought. Oh, and more bacon too. Because it’s just not real chocolate if it doesn’t contain bacon. The official description of this bar …

Patchi Selection

Up until a few months ago, I’d never heard of Patchi. Then, within the space of a few days, Simon found their store in Doha, Qatar, and I found them at the Chocolate Unwrapped show in London. So here are …

John & Kira’s Urban Garden Bars

Most of us know by now about the ethical choices chocolate-makers can stand by; we also know that no matter how many stamps, seals, and labels a chocolate has, taste still matters. I am happy, therefore, to introduce you to …

Pavlidis Dark Chocolate

You have no idea how hard it is to research an unknown chocolate when you not only don’t speak the language, but also can’t read the alphabet. Makes it quite tough to type things into Google. Luckily, the two words …

Just Us Midnight Mint

On the episode of The Simpsons where Homer forms a barbershop quartet, there’s a conversation when the foursome are trying to come up with a name which states they picked one which was funny the first time anybody heard it, …

Danucci Dark Chocolate Selection

Danucci is a company based in Co. Louth, Ireland who have a chocolatier by the name of Michelle Lowth. This little box contains five pieces – a Sea Salted Caramel (the shiny silver one), a Rustic Praline (the ridged one), …

40point5 Artisan Chocolates

This intriguing box of chocolates was a gift from my favourite chocolate guide, and comes from a new shop called 40point5 in Kensington. The name refers to the melting point of chocolate. Clever – but perhaps something that will go …

The Chocolate Society Wicked Hokey Pokey

I recentl received a little box of treasure from The Chocolate Society, and one of the items in the box was this bag of cinder toffee covered in Valrhona 70% dark chocolate – aka ‘Hokey Pokey’. The card attached to …

Gateau et Ganache Chocolate Bonbons

Like many (though certainly not all) of the Chocolate Salon participants, Gateau et Ganache is based out of California. Creator Annie Golding makes a variety of confections, specifically handmade marshmallows and truffles. As I mentioned, I found theirs among the …

Matcha Chocolat Winter Selection

After a break from the norm with Matcha’s Chocolate Shards, tea-chocolatier-extrordinaire Katie Christoffers is back with another selection box – this time with a winter theme. The packaging remains unchanged from Matcha’s other selection boxes, which is fine by me, …

Flagrants Desirs Noir Poire

I remember reading something a couple of years ago that pear was going to be everywhere very soon. The only reason I really remembered was because not long after I was given a box of rather splendid chocolates that had …

Hedonist Artisan Chocolates

I can’t speak for anyone else, but I only found it humorous to get two boxes of chocolate in the mail marked “Hedonist Artisan Chocolates” (a hedonist being someone devoted to the pursuit of sensual pleasure). Really, what could be …

Guido Castagna Lacri Blend 76% Madagascar

Here we have a gift from my favourite Italian chocolate chocolatier (and presumably the only UK stockist) this bar from Guido Castagna has ‘class’ and ‘elegance’ written all over it. From the burnt orange and brown box to the carefully …

James Chocolate Bars

James Chocolates were at the Speciality & Fine Food fair at Olympia earlier this year, and owner James Hutchins himself gave me four little slabs to try out. Firecracker Dark chocolate laced with pepper and spices. Strong, peppery taste to …

Seaton Fire Slightly Wild & Mild Chai

I recently received some samples from Seaton Fire Chocolates – who proclaim themselves Australia’s Favourite Chilli Chocolate (as voted by their customers). I have to admit that the marketing tag line does put me off a bit; but it also …

Amano Truffles

Amazing hand made truffles from bean-to-bar chocolate maker Amano.

Hotel Chocolat The Purist 70% Chuao

A single origin dark chocolate from Venezuela

Lindt Excellence Black Currant and Roasted Almond

My latest from the good people of Lindt was a package including their two newest bars, Black Currant and Roasted Almond. The look and format is the usual Lindt Excellence style; both are dark chocolates, though the Almond comes in …

President’s Choice Belgian Chocolate Mousse Cups

Twice a year, the Loblaw chain of grocery stores (which I suppose would be the Canadian equivalent of Tesco’s) unleashes their newest creations onto the market under their own President’s Choice label. There’s normally all kinds of goodies, but the …

Friis Holm Johe

Richard from Chocolate & Love gave me this bar a while back and it’s been happily sitting in my “review queue” waiting to be scoffed. On Wednesday though, I had the good fortune to meet the man responsible for growing …

Matcha Chocolat Shards

These beautifully packaged shards of chocolate are something of a departure for Katie Christoffers’ Matcha Chocolat. Until recently she has concentrated on her (equally beautiful) tea-infused filled chocolates, so I was intrigued to see how she would approach these. There …

Vestri I Classici Amargo

This is my second Vestri bar, bigger but with less of a pedigree than the single estate ‘Hacienda Alegre‘ bar I reviewed a while ago. Vestri are one of Tuscany’s top chocolate makers, and after the Hacienda Alegre bar, I …

Kaoka Ecuador 80%

I want trawling through my box of chocolate waiting to be tried (as you do), and found this little gem tucked away. This is another from the Kaoka stable – again found in my local Foodland supermarket. The back of …

Devnaa Signature Chocolates

Devnaa is a brother and sister partnership producing “Indian Inspired” chocolates and confectionery in the UK. As you can see first impressions are great, with beautiful brightly coloured packaging that immediately makes you want to open the box. The one …

Hotel Chocolat Dark & Fruity Yule Log

In case you hadn’t noticed, here in the UK, the nights are drawing in, and yes, Christmas is looming large. Of course, Christmas is a time for chocolate (although here at Chocablog every day is a day for chocolate) and …

Booja-Booja Raspberry Truffles

Booja-Booja sent this little box after company founder Colin Mace found Simon’s review of their Flambéd Banana Truffles and got in touch to say how much he liked our little blog. Never one to miss an opportunity, I managed to …

Zotter Lemon Polenta

I brought this bar along as a little treat while I work in the Middle East. It’s (currently) the last Zotter bar in my possession, and as we’ve come to expect the flavour combination is, shall we say, a little …

Jacques Genin Selection

This attractive little metal box contains nine chocolates from French patissier and chocolatier Jacques Genin. It was a gift from my lovely friend Kate, who picked it up at Salon du Chocolat in Paris the other week. I have to …

Theobroma Chocolat Collection Box

The last time I had something from Quebec’s Theobroma Chocolat, it was a bit of a mixed bag but it turns out that I wasn’t alone in feeling that way. The company let me know that their Pineapple bar was …

Demarquette Victorian Ganache Selection

This little Christmas selection would normally come in a box of 16 larger chocolates, but I picked them up from Demarquette’s shop in Fulham Road at the launch, and these little tasters were quite enough for my review! There’s four …

Delicaseys Ginger Crisp

A few months ago I received a present of three selections from Delicaseys Sydney chocolate range. The first two were exceptionally good. Like a child with a favourite food, I put what I thought would be my favourite aside to …

My Chocri

Chocri is a German company that lets you create custom chocolate bars. Choose from a white, milk or dark chocolate base, then add up to five toppings from a selection of over 100. Chocri’s web site claims that makes over …

Leone Chocolate Drops

Here’s something I bought from HF Chocolates in Milton Keynes. These two little boxes of Leone Chocolate Drops are somewhat unusual in that they happen to be dairy free – something that will please at least four people I know, …

Ben Tre Action Against Hunger Bars

A certain person who shall remain nameless has been teasing me with these Ben Tre bars for some time. With a series of emails and texts along the lines of “I bought you a Ben Tre bar to try” followed …

ProBar Koka Moka and Cherry Pretzel meal bars

I’ve recently returned from The States, where a busy schedule of constant travel and long drives made me develop a certain addiction to cereal and energy bars. There seems to be quite a thriving industry of various so-called meal replacement …

Paul A. Young Chateau Civrac Ganache Grapes

As a chocolate blogger, the only thing more satisfying than the postman knocking on your door with a package full of chocolate, is when that package has a “Paul A. Young Fine Chocolates” label on it. My life has now …

Malie Kai North Shore Dark Nibby Bar

So I found myself in Honolulu a few weeks ago. I had to go to Hawaii for a conference, something I’ve been orchestrating for some time now, and while my thoughts weren’t really on chocolate as I walked along Waikiki …

Bojesen Wild Bolivian

This is perhaps the simplest bar of chocolate I’ve reviewed on Chocablog, right down to the packaging – a thin silver pouch, sealed with a single ‘Bojesen’ sticker. This is clearly a bit different from your average chocolate. The chocolate …

Thorntons Triple Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Cookies are a bit of a departure for Thorntons, but a very welcome one. I had a taste of these at their Christmas launch back in July and I’ve been looking forward to reviewing them. I finally got my hands …

Dark Chocolate Face-Off: Wawel 90% vs Lindt 85%

Two high cocoa dark chocolate bars.

Melt Wine Bar

Don’t be misled by the words “complex chocolate” on the front, because this is about as simple as chocolate gets, with just three ingredients. Cocoa mass, sugar and cocoa butter. The complex flavours come from the cocoa bean rather than …

Dufflet Bittersweet Chocolate Crackle

Toronto’s legendary Dufflet Bakery is one of those places which becomes an necessary stop once discovered. Their selection of cakes, pies and pastries is impressive enough, but the fact that they taste as good as they look has cemented their …

Chocoholly Plain Dark Organic Chocolate

This simple, 40g bar of 72% dark, organic chocolate was thrust into my hand by Holly at the recent Speciality & Fine Food Fair. It’s a very simple bar, but one of my main reasons for wanting to talk about …

Duffy’s Star of Panama 70%

Here’s another of Duffy Sheardown’s single origin bars, stone ground and hand made in Lincolnshire. As previously mentioned, Duffy is one of only three UK chocolate makers who import the beans and make. I had the pleasure of meeting the …

Coco Bean Handmade Truffles

This box of handmade truffles was sent to us by Ruth at Coco Bean, a small Welsh chocolatier. They come in boxes of six or twelve, and you can choose which individual truffles you want when placing your order. As …

Hotel Chocolat Signature Dark Collection

This tiny little massive box of chocolates was a small part of the goody bag we received at the Hotel Chocolat Christmas launch back in July, but has only just gone on sale. It looks like there have been a …

The Chocolate Traveler Tabasco Spicy Chocolate

As this little tin had been sitting in my chocolate stash for quite a while, I decided it was time to finally approach it. When I first saw it, I assumed it to be made by the Tabasco hot sauce …

Rococo Basil & Persian Lime

Time for more of Rococo’s beautiful new packaging, inspired by the Moorish tiles in their “secret” Moroccan garden in Motcomb Street. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the flavours come from there too, although I’m not entirely sure that …

Prestat Truffle Selection

I picked up this little bag of fresh truffles from Prestat’s brightly coloured shop in central London. Having never tried any of their fresh chocolates, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect – my Prestat experience to date has been …

Jeff de Bruges Gianduja Cornets

You might not guess it from the name, but Jeff de Bruges was started by a Frenchman called Phillipe. Personally, I think I would have gone for “Phillipe de Paris” as a name for my shops because “Jeff de Bruges” …

Claire Clark Jaffa Cake

I was lucky enough to be given this amazing creation on my Chocolate Ecstasy Tour of Chelsea chocolate shops at the weekend. We took a detour from the usual tour route to visit Claire’s pop-up patisserie in Harvey Nichols. We …

Ritter Sport Selection Part 2

Taking a look at the first half of Ritter Sport bars I received, my views were favorable. The second half, however, I am not finding so enjoyable. Three of these bars contain nuts; two are dark chocolate. Working on the …

Burnt Sugar Chewy Caramels

It’s been a year since Simon reviewed Burnt Sugar’s Gooey Caramels, which he found at Borough Market. I found this ‘chewy’ variation in Waitrose, so things are obviously going well for the Burnt Sugar guys. These chewy caramels seem to …

Rococo Moroccan Mint

Here’s a little something I liberated from the Rococo stand at the Speciality and Fine Food Fair. It’s a 65% organic dark chocolate bar with organic mint, and comes in a brightly coloured wrapper, the design of which is inspired …

Zotter Schönberger Red

Something else from our favourite Austrian chocolate maker, and this time it’s a boozy little bar containing Schönberger red wine. In keeping with Zotter’s organic / fair trade ingredients policy, the red wine is also organic. There are also a …

Sugarless Gourmet Dark Chocolate

After a hard day crawling over and under the house doing a spot of new data wiring – it was time for a reward. The choices on a nice spring day came down to a cold beer, or a cup …

Vestri Hacienda Vista Alegre

I was recently invited to an Italian themed ‘tasting’ evening by the lovely Rafaella Baruzzo (she of the amazing Sicilian Lemons in chocolate fame), and at the end of the evening I was given a few things to take home …

Matcha Chocolat Lotus Selection

Another season is upon us, which means another collection of tea-based chocolates from Katie Christoffers’ Matcha Chocolat. The presentation is exactly the same as previous collections – the box hasn’t changed at all – only the contents have changed. Well… …

Pour Toi Selection

I met the ladies from Pour Toi at the Speciality & Fine Food Fair at Olympia last week (photos of that on our Facebook page). I love meeting new people in the chocolate industry, and I especially love it when …

Organicfair Canadiana

Writing for Chocablog has changed me. I used to be able to enjoy going to places and not spend my time digging around in shops obsessively looking for unusual kinds of chocolate, but not any more. Now I spend every …

Cocoa Mountain Selection

Based in north west Scotland, Cocoa Mountain describe themselves as the most remote chocolate company in the UK. Their amazing looking chocolate bar is apparently known for its hot chocolates, but despite our attempts to get them to post us …

Grenada Chocolate Company 82%

A few days after I picked this bar up in Waitrose, the lovely people at Chococo sent me another. As it only takes a single bar to write a review, I’ll be giving away the spare bar at the end …

