Guest Chocablogger Natasha Faria is back with a selection from South Africa…
Geldhof Chocolatiers are pretty much a mainstay of South African luxury chocolates. They stock a large variety – truffles, ganaches, chocolate bars, chocolate novelties (such as shot glasses and puzzles) and gifting. There are only 5 branches nationwide, and all of them are in Gauteng, so I’ve been aware of them for quite a while. You can check out their website and if you live in Gauteng, they’ll deliver! I dropped into the Cresta branch and being partial to cute little things, this gorgeous box of chocolates was right up my alley. I decided to leave the choice of what I would be reviewing up to the manager, who selected these six as either her choice or as the most popular – I’m not too sure. She didn’t tell me what the selection contained either, so it’ll be guesswork! Communication was not her strong point, but I’m hoping chocolate is.
First off – the butterfly. I should mention that white chocolate is my nemesis. If it’s white, it’s not right.
However, this is quite a nice little chocolate. The white chocolate is crisp and very sweet and creamy – as I suppose all white chocolates are. The centre taste like a milk chocolate ganache – very creamy and extraordinarily, but not sickly, sweet. It could be a caramel ganache in a white chocolate shell, but I may be overly influenced by the shell – which is a little too thick for my liking. Judging by the design and combination of flavours, I would judge this to be something perfect for that lady in your life who likes sweet things but not necessarily chocolatey things.
Next up, the almond surprise. I love the nut and chocolate combination, and this is quite divine. A milk chocolate ganache in a dark chocolate shell with roasted almonds covering it. The almonds set off the creamy ganache perfectly, while the dark chocolate and almonds work in unison to stop this from being too sweet while not taking anything away from the chocolate experience.
The criss-crossing chocolate is a wonderful surprise truffle – coconut fudge in a milk chocolate shell. Although the coconut is not apparent visually, you can begin tasting it from the moment you sink your teeth into the fudge. The fudge is lovely also – dark and decadent overtones give way to light sugary, almost syrupy, taste and it is not so dense that it overpowers the coconut. The shell is a perfect accompaniment, with the white sugar adding a little bit of light sweetness to the dark, fudgy flavour. A real winner.
The cake truffle is another interesting one – a milk chocolate shell covers a milk chocolate ganache on which caramelised sugar is sprinkled. Remember the large-grained sugar that came in different colours that your mom used to sprinkle on cupcakes and occasionally (if you were good) your porridge in the morning? They’re rather like that. I think this is the kind of chocolate meant to be eaten in one bite so that all the flavours can combine, and if eaten in that manner, the enormous white chocolate cap is not too disgusting! I love the combination of chocolate, ganache and sugar – similar in texture relationships to the almond surprise, but sweeter. A lovely stocking filler for aspiring chocolate connoisseurs.
Also in the selection was a truffle very similar to the cake truffle. Milk chocolate shell, milk chocolate ganache, white chocolate drizzle… but, oh wonder of wonders, little pieces of honeycomb interspersed with little pieces of nut. Unidentifiable nut but nut nonetheless. Again with the textures, so I won’t go into that, but quite a sweet chocolate. However, I wouldn’t take this and the cake truffle – they’re too similar and the difference between the caramelised sugar and the honeycomb/nut combination is negligible.
I was saving this last icing sugar coated truffle for last, as I thought it could only hold good things. However, it holds… a white chocolate ganache. Yucky. However, that being said, the ganache is so light that it makes me wonder if raw eggs were beaten into it. It really is the most tasty white ganache I’ve had – sweet and creamy but not completely offensive. Together with the milk chocolate shell and icing sugar dusting, it’s altogether too sweet for my liking, but that’s what you get when someone else picks for you.
Overall, I think that the chocolates are a good buy – and would make a fantastic gift for any woman (or women) in your life. My dislike of white chocolate is not an accurate representation of the quality of their chocolates, and I would recommend that you drop past and allow yourself to be seduced.
I picked this pair of iPods… er… “iMods” up at Taste of Christmas last week. They’re made by a company called CioMod in Modica, Sicily, and sold in the UK by Sicily In London.
Being a bit of an Apple fan, it was obviously the packaging that caught my eye here. Almost exactly the same size and shape as an iPod Nano, “iMod” comes in seven flavours, and even has a play on the old “Thing Different” slogan. What more could a fan boy ask for?
I purchased a chilli and a banana flavoured iMod, but really had no idea what was inside the colourful boxes. As it turns out, the chocolate itself is equally cool.
I should have guessed that this is exactly the same kind of “Cioccolato Modicano” as the DeAnglis block I reviewed back in October. Rather than being conched and tempered to form the smooth chocolate we’re used to, the cocoa and sugar are simply forced together under high pressure. The result is a crunchy, crispy almost biscuit-like texture that ‘disolves’ rather than melts in the mouth. It’s the kind of chocolate you either love or hate, but personally I love it.
The iPod like design is carried on to the bar itself, although the nature of this kind of course-grained chocolate isn’t ideal for molding into fancy patterns. The screen and the cocoa bean click wheel are clearly visible though. It may look a little dull in the photos, but the individual grains of sugar sparkle in the light making it really quite pretty – but you’ll have to take my word for that.
I love the flavours too. The banana taste as you’d expect… not quite natural, but still rather nice – although Simon might disagree. And the chilli variety is warm without being hot. Enough to make your mouth tingle, but leave you coming back for more.
At £2.50 each, they’re not cheap, but they’re fun, tasty and unusal. The perfect stocking filler for the Apple fan / chocolate lover in your life this Christmas.
