This certainly counts as one of the weirdest things I’ve “reviewed” on Chocablog. An inhaler – presumably for chocaholics who want to cut down.
Cutebitz, the people who sell this thing, sent me a raspberry chocolate flavour one to try and it’s… well, it’s bizarre.
Pull open the top and inhale from the other end and your mouth is immediately filled with a fine, flavoured dust.
Apparently it’s been scientifically engineered by scientists so that it doesn’t go into your lungs. But I still choked a little. I guess it’s like your first cigarette… you’ve just gotta keep trying.
Still – at least I now know how jet engines feel when they fly through a volcano.
Somewhat amusingly, it isn’t calorie free – the chocolate dust contains a whooping 349 calories per 100g. But given that there’s only 0.3g of “stuff” here, you are only getting a single calorie. Its only redeeming feature, perhaps.
But it’s not very nice and didn’t satisfy my chocolate cravings in any way. I’m sure it has novelty gift value, but probably only for someone that you really don’t like.
Here we have the first of two bars I recently received from Galler. I’ve been accused of favouring Galler’s more exotic creations in the past (and I think I have) but this bar seems to have a promising lineage, being forged from a blend of Criollo from Venezuela and Criollo & Forastero from Papua New Guinea. According to the packaging the Venezuelan beans add warmth and caramel flavours, while the Pauan beans are there to add intensity and body to the final taste.
A sniff of this bar certainly had me interested. High notes of leather and citrus with an underlying cocoa note hinted at developing flavours during tasting, and when I sampled a square that’s precisely what I got. Initial light, wood/leather tangs gave way to a fuller, creamier palette as the chocolate melted. The squares (well rectangles actually) are fairly substantial, giving the chocolate plenty of time to fill my mouth, and from those light, subtle beginnings it continued to build in depth and intensity, peaking with a good, well-rounded milk chocolate flavour.
While not as sensationally flavoursome as some of the more exptic, rare and expensive milk chocolates I have tried, I found myself liking Galler’s effort. A straw poll of nearby chocolate eaters proved that I was right – this bar does have mass appeal. There’s nothing scary or odd about this chocolate bar. It’s a good quality, carefully made bar of milk chocolate which, while it might use somewhat more exotic beans, is still nonetheless just a bar of milk chocolate. If you like your milk chocolate and want quality ingredients with no added nasties (I refer specifically to palm oil here) then I would happily recommend trying this.
Last week I was invited to a chocolate tasting at Adam Street private members club. The tasting was organised by online chocolate retailer Chocolate & Love.
C&L are a bit different from the average chocolate retailer in that their mission is to only stock the best from a wide variety of producers. The chocolate on offer at the tasting included products from Beschle, Pacari, Amedei, Duffys, Mast Brothers and – interestingly for me – Emma Jackman’s Conscious raw chocolate range.
They also have their own range of bars, and I’ll be reviewing a couple of those separately, along with some milk chocolate coated liquorice which I managed to snag.
The range of products wasn’t huge, but what was exciting was the enthusiasm that came across. Founder Richard O’Connor was not only keen to hear feedback on the existing products, but was also keen to know about other chocolates that we thought they should be stocking.
I was particularly excited by this, as they’re going after the high-end hard to find market, which we love writing about, but often have difficulty finding online retailers to link to in our reviews.
If you’re in the Edinburgh area, they also have a pop-up shop in George Street until mid-June which looks like it’s worth a visit (and if you do, feel free to report back here!) Expect to hear more about Chocolate & Love soon. In the mean time, here’s a few pics from the tasting.
Guest Chocablogger Natasha Faria is back with something interesting from South Africa…
All of Von Geusau’s chocolates are well-packaged, but the colour-coded foil really adds a special bit of flair – as do the hand-written, colour-coded labels. From every aspect of these chocolates, it is clear that they are made with care and special, individual attention.
It should also be mentioned that Richard, the gentleman I spoke to about sending me some of these, is fantastically helpful, remarkably generous and infinitely patient. Now THAT’S the kind of person you should be buying chocolate from.
This specific one was lovely – a good dark sheen on the fabulously decorated slab (monogrammed – how chic!), a very satisfying and solid snap as I broke it along the lines and delightful portions. This is just right for a person to share with their partner – two corners for him, two corners for me, and the middle piece for me to sneak before bedtime.
Although the scent of the cherry was not noticeable upon opening the package, it was once I began nomming. It’s a lovely woody kind of cherry – nothing artificial here. You can almost taste the cherry pit, in that the chocolate carries a very subtle and natural cherry flavour. The chocolate itself is smooth, and is well-married with the woody and slightly sweet but very sophisticated taste of the cherry.
Although none of the Von Geusau slabs carry an indication of ingredients, they are all 50g (but supply the satisfaction of a much larger slab) and you never feel cheated. The chocolate is excellent quality, the flavours are inventive and well-combined, both in terms of the flavours that are used together and how well they match the chocolate, and it is clear that effort and thought have gone into every stage of the process. I highly recommend this chocolatier – even if you mortals have to pay for a small piece of heaven.
