This bar was supposed to be featured at a recent tasting event Dom & I were invited to, but Duffy Sheardown wasn’t able to make it, so he very kindly posted out samples to everyone after the event. That isn’t all he posted out though – I also received four little ziplock bags containing cocoa in various stages of refinement, from roasted nibs through 100% cocoa that had been conched for 16 hours, to a 64 hour conched 72% chocolate. Duffy sent these little extras out so we could ‘see’ how the flavours develop during the conching process – something that takes over 50 hours before Duffy considers the cocoa ready.
Red Star Chocolate is one of only two independent UK chocolate makers that produce chocolate from bean to bar. This bar uses single origin Ecuadorean Calceta beans, and this 72% bar contains only added organic sugar and cocoa butter, so the true flavour of the beans really does come through. Being single origin, the flavours of each batch will always vary slightly, but the tasting notes on the back of each bar are a pretty good guide as to what to expect.
The toasted cocoa nibs exhibit very light, slightly alcoholic, citrussy notes, with an underlying semi-sweet woodiness. Some of the flavours are very similar to those found in chocolate stouts or other dark beers – remarkable stuff!
The second ‘stage’ of tasting was 100% cocoa after 16 hours grinding, and the changes in flavour were quite marked. The initial ‘high’ notes were less pronounced, and the cocoa takes on a much more bittersweet character with a longer finish in which the top notes of woody citrus were still very much apparent. The fruity character of the beans is beginning to emerge at this point.
After 26 hours of grinding, the cocoa content is down to the final 72%, and with the addition of sugar and cocoa butter comes an immediate sweetness not tasted before. The sugars completely change the overall flavour, with the cocoa butter radically altering the mouthfeel as well as rounding off the flavour. The difference between this and the 100% is amazing.
After 64 hours of conching, there’s still an initial sweetness, but it has mellowed down a little – more molasses-like than sugary, with a richness that lends itself well to the cocoa flavours.
Which brings me to the finished product. The notes on the packet tell the consumer to look out for “Deep, warm flavours with hints of citrus, soft fruit and bananas” and they’re pretty much spot on. The first taste is no longer bittersweet or sugary – what you have in the finished bar is a semi-sweet softness which carries a real mixture of fruity top notes in a deep, warm, superbly soft and subtle undercurrent of cocoa. The fruit flavours are hints of ripe soft fruit (apricot and peach sprang to mind) and yes, there really is an element of banana in there as well.
If you want to really get your taste buds around some serious ‘proper’ chocolate I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this bar. It’s my first Duffy’s experience and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Sending out samples of the chocolate in various stages of production was a stroke of genius, sending my taste buds on a little journey before I arrived at the finished product was a neat way of illustrating just how much change cocoa goes through before the chocolate maker decides it’s ready to be poured into bars.
I’m not sure how widely available Duffy’s chocolates are but I do know that they can be ordered online here or bought at Paul A Young’s shop in London.
I don’t know why this chocolate intimidated me. I’ve had chocolate/chili combinations several times; why should I be reluctant to try this one? Maybe its the picture of a chili pepper on the front, taking up almost half the space with its red coloration? Or maybe the yellow seeds scattered across the white background? It could also just be that this is by Vosges — whose chocolate I’ve never tried, but know for their Bacon bar. That evokes boldness, right? Anyone to put chocolate and bacon together could easily also make a burningly spicy bar. Oh, how was I wrong.
The thing intimidating me was a mini bar — a mere 14 grams. Its dark face is marked by the words “Inspire the people around you.” More like what I’d expect from a fortune cookie than a bar of chocolate, but okay — what inspires more than chocolate? I tried to extend the observation until it really was time to dig in. Anyway, I was starting to rethink my nerves — barely any aroma of space came from the chocolate.
On first taste, there was not much, either. I had a moment to simply luxuriate in the 75% dark chocolate before the spice (from guajillo and pasilla peppers) came. With it were my worries: if it’s a building-up chocolate, how hot will it be at the end? The answer: pretty tolerable. The Oaxaca Bar isn’t a burner. The spice builds without turning your mouth to flames. It even nods off a moment early to allow the chocolate last word.
Maybe Vosges isn’t about drama after all. With this calm a chili bar, their bacon bar must not be anything to draw back at. The back of the box gives a little list on tasting chocolate (Breathe, Sea, Smell, Snap, and Taste), which may not be anything new to the chocolate aficionado, but is a convenient intro for newbies. For a note on the chocolate side since this is my first time with Vosges, it is good quality, just not overly impressive. It’s the flavored bars I’ll be looking after over anything plain.
