Last month when William Curley announced that they would be doing a “chocolate & perfume pairing” evening, I’m afraid to say my response on Twitter was less than complimentary….bbpBox78421000773050368 {margin:15px 0;border:2px solid #666;background:url(http://a3.twimg.com/profile_background_images/112470583/wispa.jpg) #352726;padding:20px;} p.bbpTweet{background:#fff;padding:10px 12px 10px 12px;margin:0 0 0 20px;min-height:48px;color:#000;font-size:18px !important;line-height:22px;-moz-border-radius:5px;-webkit-border-radius:5px} p.bbpTweet span.metadata{display:block;width:100%;clear:both;margin-top:8px;padding-top:12px;height:40px;border-top:1px solid #fff;border-top:1px solid #e6e6e6} p.bbpTweet span.metadata span.author{line-height:19px} p.bbpTweet span.metadata span.author img{float:left;margin:0 7px 0 0px;width:38px;height:38px} p.bbpTweet a:hover{text-decoration:underline}p.bbpTweet span.timestamp{font-size:12px;display:block}
Needless to say, William saw my Tweet and contacted me, asking me to come along and judge for myself. Somewhat sheepishly, I agreed, but only if I could take a female friend for back-up!
We arrived early and were greeted with Champagne and freshly prepared canapés. Lots of them. Enough that we had to make a conscious decision not to eat any more, just to leave room for the chocolate.
The format of the evening was very simple. A selection of Miller Harris perfumes had been chosen by the experts, and William had chosen a chocolate to go with each. The Miller Harris guys gave a short talk about each fragrance, what was in it and who would wear it, before William explained what was in the chocolate and why he’d chosen to pair it with the perfume. Often this would be because of a common ingredient (vanilla or citrus, for example), and it was usually clear why the matching had been chosen. That much I understood.
But the nagging question remained: Why?
As you’d expect, William’s chocolates were excellent. But they weren’t in any way improved by being matched with perfumes which obliterated the natural fragrance of the chocolate. Sure, it was interesting to learn a little about aroma, but aside from that, the event wasn’t much more than a Miller Harris marketing exercise.
Apparently they also do wine and perfume pairings, and I wouldn’t be surprised to find out they do cheese and perfume pairings or Monster Munch and perfume pairings. The choice of chocolate is fairly arbitrary.
So it was a complete waste of time, right?
Well no. The thing is, at £30 a head, the evening is actually really good value. Not only do you get to try a significant quantity of chocolate, but when you factor in the Champagne, canapés, goodie bag (with chocolate and perfume) and a 20% discount on any chocolate or perfume you buy, you can’t really go wrong.
If you like chocolate and you’re interested in perfume, and if you ignore the fact that the pairing themselves are fairly meaningless, then this is actually an interesting way to spend an evening.
You can find out about future events on William Curley’s blog.
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Chocablog has reported on popping candy in chocolate before; having, however, not personally tried this strange combination, I picked up two packets when I stumbled across plain milk chocolate covered Pop Rocks. While I can’t say from experience, the idea of keeping Pop Rocks in their usual loose state versus adding them to the contents of a chocolate bar does seem less intimidating and less likely to go wrong. There is perhaps more (or at least a different kind of) expectation from a bar form versus a member of the more informal candy species. I for one would likely approach the bar differently from a Pop Rocks packet.
Speaking of the candy species, Pop Rocks are one of its odd members, one I never really know what to make of. The sizzling and crackling feel they make, while intriguing, also feels slightly wrong, like this isn’t something you should be eating. Its similarity with chocolate is that they both melt or dissolve somehow in your mouth. Yet chocolate does this with smoothness, slowly releasing its flavors instead of lashing out like a collection of fireworks. Are the two beings too opposing to be combined?
Not really. Not if you take Chocolate Pop Rocks simply as Pop Rocks with a tweak to the original formula.
They come in different sizes, some being small while others are clusters of chocolate covering a few rocks instead of just one. Because the coating is only milk chocolate, it melts away pretty quickly, leaving the rocks to do their usual wizardry. Also because it is milk chocolate, it isn’t a great amount of aftertaste that lingers during the crackling stage. That is, not unless you eat a large enough portion at once, which I was only brave enough to do once.
The effect reminds me of chocolate soda, what with the crackling and the mild chocolate flavor. In fact, I wonder if I prefer Pop Rocks to have this thin coating to soften the effect a bit–rather than the two sides clashing, the chocolate seems to tone down the strangeness of this most strange candy. And that isn’t something I mind.
These little chocolate frogs from Paul A. Young got my attention when I was in his Soho shop over the weekend. There’s no exotic flavour combinations, they’re just fun little hand painted chocolate frogs. I picked them purely for the cuteness factor.
You get two frogs in a bag, one dark chocolate, one white chocolate with freeze-dried raspberries. They come in a choice of colours, but the flavours remain unchanged.
I wouldn’t normally go for a white chocolate, but this one is quite pleasant and the small pieces of raspberry do help to cut through the sweetness a little. The dark chocolate is very pleasant, but there’s no origin or cocoa percentage listed on the bag. To be honest though, with chocolate frogs that’s probably not important.
These are the kind of thing I’d buy as a simple gift for someone. A little less indulgent than the average Paul A. Young offering, but just as attractive. At £3.50 for two sizeable frogs they’re pretty good value for handmade & hand painted chocolate, although I do think the addition of a milk chocolate frog would help cover all tastes. Even as they are though, I’d certainly buy these as an eye-catching gift and a simple introduction to the world of fine chocolate.
There’s no online store to buy these from, but as is normally the case with Paul A. Young’s products, if you drop them an email via their website, they’ll be happy to arrange a delivery.
David Craggs is a 15 year old from Southport with his own chocolate making business. When he sent me these samples, he specifically asked for the chocolates to be judged on their merits alone, rather than because of his age.
Of course I’ll be doing that, but I do think David’s story is interesting. I’m always excited to hear about new people starting out in the industry, and the fact that David chose to start a chocolate business at the age of 13 as part of a schools enterprise scheme – and the fact that he’s still going – is really encouraging.
As you can see, the chocolates arrived a little scuffed up, primarily due to being packed loose in plastic bags, but that’s often the case with chocolates like this. It’s a minor cosmetic issue, but to maintain the best quality while passing through the hands of the Royal Mail, I think simple boxes would really help. (Note, these are available in boxes on the website, but they’re a little more expensive.)
The chocolates are all moulded and come in various designs, from hearts to cups, and are perhaps a little old-fashioned looking, particularly when compared with the likes of the Charlotte Flower chocolates I reviewed last week (another sole trader, whose chocolates are simply designed yet elegant and sophisticated).
But David is clearly going for a different market here. These are fun little treats or a simple gift for a family member rather than a fashion statement.
The flavours are interesting and for the most part well chosen, although for my tastes they are a little sweet. That probably means they’ll go down very well with a more mainstream audience.
For me, I’d like to see a little more attention to presentation and more dark simple, dark chocolates. And I’d really like to see more people like David getting into the industry.
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