Older readers may remember those iconic (and downright silly) ads for Cadbury’s Old Jamaica in the 70s and 80s. I remember it being a favourite of my mother at the time, but for some reason Cadbury discontinued it in the UK, only to resurrect it as a Bourneville offshoot with the associated lack of cocoa solids, loads of sugar, and some dodgy rum flavouring.
This particular (and potentially libellous) version is made by a company called Daniel’s Delights and is sold in Mr. Simm’s sweetshops and while it doesn’t boast any real rum, it does (thankfully) contain almost 54% cocoa solids, making it the chocolatiest (is that a word?) version to date. The other good news is that the raisins are plump, juicy and plentiful as well. The bar is glossy and dark, with a definite rum aroma which translates into a healthy alcohol kick when you taste it. The cocoa flavours are still there, albeit thoroughly mixed with the rum, and when you come across a raisin you’re immediately rewarded with an extra fruity taste and texture.
To my mind this is what ‘Old Jamaica’ should be like – plenty of chocolate, a decent slug of rum, and good quality raisins, but as you can see from the photo it didn’t come cheap, and at almost three pounds I’m not sure I’d be tracking this one down in a hurry. That said, if you have a friend or relative (perhaps your Mum?) who gets misty eyed with nostalgia for Old Jamaica but doesn’t like the new fangled ‘Bourneville’ version, then this is quite likely to put a big smile on their face(s). I’m not sure how widespread Mr. Simm’s Olde Sweet Shoppes are spread across the country (I bought mine in ipswich) but if you happen across one this is one of a variety of bars and chocolates that will probably make you feel, well, like a kid in a sweet shop(pe).
This is just the kind of thing I love. A light, fruity summer selection box from Hotel Chocolat. This particular “H-Box” (I don’t know why they named a box of chocolates after a prison block) consists of 14 milk, dark and white chocolates in 8 different varieties.
They are:
Banana Crème Caramel
Milk chocolate with vanilla creme blended with red banana & banana crystals.
I’ve never even heard of banana crystals before, but this is really, really nice. Very light and smooth, with a smokey, sweet banana flavour. Yum!
Orange Torte
Ground hazelnut, milk chocolate and orange oil truffle in a dark chocolate shell.
A beautifully soft and smooth truffle with a light texture and orangey flavour.
Eton Mess
Strawberry mousse with meringue in white chocolate, topped with freeze dried strawberries
Very light and refreshing. Luckily, you get three of these in the box, but I still want more!
Key Lime Pie
Milk chocolate with praline and cookie base and a white chocolate, lime & macadamia filling.
A large chocolate with a soft, creamy filling with a tiny bit of crunch to it. There’s a hint of fresh lime in there, but I wouldn’t have complained if there had been a little more.
Chocolate Mousse
Whipped milk and white chocolate in a 40% milk chocolate shell
Another smooth and light chocolate, but this one felt like it wanted to be the obligatory coffee cream in the pack. It had the richness and texture of a coffee cream, but the flavour was lacking something.
Summer Pudding
A white chocolate ball with raspberry, blueberry and strawberry
A delicious and refreshingly light chocolate, dusted in fruit powder. One of my favourites.
Chocolate Brownie
Milk chocolate with praline & pecan
This is a large square of thick milk chocolate with a firm but smooth filling. But compared to some of the other chocolates in the box, this one is just a little heavy for my liking. Nice enough, but not my favourite.
Mango & Peach Cheesecake
White chocolate with fruity cheesecake & crunchy caramel base, topped with mango & peach pieces.
Another deliciously refreshing chocolate, although the caramel base is perhaps slightly too hard. Tastes just like a real cheesecake – and leaves me wanting a bigger slice of it!
All in all, a really quite delicious assortment. If you’re a fan of light and fruity summer chocolates, then I can highly recommend this. If you’re not a fan, then just buy some and have them sent direct to me. I’ll be waiting…
Both Kath and I have written before about the venerable Tim Tam, and the assortment of fiddles, fixes, and changes that Arnott’s have made over the years to their winning formula.
