While I love collecting boxes, I don’t usually get many tins from chocolate – it’s usually mints that come in tins. However, I took a closer look at this yellow-toned tin just in case, and lo and behold, the label told me there were in fact milk chocolate leaves inside. A pretty tin, chocolate, and something related to trees means three of my favorite things all coming together.
The design for this tin comes with a historical setting. The Amatller family began making chocolates in Spain all the way back in 1797. Around the turn from the 19th century to the 20th, Antoni Amatller started sponsoring arts and culture; he also had artists design posters and cards to promote the company. The picture on this tin is from a poster, designed by Alphonse M. Mucha, for the 100th Anniversary in 1900. In 1972, Amatller joined with another family company, Chocolates Simón Coll.
After admiring the tin and imagining what the chocolate leaves must look like, I was a little disappointed by the reality of their appearance. While I had pictured oval leaves, these are more circle-like, and the veins have a disappointing, impersonal look. However, they are a nice shape and size, roughly around that of a medium to large coin, to eat.
The flavor puts in mind the El Rey Caoba I looked at a couple of years ago–perhaps, then, this chocolate is also of Venezuelan origin? While that bar was a 41% cacao solids, this one is lower down at 32%, yet certain of my comments still apply. There is a flavor that reminds me of Hershey’s, yet this chocolate has more clarity, is not quite so sweet, and melts slower. It fits the expression of the picture that drew me in: light, soft, yellow/caramel, and even artsy.
Plus, the small leaves are all too easy to keep on eating, one by one.
It’s been a busy old run up to Valentine’s Day this year, and I for one have eaten more than my fair share of chocolate hearts.
We’ve reviewed a complete spectrum of Valentine’s goodies from zChocolat, Hotel Chocolat, Divine, Chococo, Matcha Chocolat and even M&M’s. But we had even more that we just didn’t have time to tell you about, so here’s just a few last minute gift ideas.
Godiva sent us a small selection of love-themed chocolates, including this pink heart shaped box, and rather cute little white chocolate hearts. The chocolates are from Godiva’s Mont D’amour collection and all feature soft, mousse centres, mostly of a fruity nature. They’re aimed more at confectionery lovers than fine chocolate connoisseurs, but if that’s your thing, they’re quite nice.
I’ve never quite figured out how Godiva operates, with a huge variety of different products worldwide, but you might find these in your local store.
Thorntons sent us a big selection of chocolate to try, and heart-shaped boxes seem to be big with them too. As well as these small boxes of Viennese, Strawberry and Marc de Champagne truffles, they also do huge heart shaped boxes of Continental. Again, too sweet for me, but apparently still very popular.
If you’re looking for something a little more personal, Thorntons also do these alphabet truffles, which are hand decorated with any message you want. Hours of fun for dirty minded anagram enthusiasts.
Finally, I want to give another mention to Hotel Chocolat who are really impressing me at the moment. Their new Roast + Conch shop & café in Covent Garden is a great place to take your loved one to see chocolate being made from the bean while you eat.
Of course their other shops have a big range of Valentine’s themed chocolates, including these ever popular pink champagne truffles. They have very soft, smooth and alcoholic centres, but what I like best about them is that they’re just a little on the large size. They may look pink and girly, but they’re man sized chocolates. Honest.
Given there’s only two days left to make your purchase, I’d recommend dropping in to your local shop to pick these up. But if you happen to have an artisan chocolatier locally, I still think you’d make a much better impression spending a little extra on some fresh, handmade chocolates. And if you’re buying for me, I’ll have some more of the Matcha Chocolat, please!
Gourmet popcorn eh? Something of an oxymoron of you ask me. After all, popcorn is one of those cheap treats isn’t it? A handful of corn, some butter and a little salt and sugar and there you have it. Simple, cheap and very moreish.
