I think it’s fair to say that over the past few years the Chocablog team have discovered just how varied chocolate makers’ products are, and between us we’ve sampled some quite unusual tasting chocolate.
Of course, chilli and chocolate is nothing new (indeed, it’s the original recipe) but surprisingly mango and chilli has already been covered by Kath some time ago (okay, so there was a little lime in that one as well. I myself have sampled a grapefruit and chilli bar before now, so when I saw this I thought it worth trying. I’ve tasted Hachez chocolate before (strawberry and green pepper, I recall) and I think it’s safe to say that Hachez come from the classic European school of chocolate making, albeit with a slightly more adventurous recipe range.
This bar doesn’t contain any pieces of dried mango, or pieces of anything for that matter. The flavour is in the chocolate itself, which is a little different to my previous fruit/chilli tasting experiences.
When you open the package asnd have a sniff the fruity aroma is right there with a dark cocoa undertone. Popping a square into my mouth, I immediately noticed the flavour of the fruit, but the instant the chocolate became warm the chilli began to make itself known to my taste buds. It’s a slow, spreading warmth, mingling with the fruit flavour and the dark, bittersweet undercurrents of the Ecuadorean cocoa.
A second square merely amplified the original experience. Fruit bursting up onto the palate, followed by intermingled cocoa and chilli notes , a soft mouthfeel and a long finish with the cocoa managing to hang in with the fruit flavours to the end. The balance of flavours is excellent – you can taste everything you’re supposed to and the chilli never masks the fruit or cocoa flavours. At the finish there’s still a fruity element mingling with the warmth of the chilli as the cocoa flavours die away.
It’s unusual without falling into the ‘wacky chocolate’ category, interesting enough to mean I would probably buy it again if I saw it (although I’m not sure I’d pay UK ‘import’ prices again) and of sufficiently high quality to merit a recommendation. Curious palates would definitely enjoy this.
My, my, does my chocolate cup overflow. Chocolate is one thing I must find time for, so let me dig into the pile — other tasks can wait. From Nuts Over Toffee, based out of Florida I believe, comes this my 1/8 pound sample of milk chocolate toffee. Sara Scarborough started out making toffee for friends, who encouraged her to start selling it. And thus was born Nuts Over Toffee. Besides milk chocolate, they also have white and dark, along with a new dark chocolate cranberry flavor.
The packaging is standard handmade fare by description: clear bag, sticker labels on front and back, and ties to hold the bag shut. But it isn’t standard. There is a plethora of ties in blue and white gauze and raffia instead of just one ribbon. As I untied all of them (which, contrary to what you’d imagine, isn’t difficult), I couldn’t figure out what combination of slips and folds and knots was used. Maybe it’s a trade secret. In any case, it shows care and devotion.
Though this is a small bag, kudos to Nuts Over Toffee for stuffing it well with toffee pieces. The toffee is light-colored with a thin layer of milk chocolate dusted in pecan shavings on top. There are also some pecan bits in and around the toffee itself. Smells tempting, not unlike the Ghirardelli Pecan Pie Squares. The taste isn’t too similar, though — it’s much less dense, less sweet. More like Derry Church’s London, very light. Almost a delicate toffee. The crunch is so light that the texture is almost soft, too. The chocolate, a little nutty on its own, is subtle, simply adding to the creaminess. Though toffee isn’t what I think of as natural, this one tastes natural. Maybe the pecans help that?
I think you could eat this toffee all day long (with proper gaps to savor between pieces, of course), it’s that gentle in making a generous impact. I’m just left curious by the ingredients: butter, chocolate, sugar, pecans, corn syrup, vanilla, and special ingredients. Special ingredients? Is that another trade secret? Does it matter when the final product tastes good?
The other day, this pretty little gold box arrived in the mail. No explanation, no branding, no covering letter. Just a gold box with a label saying “Try Me”. Now, being the kind of person that will always eat unidentified food that’s been sent in the post, I couldn’t resist opening it.
Who was it from? Hotel Chocolat? Thorntons?
As it turns out, it was Kellogg’s. I assume it’s meant to be some kind of joke. A cereal bar neatly divided into squares and presented in a pretty chocolate box along with a card saying “Look out for more information soon”.
Sure enough, the following day the real thing arrived.
What we have is two varieties of cereal bar: “Smooth Milk Chocolate” and “Dark Chocolate & Almond”. Each bar is 28g and is mainly made from oats with a decent helping of chocolate – unlike some I could mention.
Each bar is substantial enough to be satisfying, chewy, oaty, and most importantly, chocolatey. You can’t really tell from the photo, but most of the base is solid chocolate.
Both varieties are chocolatey enough to be satisfying, and you can actually taste the difference between the milk and dark varieties. There’s no cocoa percentage listed on the packaging, but both bars contain over 20% chocolate by weight. That’s not bad for a ‘healthy’ cereal bar. My main issue with them was that they’re just a bit too moreish and had to eat four at once. Oh well.
For breakfast on the go or a tasty afternoon snack, they’re really pretty good. Just don’t chop them up and pretend they’re expensive chocolates. That would be silly.
I’m having one of those days. Trying to write software that runs on different versions of Windows – and I’ve hit a stumbling block in Vista. As it seems, one does. The Chinese curse applies doubly so to Windows Vista: may you live in VERY interesting times.
It was a welcome diversion then, to head out to the local Foodland supermarket to stock up on a few things we’ve run out of. It’s been a while since I checked out their oddball chocolate section, which sadly seems to have less variety than it used to. I was however, pleasantly surprised to find this: Vivani Praliné.
Who the heck are Vivani? They, it turns out, are another European manufacturer who export to the entire whole humungous world – at least judging by the ingredients list on the back of the pack – in seven different languages! There is so little room left that I can barely (by using a microscope) read that this is an organic milk chocolate with 50% hazelnut nougat. A quick read of the web site shows that this is from a small German family company, which has been making organic chocolate for only 10 years.
Anyhow, this one… the chocolate is milk based – with 33% minimum cocoa solids and 19% minimum milk solids. Actually, 33% cocoa is doing a lot better than some of the milk chocolate we get around here. The filling is the hazelnut nougat.
The chocolate is quite soft (their web site recommends eating it straight from the fridge – something I did not do), and very very creamy. Eating it and letting the chocolate melt away, its hard to tell where the chocolate outer ends and the nougat begins – then gradually the hazelnut flavour begins. The nougat is soft, creamy, hazelnutty, and generally very yummy.
There are two aspect that are not quite so wonderful – the first is the price. At over $5 for a 100 gram block, this really is a luxury indulgence. The other: this is very sweet. If you like your chocolate sweet, you’ll swoon over this one. If like me, you prefer a bit less sweetness, then you’ll like it but might struggle to scoff the entire block in a single sitting.
Don’t get me wrong, though, this is good. Very good. I’m impressed, and with milk chocolate it takes a lot to impress me. And some of the others in the product range look very interesting indeed. I might have to see if I can track down a local supplier who carries more of the product range.