Amongst the stable of Tim and his cousins, the Honeycomb Crush was really a bit too sweet for my liking. That said, I do rather like the Sweet Surrender Crème Caramel, which really is a bit of a sugar bomb, but it seems to work quite well.
The “Crush” versions of Tim Tam are all the same in one respect – instead of 2 biscuity layers of crunchy yumness, we only get one. This is a little disappointing in some ways, because the Tim Tam is characterised by the soft filling and the crunchy biscuit (and of course the chocolate outside). The crush is also sweeter than your normal run-of-the-mill Tim.
Today’s race is being contested by “Tim Tam Crush Double Choc Crunch”. With a name that long, I feel all worn out and might need to lie down for 15 minutes. Perhaps I’ll eat one of these here Tim chaps and see if that gives me the energy to keep going. The total sugars content is over 50%, and it shows.
Double Choc Crunch seems to imply that we have some kind of extra chocolate – perhaps chocolate chip or chunks or something embedded in the soft chocolatey-moussey-stuff, although the pack is far from clear about what we should expect apart from the picture on the front. Nevertheless, my expectations were fairly high that we’d get some variety of texture here.
As you can see from the photo, though, breaking one in half does not exactly reveal the moussey layer to be swimming in choc chips. In fact, I couldn’t spot any. Nibbling my way carefully around to try and find one didn’t do much good either. The lumps might be there but they just disappear. Texture and crunch? No. The only crunch comes from the biscuit layer.
I’m disappointed. Just out of the starters gate and we have problems: less biscuit, a higher price, poorer texture, too sweet. The race is barely begun, but I can’t say I’ll be buying any more – this is too far from the winning formula.
Good thing I’m not a betting man – paying more money for ½ a normal Tim Tam – why bother?
Anthony Ferguson is an American chocolate maker who up until 2001 was working for Silicon Graphics in San Francisco. These days, he’s living in Hackney with his British wife and running a chocolate company named after his son Nikolas.
I met Anthony at the Real Food Festival at Earls Court on Friday and asked him to pick out three of his favourite chocolates for me. Here’s what he chose:
Taboo: Ameretto Soaked Fig
First up, the larger of the three chocolates, a fig, soaked in Amaretto, stuffed with Amaretto ganache and covered in dark chocolate. At about 5cm across, this one’s so big that I’d be tempted to pour cream over it and eat it as a dessert. The filling is mainly ganache, but thankfully, Anthony hasn’t gone overboard with the alcohol. There’s enough to give it a nice flavour, but it’s never overpowering. The flavours are all quite subtle, so it’s quite possible to eat the whole thing in one go. I did have a dodgy, hard bit of fig in mine, but I put that down to just bad luck.
Fever: Lemon, Ginger & Cayenne Pepper
This is one for the serious heat freaks. It doesn’t look dangerous from the outside, but all the flavours here are quite strong. There’s an initial burst of refreshing lemon, but very quickly the heat kicks in. It’s very nice, but a little too hot for my tastes.
Souk: Coffee & Cardamom
A very pleasant, soft and creamy milk chocolate with subtle flavours. There’s not much coffee in here – it’s mainly cardamom and chocolatey ganache, but that’s just the way I like it. A nice way to gently cool the mouth down after the ‘Fever’ chocolate. Very nice.
Overall, a very pleasant little selection with some nice flavours. Perhaps lacking some of the polish of the artisan chocolatiers, but still worth checking out. Anthony tells me his web site will be launching soon, but until then, you can catch him at Stoke Newington Farmers’ Market.
Information
- Contains dark chocolate, milk chocolate.
- Filed under amaretto, assortment, cardamom, coffee, dark chocolate, fig, ginger, lemon, milk chocolate, niko b, organic, pepper.