Wawel 70% With Orange Peel

Yet another visit to the local Vietnamese butcher, yet more Polish chocolate. The Wawel range carried in that place is just crazy, but I think I must have tried them all by now. Not everything ends up with a review …

Valrhona Manjari Orange

I wasn’t going to review this. Partly because Deanna has already briefly mentioned it, but mainly because it’s my comfort food. The kind of chocolate I buy to cheer myself up, rather than to tell other people about. But when …

Lindt Carrés

I can’t recall ever having reviewed a box of Lindt chocolates before, which is remarkable considering the amount of their products we’ve collectively muched our way through here at Chocablog. Recently, I was in an airport somewhere in Europe (it …

Fortnum & Mason Mexican Mole Spice

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 …

Olivia Chocolat Touch Of Maple 76%

Now that bean-to-bar makers are all the rage, it is reassuring to see that Canada isn’t getting left behind thanks to the likes of Gatineau’s Olivia Chocolat. They are another one of those companies who appear to take their chocolate …

Booja Booja Flambéd Banana Truffles

Booja Booja is a Norfolk based company specialising in organic, dairy free, vegan and vegetarian friendly chocolates, They’ve won numerous awards from organic and vegetarian societies, and definitely fall into the ‘slightly bonkers chocolate makers’ category (I mean – Booja-Booja?) …

E. Guittard Quetzalcoatl

Stepping back two years, E. Guittard was the subject of my very first Chocablog review. At that time, I was bumping into their bars relatively often and thoroughly enjoying them until suddenly they appeared no more. This week I find …

Mood Foods OmBar Probiotic Range

Here we have another three Mood Foods OmBars, only this time they come with a little something extra, namely probiotic bacteria (the same stuff in those yoghurt drinks they sell in supermarkets and health food stores). As you can see, …

Valrhona Guanaja 70% Couverture

70% couverture from Valrhona

Australian Homemade Dreamers selection

Some years ago, long before I started writing for Chocablog, I discovered Australian Homemade chocolates in a store in Amsterdam, of all places. I remembered them as being very pretty to look at (they were the first chocolates I’d seen …

Chocolate Cafe Dark Chocolate With Mint

This is the third and final bar I received from The Chocolate Cafe a while back. It’s a simple dark chocolate flavoured with mint. As with the other bars, it’s presented in a simple but elegant paper wrapper, that really …

Duffy’s Corazon Del Ecuador 72%

This bar was supposed to be featured at a recent tasting event Dom & I were invited to, but Duffy Sheardown wasn’t able to make it, so he very kindly posted out samples to everyone after the event. That isn’t …

Vosges Oaxaca Bar

I don’t know why this chocolate intimidated me. I’ve had chocolate/chili combinations several times; why should I be reluctant to try this one? Maybe its the picture of a chili pepper on the front, taking up almost half the space …

Theobroma Chocolat with Pineapple Chunks

I’m seriously beginning to think that Quebec’s primary export must be chocolate because Theobroma Chocolat is yet another company that I had never heard of until recently. Taking their name from the Latin name for the cacoa tree, they specialise …

Hotel Chocolat Summer Goody Bag

Time for another Hotel Chocolat goody bag! I do love these things, despite the fact that they come in a little handbag and are probably not aimed at me. I think there’s something exciting about ripping open a bag full …

Go*Do Organic Chocolate

This little lot was sent to us by Italian company Go*Do who will be launching in the UK in September. According to the company web site, they take their ethical responsibilities seriously, with the cocoa and cane sugar coming from …

Zotter Butter Caramel

One of the peculiar things about working for Chocablog is that I rarely have any idea what any of the other writers are up to until I read their reviews. Dom and I will occasionally consult as to what we …

The Chocolate Tree Dark Chocolate With Strawberry & Pepper

This is the last of the three Chocolate Tree bars I picked up on my recent trip to Edinburgh. It has crushed black peppercorns and dried strawberries, which struck me as an interesting and unusual combination. I’d had chocolate with …

Askinosie San Jose Del Tambo 70%

Askinosie is an American bean-to-bar chocolate maker, based in Springfield, Missouri. Shockingly, in over four years of writing about chocolate practically every day, this is the first time we’ve reviewed one of their bars. That just goes to show how …

Sugah! Fog Burner

Wow. I suspect that there might be some coffee in this here chocolate because I can smell it before I even open the bar and I feel more awake by just looking at it. Impressive. Or maybe that has something …

Freia Premium Passion Fruit

Freia is a long established Norwegian chocolate manufacturer, with a shop in Oslo since the late nineteenth century. Rebranded in Sweden and elsewhere as Marabou (due to existing copyright problems), Freia was bought out by Kraft some years ago. The …

Mood Foods OmBar Fruit Bars

Mood foods have redesigned, rebranded and re-invented their range of Ombars, one of which I reviewed last year. The 2010 models are completely different though, with the cocoa content up to 60%, and a new sweetening agent in the mix. …

Delicaseys Fleur De Sel

Part of the goody bag I recently received included a few Delicaseys chocolates from Sydney. I was hugely impressed with the Orange Bliss that I tried first. Next on the list is Fleur De Sel – or as the package …

Paul A. Young 72% Venezuelan with Tellicherry Pepper

This is one of Paul A. Young’s latest creations. It was thrust into my hand at the recent Taste of London event in Regents Park, and also one of the samples on offer at Jennifer Earle’s Chocs & Tunes tasting …

Praline & Caramel – Cinnamon & Cayenne Pepper

One of the really wonderful things about hanging out in Montreal hunting for chocolate (apart from simply getting lots of chocolate) was discovering all kinds of Canadian companies I was unfamiliar with. And I had never heard of Laval’s Praline …

Hotel Chocolat Super Boosters

Any chocolate that comes in a test tube must be good. If it’s made from cocoa nibs and has a Hotel Chocolat logo on it, then it should be awesome. The name and presentation are clearly designed to get you …

Lu Petit Écolier

As I was poking about in my local Foodland supermarket a few days ago, I stumbled upon LU Petit Écolier biscuits. Part of the attraction / interest was that these sell themselves as “European Biscuits”. Down here in the wide …

Lindt Petits Desserts Sorbetto

During my last shopping trip, it was hard not to notice Lindt’s new Petits Desserts Sorbetto chocolates on the shelf because of the really unique packaging they’ve been given – an oversized cardboard ice cream cone that declares in no …

Zotter Labooko Blumenstrauß

“Blumenstrauß”, for those of you who don’t speak German means “Bouquet”, which might give you a good idea of the flavouring in this Zotter creation. As with the Raspberry and Coconut offering, there are two different bars in one fold-out …

Auberge du Chocolat Signature Dairy Free Range

I picked this little selection up from the Auberge stand at Taste of London last week. I asked the girls to pick out a selection of their favourites, and they chose to go with this “Dairy Free” selection. I use …

Bellina Chocolate House, Cambridge

Whilst out and about on my travels a while ago, I tracked down the Bellina Chocolate House in Cambridge. Located in newer premises on Bridge Street (having moved from a small side street which is also home to a fantastic …

Nicky Grant Selection

There’s nothing I enjoy more than discovering a fresh chocolate maker that I haven’t come across before, so I was delighted when the postman tried (and failed) to squeeze this little box through my letterbox. Luckily the chocolates and the …

Zaabär Star Anise of China & Ginger From Goa

When faced with a wall of chocolate in a shop, most of which is unfamiliar, it is hard to know which ones to buy. My head says I should go for a flavour which I either like a lot or …

Delicaseys Orange Bliss

The other (better?) half had a short holiday in Sydney with her sister recently, and came back bearing gifts of chocolate. The “Delicaseys” range were apparently what was available at the local shops, so she had to buy some. I’ve …

Sugah! Nova Scotia Concoction

After I e-mailed the nice people at Sugah! my review of their Anise Almond Clusters, they sent an e-mail back threatening to, and I quote, “inundate me with chocolate”. And then a few weeks later, they did just that. A …

Chocolate & Love Crushed Diamonds

This is one of the Chocolate & Love own branded bars that I picked up at their recent tasting session in central London. It’s one of those strange chocolates that can’t decide if it wants to be dark or milk. …

Von Geusau Dark Chilli

Guest Chocablogger Natasha Faria is back with another offering from South Africa… This may be a flavour that has been done many times before, but what better yardstick to measure a chocolatier by than how well they do the classics, …

Zotter Olives With Lemon

It’s time for something weird and wonderful from Zotter – that slightly mad Austrian bean-to-bar chocolate maker. This time we have a 60% dark chocolate with an olive and lemon filling – something which sounds positively tame by normal Zotter …

Matcha Chocolat Jade Selection

Tea chocolate is very much the in thing right now. I think the fact that Katie Christoffers, the brains behind Matcha Chocolat sent us this new collection in the same week as the Paul A. Young & Henrietta Lovell tea …

Edible.com Chocolate Coated Giant Ants

Can you tell what it is yet? After my review of the chocolate coated worms and crickets was published, Chocablog reader Amy kind of dared me to review these. So I did. For about a pound a go (plus postage) …

Côte d’Or Lemon Ginger & Passion Fruit

The selection of chocolate bars available at the non-specialist shops in town in pretty stagnant – all the usual things from the usual suspects and that’s about it. And while it is rather nice to be able to pick up …

Wawel Platki Czekoladowe

I was at my local Vietnamese butcher the other day. The one that sells chocolate. Naturally. Polish chocolate. As you do. Amongst my haul of sausages, steaks and chickens I just happened to accidentally stand in front of the chocolate …

Von Geusau Dark Cherry

Guest Chocablogger Natasha Faria is back with something interesting from South Africa… All of Von Geusau’s chocolates are well-packaged, but the colour-coded foil really adds a special bit of flair – as do the hand-written, colour-coded labels. From every aspect …

Chocolats Geneviève Grandbois Les Classiques

This was my final stop in the chocolate tour of Montreal because my host was saving her favourite shop until last. She loves Chocolats Geneviève Grandbois and it is easy to understand why. The shop might be tiny, but it …

Willie’s Cacao Madagascan 71 Sambirano Superior

Willie Harcourt-Cooze is one of only two bean to bar chocolate makers in the UK. Most famously, he was the subject of Channel 4’s “Willie’s Wonky Chocolate Factory”, and in chocolate circles, he’s known as much for his personality as …

Paul A. Young Marmite XO Bar

I’ve known this bar was coming for a couple of months and I’ve sat and waited patiently for it to appear. Today it finally arrived, and I think my life may be complete. Yes, this is what happens when you …

Godiva Spring Fruits

I have a bit of a history with Godiva. With their message of luxury inside golden boxes, they were a helping hand when I began to think of chocolate as beyond indulgence. But when I’ve had some of their chocolate …

Suite 88 Les Truffes Artisanales

My recent trip to Montreal for a conference was also a good excuse for a guided tour of the city’s best chocolate shops, and one of the first stops of the day was to Suite 88 Chocolatier. The shop is …

Lindt Essence Assorted Selection

I’ve been itching to try these since seeing them appear on our Supermarket shelves some time ago – a new (?) Lindt offering! Or at least – one I’d not come across before. The small bag contains filled chocolates; to …

Duffy’s Heart of Panama 70%

It may surprise you to learn that there are only two people making chocolate from the bean in the UK. The first was Willie Harcourt-Cooze (of Willie’s Wonky Chocolate Factory fame), and now we have Duffy Sheardown and his Red …

Mr Simms Olde Sweet Shoppe Old Jamaica

Older readers may remember those iconic (and downright silly) ads for Cadbury’s Old Jamaica in the 70s and 80s. I remember it being a favourite of my mother at the time, but for some reason Cadbury discontinued it in the …

Hotel Chocolat Just Desserts H-Box

This is just the kind of thing I love. A light, fruity summer selection box from Hotel Chocolat. This particular “H-Box” (I don’t know why they named a box of chocolates after a prison block) consists of 14 milk, dark …

Niko B Organic Chocolates Selection

Anthony Ferguson is an American chocolate maker who up until 2001 was working for Silicon Graphics in San Francisco. These days, he’s living in Hackney with his British wife and running a chocolate company named after his son Nikolas. I …

Chocoholly Salted Caramels

Holly Caulfied – aka Chocoholly – is one of my favourite British chocolatiers. Not only is she an all-round lovely person to know, but her artistic talents make her chocolates some of the most creative and attractive chocolates around. The …

Popina White Chocolate & Coffee Truffle Brownie

I picked this little beauty up from the Popina stand at the Real Food Festival at Earls Court on Friday. According to their web site, it’s made with 72% dark chocolate, white chocolate and coffee, but I wanted to see …

Canadian Mars Bars

Being of a certain age, I remember when Mars Bars were gigantic. I mean seriously big. So big that getting to the end of one could have potentially bring upon a diabetic coma. And they only 10p too… To be …

Betsy & Bill’s Handmade Chocolates

I’m always interested to discover new chocolatiers, especially when they’re local to me. So it was with some excitement that I picked up this little bag of chocolates from the shelf of my local Budgens, which proudly proclaimed itself as …

Beschle Grand Cru Collection Noir

We’ve looked at a couple of solid chocolate bars from Beschle, so now it’s time for some truffles. Previously, Simon had loved his Fleur de Sel & Pistachio bar, while I wasn’t quite so enthusiastic about the milk chocolate Montélimar. …

Nói Síríus Pure Icelandic 56% Bittersweet Chocolate

I didn’t really plan on getting all topical with my chocolate reviews, but yet here I am with some Icelandic chocolate which really shouldn’t have been able to make it across the ocean to Canada considering the flight situation during …

Rococo Dark Chocolate Floral Bee Bars

These little 20g bars were part of my haul from the Rococo stand at the Southbank Chocolate Festival last month. Rococo do a range of these little ‘Bee Bars’ in both milk and dark chocolate varieties, but I thought I’d …

