Mr Simms Olde Sweet Shoppes seem to be popping up everywhere at the moment. Simon recently found one in … and one has recently opened up near me in Brent Cross.
While it’s difficult to find out many solid details behind the chain, it is quite fun to see a modern take on the old fashioned sweet shop. Clearly it’s not authentic, but the bright colours and jars of sweets for sale by the quarter 100g do bring back memories of the real thing.
As you can see, this 120g bag of “Maldon Salt Caramel” set me back £2.99. It’s basically a broken milk chocolate slab with milk chocolate and caramel buttons embedded in the surface.
Sounds good, until you notice that the chocolate seems to have had vast handfuls of salt pressed into it. We’re not talking about tiny hint of salt to bring out the flavour of the caramel. We’re talking shedfuls.
The result, as you might expect, is that the chocolate is entirely inedible. I have no idea why so much salt has been used, or why it’s just been heaped onto the surface of the bar. I can only assume the makers (apparently a company called “Daniel’s Delights”) heard the phrase “salted caramel” and took their best guess, without even tasting the finished product.
The silly thing is that if you do manage to scrape off the salt, the chocolate is passable. It’s 34% cocoa solids, and while not the best chocolate in the world, it’s by no means horrible. And the caramel buttons taste not unlike Hotel Chocolat’s version of caramel chocolate. It doesn’t need the salt at all.
I don’t know if the manufacturers meant it to taste this bad, or if they just have exceptionally poor quality control, but the only possible reason to buy it would be to feed it to the staff in the shop, just to watch them throw up.
I’m not holding out much hope for the chilli bar I bought…
One thing I’ll say about being a Chocablogger – you get to find out some very interesting historical facts from time to time. Take Ovaltine, for instance. Did you know that it’s only called ‘Ovaltine’ in the English speaking world? Or that it’s been around since the turn of the twentieth century? Or that Wander (the Swiss company who make this bar and Ovomaltine/Ovaltine) are a subsidiary of Twinings, the tea people?
History lessons aside, this bar is obviously made by the same company that make Ovomaltine. It’s an ‘official’ product, as it were. What’s more, it’s good for you – on some level at least. Eat a 100g bar of this chocolate and you would be getting over 30% of your RDA of three minerals. and 25% of your RDA of no fewer than eleven vitamins! How good is THAT? A quarter of this bar is in fact Ovomaltine, hence alll the goodness.
But what of the chocolate, I hear you ask? Well, it’s a 26% cocoa Swiss milk chocolate which unfortunately also contains ‘vegetable oil’. Hmm. On the basis of that information, I have to say I wasn’t expecting great things from this bar, but I was surprised. It’s not too sweet, for starters. I mean to say, it is quite sweet, but it’s not tooth-curlingly sweet. The chocolate does have quite a pleasant cocoa flavour to it, but it’s the myriad tiny grains of Ovomaltine that give this bar an unusual texture and flavour. Of course, once the chocolate melts away you’re left with a mouthful of Ovomaltine, and anyone who ever made it up into a warm milk drink has eaten a spoonful or two of the stuff before (well I know I have!).
I honestly cannot remember the last time I had a cup of Ovaltine, but the moment I tasted this chocolate bar I was transported back in time to the late 1970’s/early 80’s. There’s no way you’d call this high end, gourmet or posh chocolate, but for me at least it held a little moment of magic. (It was also surprisingly moreish. I think my taste buds did a bit of time travelling.)
Unfortunately the only place I can find that stocks anything like this in the UK is Cybercandy (of course!), but their bars seem different. They are available from Europe (if you want to pay £15 for three bars). If, however, you’re on the Continent and fancy a trip down memory lane, perhaps this is one to look out for?
Based in north west Scotland, Cocoa Mountain describe themselves as the most remote chocolate company in the UK. Their amazing looking chocolate bar is apparently known for its hot chocolates, but despite our attempts to get them to post us one, we had to make do with this intriguing looking box of chocolates instead.
Intriguing, because the packaging is clearly made from recycled materials, yet maintains a quality feel. It’s the perfect balance between a quality artisan product and a rustic home made one.
Open the box, and you’re greeted with an array of large truffles. All different, in various combinations of milk, dark and white chocolate, but none of them fully enrobed. There’s a bit of a monochromatic look to the selection, but I don’t think we can complain when everything comes in a slightly different shade of “chocolate”.
We have seen this kind of collection before, usually from small home-based chocolatiers like Helsham. The finish lacks the finesse of most artisan chocolates – there’s no perfectly tempered glossy squares here – so the quality of the chocolates comes down to the skill of the chocolatier and the choice of ingredients.
I’m pleased to say that these chocolates are winners. Cocoa Mountain are using quality ingredients throughout, sourcing them locally and through fair trade and organic suppliers where possible. There’s quite a lot cream in some of the chocolates, but it’s a fresh cream that you can actually taste.
I’m not going to go through each of the chocolates individually, because there’s no menu, and half the fun is trying to figure out what’s in them. Suffice to say that the flavours are all well chosen, with none of the chocolates being either too overpowering or too bland.
The sweetness level is spot on too, even with the white chocolates. I think I just had a white chocolate ganache with chilli and lime, covered in coconut… but it’s gone now, and just a happy memory. Perhaps I should take more time to review these, rather than just stuffing my face?
Nah.
I’m writing this review without having finished the box, partly because I know if I don’t stop, they’ll all be gone in a matter of minutes. But I also want to be able to share them with friends. I’m fairly certain the quality will be as good as the ones I’ve already tried.
You can order these online from Cocoa Mountain’s web site, but if I were you, I’d do it now before I buy the whole lot. Better still, get yourself up to north west Scotland. I hear the views are as good as the chocolate.
A few days after I picked this bar up in Waitrose, the lovely people at Chococo sent me another. As it only takes a single bar to write a review, I’ll be giving away the spare bar at the end of this post!
The Grenada Chocolate Company is something of a marvel. They are probably one of the best advertisements for how chocolate can be produced ethically from bean to bar in the world.
Not only do they make their chocolate in a factory on the island, but the cocoa is grown there organically by a co-operative of farmers. The other three ingredients in their bars (sugar, vanilla and the emulsifier soy lecithin) are all sourced from equally ethical, organic suppliers.
There are no fancy fair trade logos on the packaging, but there doesn’t need to be. This is about as fair as chocolate gets, and that makes me happy.
Another thing that makes me happy is the packaging. Underneath the simple, brightly coloured paper wrapper is a thick copper coloured inner wrapper that reflects the colour of the chocolate inside.
Unfold it, and the rich, intense aroma of the chocolate inside hits you.
The design of the bar is the same as the 71% version that Simon reviewed back in 2008. It’s smooth and glossy with a reddish colour and a nice firm snap.
The flavour is intense, with an initial bitterness that quickly gives way to something a little softer. There are distint fruity and citrus notes in there, but the intensity and earthiness never completely fade, and the result is that this is just a little too intense for my preferences. Serious dark chocolate fans will love it though.
Luckily for me, I also picked up a bar of Grenada 60% with nibs at the Speciality & Fine Food Fair on Sunday (photos of that event on our Facebook page), which I’m really looking forward to trying.
Win a bar!
Update: the competition is now closed: Congratulations to our winner Eryl!
