Our second Valentines offering from Chococo this year falls squarely into the “almost too pretty to eat” category. With the emphasis on “almost”, of course. A 225g solid milk chocolate heart, studded with chunks of honeycombe and dusted with edible gold.
Although not as big as Hotel Chocolat’s giant hearts, this one has much more of a handmade feel. Presented in a simple cellophane wrapper, there’s nothing fancy in the packaging – this is all about the chocolate.
The milk chocolate is a rich 41% Venezuelan, and the honeycombe is made from real Dorset honey.
It tastes just how you’d expect. Like a really high quality Cadbury Crunchie. Except of course you get more of that gorgeous smooth milk chocolate, and less of the honeycombe. One of the things I like best about this is that the placement of the chunks is random, so each mouthful is slightly different. Occasionally you’ll just get that wonderful chocolate, and sometimes you get a mouth full of crunch instead.
The other thing I like about it is that at 1cm thick, it’s easy enough to break of small chunks to nibble on. With the Hotel Chocolat hearts, you need a full set of industrial power tools to break off even a bitesize chunk. And at under half the size, it’s not quite as overwhelming to look at either.
If you’re going for all out shock and awe this Valentines Day, then you probably want to go for one of the Hotel Chocolat offerings. This is a little more of a restrained, thoughtful and stylish gift, and I’m told that some women appreciate that.
(I wouldn’t know.)
This deep red box contains four rows of seven chocolate hearts, each engraved with what would appear to be the, or possibly one of, Hotel Chocolat’s Valentines motif (of which more later, but on a much grander scale).
This is the Hotel Chocolat 70% dark chocolate blend, with it’s light, slightly bitter flavours, a depth of character characterised by a light mouthfeel, silky texture and a long finish. Given the fact that it also contains Madagascan cocoa nibs (one of my favourite nibbles) and a dash of chilli (not too, much mind, just a warming note which builds with each mouthful) and you have a fairly substantial and slightly unusual (in terms of flavour pairings at least) Valentine’s gift.
Something for Him perhaps? As I mentioned in a comment recently, I’ve been informed that on February 14th in Japan it is the turn of the women to buy presents for their men, who reciprocate a month later, thereby prolonging the whole business by an extra month, which surely can’t be a bad thing now, can it?
Anyway, back to the chocolate. I rather like Hotel Chocolat’s house dark blend, and while I adore some of their more esoteric products (St. Lucian single estate milk chocolate definitely being one of them) I found myself enjoying a few more of these than I had originally intended to. Chilli-phobes will be pleased to know that things never got out of hand on the heat front, and lovers of cocoa nibs and their nutty, vibrant flavours will be pleased to hear that the chilli didn’t obscure that pleasure either.
Being the generous soul that I am, I shall take them to work this week and see how they go down. Expect a report in the comments on this review.
OK, I have to come clean. I’m a sucker for licorice. Strange thing is, the rest of the family hate it with a vengeance, which of course means more for me. Boo hoo.
When I was a kid, licorice came in two kinds: as a long rope, about a metre of it, bought from the school canteen and guaranteed to leave you bloated and black of tongue for the rest of the day. The other way was chocolate bullets – milk choc coated little pieces about an inch long, bought from the local deli for one cent each.
And at this point I must digress. In Australia, as in the rest of the world, regional differences determine the term for the convenience store. Here in South Australia, it’s a deli – which is short for Delicatessen – a place for buying lollies, tissues, the things you ran out of, and where truckies stop for sandwiches and sticky buns at lunch time. The place that’s open for extended hours. In eastern Australia they are called “Milk Bars” (go figure). In the rest of the world it’s the mini-mart, the 7-eleven… and so on.
When I was a kid we would take 20 cents of pocket money and go pick from the lolly counter – a few of those at two for a cent, a few of those at one cent each… the 2 cents each stuff was way extravagant, you never got your moneys worth from those. Twenty cents was enough to ensure a sugar high lasting a whole day, and feeling slightly sick for much of that time as well.
When I were a lad, chocolate bullets featured high on the list. They were cheap, and chocolate, and licorice. What more could anybody ask for?
Imagine my surprise, then, when the lady of the house came home with Ricci Dark Chocolate Coated Licorice. Maybe she likes me! After all, nobody else in the house will touch it. I’ve never heard of the manufacturer: Ricci Remond Chocolate Co – but they are Australian and from what I can find seem to have been around for some time. They have no web site, so it’s hard to find more about them.
Anyhow – the licorice!
The picture does not quite do justice to the sheer size of these pieces. They are huge – about 4 cm (1.5 inches) long, and the thickness of my little finger. The chocolate bullets of my youth were mere babies compared to these. As you can also see – there have been no glazing agents used, and being packed in a plain bag they are quite discoloured from being knocked about. No matter, it’s the taste that counts.
And here, I have to declare that the chocolate is a bit of a disappointment. There is plenty of it, but for being “dark” it is only 47%. And the licorice flavour tends to dominate. The licorice, though, is good. Very nice, not too sweet, and not too black. I could make myself seriously ill on these.
Given that I’m the only one in the house that will eat these, I can see that the huge 300 g pack is going to last me a long time.
It’s not every day that you get a delivery from Mars, so I was quite looking forward to seeing what was inside the Martian jiffy bag that arrived on my doorstep. What we have is four varieties of hot chocolate based on familiar Mars brands, each in their own cup and ready to drink. Once you’ve microwaved them for 90 seconds, that is.
Mars are currently marketing these as “your perfect partner for Valentines Day”, which frankly is a little odd. The press release also describes them as “sumptuous” and “gourmet”, which is perhaps a little optimistic as well. They’re certainly not words I would use to describe Mars Bars or Maltesers.
I’ve never had one of these – or any of Mars’ drinks range – and to be honest, I was sceptical from the beginning. Do I really want a Mars Bar flavoured drink? And wouldn’t it be easier, more efficient and more environmentally friendly to distribute them in packet form and have you add your own milk?
Those concerns aside, I decided to try a couple. Removing the lid of the plastic cup, the first thing you notice is just how thick these things are. In their unheated state, they’re practically solid.
I tried the Galaxy variety first. After having followed the instructions to the letter, the first thing I did was scald my mouth. Even after leaving the drink for a few minutes, it was still piping hot, while the cup itself stayed deceptively cool. I sat and watched the little marshmallows melt away to almost nothing before it had cooled enough to drink. Perhaps I just have an über powerful microwave.
As hot chocolate drinks go, it was passable but nothing special. I tend to make my own hot chocolate, so of course this was much, much sweeter than I’m used to.
The Galaxy flavour was noticeable though. And although it lost most of that thickness in the heating process, it was still quite creamy.
The other varieties all taste pretty much how you’d expect and come complete with marshmallows, Maltesers or tiny Mars Bars to float or dunk in your drink. They all have their own flavours which do actually resemble what it says on the packaging but the main thing they have in common is that sweetness which begins to get a bit sickly toward the end of the cup.
Those with an extra sweet tooth will probably love them. I suspect you’d keep a stash of them in the office kitchen or the cupboard at home for a warm chocolatey sugar rush old a cold day when you just can’t be bothered to make a real hot chocolate. They do have those little plastic lids with small drinking hole, so you can make them at home then spill them all over people on the Tube if you like too. They’re not really my thing though… and I certainly wouldn’t give one to my Valentine.