Well apparently there’s now such a thing as Gourmet Popcorn, so this isn’t just any old popcorn, this is ‘Air popped maize corn, cooked in small batch pans with a Spanish smoked paprika coating, sprinkled with dried Ancho chillis and then hand drizzled with Belgian Dark Chocolate’.
As you can see, what you get is a reddy-brown looking popcorn with dark chocolate drizzled over it. The coating is of course sweetened, so the first taste is a kind of slightly sticky sweet coating which them warms up as the smoked paprika and Ancho chilli kicks in. Anchos are known for having a sweetness (and not too much heat) so they’re a good choice for something like this.
There’s not much information about the chocolate, other than it being Belgian and dark, but it makes up 21% of the overall weight of this product, so there’s a fair amount of it around. It does add a certain sweetness to the finish and blends in well with the gentle fieriness of the chilli and paprika. Tasting this is a bit of an adventure. First the initial sweetness, which is very quickly joined by the subtle smoky heat of the paprika, reinforced by the chilli and then mellowed out by the chocolate, all in popcorn form.
I found myself liking it more than I thought I would, but there’s a cynical part of my brain which keeps saying. “It’s just popcorn, it shouldn’t be over two quid a box!” and I do think this is another example of ‘reinventing’ a food while making sure the new version costs several times more than the traditional version, but as an unusual treat it works quite well. I do think this is going to have limited appeal though, and I wonder how long it will be around. I suppose if you like the sound of it, the thing to do would be to get your hands on some pronto, because I can’t find mention of it anywhere on the internet, which could mean it wasn’t all that popular after all!
It’s been quite some time since we reviewed anything from Hotel Chocolat, but at the recent opening of the chain’s wonderful new “Roast + Conch” store and café in Covent Garden (where you can actually watch chocolate being made from the bean), we were give a goodie bag stuffed full to the brim of seasonal chocolate, these included.
At first I was intrigued by the box. It features a typically stylish Hotel Chocolat design, but the cellophane wrapping is actually underneath the lid rather than around the whole box. But the reason became clear when I removed the lid – the box also contains a little Valentine’s card that you can include when giving it as a gift, and this way you can write on the card without ever having to unseal the box. It’s clever little ideas like that that keep Hotel Chocolat ahead of the competition in terms of design.
Inside, you get twelve chocolate hearts, with two each (perfect for sharing) of six flavours including two dark and four milk chocolates. Each flavour is decorated with a different coloured pattern to distinguish it and while not the most expensive packaging in the world, the overall effect is very pleasing.
The flavours are Strawberry & Black Pepper, Raspberry Rapture, Smooth Praline, Soft Chilli Caramel, Vanilla Truffle and Chocolate Brownie.
The Vanilla truffle I tried first was sweet, with a soft and creamy filling. Too sweet for me, but I was pleasantly surprised by the texture.
The strawberry and pepper was equally soft, almost liquid, with a tangy fruitiness followed immediately by the flavour of black pepper, although there wasn’t much in the way of heat.
The Chocolate Brownie flavour is interesting, although I didn’t pick up much “brownieness” myself, and found it more like a sweet, slightly crunchy praline.
The Soft Chilli Caramels are the most liquid of the lot, with a sweet, buttery flavour followed by a fairly significant chilli kick. At first the sweetness and heat were a little too much for me, but I must have liked it as I found myself eating the other one straight after!
The Smooth Praline is exactly that. A simple hazelnut praline in milk chocolate. Sweet, smooth and nutty.
Finally, we have the Raspberry Rapture is a milk chocolate with an ultra smooth, tangy raspberry truffle filling. I love most fruit chocolates, particularly raspberry, so this would have to be my favourite of the bunch.
Overall, I’m impressed by this box. At £14, it represents great value, but the stylish appearance and interesting flavours mean but your loved one won’t think you’ve scrimped if you give it as a Valentine’s gift.
With a four month shelf life, they can’t really compare to the ultra fresh chocolates you would find at your local artisan chocolatier, but for those of us who don’t have access to such things – or simply can’t afford them – these are a great alternative.