Menz Cherrichocs

The long summer here in southern Australia is drawing to a close. Days are getting shorter, temperatures are coming down, warm clothes are being found, and the rains have come to a dry country. Here where I live, when it …

Hotel Chocolat The Purist Madagascar Dark 72%

I chose this bar from Hotel Chocolat, partly because I wanted a change from the usual seasonal promotional items they send us, but primarily because I’m a big fan of Madagascan chocolate. This is the first time I’ve had one …

Sugah! Anise Almond Clusters

Sugah! are a company from Halifax, Nova Scotia that managed to slip under my radar until a box of their clusters appeared in my mailbox via a friend. She hadn’t sampled their chocolate before either, but liked the look of …

The Chocolate Heart Mini Bars

These mini bars are made in Brighton by The Chocolate Heart and one thing that sets them aside from many other chocolate makers is that this chocolate is dairy free, something I happen to know to be very important to …

Rabot Estate Chocolate Covered Cacao Nibs

These cacao nibs were nabbed from the opening of the Rabot Estate shop in Borough Market, and as you can see, come in two varieties – milk chocolate or dark chocolate. Nibs, if you don’t already know, are simply the …

Raffaella Baruzzo Sicilian Lemon Slices

One of the last stalls I visited at the South Bank Chocolate Festival was being run by Raffaella Baruzzo and it was home to a myriad of cellophane bags containing all manner of brightly coloured sweets and numerous chocolate confectionery. …

Trader Joe’s Classic Milk and Dark Chocolates

These two bars from Trader Joe’s don’t make any claims to gourmet or out-of-the-ordinary. Named “Classic,” priced at sixty-seven cents each, and molded into thin bars, they’re obviously not intended to be spectacular feats. The funny thing about them, which …

Zotter Cheese, Walnuts & Raisins

Cheese may be a slightly odd thing to put into a bar of chocolate, but it’s not quite as odd as bacon. And besides, some of us eat cheesecakes every day, so it can’t be that bad, right? Still, Austrian …

Hoja Verde 72%

Hoja Verde, Spanish for “green leaf,” is so named to honor the rainforests shading their cacao plantations and the company’s background in roses. Their base is in Florida, and their single origin chocolate is made with Arriba beans from Ecuador. …

Ooh La La Chocolaterie Spring Collection

It’s been a while since I looked at anything from Ooh La La, so I decided to pick up a box with ‘one of everything’ from their Spring Collection when I saw them at the recent London Chocolate Festival. There …

CocoaNymph Sea Nymph

After enjoying the eight little chocolates that Vancouver’s CocoaNymph sent, I was looking forward to trying one of their bars. In fact, I was actually looking forward to it even more than the chocolates which were gone far too quickly …

Damian Allsop CH20colates

I picked this box up at the London Chocolate Festival, and although I quickly lost track of how much I was spending, Damian Allsop’s web site tells me they’re £13.50 for this box of 12 chocolates. Or roughly £1.13 per …

Paul Wayne Gregory Selection

This was the little box I was presented with after having challenged Paul Wayne Gregory to pick his favourites from the selection on offer at The London Chocolate Festival. He also gave me a lollipop, but that’s a different story. …

Thorntons Antioxi-Choc Berry Boost

Yet another from the (seemingly endless) range of Thornton’s slabs (are they trying to outdo Nestlé’s Japanese KitKat range?) this slab comes with added health benefits in the form of ‘Acticoa‘ – apparently two squares a day is enough to …

James Raspberry Truffles

Time for something else from James. This time we have some dark chocolate raspberry truffles. Sounds good. The first thing I noticed about these is that the colour is a little odd. Because they’re dark chocolate, dusted in pink raspberry …

Co Couture Gold Collection

Another new name to me at the London Chocolate Festival last month was Co Couture from Belfast. I picked up this little box of chocs and some chocolate fudge which may just end up scoffed without being reviewed as it …

Beschle Grand Cru Trinitario au Fleur de Sel & Pistaches

What with Japan week and chocolate covered creepy crawlies, it’s been a while since I sat down with something truly sophisticated and exciting. Thanks to a recent rendezvous with Dom at the South Bank Chocolate Festival I find myself in …

Rogers Chocolates High Tea Bars

Rogers’ Chocolates have been around for a long, long time and as a result it is hard to think of them as anything but a very traditional chocolate company. And considering their line-up of tinned chocolates and their Victoria Creams, …

Choki Raspberry Dark Chocolate

Choki of Brockley were new to me at last week’s London Chocolate Festival. Based in Brockley in South London and started by Gemma and Rowan just last year, they produce a range of handmade bars and truffles. Naturally, the stuff …

Paul Wayne Gregory Salted Caramel Lollipop With Popping Candy

I think it’s fairly safe to say that for many people Paul Wayne Gregory was something fo a highlight at the South Bank in London last weekend. If the seemingly permanent crowd his stand were anything to go by, he …

Zotter Bacon Bits

On a cold and rainy spring afternoon, I ventured into town and into the depths of John Lewis’s food hall to meet the man from Zotter and sample his wares. That’s him in the picture. And the man with the …

James Dark Chocolate Cupcake Egg

I’ve reviewed a few James Chocolates products before and had mixed experiences. More often than not, they’re beautifully presented original designs, but the actual chocolate has left something to be desired. I usually find James products in the “expensive chocolate …

CocoaNymph Collection

When you receive an e-mail asking if it would ok to send you some chocolate to write about, it is tough to say no. And that’s why I got a lovely package of goodies from Vancouver’s CocoaNymph, including a shiny …

Galler Mini Eggs

I was a little surprised when this arrived – no trademark Galler orange packaging for these eggs, just a simple sellophane bag tied with a neat little ribbon. At a shade under £5 for nine eggs (that’s a little over …

Galler Mendiants

When I received this tube of Mendiants from Galler, my first question (and probably one you’ve already asked) was “What are Mendiants then?” Luckily the answers are online (as ever) and so I quote from Wikipedia: “A mendiant is a …

Berry Scrumptious Chocolate Bars

From the people who brought you the ultra-expensive and ultra-yummy chocolate dipped fresh strawberries comes this collection of freeze-dried berries in chocolate. We have four bars here, in a combination of strawberries and raspberries in white and dark chocolate chocolate. …

Paul A. Young Sea Salted Caramel Egg

Ask me to list my favourite chocolates of all time (which people do all too frequently), and right up at the top of that list are Paul A. Young’s sea salted caramels. We saw quite a craze for sea salted …

Nestlé Noir L’Assortiment

I’ve always liked big boxes of chocolates – the impressive looking ones that you shouldn’t really buy for yourself because there are many other more sensible things to spend your money on. But this box was on sale and, let’s …

Berry Scrumptious Chocolate Covered Strawberries

It’s not every day that you get sent fresh, chocolate covered strawberries from Scotland. But so far this week, it’s happened to me twice. When Royal Mail Special Delivery failed to deliver next day, Claire at Berry Scrumptious insisted on …

Matcha Chocolat Emperor’s Selection

It’s funny how you hear about new chocolatiers sometimes. Matcha were recommended to me twice in the space of the week, and just a few days later they got in touch via Twitter offering to send samples. Matcha is based …

Rawr Chocolate Eggs

We’ve reviewed a few raw chocolate products in the past, but this is the first Easter-themed raw chocolate I’ve seen. Raw chocolate, if you don’t know, is chocolate that hasn’t been heat treated, has had minimal processing and is made …

Pralus Tanzanie Forastero

75% Tanzanian dark chocolate from Pralus.

Letterbox Chocolates

Reviewing chocolate all day is of course, a fantastic job. But it does have its down sides. One of the biggest is that I can never leave the house because I’m always expecting a chocolate delivery and someone has to …

Q.bel Selection

Despite having been around since just last year, Q.bel already has a healthy range of seven products, in the form of wafer bars and wafer rolls. The backstory? After having natural foods at home, their son came home from school …

Godiva Chocoiste Dark Chocolate Raspberry

Guest Chocablogger Catherine May takes a look at something fruity from Godiva… When I first saw this, I was immediately struck by the fact that there is no percentage of cocoa solids listed on this 45 gram ‘Dark Chocolate’ bar. …

Geminus Chocolate Diamond Bark

Geminus, Inc., to my surprise, is a local company (to me, that is), coming out of Scottsdale, Arizona. The chocolate people usually don’t flock here too much; they must not be keen on their hard work melting away in the …

Swiss Army Energy Bar Chocolate

My latest finding at that lovely store, World Market, is this Swiss Army bar they import from none other than Switzerland. It’s one of the things that when you see it, realize it’s chocolate, you just have to try out …

Hachez Cocoa D’Arriba Raspberry-Balsamico

Apparently German company Hachez are making a bid for world domination. That can be the only explanation for their rather imaginative bars showing up all over the place because even my little corner of Canada has an impressive range of …

Sweet Signatures Toffee Pecan Clusters

I may be getting spoiled by all the toffee I’ve been trying lately — I don’t consider getting spoiled by the chocolate because, after all, a necessity can’t spoil you. This box of Toffee Pecan Clusters came to me from …

Awaji Orange Sticks

After a week of strange and wonderful flavours (and a huge amount of sugar) it seems fitting to close my Japan Week with something a little more sophisticated, and I am very lucky to have been given this rather lovely …

Meiji Fran Whipps ‘Deep Bitter Chocolate’

Another Meiji product and this time it has a distinctly more sophisticated feel to it than Kinoko No Yama ot Takenoko No Sato. The packaging is beautifully explanatory, and the contents didn’t disappoint – they were exactly like the picture. …

Nestlé KitKat Raspberry & Passion Fruit

How KitKat’s became so popular in Japan is a mystery to me. This simple little snack was originally created in Yorkshire by Rowntree’s in the 1930s, and for a long time didn’t do anything particularly interesting. For as long as …

Pocky Men’s Bitter Chocolate

After karaoke and weird KitKats, Pocky is the third most popular thing in Japan. Probably. Like KitKat, it’s a crunchy, often chocolatey snack that comes in a mind-boggling array of flavours. I wanted to start myself off with something simple …

Dorset Cereals Chocolate Granola

Chocolate for breakfast may not be a new thing, but it’s something I’ve been experiencing much more of recently. Usually it just takes the form of a cereal bar, but I was pleasantly surprised when these two decent sized boxes …

Villars Dark Chocolate With Coffee

I’ve had this bar in my stash box for some time now, but I think I originally liberated it from my local Waitrose. It’s a thin, flat, 100g bar from Swiss chocolate maker Villlars. It comes in a rather nice …

Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory After Dark Collection

Until a branch opened up in a local mall, my previous experience with the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory was looking at their display of ridiculous chocolate dipped candy apples as I ran from one end of an airport to another, …

Hachez Cocoa D’Arriba 77% Mango & Chilli

I think it’s fair to say that over the past few years the Chocablog team have discovered just how varied chocolate makers’ products are, and between us we’ve sampled some quite unusual tasting chocolate. Of course, chilli and chocolate is …

Kellogg’s Fibre Plus

The other day, this pretty little gold box arrived in the mail. No explanation, no branding, no covering letter. Just a gold box with a label saying “Try Me”. Now, being the kind of person that will always eat unidentified …

Galler La Boite Ronde

This box, perhaps a more traditional offering for Valentines Day than a giant heart, comes from Galler. La Boite Ronde (The Round Box) is home to a wide variety of shapes and flavours, with a menu covering over forty items, …

Hotel Chocolat Magnificent Heart

Another heart-shaped Hotel Chocolat product for Valentines, and this time it’s a 70% cocoa dark chocolate creation studded with fruit and nuts. Before we continue with this, I feel I ought to pout this particular item into perspective. Yes, it’s …

Hotel Chocolat Chilli & Nibs Sweethearts

This deep red box contains four rows of seven chocolate hearts, each engraved with what would appear to be the, or possibly one of, Hotel Chocolat’s Valentines motif (of which more later, but on a much grander scale). This is …

Ricci Dark Chocolate Coated Licorice

OK, I have to come clean. I’m a sucker for licorice. Strange thing is, the rest of the family hate it with a vengeance, which of course means more for me. Boo hoo. When I was a kid, licorice came …

Laura Secord Sex And The City Collection

I thought I should get into Valentine’s Day mode to see what the local stores had to offer for amorous Canadians. The majority of it was the usual stuff, just repackaged into heart-shaped boxes, but something did catch my eye …

Chococo Love Box

I love Chococo. They manage to strike the perfect balance between ‘hand made’ and ‘luxury gift’, and this attractive little box is the perfect illustration of that. This is their medium sized ‘Love Box’ (stop giggling at the back!) which …

Soma Arcana 100%

From what I’ve tasted so far, I’ve come to really appreciate Soma Chocolatemaker with their rather splendid bars created from small batches of chocolate made in their Toronto factory. Nevertheless, there is still something really intimidating about any 100% chocolate. …

Galler ‘Les Minis’

Another in the seemingly endless parade of Galler chocolates, these minis are a step up from the previously reviewed Bouchée bars in terms of taste. Here we have that perfect little treat to go with your morning coffee, or possibly …

Ballantyne Exotics Luscious Berries

We found this rather generous 300 gram box of goodies some time ago, and it has been sitting in The Stash ever since, waiting for an opportunity. Trouble is, The Stash is growing, and causing household friction: “Use up some …

Soma Chocolatemaker Exploration Box

Back in 2008, I was given a bar of chocolate from Toronto’s Soma Chocolatemaker as a birthday gift. I didn’t really know too much about them, but the bar – their Dark Fire 66% – sounded interesting with its promised …

Chocolate Heart Face-Off: Hotel Chocolat vs Thorntons

This year, Hotel Chocolat and Thorntons sent us similarly sized boxes of chocolate hearts, so rather than do two reviews, I thought it would be fun to put them head to head and see who comes out on top – …

