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. Inside, we have one side of dark chocolate hearts, one of milk chocolates, and a circle of red-wrapped Coeur Pralines around one more dark chocolate

The six milk chocolates have a creamy praline that is accented by the minutest specks of biscuit, which are perhaps what keep them from being too cloying. As it is, I rather like these–the praline is light not dense, and the chocolate (at 30% cacao) doesn’t come across as too sweet. The dark hearts are the same idea, only without the crunch and with a dark praline. There is a glossier mouthfeel here, and the 52% dark chocolate I’m tempted to call boring, even though it is the kind of “just dark enough” chocolate most people will go for.

The red hearts are a respectable size larger than the rest, containing a good portion of hazelnut and almond praline in a thick milk chocolate shell. You really get to dive into both, witnessing the marriage of nuttiness and chocolate until you’re not sure where one ends and the next begins.

With the second box, what we have is a regular ballotin wrapped up in red paper. In a way, I appreciate that there is no pretending the product is entirely exclusive to Valentine’s Day when it isn’t. (On a note of practicality, though, this box can get annoying to open and close as there are four flaps to the box and four paper ones underneath–that’s too many barriers for me.) There are eight chocolates included in my box, including another Coeur Praline. The Mephisto and Satan are, respectively, milk and dark chocolate pralines comparable to those in box one. The Sapho and Napoleonette, both milk chocolates with the latter also containing coffee, were my favorites. Cool and creamy, with a delicious almond taste and a rich yet light coffee one.

Two of the eight do not have praline, the Prestige and Art Nouveau. The former instead has a just-barely-free-flowing caramel that seems to enhance the chocolate, while the Art Nouveau has a “dark ganache with a hint of grilled hazelnuts.” Not that I could detect any hazelnuts, which means that this one is also much like the dark chocolate hearts.

Being mostly pralines, these are all very similar, and keep in mind that for anything better than supermarket quality, you won’t be paying supermarket prices. However, I would venture to say that either box would make a welcome appearance for Valentine’s Day.

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. The classic blue-and-brown-colored box has what I’m calling a country chic glamor, yet there is more to these six chocolates than fits into that term. There is a boldness, an ability to take an idea and pursue it with spark.

As if I shouldn’t have guessed that from the names. While “French Broad” is the name of a river in North Carolina, the shop’s “About” page admits to wanting to have that “great double entendre.” And an Aphrodisiac Collection, meant to combine mythical, traditional, and scientific aphrodisiacal ingredients, either has to be bold of a flop. My defense is for the former.

Cosmic Love Potion – A “honey-based elixir” in a milk chocolate ganache, covered in white chocolate and topped with a rose petal. In that elixir are things like ginseng, ginger, rose, and cinnamon. This is the gentle truffle of the bunch. It’s light and warm, while still allowing all those spices and flavors, in particular the ginger and vanilla. The texture of the ganache, too, is something. It is smooth, but not exactly in the silky way–it’s meatier than that (though also not thick).

Indian Kulfi – Rose and cardamom, another milk chocolate ganache, and a very small sprinkling of crushed pistachio. The rose is light, making it work with the milk chocolate. There are tiny seeds in here, which end up adding a welcome bit of texture instead of detracting from anything.

Theros, Orange, & Fennel – An “olive-oil based dark chocolate truffle, with a touch of essential oil in orange.” This one is the in-between chocolate. The orange is there in the flavor first, and then the olive oil comes in, complete and real olive oil there in my chocolate, though this somehow isn’t weird. Rather, it works to make the truffle smoother.

Fig & Port – 55% dark chocolate from Hawaii, with figs and port and a layer of 91% chocolate, all rolled in toasted almond pieces. You could call this a “gentleman’s chocolate,” as opposed to the more feminine Cosmic Love Potion. The thin layer of 91% adds just the right influence, with the fig and port adding the expected richness and flavor to the inside.

Canela Picante – Dark chocolate with cayenne and cinnamon, also sprinkled with cayenne. Especially if the first thing your tongue touches is the cayenne out the outside (and it’s nearly impossible for it not to), this is one spicy truffle, perhaps the strongest I’ve had in a while. But I think it’s also the best as the chocolate is also intense. The flavors don’t stand in contrast because each is capable of grabbing your attention. Rich and enveloping, it’s a truffle for the faint to stay far from and the rest to be tantalized by.

Cabernet & Anise – Red wine and star anise, under a decorative chocolate star. I remembered while biting in that I don’t like anise, but I need not have worried as it’s the wine that overwhelms. I say “overwhelms” even though, really, this chocolate is not so bad at all overwhelmed by wine. It is overwhelmed enough to make you think you just took a sip of the liquid. Hopelessly rich swirls of dark chocolate ganache add up to warmth, chocolate, cream, and smoothness. A worthy piece for an Aphrodisiac Collection

These truffles took hold of my taste buds and they took hold of my mind; for what more need I ask? (If you also ask for use of local-where-possible and organic ingredients, French Broad have you covered there, too.) There is enough variety that a box of them would be perfect to share over a Valentine’s Day evening.