This bar I’d recommend if you want a chili kick, but nothing that’ll go over the edge. It’s always good to still be able to taste the chocolate, right?
I’m seriously beginning to think that Quebec’s primary export must be chocolate because Theobroma Chocolat is yet another company that I had never heard of until recently.
Taking their name from the Latin name for the cacoa tree, they specialise in 100% natural bars that also happen to be organic and gluten-free. Two big pluses in my eyes. Their bars stand out because of their unusual shape which is definitely Tobleronesque, but with longer pieces which are thankfully not as pointy reducing the number of chocolate-related accidents when eating too quickly – I can’t possibly be the only person that has happened to.
The one I picked out to try was their Pineapple Chunk bar, simply because it isn’t your run of the mill variety. The chocolate itself was a satisfactory 60%, and tasted just dark enough for the pineapple which was of the dehydrated variety that shows up in trail mix. The pieces of pineapple could hardly be described as chunks – more like small pieces which could only be tasted after a direct hit. Once the chocolate was fading away, the flavour was much more obvious but it is never really more than background noise in the form of sweetness, apart from adding some chewiness to the proceedings.
It is a definitely an interesting idea, but maybe there’s a reason that pineapple is usually overlooked when it comes to chocolate. By the end of this slender 30g bar, I had had enough and was wishing I had gone for the coconut instead. Disappointing, but not completely without potential because the chocolate itself was pretty good.
I was in Holland a week or so ago, and my constant quest for local chocolate makers resulted in me finding one of the five shops Van Beek & Specker have in Rotterdam.
Apparently these two families have been working together for around seven years and have a total of five shops in the Rotterdam area. The company web site is only available in Dutch, and using Google to translate the site threw up some rather unusual interpretations (some of which were definitely wrong) but it would appear that the company have an Irish chocolatier. They also sell a wide range of patisserie (quite common among chocolate makers) and can custom make cakes and chocolate items to order.
As is my wont, I selected a small handful from the cabinets.
Honey Caramel
Something of a change here. No salt, but plenty of sweet honey in this caramel. It’s a pretty big, fairly hefty looking chocolate but as soon as it’s in your mouth it begins to melt rather quickly. It’s quite a sweet mouthful, with more sweetness coming from the milk chocolate shell. The caramel has a slightly grainy feel to it, with the honey bursting out the moment your tongue finds the caramel centre.
Coffee/Nougat
Oddly enough the centre of this chocolate was much more liquid than the previous caramel. It was very smooth, with a silky mouthfeel, and the coffee flavour was subtle with good depth but it never dominated the overall taste. The nougat seemed to be the ‘fin’ at the top of the chocolate, although there was an element of chewiness in the base. I really liked this one.
Dark Caramel
Now I know the Dutch are the biggest race in Europe, but even I found the size of this chocolate a little intimidating. (It positively dwarfed the Chocablog standard 20p!)
Beneath the thick dark chocolate shell there lay a healthy dollop of smooth, slightly sweet caramel which had good texture but wasn’t exactly bursting with flavours. There was a hint of burnt sugar, but little else. A pinch of sea salt might have made a world of difference to what was a pretty bland caramel. Shame.
Port Wine Truffle
A good, thick dark chocolate shell gave way to a dense, dark truffle filling which seemed to contain caraway seeds. The alcohol flavours weren’t too strong, but there was enough to let you know you were eating a boozy chocolate. The little seeds (and there were a few) were a little off-putting at first, mainly because I hadn’t expected to find them inside, but they added a little something to the overall taste. I liked the dense richness of this one, plus the fact that it didn’t deliver a huge blast of alcohol at first bite – the flavours developed as the centre melted away.
Raspberry Ganache
Another thick dark chocolate shell, home to a creamy, slightly bitter chocolate filling with a subtle raspberry flavour. The fruit flavour was quite delicate and sat alongside rather than on top of the cocoa flavours. A fairly average fruit ganache, in my opinion.
I’d have to say that these chocolates were good, but not stunning. Well made, thick-shellled (and at times surprisingly large) pieces with some good (and some very average) flavours, Van Beek & Specker are obviously one of Rotterdam’s premier chocolate makers, but they’re not really innovative or experimental. That said, the majority of customers don’t go into a shop looking for something unusual (and after four years of reviewing I’ve done a lot of ‘unusual’!) and if you happen to be looking for a good range of ‘conventional’ chocolates made by a family firm on the premises, then Van Beek & Specker have probably got just what you’re after.