Waitrose Dark Chocolate & Lemon Truffles

From Waitrose’s “Seriously Chocolatey” range comes this rather stylish little black box of chocolates. Inside are little balls of dark chocolate with a soft white chocolate cream and lemon filling. Unfortunately, there’s only 70g of them. That’s barely a mouthful. …

James Dark Chocolate Fish

This 94g chocolate fish was a Christmas present. Not the kind of thing I’d usually buy for myself, even for review purposes. It’s clearly designed as a gift – a novelty item – rather than a quality chocolate product. It …

Valrhona Equinoxe

Coming in for the third and final part to my Valrhona goodies is Equinoxe, a range of chocolate-covered nuts and such. Being Valrhona, the packaging isn’t cheap or dull. There are three short cylinders, holding milk chocolate figs, dark chocolate …

Ubuntu Ginger

This is the second of the Ubuntu bars I picked up at the Taste of Christmas show in December. The format is exactly the same as the ultra clovey Orange Spice bar I’ve already reviewed – a small, solid block …

Butlers Organic 70% Dark with Ginger Pieces

My sister-in-law recently made a quick trip to Ireland (as you do), and clearly knows me too well. The chocolate ginger reputation is well and truly preceding me. In her travels she discovered Butlers of Dublin who claim to be …

Lindt Lindor Dark Peppermint

Stockings I’ve always thought add to the fanciful, fun feel of Christmas. Sure, tearing and hacking away at wrapping paper has its charms, but a stocking filled with candy and a trinket or so — that’s festive. Hence, when my …

Bernard Callebaut Selection

Bernard Callebaut is one of the best known chocolatiers in Canada. Based in Calgary, he’s been working out in Alberta since the early ‘80s and has built up an impressive reputation for himself over the years. The name might look …

Valrhona Les Grands Crus

Here is the second out of three installments of Valrhona offererings from my generous package. The entire Grands Crus range, minus the already-reviewed Jivara, is here. Sometimes it’s just so difficult being a Chocablogger… I like that Valrhona doesn’t stick …

Läderach Absinthe Truffle

Having been quite literally bitterly disappointed by the Absinthe bar from Venchi I tasted last year, I was hoping for better things from this truffle bar I found in Berlin. Rudolf Läderach is a Swiss chocolatier and this is a …

Werther’s Original Caramel Chocolate Dark

I had a friend who found a cute little ceramic pig in a shop. She bought it and proudly displayed it on a shelf in her room. And from that point on, she was the pig person. Birthdays, Christmas and …

Guinness Dark Chocolate Caramel

I don’t much care for Guinness. So it’s probably lucky that this little bar contains just 0.2% of the stuff. The other 99.8% it seems, is pure marketing. Simon has reviewed a couple of Guinness chocolate products in the past, …

Noosa Blueberries In Dark Chocolate

From Australia, courtesy of lucky traveling friends (when do I get to go to somewhere warm and exotic?) this bag purports to contain “A luscious combination of whole Natural Blueberries wrapped in the world’s finest award winning Premium Dark Chocolate”. …

Valrhona Estate Grown and Grand Cru Flavored Bars

This fall, Valrhona launched their online shop in the U.S.; I’ve received a sampling of what you can find there. All very welcome to me as I’ve only had Valrhona once. First up are these three Estate Grown bars, all …

Hageland Costa Rica 71%

Walmart is filled with controversy, yet despite their questionability, they do have an impressive chocolate selection these days. The usual averages are there, but so are some nicer brands. I’d never heard of Hageland, a Belgian company, before; the five …

Galler Truffles

More from the Belgian chocolate manufacturer I will always remember for seaweed and seasalt and my first beetroot chocolate experiences. This time we have a fairly impressive cardboard tube in Galler orange. Nestled within is a cellophane bag containing 150g …

Beyond Chocolate Caramelised Orange Truffles

Occasional Chocablogger Sylvia first drew my attention to ‘Beyond Chocolate’ a couple of weeks ago. Neither of us had heard of them (or their creator Simon Boyle), but we both agreed their web site was… how can I put this …

Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Lover’s Bar

Trader Joe’s has a unique style with their quirky, half-funny cartoons on chalkboards throughout the stores and on their newsletters. I’ve grown fond of it all; this chocolate’s design is also in keeping with that style. Dark brown against bright …

Planète Chocolat Violette

I picked this block up in Planète Chocolat on our recent day out in Brussels. It’s a square bar, very similar in size and shape to the Thorntons blocks, although this doesn’t have the weight printed on the label. It …

Geldhof Handmade Chocolate Selection

Guest Chocablogger Natasha Faria is back with a selection from South Africa… Geldhof Chocolatiers are pretty much a mainstay of South African luxury chocolates. They stock a large variety – truffles, ganaches, chocolate bars, chocolate novelties (such as shot glasses …

ChocolaTas Assortment

The cleverly-named ChocolaTas is the company belonging to Wim Tas. He learned his craft in Belgium before emigrating to Canada back in 2002, setting up his workshop in Abbotsford, BC although these days they also have a store in Vancouver. …

TCHO ‘Fruity’ Dark Chocolate

When I visited the Chocolate Unwrapped show with Dom a while back, I picked up TCHO this bar, as well as the ‘Citrus‘ and ‘Nutty‘ bars. As my previous review states, both myself and my friend who tried the bars …

Waitrose Cherry & Orange Truffle Boules

Waitrose have a range of what I assume to be festively themed chocolates on the shelves, and being a sucker for fruity chocs, I thought I’d give these a go. As you can see, the packaging is very pretty and …

Rogers Canadian Art Collection

Please welcome Chocablog’s new Canadian correspondent Michael Edwards with his first official post from Canadaland…. Considering that Rogers Chocolates have been making chocolates for more than 100 years, they have a considerable roster to choose from. Most of their standard …

Hotel Chocolat Sparkling Stars Pralines

This praline selection from Hotel Chocolat apparently has a Christmas theme to it. I’m not convinced the three snowflakes and two sprigs of holly on the box add up to the most festive theme in the world, but someone in …

Splendid Chocolates Thanksgiving Place Settings

I saw these Thanksgiving turkey place settings at World Market last year, but didn’t get any. I regretted it afterwards, so I had to pick them up when I saw them again this year. Since they seem to be a …

Paul A Young Sandalwood Bar

I happened to be in Islington the other day, and as I had a birthday present or two to buy, I thought I’d visit Paul A. Young’s shop and check out what he’s been up to lately. With a constantly …

Organic Meltdown Sweet Candied Orange

Back in July, Simon reviewed two Organic Meltdown bars and gave them a fairly positive write-up, so I was keen to try this when I found it in Waitrose. But before I get to the chocolate, I want to talk …

Rogers Chocolates Victoria Creams

Guest Chocablogger Michael Edwards is back with more Canadian goodies… Rogers Chocolates have been a mainstay in Western Canada since 1885. Based in Victoria, British Columbia, they make a more time-honoured range of chocolates including their signature Victoria Creams, a …

Derry Church Artisan Chocolates

Derry Church Artisan Chocolates has an interesting history. Pastry chef and chocolatier Eric Cayton grew up around Hershey, Pennsylvania, where he grew to admire none other than Milton S. Hershey’s work. He eventually started the Derry Church company to fulfill …

Leda Minton

Today brings another sampling of the staple food of the chocolate fiend: the Chocolate Mint biscuit. I spotted the Leda Minton “(Now with a DARK CHOC coating)” in my local supermarket the other day, and thought it was worth a …

Nestlé KitKat 70% & Aero 70%

Well, this was a big surprise. It turns out that Canada, being the forward thinking country that it is, has taken it upon itself to pump up the cocoa solids in their KitKat and Aero bars to a whopping 70%. …

Tcho ‘Citrus’ Dark Chocolate

I picked up this bar and the Tcho “fruity” bar at the recent Chocolate Unwrapped show (Dom had the other two). As I am not personally a fan of dark chocolate, I recruited a friend to share the experience with …

Barú Orange Truffles

I can’t remember where I purchased this interesting looking box of chocolates, but it was either Tesco or Waitrose, so they’re widely available in the UK – despite the fact that they’re made in Belgium and the writing on the …

Original Beans Selection

To make sure that I have a fair look at the Original Beans Cru Virunga, I’ve been sent a second bar, along with the two other bars in the Original Beans range. Tearing open the new Cru Virunga, I was …

The Melange Chocolate : Orange & Chilli

This wafer thin sample came courtesy of Peckham based The Melange Chocolate Company (“Maylange Rodney, Maylange”). With winter fast approaching, a little dark chocolate with orange and chilli was quite appealing. As you can see, this sample was incredibly thin. …

Cadbury Old Gold – Before & After

Before As readers will no doubt be aware, Cadbury in Australia have taken a lot of flak for changing the formulation of their chocolate – specifically adding the dreaded “Vegetable Fat” – which turned out to be Palm Oil. At …

Thorntons Metropolitan

Chocablog continues to have it’s finger on the pulse with a review of Thorntons’ new Metropolitan Box, launched today. After Dom’s lukewarm review of the Milan and Paris boxes, I approached these chocolates with a little trepidation. Opening the box …

TCHO ‘Nutty’ Dark Chocolate

TCHO first came to my attention when Xeni Jardin from Boing Boing mailed us to share their series of videos shot at the TCHO factory in California last year. You can see those videos here, here and here. If you …

Terra Nostra Intense Dark

Guest Chocablogger Michael Edwards is back with another Canadian offering… To be honest, I wasn’t even really expecting to find anything out of the ordinary in the chocolate aisle during a quick stop at the mall, but there just happened …

Reese’s Dark Peanut Butter Cups

There seems to be a growing trend of darkness in the chocolate world, but darker isn’t always better. Put to the test this time is the dark version of a classic Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. I didn’t realize how much …

Galler Les Terriennes

This is the final ‘chapter’ in Galler’s ‘Elements’ range, and this selection reflects Earth flavours. Having experienced the flavours of the sea with Les Marines, floral flavours to reflect Air, and fiery, peppery chocolates for Fire, I was very much …

Lauden Selection

I had already been in possession of these rather lovely looking chocolates for a little while when Dom and I met Stephen Trigg, co-owner of Lauden (and a lovely bloke) at the Chocolate Unwrapped event last weekend. As you can …

Gorvett & Stone Berry Peppery

Our third and final offering from Gorvett & Stone for this Chocolate Week is a little bag of broken chunks of dark chocolate with freeze dried strawberry and ground black pepper. The chocolate used here is a 70% cocoa solids …

Galler Les Volcaniques

The third in Galler’s Elements series, Les Volcaniques promises fire, smoke and passion enrobed in fine Belgian chocolate. With names like Magma and Eruption and ingredients as firey as Espelette and Sichuan Peppers I had fairly good idea of what …

Thorntons Continental Milan Collection

Here we have the dark chocolate selection that complements the milk chocolate ‘Paris’ collection. I’m not entirely sure why Milan is dark and Paris is milk, but I am eagerly awaiting the ‘Scunthorpe’ and ‘Wokingham’ collections. They should be fun. …

The Chocolate Cellar Chilli Selection

We have actually reviewed one of these bars before. I gave the dark chocolate with rose and chilli a very favourable review back at the start of 2008. The Chocolate Cellar are participants in Chocolate Week this year and sent …

Rococo Dia de Los Muertos

When I realised that Rococo have been in the business of producing fine quality chocolate for over twenty five years I felt slightly ashamed that I hadn’t come across their products before. Fate plays strange tricks on us after all. …

Chococo Selection

We first encountered Chococo’s husband and wife team Andy and Claire Burnett at the Academy of Chocolate Awards, and were lucky enough to be able to snag a mall selection of their chocolates at Chocolate Unwrapped on Sunday. Chococo are …

Galler Les Florales

Having been thoroughly impressed with Galler’s ‘Les Marines‘ box of salted and seaweedy chocolates, I find myself deemed worthy of a chance to sample the entire range (including one which is only just available this month). Les Florales was Jean …

Hotel Chocolat ‘The Purist’ 100% Stick

Something else we were given at the Academy of Chocolate Awards this summer – a stick of pure cocoa from Hotel Chocolat’s St. Lucian plantation. It comes with a recipe for a hot chocolate drink, but since it’s still relatively …

DeAngelis – Pure, Dark & Italian

One of the things I like best about this job is discovering products, manufacturers and ideas that are completely new to me. These chocolate bars from UK-based Australian-Italian chocolate maker Rocco DeAngelis are definitely new to me. For a start, …

Artisan du Chocolat Mole Poblano

This is my first Artisan du Chocolat bar, one of a range producd under the name ”Fusion’. As you might imagine from both the theme of the packaging and the name, this chocolate is based on the famous Mexican sauce …

Galler 85% Dark Chocolate Spread (& Bananas)

A recent press release from Galler suggested cooking bananas on a barbeque using their 85% cocoa spread as a filling. I was quite taken with the whole idea, but living in a second floor flat means barbequeing is a little …

Signature Harvest Truffle Collection

While I was at World Market this week, I spotted a pile of these boxes in the fall display. Plain, red-ribboned boxes by “Signature Chocolates by Rena – A Division of Chocolates a la Carte.” Sounded kind of iffy, but …

Ernest Hillier Ginger

Time again for the Picky Ginger Freak – that’s me – to try another offering and see what it’s like. Ernest Hiller proudly proclaims on his pack to have been in business since 1914, presumably they must be doing something …

Nestlé Club Cashew Nut & Cherry

Mmmmmm, I hear you say. Cashew & Cherry. A fabulous combo in a family block from the supermarket. Lead me to them. Nestlé have been pushing Club chocolate for years, and recently we have had the packaging upgrade (cardboard just …