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 – particularly in light of the awful Easter eggs they sent us last year.

This time, they sent a variety of things to try. Two boxes of six “truffle selection” chocolates, a long thin box of eight milk chocolate truffles, a 150g box of gianduiotti and a 100g pack of gianduja hearts.

First impressions… well, better. The packaging is simple, fairly elegant and a marked improvement on the Easter eggs. They do still say Asda on the back, but the lettering is small enough that I wouldn’t be overly offended if I received these as a gift.

There’s another surprise on the back as well – most of these – with the exception of the milk chocolate truffles – seem to be made with real chocolate (no added vegetable fats and real vanilla) and everything – again with the exception of the milk chocolate truffles – have the name of the manufacturer as well (either Lessiter’s or La Suissa). Score one for better-than-average labelling.

I decided to try the badly labeled milk chocolate truffles first. The long, thin box is decorated with a pretty rose, but has no maker on it. The ingredients of the chocolate aren’t listed separately from the filling, but both “vegetable oil” and “vegetable fat” are listed high up on the ingredients, which means I have to assume these contain nasty, horrible palm oil.

And unfortunately it turns out this is another of Asda’s diabetic coma inducing confections. It’s almost impossibly sweet. Sweeter than eating golden syrup out of the tin with a spoon. A spoon made entirely of sugar. I have no idea how they managed it, but one chocolate was all I could manage before the box went in the bin. Do not buy these.

Feeling disheartened, I moved on to the boxes of six assorted truffles next. Made by Lessiter’s, these are much more palatable. The long shelf life means they’re still not a patch on truffles made with fresh cream, but they’re quite edible, even if a little too sweet for my tastes.

Finally, the gianduja hearts and gianduiotti, both made by La Suissa. For me, these are the best of the bunch, both in terms of presentation and flavour. But being basically just hazelnuts, sugar and milk chocolate, you’re only going to really like them if you’re a bit of a nut fan.

So, with the exception of the milk chocolate truffles, an improvement from the (admittedly limited) selection of Asda chocolates in the past. But they’ve still got a long, long way to go before I’d consider recommending them. Consider them an emergency “Sorry I forgot Valentine’s Day” gift, rather than something to make any kind of impact. If you want to do that, head down to your local chocolate shop and pick up something fresh and hand made.

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. Let’s start with the brownie.

We have of course talked about Paul’s coma-inducingly-good brownies before. This Valentines version is even more amazing though. Not only does it have that cool red heart on the top, but it’s packed with cherries, stem ginger, coconut and cocoa nibs.

Sounds good, doesn’t it? And it tastes even better.

The brownie is still very rich, dense and moist, but fruit, ginger really take it to another level for me. They cut through the incredibly rich chocolate, and just make it that little bit easier to induce a diabetic coma. It’s a truly stunning brownie, but I do recommend you share it with someone. I didn’t.

Next up, we have a little box of four “his” & “hers” chocolates. Or “mine” & “mine” in my case. Two Liquorice Whisky Sours and two Lipstick Rose. You can probably guess which is which.

These chocolates are a collaboration between Paul and Tony Conigliaro of top cocktail loungs 69 Colebrooke Row who are apparently holding a special Valentine’s evening which will include some of Paul’s chocolates on Monday.

The Liquorice Whisky Sour is made with Cutty Sark Whisky, liquorice and lemon juice, wrapped in a 67% Los Ancones dark chocolate – which sounds a little like this one to me. As you’d expect, the flavours work beautifully together. The almost-liquid whisky centre strongly flavoured, without too much of an alcoholic kick. The dark chocolate has an equally robust flavour at first, but develops into a smooth, silky chocolate that melts beautifully in the mouth.

The Lipstick Rose is made from Champagne, rose vodka, raspberry and Peychauds bitters in milk chocolate. That’s a fairly unusual collection of flavours, but again they work together beautifully. This is a much more gentle chocolate, with the raspberry and rose being the predominant flavours. The Champagne is subtle, but definitely there, and the overall effect is that of a soft fondant.

Both chocolates are wonderful of course, although I do wonder if they’re perhaps overplaying gender stereotypes a little. But knowing Paul and how his mind works, he’s completely aware of this and playing up to it to get you thinking about flavours.

I think if you were to get either of these from your Valentine (rather than from a man on a motorbike, like I did), you’d be really rather happy. They’re easily the best of the Valentines themed chocolates I’ve tasted this year. Remember, you can’t buy them online, so if you want to try them for yourself, you’ll have to head down to one of Paul’s London shops before Monday – and I highly recommend you do.