The cleverly-named ChocolaTas is the company belonging to Wim Tas. He learned his craft in Belgium before emigrating to Canada back in 2002, setting up his workshop in Abbotsford, BC although these days they also have a store in Vancouver.
The selection they sent is one of those boxes that almost looks too good to eat. Almost. The chocolates are incredibly pretty and it is clear that these handmade chocolate are put together with a great deal of care and love. They use fresh, natural ingredients – nothing artificial at all – and the box comes with a recommendation to eat it within 7 days. Not an issue.
The chocolates are rather small, not quite making it to the point of being two bites although it makes for a nice healthy mouthful. And despite their compact size, there is a lot packed into these little squares so it isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Just an observation.
The top five from the selection I was sent were:
Ceylon – I love dark chocolate and cinnamon and this really doesn’t disappoint. The cinnamon builds up slowly into a lovely, gorgeous, spicy blend. I could seriously eat a whole lot of these.
Romana – the pink heart is made of lovely sweet raspberry chocolate, hiding the inevitable dark ganache within. A refreshing change from the typical raspberry truffle by putting the fruit flavour on the outside and then letting it slowly fade into the darkness.
Irish Coffee – strong coffee, then the warmth of the alcohol before the unexpected crunch of a coffee bean hidden in the middle, giving a final burst of flavour that lingers for a while. Really, really good.
Pepe Rosa – considering there it a trio of peppers (pink, black and Szechuan) in the dark chocolate centre, it is surprising that the fieriness doesn’t appear until the very end. Nice to see pepper handled with kid gloves for a change.
Passion – The passion fruit works incredibly well with the dark chocolate and makes for a sharp, refreshing burst of flavour. Very yummy.
And the rest…
Mint – I am a big fan of mint chocolates, but this one was a bit more unusual because the mint flavour comes from fresh leaves. It has a wonderfully fragrant aspect that is almost like a cup of peppermint tea. It sits very well with the smooth ganache.
Java – just what you’d expect. The robust taste of strong coffee sits very well with the dark ganache. Remarkably well-balanced.
Earl Grey – one of their four tea-infused truffles. The delicate Earl Grey battles with the stronger dark chocolate and doesn’t quite come out on top though.
Zenzero – some nice ginger here, but mixed rather surprisingly with milk chocolate. It works better than I suspected it would with the ginger staying restrained. The only thing missing are a few little pieces of sweet ginger to chew on at the end.
Lavender – I didn’t really get a whole lot of lavender here at all. A bit disappointing.
Berry Berry – a subtle take on a fruit truffle that is a little too subtle for its own good. It really doesn’t live up to its double-barrelled name.
Mont-Blanc – a very cute chocolate thanks to the ladybug sitting on top of it, but the hazelnut praline doesn’t stand much of a chance next to the sweetness of the white chocolate.
Valentino – the hazelnut praline is much more happy with a milky chocolate shell that compliments rather than overwhelms like the white chocolate one.
Amandine – a nice looking chocolate with its tiger stripes and almonds. Tastes good, but a little one-dimensional, especially compared to the hazelnut pralines.
4-spices – lots going on here, with a milky hazelnut praline that has notes of cinnamon, pepper, ginger and nutmeg lurking underneath. Almost a little too much, or else it needs to be consumed in much larger quantities in order to really get it. I’d go for the latter.
All in all, a very impressive collection although some of the flavours were just a bit too subtle for me because it appears that sometimes I’d rather be slapped across the face with flavour rather than gently hugged. But when everything comes together, as it does most of the time, the results are just quite wonderful. There’s nothing too startling or new here, but the good ones are so well executed that I’ll probably be crossing paths again with ChocolaTas sooner rather than later.
Yesterday I paid a visit to the Taste of Christmas show at London’s ExCeL centre. I had no idea what to expect, but was a little concerned they might be having trouble moving tickets at the full price of £22, after they offered free tickets to everyone who entered our recent competition.
Whatever the case, when I arrived at lunchtime on Friday the hall was already busy, so even if people weren’t paying full price, the tactic of giving tickets away for free had obviously paid off.
Inside, there were all kinds of interesting food-related exhibitors, displaying everything from turkeys to cupcakes. I lost count of the number of people handing out free samples of vodka, liqueurs and other assorted alcoholic beverages. But most importantly, there was also plenty of chocolate to be had.
Green & Black’s had a well presented stand, as did Galler, but as is so often the case it was the smaller manufacturers who had some of the most interesting products on display. One of the first stands I came across was “Sicily In London” a delicatessen selling funky iPod shaped chocolates from Modica called “iMod” and a rather delicious chocolate liqueur.
Around the corner, I bumped into our old friend Holly Caulfield from Chocoholly who had a table packed with all sorts of drool-worthy products. Just across from her, Auberge du Chocolat were showing some beautifully decorated chocs that looked not unlike that beautiful Lauden ones we tasted at Chocolate Unwrapped.
Also in attendance were Rococo, Carbonnel et Walker, Ooh La La Chocolaterie, a company called Ubuntu Chocolate, as well as plenty of people showing off cookies and sweeties of all kinds.
The atmosphere was fun and festive without being over the top. Nearly everyone seemed happy to be there, with the possible exception of one woman selling indian spices who literally shouted at me and shoed me away when I pointed a camera at her stand.
All in all, a fun little afternoon out. You could probably lose yourself in there for a whole day and get very drunk on free vodka samples if that’s your thing. It’s unfortunate that the tickets are so expensive, but if you’re stuck for something to do this weekend, you could do a lot worse.