Bendicks Bittergingers, Bitteroranges & Bittermints

Wel this is interesting. This new range of ‘after dinner’ chocolates from Bendicks seem to be more than a superficial rebranding. Rather than just change the packaging a little, they’ve introduced this new “Bitter” range of dark chocolates with a …

Chocolateque Assortment

This selection of chocolates was sent over from Belgium for tasting courtesy of a young web entrepeneur called Thomas who has secured an exclusive web sales deal with a Belgian chocolatier by the name of Frederic Blondeel. As Thomas said …

Maramor Premium Milk & Dark Chocolate With Probiotics

As Dom recently pointed out, chocolates that promote health benefits more than anything else are often just digging for selling points. Too often, their stand-alone quality is lacking. So though I love getting chocolate in the mail, I started going …

Dark Chocolate Fruchocs

Way back when, the Kath-that’s-moved-on reviewed the South Aussie classic – the Fruchoc. Go read the review. There, now, doesn’t that make you feel better? Want one? Difficult because although Mr Robern Menz makes about 67 million of these things …

Hadleigh Maid Dark Chocolate Cranberries

I’m always a bit wary of health claims attached to chocolate. We all know that dark chocolate is good for you. I don’t need to have it metaphorically (or even physically) shoved down my throat. This box – found in …

Laura Secord 70% Cocoa With Cocoa Nibs

Guest Chocablogger Michael Edwards from Canda takes a look at something local… Laura Secord is a Canadian chain of chocolate stores along the lines of Thorntons that has never been my first destination when I needed a chocolate fix. My …

Original Beans Cru Virunga

Note: Our sample arrived damaged due to no fault of Original Beans. Please see our updated review of the Original Beans range for a more balanced opinion. I have to say, I love the packaging design of this bar. Though …

Domori Cacao Teyuna

Another gift from the Academy of Chocolate Awards goody bag, this is my first encounter with Domori. The subtly designed box is home to a 50g sliver of dark chocolate made with Colombian beans. Having thoroughly enjoyed my encounter with …

Sainsbury’s Velvety Truffle

Like all supermarket chains, Sainsburys has a variety of own branded bars and boxes to tempt the average chocolate consumer away from their ‘usual’ choc of choice (presumably Cadbury or Nestlé) and at 75p a bar (if you buy two) …

Baron Dark Chocolate

This strange Baron chocolate turned up the other day – not my find. The Lady Of The House was out and about and found it in one of the ultra-low-cost discount stores: “Go-Crazy-Cheap-Low-As-Chips” – or some such. You know the …

Rocky Mountain Peanut Butter Bucket Dark

Among the various offerings of Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory is this commanding chocolate. Just look at the name: not peanut butter cup (Rocky Mountain does sell some mini ones), but bucket. Sounds like a proper sweet to gorge yourself on. …

Chocoholly Organic Dark Chocolate With Chilli & Coconut

Holly Caulfield is an artist based in Brighton, and apparently she was so moved by watching the movie Chocolat that she decided to become a chocolatier. A little over eighteen months ago Chocoholly was born and Holly began selling her …

Galler Langues de Chats

So, having established Jean Galler as a purveyor of fine quality chocolate and a man not afraid to experiment with unusual flavours and product design, I receive another sample box. (I have come to recognise the boxes, as I am …

Ghirardelli Midnight Reverie

86% dark chocolate from Ghirardelli.

Thorntons Dark Chocolate With Raspberry

The lovely people at Thorntons sent me a couple more blocks (actually they sent me a press release and I kind of demanded they just send me chocolate instead) and this particular limited edition block caught my eye. My attraction …

Burnt Sugar Gooey Caramels Dipped in Dark Chocolate

As it turns out, Burnt Sugar have a stall at Borough Market selling their fudges and caramels – a few feet away from previously-featured Dark Sugars. Rather than hand made (and slightly exotic in some cases) chocolates, Burnt Sugar sell …

ION Dark Chocolate With Chios Mastiha

Greek Chocablog reader George Loumakis was kind enough to send us a batch of ION chocolate bars all the way from Athens recently, so this will be the first of a short series of reviews. I believe this is only …

Valrhona Palmira Venezuelan 2007

From Valrhona comes this bar of Venezuelan Chocolate made with 64% Criollo beans from a small plantation near Lake Maracaibo. I believe it’s the first chocolate I have had which has had a vintage on it rather than a sell …

Theo Venezuela 91%

Since I really enjoyed the bars from Theo’s 3400 Phinney range that I tried last year, this bar caught my eye at Pier 1. I didn’t even know they sold chocolate. Another reason to always be on the lookout. It …

Mood Foods Açai & Blueberry OmBar

Another raw chocolate bar, this time from Mood Foods in Cambridge. The wrapper is a bit battered because I had it stashed in the glove box of my car and only discovered it the other day. This one is packed …

Ooh La La Chocolaterie Selection

According to the 574 pages of PR bumf that came with these six chocolates, “Ooh La La Chocolaterie was founded in 2007 by professional chocolatier, Antonia Corp.” Which is nice. But unfortunately, after having spent several hours reading through reams …

Ginger Chocolate Face-Off: Round 2

Back in 2007, Simon compared two ginger bars in a head to head review. Now we have two more ginger bars and it’s time for Round 2… You know you’re going to have a fantastic day when you spot two …

Ghirardelli Twilight Delight

72% American dark chocolate

Nestle Club Cashew Nut & Cherry

Nestlé have repackaged their Club Dark chocolate range and some of my favourites (sob) didn’t make the transition. Farewell, dear Mandarin, Club Cappuccino and Mild & Creamy – it was nice knowing you! But a new player has arrived, Cashew …

Kshocolât Mini Cube Gift Set

After this set made its way home with me, I realized it had a familiar name, being none other than the trice-reviewed, twice–accused brand. That was enough to make me a little edgy as I started opening the black boxes. …

Alter Eco Dark Chocolate Mint

Organic, Fair Trade, mint flavoured dark chocolate.

Lindt Edelbitter Sauerkirsch-Chili

Oh woe is me! I weakened. I finally broke open this pack that I’ve been saving since late last year when we brought it back from the far side of the world. One of the few remaining chocolates left that …

World Market Chili and Lime Dark Chocolate

Lime is one of the divine foods, on par with butter and honey. Naturally, then, I got excited over seeing this bar, even if chili chocolates are fast becoming common. Chili coupled with lime, though, I was hoping would have …

Taza 70% Stone Ground

I truly feel bad about this. I got this unique bar while on vacation, so I kept it nice and wrapped up for a week. But on the return drive, what happens? I realize that the heater is on and …

Galler Les Marines

When people find out I review chocolate they inevitably tell me how lucky I am, which is true. Occasionally something comes along that makes me realise just how lucky I am, and this is one of those occasions. A couple …

Green & Black’s Espresso

With the temperature here in London hitting 32°C, it’s possibly not the best time to be reviewing chocolate. But I had this sat on my desk, and I wanted to try it, so I had no other choice but to …

Rausch Plantagen Selection (Part 2)

Note: You can read Deanna’s take on Rausch’s El Cuador and Puerto Cabello bars here. Having already tasted, enjoyed and reviewed the first four lighter blocks of the Rausch Plantagen variety (cocoa solids ranging from 35% Noumean to 47% Costa …

Golden Days Dark Chocolate Sesame Snaps

I’ve just been to my favourite Foodland supermarket to find Violet Crumbles to review for Chocablog, only to find its already been done. Curses! And while there, horror of horrors, they have rearranged and removed what must be slow-moving stock. …

William Curley Sea Salted Caramel Bar

This is another bar from the goody bags given out at the Academy of Chocolate Awards a few weeks ago. It’s a 45g, 70% dark chocolate bar divided into five large chunks, each filled with sea salted caramel. The most …

Camille Bloch Mousse Chocolat Noir

Dark chocolate with a mousse filling.

Cocopia Black Forest Gateau Truffles

Another little box of truffles from the Cocopia range, I chose these for tasting because I always had a thing for black forest gateau as a child. In fact I have a vague memory of there being some form of …

Ultra Fine Foods Dark Chocolate Orange Bliss

Oh what promise these start with. A name like Orange Bliss means something special, something out of this world! HOWEVER, I’m sorry, but a maker called “Ultra Fine Foods” doesn’t have much of a ring to it, and I find …

Chocolate Santander Colombian Single Origin

I suppose it makes sense for a country that produces coffee to also have a cocoa growing industry, but Colombian chocolate is a little thin on the ground in my usual UK haunts. This bar is a 53% cocoa semi-Dark …

Thorntons Dark Chocolate With Macadamia

We’ve mentioned before how impressed we’ve been with the way Thorntons are moving forward – in fact, we discussed it in depth when we met their head chocolatier Keith Hurdman a few months ago. If the experts are to believed, …

Moser-Roth Orange & Almond

Here’s another (potentially) cheap and cheerful offering from one of the UK’s budget supermarket chains. Manufactured for the Aldi chain, the package contains five 25g bars and according to the blurb on the back it’s ‘a delicious treat for connoisseurs …

Cadbury Old Gold Roast Almond

Cadbury has been revamping the Old Gold range. For a long time the choices didn’t seem very extensive, and Old Gold was a bit of a yawn. Been round for ages. Yawn. Let’s try something else. I’m pleased to say …

Cocoa Republic Single Origin Colombian

Although Amber Lyn, based out of Utah, makes sugar free chocolates, they also sent me these regular (with sugar) Cocoa Republic bars, which I’ve decided to start with. Both are single-origin, from Columbian beans, and are divided into six pieces. …

Cadbury Bournville Orange

Bournville chocolate with orange.

Kaoka Noir Orange

I really am most impressed with my local Foodland store. They only opened recently, but the range of chocolate is most impressive. Not only do they carry the usual range from Cadbury, Nestlé, and so on, but they also have …

Klaus Noir Piment D’Espelette Pamplemousse

It’s been a short while since I tackled anything a bit wacky, and a quick rummage through the inbox unearthed this little gem – a French dark chocolate bar (51% cocoa) containing Espelette Chilli pepper and Grapefruit. I have already …

Thorntons Ginger Bar

It’s been a while since I reviewed anything from Thorntons, but having just discovered this buried in the depths of my chocolate stash, I thought I should review it before the ‘best before’ date (or some visitor scoffs it without …

Camille Bloch Torino / Torino Noir

Note: For another opinion, you can find Ashleigh’s review of the milk chocolate Torino here. Apparently in the 1940s there was a new development in the world of confectionery machinery that allowed creamier, softer fillings to be inserted inside chocolate …

Cocoa Belgian Dark

Every now and again you have to get a pleasant surprise, and yesterday was one of those days. The Lady of the House likes to make snide remarks about “The Chocolate Obsession”. But she also finds new and different things …

Amano Montanya

To finish with Amano’s new bars, we have this 70% from Venezuela. The name of this one, Montanya, is interesting. This is mountain in Spanish, but they’re traded out the tilde for a “y,” presumably to make sure it’s pronounced …

Camille Bloch Williams and Grappa

Courtesy of Rainer and Oliver at Premier Food and Beverages comes two liqueur blocks from third-generation Swiss-based chocolate company Camille Bloch. Established by Camille in 1929, the company is now being helmed by third-generation family members Daniel and Stephane Bloch. …

Nestlé Club Classic Peppermint Cream

Eldest Son has been berating me for converting him to the Dark Side. He doesn’t much like milk chocolate any more, and at age 15, he’s pretty unimpressed that something he used to enjoy is not seen as so flash …

Chocolat Factory Pocket Tube

Here’s something a little unusual from Spain’s Chocolat Factory – a tube of ‘beanbits and cocoa’. I believe I have mentioned Chocolat Factory’s award winning packaging in previous reviews, and this is certainly a great use for a cigar tube. …

Roar Signature 81%

I found this bar in a shop selling Native American arts and crafts, making it yet another in a long list of unusual discoveries. It turns out to have been made in Brighton by someone calling himself The Chocolate Saucerer …

Wawel Gorzka Krakowska

I was in my favourite shop for finding strange chocolaty things, and turned up the Wawel Gorzka Krakowska. Just the name is appealing: GORZKA! Say that a few times drawing it out. Sounds like the name of a gangster or …

Malagasy Mora Mora

Another bar from the Malagasy chocolate company, this 73% cocoa chocolate bar won a Silver Award from the Academy of Chocolate and is described as ‘a true origin fine chocolate’. Like its sister bar, the Sambirano, the cocoa beans for …

Valor 70% With Banana

I seem to have stumbled on another Spanish company. But this time, what drew me to it wasn’t the country of origin, it was the addition of banana. Banana and chocolate are paired often in shakes and ice cream, but …

Cadbury Bournville Old Jamaica

Bournville chocolate with run and raisin

Dagoba Lavender Blueberry & Milk Chocolate

The two bars I’ve previously reviewed saw me liking the Dagoba Chai and disliking the Dagoba Seeds bar. However, today, I had two guest reviewers, one of whom, Juliet, urged me to try Dagoba’s Lavender Blueberry and then their milk …

Rausch Puerto Cabello and El Cuador

These two very thin 40 gram bars are German (despite the Spanish plantation names), with each being divided into six pieces. I found them in a handy sale, but seem to have made a mistake in not buying more. I’ll …

Paul A. Young Stem Ginger & Cardamom Pavé

The final offering from the Chocablog raid on Paul A. Young’s shop in Islington, this pavé is made from 64% Ecuadorean cocoa dark chocolate. Add to that the ususal suspects (soya lecitihin, a little vanill, cocoa butter) and Chinese Stem …

Hachez Cocoa D’Arriba Cherry Tomato Salt

Our sophisticated traveller and chocablogger Simon can take a break from his weirdo cedar sap and absinthe chocolates and fancy-shmancy trips to Qatar and Milan and instead stay home and scoff some Creme Eggs because I have finally found something …

