Back in July, Simon reviewed two Organic Meltdown bars and gave them a fairly positive write-up, so I was keen to try this when I found it in Waitrose.
But before I get to the chocolate, I want to talk about the branding. Half of the front of the wrapper of this bar is taken up by the words “Eating this chocolate saves trees”, along with Fair Trade and Organic certification logos. Obviously, this is a good thing, but I was curious about the branding and the fact that Organic Meltdown seem to be relying almost entirely on the concept of saving trees to sell the chocolate.
Upon opening the wrapper, you’re told that you have already saved a tree by purchasing the bar and given a code to enter into the web site to “keep tabs on the actual tree that you’ve helped save”. It doesn’t tell you that you need to register on the web site to make this work – providing them with your name, email address and date of birth. Nice.
There’s a logo for an organisation called the World Land Trust, but nowhere could I find any mention of how I’m saving a tree or what ‘saving’ actually means. I could argue that I save the tree outside my flat every day by the simple fact that I don’t chop it down. By that definition I’m not actually contributing anything at all, but I’m still saving a tree from destruction.
I think it’s absolutely vital that if we’re going to support causes by buying heavily branded products like this, we should at least know how they are using the extra few pence we’re spending. “Brand Stand” – the company responsible for Organic Meltdown seem to be at least as concerned with the branding than the cause itself. With a name like that, perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised.
With that rant out of the way, let’s get to the chocolate. At 58% cocoa solids, it’s definitely not one of the darkest I’ve had, and there aren’t really any strong cocoa flavours, but it’s not overpoweringly sweet either. It might not appeal to hardcore dark chocolate aficionados, but those with a slightly sweeter tooth will really enjoy it.
The orange flavour is natural and refreshing. There’s a nice hint of citrus, but again, it’s nothing too overpowering.
As you can see, the candied orange is uncoloured, and adds a very pleasant texture to the bar. There’s enough of it that you get a few small pieces in every square, and it really is quite pleasant.
Unfortunately, I got a large, hard, fibrous piece of something that I hope was orange in one of the first chunks I tried. It was completely inedible and I had to spit it out, but I’m prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt and say that was just a one-off.
Overall, I really quite enjoyed the bar and managed to scoff the whole thing myself. I’d certainly recommend it to dark chocolate virgins, but if you’re buying this to ‘save a tree’, you’re going to have to do your own research to figure out where the money is actually going.
I’ve been to my supplier of Polish chocolate. (Does small dance for joy).
And they have a whole lot of new goodies there. (Does even bigger dance).
Of course, I don’t speak Polish and would not know what most of the goodies are if they reached out and strangled me. But I recognise chocolatey goodness at about 700 paces, and that’s good enough.
The rather large and imposing Blok Orzechowy kind of took my fancy. It means “Block Nuts” or, in plain English, a nut block. The photo’s don’t adequately show the sheer imposing size. This 250g brute is about 4 cm deep, 7 cm high, and 17 cm long. I began to wonder what I’d bought, so of course I had to rush home and, with trembling fingers, open the box. After photographing it – as you do.
Inside we find a plastic tub containing what looks an awful lot like a kind of biscuity loaf like my mum used to make. Tipping it out and cutting some off confirms this.
The presentation is… well… interesting. The Blok does not really come of the plastic tub very well, and it’s kind of crumbly. The nuts are fairly clearly visible but there don’t seem to be the vast numbers of them that the photo on the box, and the name would lead you to believe.
The loaf is also not very chocolatey. I shoulda checked the ingredients – it’s there – at a mere 8%. Sigh. Still, it should go nicely with a cup of tea.
Or not. This is very very sweet, has a strange slightly gritty texture, it’s difficult to cut a piece off the Blok, and the taste is not really of anything much. It reminds me a bit of a Halva I tried a year or so back, but it’s not one of those either. My friend the ingredients list explains… Sugar is the number 1 ingredient, followed by peanuts at 21%. Reading between the lines, sugar is about 50% of the contents. No wonder.
The only time I’d recommend this is for bush walkers (or ramblers if in the UK). Then you get your entire daily scroggin in a single package. One Blok should feed a whole troop of Boy Scouts.
Update: This competition is now closed.
Regular Chocablog readers will know all about Chocoholly – wonderful handmade organic chocolates from Brighton based artist Holly Caulfield.
Well to celebrate the launch of Holly’s brand new web site, we’ve teamed up with her to bring you a competition with a prize to die for – a luxury hamper full of organic chocolate worth over £50! The hamper contains:
- 5 Chocoholly infused bars, Chilli, Cardamom, Geranium, Cranberry & cinnamon
and Rich milk.
- 3 Chocoholly jewelled bars, Blueberry raspberry and strawberry, Cocoa Nib, and Toasted almond and orange.
- 2 packs of Chocoholly fish, Rich milk (a darker shade of milk) and White chocolate
with cranberries and cinnamon.
- 1 big jar of milk or dark chocolate buttons
To be in with a chance of winning the competition, simply subscribe to our daily email updates and answer to the following question in the entry form below.
And if you’re stuck, you’ll find the answer on Holly’s site.
What flower oil does Holly use to flavour her rich milk chocolate fish?
- Geranium
- Chrysanthemum
- Dandelion
Please make sure you read all the rules before entering your answer in the form below.
Entry Form
Competition Rules
Rules
- To enter, you must be subscribed to our email updates service and use the same email address in the entry form above. You can unsubscribe afterward if you like, but you must be on the list on the competition closing date for your entry to be counted.
- One entry per person only.
- There are three prizes, each comprising of 1 pair of tickets. Winners will be picked at random from correct entries and notified by email.
- Chocablog staff writers may not enter.
- The competition is open to UK residents only.
- The competition closes on Friday 11th December 2009.
- The judges’ decision is final.
- Rules are subject to change without notice (if we’ve forgotten something because we’re a bit slow)
According to their web site, Heritage Chocolate is the sister company of Tower Mint – London’s only working mint, which produces all kinds of commemorative coins and medals – including the currency used on Gibraltar.
Hertiage Chocolate coins however, are foil wrapped and made from Belgian milk chocolate. As far as I’m aware, they’re not legal tender in Gibraltar.
Rather than coins, the samples they sent me were medals, including some Christmassy designs and a huge 125g specimen with “You are the greatest” proudly embossed on the front and a ribbon to wear it around the neck. After having worn it for half a day (and wondering why it didn’t say “I am the greatest”), I decided I it was probably time to review it.
There are no ingredients listed, but details embossed on the back tell me it’s 30% Belgian milk chocolate (I love how this is all embossed on the actual chocolate as well – right down to the best before date). They taste Ok, with a nice creamy texture and some pleasant cocoa notes, but they’re really not that special. I’ve had much, much better milk chocolates, but I’ve also had a lot worse.
Yet there’s something special about chocolate coins and medals that just makes me want want more of these. Not to eat, but just to ‘have’. I don’t know if it’s just the fact that chocolate coins combine my two favourite things, or if it’s memories of little bags of foil covered coins I used to see in sweet shops as a child. Perhaps it’s just the fact that I look so awesome wearing a huge chocolate medal around my neck all day… such a shame I forgot to take pictures…
