This has to be one of those occasions where I wish my father had taught me to speak Polish. Manufaktura Czekolady’s 70% Ghanaian cacao ‘Grand Cru’ bar has not a word of English (or any other language, for that matter) upon it, leaving me to try and pick the bones out of the product description as best I can.
So, with the understanding that I’m making educated guesses with the aid of Google Translate, I can tell you that the company is run by Tomka SIenkiewicza and Krzyska Stypulkowskiego, or ‘Krzysiek and Tomek’ as they sign themselves. They’re a couple of schoolfriends based in Ceglow, which is just East or Warsaw and are a bean-to-bar chocolate maker. In fact, they’re the only bean-to-bar chocolate company in Poland, and they use only organic beans in their bars, and no product is ever more than six months old.
The chocolate itself comes lovingly wrapped in very thick gold foiled covered paper, and had a deep, dark colour. The chocolate has a fairly complex aroma, with some quite fruity high notes sitting above a robust ‘bottom end’. In the mouth the initial fruity acidity gives way to richer, quite bold cacao flavours mingling with a slight sweetness. It doesn’t melt quickly and has a slightly coarser mouthfeel than say a Swiss chocolate but it’s not heavy or cloying in any way, just perhaps a little less refined.
Although the cacao content is only 70% it has a depth and robustness of flavour more characteristic of chocolate with higher percentages – not a bad thing in my book, but maybe not to everyone’s tastes.
I met Hope and Greenwood at the Speciality & Fine Food Fair on Sunday. Their colourful stand was crammed full of chocolate and sweeties and stood out, even in a giant hall packed with chocolate.
This little box of goodies was thrust into my hand before I had a chance to argue, so it’s only fair I say a few words about them before they all disappear.
Inside, we have sixteen chocolates in four varieties; Bubbly Bucks Fizz, Pink Champagne, White Champagne and Milk Champagne.
Hope and Greenwood’s logo has the motto “Purveyors Of Splendid Confectionery”, so as you might expect, these milk and white chocolates are aimed squarely at those with a sweeter tooth.
As you can see, they do look quite appealing though. The packaging is simple but elegant, and most importantly of all, the chocolates are arranged in an efficient geometric pattern.
I tried the Milk Champagne first, and was pleasantly surprised. The shell was thick, and the filling was smooth if a little firm, with just a hint of Champagne. There wasn’t a lot of depth to the chocolate, just the gentle warmth of Marc de Champagne and a lot of sweetness.
At the other end of the spectrum, the White Champagne is dusted in icing sugar, just in case you think white chocolate with a white chocolate filling isn’t quite sweet enough! The Champagne flavour was a bit more subtle this time, and it was just a little too sweet for my tastes!
But I’m not target market here, and those that like their chocolate to be sweet will love these. Even with my preference for dark chocolate, I still managed to scoff nearly half the box.
For those with the sweeter tooth, they’d make a great gift, and something a bit different from the mass produced chocolate that’s starting to fill the supermarket shelves this time of year.
Time for a confession: I have not written anything about Haigh’s Chocolates before. Shameful, seeing as they are one of the few Australian chocolate makers that actually manufacture all the way from bean to product, and they are in the same city as me.
I’ve happily eaten my way through Haigh’s products, and even sent them overseas as a specialty present that you’d never be able to buy anywhere else; Haigh’s don’t have an on-line shop and don’t export. They sell their product through their own retail outlets, and don’t even supply wholesale.
Somewhat unusually for modern times Haigh’s has been going since 1915, is still a family owned company, and is run by the 4th generation descendants of the founder. Keeping any family company together for more than 3 generations is a huge accomplishment; this family seems to have pulled it off.
So reporting on Haigh’s feels a bit like a childhood taunt: “Nyah nyah – I’ve got a secret, I’m not going to tell you, and you can’t find out.” (Unless you come to Australia and go into one of their retail stores.) They also have such a large line-up that any store visit is daunting – where on earth does one start?
So – one starts with something simple: In this case, a Dark Chocolate Couveture. The reasoning is simple: I’d expect this to be used in their other products, so if it’s good then everything else stands a decent chance. Oh, and I received it as a gift, so why the heck not try it?
As you can see, the packaging is very plain – just a printed cellophane; and the presentation is simple – entirely appropriate for a couverture which is expected to be used in making other products.
Although called ‘dark’, this chocolate is only 53% cocoa solids; mildly dark in my books. In spite of that, though, it has a very crisp “snap”, and a very rich deep aroma.
But it all comes down to taste, and the only way to taste this is to break a piece off, pop it in the mouth, and let it melt. This reveals gradually opening flavours, a slow melt, a hint of vanilla and an after-taste that lingers very nicely. There’s no grittiness in the texture at all.
Just by way of comparison I had some Green & Blacks 70% open, so a comparison tasting was in order. The only analogy I can make is that it’s like being walloped by a sledgehammer instead of a pillow – the Haigh’s is lighter, more subtle, less harsh notes. I could eat it all day.
This is one of only a couple of review samples I picked up at the Speciality & Fine Food Fair earlier this week. Zotter had their full range on display, so picking something to take home was tough. I think it was probably the alcohol that grabbed my attention.
The bar follows the same format as the other Zotter ‘Hand Scooped’ range. It’s a thick block of filling with a thin chocolate coating, and it’s more about the flavours crammed inside than the chocolate itself. As you’d expect from Zotter, all the ingredients are either organic, fair trade, or both.
If you break a chunk off, the filling has a similar colour and consistency to a brownie, but on the tongue, it’s deliciously smooth and creamy with a strong alcohol hit. Of course there’s no artificial whisky flavouring here – in fact, it’s made with a whopping 9% real scotch whisky. It’s perfectly matched with the 70% dark chocolate.
There’s not enough of the chocolate to get a strong sense of flavour on its own, but when combined with the whisky filling, you end up with something that’s chocolatey, warming and incredibly addictive. I had to physically restrain myself from eating the whole bar in one go.
I have no idea if true whisky aficionados will like this. I suspect there are those who would not take kindly to it being combined with chocolate, just as there are those who don’t think chocolate should be combined with other flavours. For the rest of us, this is the perfect warming chocolate treat for a cold winter’s evening.
