It’s competition time again. This time, we’ve got a couple of bars of limited edition Green & Black’s Raisin & Hazelnut chocolate.
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Breakthrough Breast Cancer has teamed up with Green & Black’s to raise vital funds for the charity. Each of these limited edition bars carries a donation to Breakthrough, but we’ve managed to get our hands on a couple so you can share the message (and the chocolate) personally.
This is a Twitter based competition, but if you’re not on Twitter already, it only takes a minute to sign up.
To enter, just follow Chocablog (so we can let you know if you win!) and Breakthrough Breast Cancer, then retweet a link to this page.
You can click this link to tweet now if you’re logged in to Twitter.
This competition is open to UK residents only. One entry per person.
The competition will close at 12 noon GMT on Friday 14th October 2011, and a winner will be picked at random and notified by direct message on Twitter.
You can find out more about Breakthrough Breast Cancer and Breast Cancer Awereness month on the Breakthrough site at www.breakthrough.org.uk
This is the second Co Couture bar I’ve tasted, and essentially it’s the Rum & Raisin Bar I reviewed a couple of months ago, but without the rum. Or the raisins. Described as a ‘moderate, aromatic dark chocolate’ the 69% cacao content leaves room for a little sweetness but thankfully there are no unwanted extras in here, and while the chocolate isn’t described as dairy free, there are no milk solids or other dairy based ingredients, just the essential four plus a little vanilla.
It’s light on the palate, melting quickly and with a light acidity and soft, slightly fruity opening notes. as the chocolate starts to melt, further depths are revealed as more of the cacao flavours are unleashed. Although it’s only a percentage point below 70% this chocolate doesn’t have the thickness some chocolate can have – it’s light on the tongue and easy on the palate. The balance of dark cacao and fragrant sweetness is done very well indeed.
When all’s said and done, it’s a nice enough chocolate, but it also happens to be kind of… ordinary, and with a top end price tag it really needs to have something special going on. The bottom line is that if you gave me £4 and told me to buy myself a bar of chocolate, this wouldn’t even come close to being in my top five, even though it’s a smooth, well balanced bar.
Of the two, I definitely prefer the rum & raisin version, mainly because those additional ingredients result in an excellent version of an old classic. On it’s own, Blend II is a decent but unremarkable chocolate compared to similarly priced offerings from other manufacturers.
One of the nice things about the winding down of summer is that people begin giving me chocolate again, not so afraid of the destroying/melting powers of the sun. To usher in the fall this year, I received a couple of bags of Pillsbury Sweet Moments. Pillsbury is launching two new flavors of these, Caramel Cheesecake and Raspberry Cheesecake. I received the former, but got a coupon in place of the latter for availability reason. The store I went to only had the Cocoa Fudge Escape flavor (the fourth flavor in the series is Cocoa Caramel Obsession), so it is that flavor that I will look at along with the Caramel Cheesecake.
The tag-line on both bags states, “take a bite, close your eyes–this moment is yours.” The description lines are in the same frilly, indulgence terms. Cocoa Fudge Escape, for instance, is described like this: “layers of moist fudgy brownie and rich decadent fudge; all enveloped in a shell of cocoa-kissed perfection.” That should give you a good idea of the type of product here.
These are bite-sized brownies with a layer of chocolate to coat them; the caramel and light brown stripes meant to add visual appeal really don’t do much after the dozen brownies are bashed against each other in the bag, but I’d say the attempt still counts for something. What also sets the Sweet Moments apart from other brownie bites is that they’re refrigerated “to accentuate each decadent layer and to magnify each distinct texture for the ultimate indulgent bite.” That description may be a bit too decadent itself, but it does get to the point. Being cold, these brownies are able to stay moist, hinting at more richness and begging you perhaps to contemplate them just a little longer than regular brownie bites (which I do find to be too often dry). The chocolate layer, also, has the benefit of adding another texture when it is cold; otherwise, it’s less noticeable, and adds hardly anything at all.
As far as the flavors go, well, there isn’t too much variety, anyway. When I cut the brownies in half, the layers showed themselves off not so well as on the packaging. In tasting, I nearly always forgot about the caramel layer that separates the cheesecake and brownie halves of the Caramel Cheesecake. I’m sure this one tastes different from the Raspberry version, but the caramel doesn’t speak out very much on its own. Even though I really don’t like cheesecake, I do find the cheesecake brownies more interesting than the plain Cocoa Fudge ones. There, all you have are two layers of brownie that are said to be split by fudge. The cheesecake element I find to add more diversity and singularity–most people will probably find that it adds to the idea of indulgence.
“Indulgence” is the word I can’t argue with here. The Sweet Moments aren’t pretty enough or fine enough to serve to company. But when it’s just for the household, they’re more ready and available than a brownie mix. I would categorize them in the same spot as boxes of Entenmann’s donuts. I do, though, have one last problem: the top of the bag opens by tearing, after which there is no seal to close the bag up again. I point this out because this is the sort of product you can have in your refrigerator while you slowly take out one or two brownies at a time–shouldn’t the rest be able to stay safe and fresh in the meantime? Oh, well, I guess I never did notice a difference because of this. The indulgence is too simple to be bothered by such.
Feeding Your Imagination is one of what appear to several business ventures being run by one Paul da Costa-Greaves, a master Chef, restauranteur and chocolatier formerly based in Devon but now relocated to Bristol.
I came across him at the recent Speciality & Fine Food fair at Olympia and he very kindly sent me home with a small stack of his wares. It was only when I came home and happened to mention thisto Dom that he said
“Oh. You’d best check a review that was done a couple of years ago.” So I did, and Domestic Slut Sian really didn’t like Paul’s ‘Yin’ bar. Oh indeed.
So I had a look at the various bars and their ingredients and decided I’d review the one I’d specifically asked for. The name decided it for me – after all, if you call a bar of chocolate ‘Lovely’ and it isn’t, you’re really asking for it, aren’t you? (I’m reminded of a band named ‘Fabulous’ and a certain Majestic hotel, neither of which actually were). The reason I’d singled this one out was because it contained an intriguing combination of peppermint and Cardamom – one of my favourite spices.
Paul’s bars are all organic (with the usual exception of the soy lecithin) and this bar was made from a 34% cocoa solids Swiss milk chocolate (although the website confusingly says 36%). Unlike some of the others it doesn’t carry the Fairtrade mark. Whether FYI will move towards all Fairtrade or not I can’t tell you, but I would guess that it would be something Paul would wish for.
It probably won’t be a huge shock to learn that the chocolate smells of mint. I would have been surprised had it not. What I was interested to discover was whether the cardamom had any chance of making a showing against such a dominating flavour.
Pop a square in your mouth and the chocolate melts, delivering soft, fresh mint flavours in among the creamy milk chocolate – and yes, the cardamom is there, smoothing out the mint and adding its unique fragrant notes to the mix. I wouldn’t have thought the two flavours would have worked so well together, but they do (as a Cardamom lover, I could have happily had a little more of it, but I’m guessing that any more would radically change the overall taste of this bar). The end result is a fresh, light mint flavoured bar with a soft, creamy texture, a soft mouthfeel and a clean, light finish (helped by the mint oil, of course).
I can only think that Paul has spent the past couple of years refining his recipes, because I have no hesitation in recommending this bar. It’s a jolly good example of how well mint and milk chocolate can go together.
This (and the other bars in the range) can be purchased online, or from an interesting variety of stockists (have a look at the list of London stockists and see what I mean about ‘interesting’) and after this first taste I’m very much looking forward to telling you more about FYI chocolates.