Kshocolât Mini Orangettes

Kshocolât are a Scottish company whose products have been finding their way onto supermarket shelves for a while now, and Dom has had a few things to say to them about their products before now. These Mini Orangettes are (to …

Camaya Dark Slabs

These 60% dark chocolate slabs from Camaya are just two examples of what they’re producing for lovers of darker flavours. The ginger and orange slab comes studded with small wedges of candied orange and has the ginger element concealed in …

Cocoa Loco Pleasure & Pain

This hot chilli bar comes to us from Scorchio.co.uk – an online retailer of all things chilli-related – and is made exclusively for them by Cocoa Loco. According to the packaging, it’s made with 0.3% Naga Jolokia chilli powder. That …

Hotel Chocolat Your Eggsellency Egg

It’s easter egg time again! The second egg that Hotel Chocolat sent us this year was this attractive looking creation dressed in black and gold. As you’d expect from Hotel Chocolat, the packaging is top-notch. Inside the tastefully designed box, …

Kallari 75% & 85%

Here are the other two bars from Kallari, this time with green and blue leaves. I was expecting them to taste much like the 70%, but it turns out that each bar is distinctive while still maintaining a Kallari style. …

Bloomsberry Emergency Chocolate

Deanna and I may be on different continents, but we both came across these ‘Emergency Chocolates’ from Bloomsberry at the same time. Deanna picked up the dark version and I found the milk chocolate version. So here’s both our reviews …

Kallari 70%

There have been a lot of bland, uninteresting fair trade & organic chocolates going around, so Kallari (kahl-YA-di) chose the perfect time to send me the three bars in their range, which is anything but boring. Besides the USDA Organic …

Prestat Choxi Milk & Dark

I’ve been aware of these bars for quite a while but working through a pile of wild ‘n’ wacky chocolate meant I didn’t pick them up until recently. Prestat is one of London’s oldest chocolate houses, and has quite a …

Carla Čokoláda Dark Chocolates

This brand comes from the Czech Republic and is manufactured by a company called Carla (well I assume it’s a company and not just some horribly overworked Czech woman). As far as I can work out, the two bars use …

Ballantyne Ginger Lovers

I’ve had a long fascination with chocolate ginger – for me it is just one of those combinations that works really, really well – provided a rich dark chocolate is used. Knowing this, The Lady Of The House was very …

Michel Cluizel Grand Noir 85%

Returning to French chocolatier Michel Cluizel, we have this 85% bar with origins in South America, Africa, and Java, its black box accented with red instead of green. The chocolate has a good and thick cocoa flavor. I know some …

World Market Dark Chocolate 72%

Finally I get around to World Market’s chocolates, starting with this basic dark bar. It has the same packaging as their other products, imitating a box wrapped up for shipping. On the other side of the paper and foil, the …

Woolworths Select Dark Chocolate

After trying Woolworths almond milk chocolate, my hopes were hovering at around pond slime level when their Dark Chocolate block was ready for reviewing. As with the other block, the presentation leaves a lot to be desired. If they are …

James Road Dark Chocolate Coated Oranges

James Road? Who on earth is James Road? Or where is it? Is it a name or a place? Such are the questions that spring to mind when presented with this box – a gift from the Lady of the …

VizioVirtù Viola

As I slowly plough my way through the spoils of last year’s road trip across Europe, I’m remembering the stops we made, the people we met, and finally I’m tasting some of the chocolate as well. While wandering around Venice …

3 Musketeers Raspberry Minis

This limited edition Raspberry flavor is going to be available for Easter this year. Looks like it’ll only be released in these 42-piece bags of Minis. Half of the spring-style wrappers are silver, with the other half a solid pink. …

Thorntons Eden

I found these brightly coloured little chocolates in Thorntons’ little Brent Cross shop. My friend was looking for a birthday present and I…. well, I was attracted by the brightly coloured box. Yes, I know that’s bad. Handily, Thorntons do …

Nestlé Club Classic Fruit & Nut

Nestlé have been selling “Club” chocolate in the wide brown land of Oz for roughly forever. As my colleague and fellow enthusiast Kath has pointed out, the brand has had something of a revamp. Having tried the mixed berry, the …

3 Musketeers Mint

Dark chocolate with a fluffy mint flavoured filling.

Carrefour Noir Poire

From French supermarket chain Carrefour and by way of Doha, Qatar, this 64% cocoa bar with pear and caramelised almonds caught my eye while I was over there last December. It’s rare to see pear chocolate, and certainly in bar …

Hershey’s Bliss

I was planning on getting some Hershey’s Kisses to talk about the impact of their shape on the taste, but then I realized I’d never tried the fairly new Bliss range, so here it is instead. I really like the …

Gold Pralines of Prague

Gold Pralines have two shops in Prague. One is very close to the old town square, and sells a surprising variety of confectionery. Of more interest to Chocabloggers (well, this one in particular) is their range of handmade chocolates, some …

Endangered Species Cherries & Raspberries

“Based in Indianapolis, Endangered Species Chocolate (ESC) was established in 1993 to increase awareness of endangered species and the need to do more help support the efforts made in their conservation. ESC ethically source their cacao from family-owned, sustainable forest …

Dolfin ‘Fancy Lemon Feeling’

This is something I picked up ages ago whilst on my travels. It’s a 60% bittersweet chocolate with lemon and ginger (as you can see) and it’s a companion bar to the range I reviewed earlier this year- most of …

Blakes Organic Dark Truffle With Cocoa Nibs

Here we have another Fairtrade bar, and this one also happens to be organic as well. I picked this up in a health food shop in London – one which incidentally stocked a fair few of Emma Jackman’s Chocster-winning Conscious …

Dagoba ‘Seeds’

Dagoba is clearly a chocolate company with worthy ideals and ethics behind it. This US company was founded relatively recently in 2001 by Frederick Schilling. He had the novel idea of aligning the cocoa bean turning into chocolate with alchemy …

Thorntons Dark Chocolate With Chilli

It’s quite common for readers to get in touch and suggest we review specific chocolates, but when two readers separately suggest the same chocolate with 24 hours of each other, then it’s probably time to give it a try. So …

Endangered Species Supreme Dark Chocolate

Time and time again I’ve walked by this range, but I finally picked up their 72% bar. Not only is it 100% ethically traded, but 10% of the profits go to “help support species, habitat, and humanity.” The outer cover …

Holex Dark Chocolate

When I tried the Healtheries Atomic Cherry Bar, I said I loved my local Foodland. Here is another reason why. I was wandering around and found “Holex Dark Chocolate”. Now apart from falling into one, I wouldn’t know a Holex …

Marks & Spencer Marzipan Bar

I picked this bar up in M&S Simply Food in Marylebone Station without even looking at what it was. I was in a rush and could tell from the colour of the wrapper it was something I hadn’t reviewed before. …

Galler ‘Oh! Les Coeurs’

When it comes to presentation, there are a couple of ways to say ‘posh’. Galler have chosen the simplicity of a strong, simple orange box with a simple branded paper wrap for this collection. So what are “Les Coeurs”? I …

Newman’s Ginger Treat

I love chocolate (of course) and I love ginger almost as much but in every form – sweet, savoury, fresh, crystallised, dried, powdered and especially coated in top quality dark chocolate. I’ve eyed off the Newman’s Ginger Treats for a …

Elizabeth Shaw Vodka Shots

It used to be that I associated Elizabeth Shaw with Christmastime boxes of gold foil wrapped mint crisp chocolates, somewhat traditional in style and beloved of the older chocolate lover. Well it would seem that the old girl has had …

Healtheries Simple Cherry Bliss

I love my local Foodland store. Each visit turns up something new or unusual. They have the usual selection of Cadbury and Lindt, but it’s the selection of other odds and ends that I look out for. So I was …

Rocky Mountain Milk and Dark Chocolate

I’m very familiar with Rocky Mountain’s Milk Chocolate bar, but this is, strangely, my first time trying the Dark Chocolate. Interesting to note that only the Milk says “gourmet.” Maybe they think Dark Chocolate already sounds more fine than Milk …

Yarra Valley Chocolate Swirl

I was in the department store David Jones on a sweltering 39C day and, in air-conditioned comfort happened to ‘find’ myself in their gourmet food hall’s chocolate section. Admittedly what attracted me initially was the similarity to those Hotel Chocolat …

Venchi ‘Cuba’ Praline Cigar

Here’s something a little unusual, and certainly one up on the sweet cigarettes we used to have as kids. One hundred grams of dark and milk chocolate with a praline filling, made by Venchi (purveyors of inedible Absinthe chocolate). Certainly …

Lindt Excellence 99% Noir Absolu

I went through the chocolate stash, and put a challenge to the family today: “Here’s your choice, now what will we pick to taste today?” Oldest son has been nagging for months to try the Lindt 99% that we found …

The Chocolate Traveler International Collection

Here’s one of those curious things that you just have to try when you find it sitting on a shelf somewhere. Each of these three tins is supposed to imitate a dessert from a different country, in white, milk, and …

Ferrero Rondnoir

Dark chocolate and almond balls of joy.

Emily’s Cherry Hazelnuts and Cranberry Almonds

Continuing with Emily’s Chocolates, we have these two red boxes. The first is half cherries and half hazelnuts; the second is half cranberries and half almonds. They’re all covered in a sweet dark chocolate with a vanilla flavor this time. …

Camaya 60% Dark Chocolate Slab With Cashew & Sesame

Strange how we Chocabloggers seem to hit ‘runs’ of certain ingredients. Rather like the old cliché about buses, we wait ages for one and then several arrive all at once. Well here we are with another sesame – related chocolate …

KitKat Dark

There is a god after all. I’ve pontificated on before about the wonders of dark chocolate and yet I’ve always been partial to the odd KitKat or seven. Classic or chunky, they’re both good but to see it now available …

Newman’s Chilli Bites

Christmas was a pretty quiet affair this year, and I even asked that Santa not bother paying me a visit – I’m old enough now to have the things I need, and can afford the things I want when I …

Cadbury Luxury Selection 72%

Here at Chocablog there’s been an awful lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth about Cadbury’s and their tendency to punt out the same old safe as houses CDM, but with some new ‘other’ ingredient thrown in to create something …

Waitrose Belgian Chocolate Amaretto Cherry Dragées

According to the packaging: “The term dragée (from the french to dredge or sprinkle) describes the painstaking process of creating a coating layer by layer. Since only the very best will do, these dragées have been made for Waitrose by …

Dark Chocolate Taste Test

Aussie Chocabloggers Ashleigh and myself made the happy discovery that we both live in the same city. We and our respective families have met up a few times, found each to our liking and decided to have a blind dark …

Gü Chocs Liquid Caramel

I picked these up in Waitrose just before Christmas as I was looking for something new to try. The simple black box managed to stand out amongst all the festive goodies on the chocolate shelf, so I thought I’d give …

Kinnerton Luxury Dark Chocolate

Back in December I brought the chaps home from cricket, and picked up a screw through a back tyre of the car. Of course we didn’t find this until Saturday afternoon when leaving out for a Christmas function: “What’s that …

Fazer Vodka Cranberry Liqueur Fills

Fazer are (perhaps) the best known Finnish chocolate company. In my pre-Chocablog days I have bought Fazer chocolate while in Finland, but I have never seen these liqueurs before. I picked these up in a TK Maxx, of all places …

Lindt Pralinés Noirs

There’s only one thing better I like seeing than chocolates on special and in large quantities, like this: …is when I see this, something entirely new from Lindt. In this case it is a gorgeous looking box of Pralinés Noirs …

William Curley Toasted Sesame Chocolate

Earlier this year I was chatting to a chef about chocolate (as you do) and he mentioned William Curley’s name, saying that he had a bit of a reputation as a chocolatier. Jump forward in time a few months and …

Amano Jembrana

Back in January, Dom reviewed Amano’s Madagascar and Ocumare bars. They’ve just introduced this limited edition bar from southwestern Bali, so they sent me a couple to sample. Under the shiny sleek box and gold wrapper, the chocolate is a …

Thorntons Dark Chocolate With Balsamic

In almost two years of reviewing chocolate, I don’t think I have ever tackled anything from Thorntons, but when I saw this bar, I just had to give it a go. Not only is it 75% cocoa, nor is it …

The ChocolateSmith Petite Melange

This is a twelve-piece box from Santa Fe based chocolatier The ChocolateSmith. All of these are made with dark chocolate, with the Sierra Blanca having a white chocolate top. Rosemary Marcona Almond Round I was eager to try this after …

Lindt Hot Papaya

Thanks to my mates Ashleigh and Marie – also new chocablog contributors – for bringing this little 150g treasure back to me after their overseas odyssey, the wonderful Lindt Hot Papaya. It is another of those tantalizing examples of what …

Grenada Chocolate Company Organic Dark

When I received this in the post recently I was immediately taken with the packaging design. I love the colours and the overall tone of the wrapper. It’s very Caribbean, with a ‘home made’ feel, and reading the information on …

Stainer ‘Grand Cru’ Chilli

In amongst the exotically illustrated Stainer bars I received earlier this year were these two ‘Grand Cru’ bars – one with 75% cacao and a ‘medio’ chilli addition, and the other a 70% bar with Espelette chilli and pineapple. I …

Well, naturally AntiOx with Açaí fruit

Another from the stable of chocky that claims to be good for you, this one came courtesy of the health food aisle in our local Woolworths. There seems to be a trend in making and selling things high in antioxidants, …

Choceur Madagascar 65% Cocoa

Another one in the occasional ‘Can posh be cheap?’ series, this bar was not only bought from an Aldi (cut price supermarket chain) but was indeed manufactured especially for them. Not Fairtade, organic, raw or unusual – this is chocolate …

Goplana Klasyczna Gorzka Cafe Creme

Way back in the mists of time (well, March 2007) I reviewed the caramel version of this bar and it turned out to be one of my all time favourites, largely due to the deliciously tasty caramel filling. Unfortunatley, the …

