I first tried The Big Yum’s chocolatey offerings back in 2008, and frankly didn’t think enough of them to write anything. At the time, they sent me some samples and lots of brightly coloured, highly polished marketing material, but the product itself was average at best.
Well now they’re back – with a single product for now – with new packaging and new suppliers. It would seem this is effectively a reboot for The Big Yum brand.
The packaging is still as professional as ever though. These 70g and 250g resealable plastic pouches of chocolate pretzels wouldn’t look out of place on the shelves of any high end supermarket. But of course, that means nothing if the product isn’t up to scratch.
And I’m pleased to say that this time, the product hits the spot perfectly. Delicious crispy, crunchy, slaty pretzels, thickly covered in milk and white chocolate. There’s no cocoa content percentage listed on the ingredients, but then this is really just a fun snack food, so I wouldn’t expect it. Suffice to say, the list of ingredients is minimal and there’s no yucky palm oil in the chocolate.
Now I know that some people just don’t like the idea of sweet and salty flavours together, but I can tell you from experience that the combination can be amazing.
Of course, a simple bag of chocolate pretzels is a completely different proposition to a fine dark chocolate with a touch of sea salt, but the fact remains that these are yummy. The perfect accompaniment to a Saturday night in with friends and a DVD or three.
The web site doesn’t list any stockists yet, but I’m sure that’s coming, and in the mean time, you can buy them online. I suggest ordering in bulk.
Time for something else from James. This time we have some dark chocolate raspberry truffles. Sounds good.
The first thing I noticed about these is that the colour is a little odd. Because they’re dark chocolate, dusted in pink raspberry powder, the end result has an odd purple, speckled effect, although that doesn’t come across particularly well in this photo.
Inside, we have a smooth, dark ganache which is flavoured with raspberry and a touch of balsamic vinegar. This gives it a really nice zingy, fruity flavour that works particularly well with the dark chocolate. And that raspberry powder coating just adds to the effect. It’s never overpowering though, and there’s just the right amount of sweetness to balance the flavours out.
That brings me to the chocolate. It seems to be the same 60% dark chocolate that James use throughout their range, including in the cupcake easter egg I reviewed most recently. I mentioned then that I’m really not fond of it as it’s overly sweet and lacks any depth of flavour.
Yet in these truffles, it works really well. The sweetness of the chocolate is the perfect counterpoint to the slightly bitter raspberry, and the fact that it’s not particularly rich gives the fruit flavour plenty of opportunity to come through.
I really liked these, and so did the group of friends I shared the box with. I don’t think they’re up to the level of some of the finer artisan truffles I’ve tried lately, but they’re perfect for sharing with friends.
Unfortunately, they’re not currently listed on the James web site, so I can’t tell you how much they are or where to get them, but they’re certainly worth looking out for.
Another new name to me at the London Chocolate Festival last month was Co Couture from Belfast. I picked up this little box of chocs and some chocolate fudge which may just end up scoffed without being reviewed as it looks so tempting.
Here’s what the blurb on the back of the box says about these though:
“Gourmet Artisan Chocolate. A truly decadent mix of fine dark chocolate carefully combined to create a collection of rich, intensely aromatic chocoaltes encased in crisp dark chocolate shells and decorated with edible gold… heavenly!”
That’s a very long sentence, but it describes the chocolates quite well.
Unfortunately, there’s only three different chocolates in this small box, but they all look good with the dark chocolate shells each decorated with a touch of gold.
Personally, I don’t think gold adds a lot to chocolate, but there’s no denying they look pretty.
The chocolates, which feature 72% dark chocolate shells, are all filled differently, but they are all as rich as the chocolate shells themselves. There’s a hard chocolate caramel that becomes chewy and releases its flavour as it warms in your mouth. There’s a soft hazelnut praline with crunchy bits that reminded me of the Zotter Bacon Bits bar. Finally, there’s a rich, smooth ganache that somehow tastes even more chocolatey than the chocolate.
They’re all rather scrummy, but they’re not light chocolates. Cocoa is by far the dominant flavour in all of them – something that works for me just fine. But I think they’re for serious dark chocolate lovers only.
What with Japan week and chocolate covered creepy crawlies, it’s been a while since I sat down with something truly sophisticated and exciting. Thanks to a recent rendezvous with Dom at the South Bank Chocolate Festival I find myself in possession of one of the bars he was sent by Beschle, a Swiss chocolatier producing handmade bars like this.
When I opened the box and slid out the gold foil wrapped bar, I was immediately impressed with how thick it was. Divided into ten fairly substantial squares, each embossed with a simple cocoa pod motif, the bar is in the classic understated mould (as it were). Opening the foil released an immediate waft of light, tangy cocoa aromas. There are citrus, wood and leather notes in the smell of this bar, and it has a good, dense feel to it with a lovely snap. Drop a square onto the rest of the bar and it rattles like a piece of wood, showing that the chocolate has been expertly tempered.
The underside of the bar reveals the pistachio and salt element. Tiny fragments of the bright green nut are scattered over the obverse, but they are also concealed within the bar, along with the Fleurs de Sel.
In the mouth this bar offers superb complex cocoa flavours. Light on the palate and with a clean, very soft mouthfeel, the fruity, citrussy cocoa flavours are almost immediately joined by the salt, producing a quite complex array of tastes.
Deep cocoa notes with fruity highs are given a twist every time a fragment of salt melts on the tongue. The pistachio pieces contribute a little but this bar is primarily about the fine quality cocoa and it’s relationship with the salt. Indeed, soft pieces of pistachio may not be to everyone’s liking, and I could happily have done without. With cocoa this good I really just wanted as much of the flavour of the chocolate to come through, and as I rather enjoy the occasional salted chocolate I was quite happy with the two predominant tastes.
When the chocolate had melted away my mouth remained clean and fresh, with traces of the Trinitario leaving reminders of fresh, light cocoa without any bitterness and very little acidity. If you’re a fan of the salted caramel (or indeed of Lindt’s Sea Salt Bar) then I’d recommend you try and find some of this but bear in mind that’s it’s Swiss and hand made using very high quality cocoa. In other words, this bar is not cheap, but as we know the best things in life seldom are.
I really enjoyed this offering from Beschle, and now they’re on my radar I shall be keeping an eye out for more of their creations (although I suspect Dom probably has quite a few in his possession as I write this).