Patric Madagascar Sambirano Valley

Almost disheartened by the chill November winds, it was with great enthusiasm that I found a box of chocolate waiting for me at the post office, compliments of Alan McClure of Patric Chocolate. The company is fairly new, having just …

Côte d’Or 70% and Raspberries

Having already enjoyed the Côte d’Or milk chocolate varieties before, I was really looking forward to sinking my teeth into their 70%. Having raspberries inside was an added bonus. The inviting scent of raspberry mingling lovingly with 70% dark was …

Hotel Chocolat Chilli Penguins

Christmas is just around the corner and for me, that can only mean one thing. More weird and wonderful stuff from Hotel Chocolat. And what better way to start than these cleverly named “Chilli Penguins”. We have a bunch of …

Willabrand Dark Chocolate Figlettes

Newest Aussie Chocablogger Ashleigh Quick takes a look at something a little different from down under…. Back when I was a kid, if you wanted jam (jelly, for you Americans), you bought Glen Ewin. It was only about 30 years …

CocoaVia Original Bars

There are a lot of strange things on the shelves these days. Although I’m all for organic or raw chocolate, “healthy” chocolate is another story. So I picked up this box more out of curiosity than anything else. The chocolate …

Walkers Cherry Brandy Liqueurs

I know I know; cherry liqueur choccies are the cocoa equivalent of Benny Hill – very popular in the 1970s but rarely discussed or touched since then. However I have always liked them. Loved them in fact, but have many …

Sweetriot Flavor 70

Picture a chocoholic running to a store’s register, already holding chocolate with a couple of other items, trying not to see any more chocolate before paying. And then she sees a tiny sign, “The Ultimate Dark Chocolate Fix.” Back up. …

Duchy Originals Bezants

I’ll confess, I actually had to look up the word ‘bezant‘ to discover its true meaning. For those who are as uneducated as me, it’s a form of medieval gold coin. But I’m glad I took the time to look …

Cadbury Old Gold Dark Delicacies

To complement Cadbury’s sexing up of the Old Gold chocolate block range (think 70%, liqueur centres and rum-n-raisin), this nice looking box of chocolates has just arrived on the shelves at the same time as the tins of short bread, …

James Hot & Spicy Ginger & Chilli Chocolates

Here we have another John Lewis special. One of those things that comes in a pretty box but invariably ends up not being worth the money. But in this case, the box was particularly pretty and I’m a fan of …

Cocoa Bean Dark Chocolate With Christmas Tree

Well, we’re only a few weeks away from Christmas, and of course that means seasonal chocolate products are already making their way onto the shelves. The Cocoa Bean ladies were good enough to send me this rather interesting little number …

Starbucks Espresso Truffles

Back to coffee again. Although these truffles are really very different from the Mocha Dark Chocolate bar. Being espresso, the coffee lends a dark, rich tone. It’s much nicer infused in the filling, becoming a very part of the chocolate, …

Elysberg ‘Emoti’ Vodka Fig Pralines

No, it isn’t a typo, these really are vodka and fig pralines. Well, to be more accurate, they’re pralines that are filled with a fig-infused vodka. (I did say figs had suddenly appeared with surprising regularity, if you’ll pardon the …

Lindt Edelbitter Mousse Fig & Caramel

On our recent trip to Europe (oh, how I like the sound of that, as if we do this sort of thing every few months, darlinks, rather than every 20 years) we scoured the supermarket shelves looking for a wee …

Côte d’Or Sesame Noir 70%

My friend Ashleigh and his lovely wife Marie have recently returned from taking their two sons on a four week European holiday. Now, to you US, UK and European readers bear in mind that such a trip from Australia is …

Mulu Raw Chocolate

Here’s another company producing raw chocolate using low temperature production and chemical-free cocoa and Agave syrup. Their production methods are similar to those of the two Emmas (‘Conscious‘ Emma and ‘Pure‘ Emma), so I was expecting something similar in the …

Anthon Berg Chocolate Coffee Drinks

I found these a few weeks ago and they appealed because they looked, well, cute. Anthon Berg is a Danish chocolate company that’s been around since 1884 even has the Royal Danish Court seal of approval. I’ve seen their liqueur-filled …

Stainer Marrakech

This is another in Stainer’s ‘spice’ selection, and probably the one that had me the most intrigued when I read what the ‘Marrakech Mixture’ constituted. This is a 70% dark chocolate bar with a mixture of Green Tea, Nanah Mint, …

Theo Bread and Chocolate

I found myself at World Market again. In the chocolate isle, of course. I stood there and wondered what delicious thing I should choose. Amongst all the sophisticated packaging, the girliness in me thought these kitties were cute. Then I …

Rustika Dark Chocolate With Figs

Another Slovenian offering, again courtesy of BeeBee, and again slightly unusual. The combination of figs and chocolate isn’t one I had come across many times, and this bar was made up of just that – fig pieces and chocolate. Yep, …

Co-Op Fairtrade Dark Chocolate With Spices & Orange Oil

Here in the UK the Co-Op has always been at the forefront of the Fairtrade movement, and nowadays it sells more Fairtrade chocolate than all of the other supermarkets put together. For over five years the Co-Op has been working …

Stainer Masai

Another in Stainer’s ‘spicy’ collection, this one is a 70% cocoa bar which has been blended with ‘African Herbs’ – in this case Cola, Cinnamon, Tonka Bean and Vanilla. It’s the first of a handful of 70% bars in my …

Richfields Dark 70% With Blueberries

New Zealand is not just the land of Whittakers and locally-made Cadbury’s. I found this, Richfield’s Dark 70% cocoa with blueberries at their local Countdown supermarket. (I was meant to be buying a swimsuit in order to get into the …

Hotel Chocolat “Peel Me An Orange” Dark

It’s Hotel Chocolat time again, and this time we have an upmarket take on the classic (if a little naff) Chocolate Orange format. Rather than attempt to create an actual orange shape, Hotel Chocolat have gone for a much more …

Whittaker’s Dark Caramel

Not to be outdone by the surprising taste of Whittaker’s Favourite Kiwi Fruit milk chocolate block, we returned from a day sightseeing the joys of Auckland and stumbled upon a long-held dream choco-combination of mine – top notch dark chocolate …

Galaxy Smooth Dark

It’s been a while since I wrote a review for Chocablog.  However, when Sainsburys gave me a free 125g bar of the new Galaxy Smooth Dark chocolate (and I’d already eaten through about half of it), I thought it would …

Cuorenero Kiwi a Pezzi

This particular bar is made in Italy and is a brand owned by the Sugar Company. As you can se, the metallic box with it’s somewhat abstract artwork and textured finish puts it firmly into the ‘Posh chocs’ department. According …

Chocolate Truffle Co. Noir Collection Costa Rica 64

Such a long name for such a simple and diminutive (48g) bar of chocolate! But the really interesting thing about this particular bar of chocolate is that “Rainforest Alliance Certified” logo. According to Christine Moss of the Chocolate Truffle Company, …

Lindt Creation Fig & Caramel

Another (continental) member from the same stable as the Cherry & Chilli bar, and the selection that Kath reviewed a while back, this particular bar is made from the same 70% dark chocolate and contains the same percentage (28%) of …

Tesco Finest Soft Nougat

Regular readers of Chocablog may know how much I love nougat. So when I saw these, it was the picture of the nougat crammed with nuts and fruit that got my attention rather than the chocolate – and just like …

Bonnat 100% Cacao

After my affair of devouring the Pralus 100%, I naively thought that I would enjoy any other 100% at least almost equally. Alas, I forgot two very important points. One, Pralus is a master chocolatier and therefore has exceptional products. …

Cukrček Dark Chocolate: Cloves & Rosemary

These were the other two ‘factory’ bars from Cukrček that Barica sent over from Slovenia a while back. (Yes, I know Barica – a LONG while back. Sorry!) Both use the same base chocolate that the Teran Wine bar I …

Cadbury Cherry Ripe Doubled Dipped 70%

Regular readers and mates will know that I have a bit of a Love/Hate relationship with Cadbury. Their green snot peppermint dairy milk block, execrable Fudge Brownie and Boysenberry Shortcake desserts were only (just) forgiven when they revamped their Old …

Bonnat Trinité 75%

When I saw this bar, it struck me as a pretty thing, but with some obvious seriousness. The chocolate doesn’t really carry on the “pretty” look, though. The first thing that came to my mind from its boxiness was a …

Droste Pastilles

These unassuming little 100g tubes of well, ‘pastilles’ have been available in Australia for years now and, like their Dutch makers, have tended to be a quiet achiever not garnering lots of international fuss or attention, despite the fact that …

After Eight 70% Bar

In the past, Simon & I have reviewed After Eight and After Eight Grand Marnier Straws, and in both cases we’ve noticed something missing on the packaging; an indication of cocoa content. Instead, Nestlé prefers to call After Eights simply …

Starbucks Mocha Dark Chocolate

The last of the Starbucks bars, and also my favorite, just had to bring in some coffee. When you unwrap it, wow, coffee is just what you get. I couldn’t smell the chocolate at all. Once it’s in your mouth, …

Marks & Spencer Lemon Mousse Bar

M&S seem to do a whole range of these little bars, but I didn’t pay much attention as I grabbed one from the shelf while passing through Marylebone Station. The wrapper describes the bar as “White and dark chocolate bar …

Starbucks Dark Chocolate

Here is the dark-faced counterpart to the Starbucks Milk Chocolate, again without a cacao percentage listed. But what a handsome face it is: all those vines look nicer in dark than light. This bar also shares the milk’s vanilla smell …

Harmony ‘Rype’ Fruit Centres

The ex-high school English teacher within me tends to avoid buying products that deliberately mis-spell common words, so I had seen these ‘Plantation Rype’ boxes for a while before giving in and buying some. The ‘Rype’sters eventually won me over …

Crymbles Fondant Creams

I always get excited when small chocolatiers contact us to tell us about what they’re doing. Last week, Kathleen Crymble from Crymble’s Confectionery did just that. She’d seen the discussion about the late, great Fry’s Five Centres on our Fry’s …

Lindt Excellence – A Touch Of Sea Salt

This bar is the usual 47% dark blend that Lindt use for the range, but it also contains tiny crystals of sea salt. 3% to be precise. Now you may not consider 3% to be a great deal of salt, …

Cocoa Farm Orange Organic Dark

Cocoa Farm (www.farmbynature.com.au) is the only chocolate maker that grow their own cocoa beans in Australia and only the second Aussie manufacturer to make their chocolate direct from the cocoa bean instead of the paste (Haigh’s is the other, but …

Cukrček Dark Chocolate with Teran

More chocolate from Slovenia, courtesy of Barica, our Slovenian chocolate exporting friend. This is part of a range made by Benedict, a family run business which has been operating in Ljubljana for some fifteen years or so. The chocolate is …

Nestlé Heaven Dark Vanilla Truffle

We’ve reviewed a few of Nestlé’s Heaven range before and so far our reaction has been positive, so I had high hopes for this – despite the fact that it was obvious when I bought it that the picture on …

Skelligs Mint Brittle

When the lovely people at Skelligs and Cocoa Bean sent me my box of goodies, I found this brown paper bag nestled among the more traditionally packaged treats. The tag told me that it contained a chocolate ‘bark’ (a term …

Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate with Raspberry Filling

Dark chocolate squares with a raspberry filling.

Cadbury Old Gold Peppermint

The re-launched Old Gold range of Cadbury dark chocolate varieties is kicking some serious chocolate butt in the supermarket world and deservedly so. I was particularly happy to see that they have also made an Old Gold peppermint block, because …

Lindt Excellence Poire Intense

After my recent spate of ‘oddball’ reviews I thought I’d pop in something a little more ‘normal’ – a Lindt bar I bought in Spain a little while ago. Another member of the ‘Intense’ range, I hadn’t seen this in …

Prestat Organic Dark Chocolate

At £3.60 for an 80g bar, this is probably one of the more expensive bars I’ve purchased recently, but as with the Cocoa Tree Ginger bar which I bought at the same time, I was particularly attracted to the packaging. …

Guylian Solitaire

I’ll be honest with you right from the start – I’ve never liked the Guylian Seashells chocolates that seem to very popular gift ideas at Christmas time, Mothers Days and as ‘thank you’ presents. The icky blandness of the milk …

Hershey’s Premium Dark Chocolate Assortment

I don’t much like Hershey’s. I’ll try and be fair about them, but I’ll make this no secret. Yet their new products seem like spiders’ webs for me: they look decent enough, then turn out to be nothing special. Still, …

Lindt Swiss Tradition Dark Collection

Regular readers of Chocablog will already know that I harbor quite the cocoa-crush on South Australian Lindt Guru, Matt Thorpe. He’s tall, cute and smart but most importantly he comes bearing Lindt products for my delight, delectation and in order …

Pralus Le 100% Criollo

Chocolate. I think one of the amazing things about it is that there are so manh kinds that all fall under that one word. Like this bar. If you ever come across someone who doubts that chocolate is like falling …

Cocoa Tree Ginger Organic

You can probably tell from the photograph above why this bar caught my eye. You can see the bar through the packaging and it’s absolutely packed with crystallised ginger. It must have made an impact because I bought this without …

Rustika Dark Chocolate with Cedar

Shortly after my review of the (somewhat average) Gorenjka milk chocolate from Slovenia was published, a rather lovely thing happened. It began with a comment posted by a reader and culminated in her sending me a selection of fine quality …

Skelligs Brandy Plums

It’s always lovely to come across a new company making something that’s not only a little different but also delicious. Even better when that delicious chocolatey treat has a more sophisticated, darker sibling, May I present Skelligs’ Brandy Plums? Hand …

Michel Cluizel Plantation “Los Ancones”

This is the first of the three bars from Kakawa Chocolate House. I think it was the coloring that drew my eye. A normal, sophisticated black, but with a lime green border and light orange wording. This is a single …

Venchi Absinthum

This bar has been asking to be reviewed ever since I bought it home. Why do I say that? Well, mainly because it has such a powerful smell that I have been made aware of it every time I open …

Trapa Lemon Fantasy

Whilst browsing the shelves of the Corte Inglés (a well known chain of Spanish supermarkets) I came across a couple of bars made by Trapa. There are a total of five bars in their Swiss range, and this one contains …

Toblerone Dark

Dark chocolate pyramid chunks with honey nougat.

Nestlé Black Magic Raisins & Almonds

About a month ago, we got an email from a reader in Ireland asking if we’d heard about Nestlé’s complete revamp of its “Black Magic” brand. In an effort to get with the times, and “after thorough market research”, Nestlé …

Lindt Creation 70% Pure Chocolate & Caramel

For the first time in our thirteen year marriage, my darling husband Love Chunks actually got up from watching a live broadcast game of Australian Rules Football featuring his team the Adelaide Crows to tell me that the chocolate I’d …

Cocopia Dark Chocolate Slab

Another small slab from Tesco’s own private Swiss chocolate maker, Cocopia. This one is (as you can see) made with a 64% cocoa chocolate which uses Javan Criollo beans. It’s also dusted with cocoa nibs (a personal favourite – I …

Niederegger Marzipan Classic

I’m not sure if marzipan chocolate is a German “thing”, but this is the second German bar I’ve had a bar with marzipan in it. The first was the Ritter Sport Marzipan which I reviewed back in November. On the …

E. Guittard Ambanja Bittersweet

This was my fourth E. Guittard purchase. The company is based out of California in the United States, but its founder, Etienne Guittard, went to California from France in the 1850’s. I enjoyed the other three bars immensely, so I …

Nestlé Club Classic Mixed Berry

Not to be outdone by Cadbury’s revamp of their dark chocolate Old Gold range, Nestlé too are still proudly flogging their ‘Club Classic’ dark chocolate varieties, and have introduced a ‘Mixed Berry’ flavour to the supermarket shelves. I really love …

Casali Schoko-Banane XL

That’s chocolate bananas to you! This was a bit of a strange thing to find in my local sweet shop. Nestled (or should that be Nestléd) among the Aeros and Mars Bars was this single entry into the “foreign language” …

Coles Belgian Dark Chocolate

In-house brands owned by supermarket chains don’t normally generate an ‘Oh, this must be really good’ response for most shoppers, this one included. Coles supermarkets are the largest chain here in Australia and have re-launched their home brand to one …

Cadbury Dairy Milk Melts – Deliciously Dark

Recently I reviewed a product from Cadbury South Africa that combined Dairy Milk with white chocolate. Well this (British) chocolate could be considered the exact opposite. Dairy Milk chocolate with a soft dark chocolate centre. Inside this rather attractive cardboard …

Lindt Lime and Green Pepper Mousse

I found this in an Austrian service station while driving from Brno in the Czech Republic to Ljubljana in Slovenia. No, really. Physically, this bar falls into the same category and the Cherry/Chilli bar I reviewed some time ago. What …

Lindt ‘Chocolat Provence’ Orange & Thyme Fantasy

It wouldn’t be Europe if I couldn’t find another ‘previously unknown’ Lindt bar or two. This is one of a brace I bagged in Vienna, and as you can see from the packaging, Lindt have decided to go all rustic …

M&S Swiss Chocolate Extra Fine Dark

Last time I reviewed a Marks & Spencer chocolate, it looked like they were trying to copy a well-known brand, only their version came out not-quite-as-good-but-more-expensive. This time around, the product being copied isn’t as obvious from the packaging, but …

Bovetti Organic Dark Chocolate with Seaweed

If there’s one thing I’ve discovered since I began writing for Chocablog, it’s that modern chocolatiers love to experiment with texture and flavour. Alas, it’s still the case that continental chocolate makers seem to have the upper hand when it …

Pure Flavour Fruit and Nut Raw Chocolate

This is the sister bar to the Raw Dark Chocolate I recently reviewed. A comparison to Conscious Chocolate’s bars is not unfounded. In a similar vein, Pure Flavour have obviously found their ideal formula on which to base their range, …

Sambirano Madagascar Dark Chocolate

I was looking forward to trying this single estate, Equitrade chocolate bar. It’s made by a family on Madagascar from the three ‘classic’ varieties of bean – Criollo, Trinitario and Forastero – and is harvested, fermented and made into chocolate …

Isis Luxury Belgian Pralinoir

In contrast to my previous review of PureFlavour Raw chocolate, may I present Isis? This is a Belgian bar made by a company who have been making chocolate for eighty five years, and was bought from Waitrose. This bar is …

Heavens Above Dark Chocolate With Oil Of Mint

Last week I looked at a milk chocolate Heavens Above with coffee, so I thought I’d look take a look at a dark chocolate one this week. As you can see, the packaging is pretty similar, with another retro photo …

Cocoa Farm Mango, Lime & Chilli

Cocoa Farm have been shyly lurking on our local South Australian Foodland supermarket shelves and decent ‘cellar door’ wineries (such as Penfolds, home of Grange) for a wee while now, but have not been launched or advertised with any fanfare …

Cadbury Old Gold 70%

As regular Chocablog readers would know, I have not been a fan of Cadbury’s foray into the ridiculous sounding (and tasting) ‘Desserts’ range using their Dairy Milk chocolate, declaring it a disaster and tasting insultingly inedible. In addition, their ‘Eden’ …

Sainsbury’s Dark Chocolate & Honeycomb Slab

It is said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. It’s also true that there’s money to be made by nicking a good idea. This Sainsbury’s ‘Taste the Difference’ slab is one of a number on offer, and as …

Cocoa Bean Classic Chocolate

This little column of chocolates has the distinction of being manufactured in the most Westerley chocolate factory in Europe – The Skelligs Chocolate Factory in County Kerry, Ireland. I quite literally came across the place by accident whilst driving around …

Hotel Chocolat Serious Dark Fix Egg

One of the many tempting offerings from Hotel Chocolat this Easter, the Serious Dark Fix Egg is, as one might expect, aimed at those who prefer their cocoa content in the 70th percentile. The shells (extra thick as always) are …

Nature’s Harvest Chocolate Cranberries

Another offering from Holland & Barrett’s range of ‘good things covered in chocolate’, and this time it’s cranberries. The chocolate coating is identical to that used on the Goji/Wolf berries I reviewed at the back end of last year – …

Hotel Chocolat Rocky Road To Caramellow Egg

I’ve lost count of the number of times the postman has knocked on my door with packages from Hotel Chocolat. But this time my reaction was more “Oh.” than “Oooooh!” The box was much smaller than I had been expecting… …

Sucré Chocolates

First impressions, as they say, count. This little box of delights from New Orleans certainly made a good impression on me. The thick, mint green box made from high quality card and decorated with a ribbon is stylish and fun. …

Lindt Excellence 70% Squares

Venturing over to the (pause for effect) *Dark Side* can be a little bit scary. When you see blocks and bars stating that they have a minimum cocoa content of 50%, 60%, 70% and 85% it can seem a bit …

Leysieffer Holunder-Blüten

Late last year one of my small chocolate-loving people had a school trip to Germany, and so I handed over €20 and said “Bring me back something unusual, and make sure it’s chocolate.” Well, sure enough my faith was rewarded, …

Newman’s Peppermint Thins

Every now and then a ‘freebie’ arrives – this time via an apology from our grocery delivery service, but more often it’s a Kris Kringle or unexpected gift – and I realise just what a choco-snob I’ve become. Newman’s have …

Perugina Nero Sflogie 70%

In case you were wondering, this one’s Italian. Perugina are owned by Nestlé Italia, but don’t let that put you off. This is proper dark chocolate – a gift from a friend who recently took a long weekend in Italy. …

Montezuma’s Orange & Geranium Dark Chocolate

You may recall that last week I reviewed Montezuma’s Sweet Paprika & Strawberry Milk Chocolate, and wasn’t overly impressed with it. I found it decidedly bland, but dressed up as something more interesting. So how does that bar’s darker, orangier …

Whittaker’s Dark Orange

Whittaker’s chocolates have been made in Wellington New Zealand since 1896 and they are the only manufacturers in the land of sheep, hillsides and hobbits to start the process from scratch by roasting their own cocoa beans. We Aussies have …

Amano Madagascar & Ocumare

A pair of wonderful artisan, bean-to-bar dark chocolates from Amano.

Seeds Of Change Organic Dark Chocolate – Orange & Fig

“Fragrant figs ripened in the Aegean sun, paired with zesty oranges, enveloped in our rich dark chocolate. Heaven.” Sounds good, doesn’t it? Certainly my first chocolate/fig combination, and from a company I normally associate with pasta sauces! The back of …

Dark Chocolate M&Ms

Thank you M&Ms Australia, thank you! You may have disappointed me last year when you advised that it was too difficult to manufacture Peanut Butter M&Ms in Australia due to not having the correct machinery or the will to even …

Lindt Petits Desserts Dark Orange

Since I first posted a review of a Petits Desserts bar, both Dom and I have been wowed by the authenticity and the quality of what is obviously a premium product, so discovering another, untried Petits Desserts bar is something …

Chocolate Cellar: Rose N Chilli Dark Chocolate

Another Christmas present! This time from Paola. First things first though. Paola mentioned she bought this bar from Little Green Men, an online chilli store, but also that she had extremely poor customer service from them. As such, I have …

Summerdown Pure Mint Chocolate Peppermint Creams

When those lovely people at Chocolates Direct sent me the Dolfin bars for review, they also included an extra treat in the form of this rather attractive blue box of peppermint creams. I must admit that I haven’t eaten a …

Whitakers Mint Wafers

According to their web site, Whitakers have been around since 1889, so they’ve had plenty of time to get things right. Mint Wafers are traditional after dinner mint chocolates, in the same style as After Eight. In fact, when you …

Dolfin Dark Chocolate Taster Bars

As I mentioned previously, those lovely chaps at Chocolates Direct sent over a pack of eight Dolfin Bars for review. Like their milk chocolate brethren, these four also offer a unique flavour from a different part of the world, and …

Cadbury Old Gold

After giving Cadbury a good old bollocking for their disastrous ‘Desserts’ range, it is nice to be able to do a complete 180-degree turn and review their dark chocolate range. Here in Oz it is released under the ‘Old Gold’ …

Lindt Lindor 60% Cocoa Balls

Before talking about these deliciously divine Lindor balls, I need to apologise to you all, dear, sweet, intelligent and discerning Chocoblog readers. Normally these articles are accompanied by close up photographs of the chocolate itself, unwrapped and sometimes half-eaten, to …

Hachez Cocoa D’Arriba Strawberry & Pepper

It’s been a little while since I reviewed anything truly unusual (unless you count the remarkably different Conscious range) and I was beginning to wonder whether I’d find anything ‘odd’ when I was given – amongst other things – this …

Witor’s Fondente 60%

After having an experience I’d rather forget when tasting Witor’s cousin flavour, Bianco Cuore Al Latte, I was feeling a bit nervous about sinking my teeth into this one: dark chocolate with 60% cacao. The packaging didn’t look too promising …

Kshocolât Orange Slices

Finding myself in John Lewis on a Saturday afternoon in late October, there was nothing else for it. I would have to refrain from tearing down the Christmas decorations in a fit of rage (Christmas decorations! It’s October for God …

Green & Black’s Maya Gold

This was an impulse buy. Something random picked up from the shelf of my local sweet shop. Aside from being Green & Black’s, I didn’t even know what it was until I got home. So this “Dark chocolate with orange …

Australian Homemade Dark Chocolate Macadamias

The second Australian Homemade item I bought when I was in Holland (they’re made in Amsterdam, not Australia) and one I was very much looking forward to, as I happen to adore macadamias. Having sampled (and thoroughly enjoyed) their Honey …

Lindt Creation 70% Chilli

Once again, I have found another Lindt bar to sample, and this one is perhaps the most unusual of their bars I have seen on general sale in the UK. Chilli and chocolate in itself is nothing too left field, …

Guinness Dark Chocolate

As anyone who has ever flown out of Ireland will tell you, every Irish airport plays host to the Guinness ministore, home to a plethora of merchandise designed to show your allegiance to the ‘dark stuff’. I have glanced at …

Magnum Ecuador Dark 62%

When I bought this, it was warm and sunny and I was in the mood for ice cream. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to review it straight away, so it went into the freezer. It’s now pouring with rain outside, …

J.D. Gross Extra Bitter 75% Trinidad Sticks

Another offering from the J. D. Gross / LIDL stable of chocolate (which, as we now know thanks to our astute and helpful readers, is made by Rausch). So enthusiastic and knowledgeable are our readers that I received a comment …

Hershey’s All Natural Extra Dark

I’m sitting her with half a piece of Hershey’s Extra Dark 60% cacao chocolate melting in my mouth, and I still can’t decide if I like it or not. I’m delighted to report that it tastes like chocolate. With only …

Cadbury Bournville

Cadbury's sweet 'dark' chocolate.

Cadbury Cherry Ripe

Dark chocolate with coconut and cherries.

Goplana Klasyczna Gorzka Karmelowa

No, I haven’t just banged my head on the keyboard or typed random letters in no particular order. That’s what this chocolate is called. It’s a well-known fact that 97% of all Polish people live in London these days. It’s …

After Eight

Sweet dark chocolate with a mint filling.

Fry’s Chocolate Cream

After discovering Fry’s Turkish Delight‘s fall from grace, I picked up the 4-pack of Chocolate Cream’s with some reservation. Was this to be another nostalgic return only to be dashed by the bitter reality that things always taste better when …
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