Holly Caulfield is an artist based in Brighton, and apparently she was so moved by watching the movie Chocolat that she decided to become a chocolatier. A little over eighteen months ago Chocoholly was born and Holly began selling her handmade organic chocolate bars and shapes. Being an artist, Holly designs all of her own packaging as well, so she’s completely involved in every aspect of her products.
Chocoholly seems to be doing rather well – John Lewis in Oxford Street and Bluewater (huge shopping centre in Kent) have been stocking the range for a couple of months, and quite a few stores in the Brighton & Hove area are also carrying Holly’s products. Her website seems to be more blog than shop, indeed, I couldn’t find pricing information for this bar, so I’m afraid we’ll have to guess that it’s not the cheapest of chocolate.
My last encounter with a chocolate bar which contained coconut was very positive (Camaya, as I recall) so the combination of chilli (as Holly puts it, not a mouth burner) and toasted coconut had me keen to try this 72% bar.
I did rather like the choice of colour for the foil, I might add. I wonder if Holly’s customers are primarily female, or whether she just chose this rather lovely pink as a continuation of the colour scheme for the packaging?
Anyway, to the chocolate itself. First taste put me very much in mind of the Grenada chocolate bar I reviewed last year. It smells great – rich, dark cocoa notes with woody undertones. It has an excellent, smooth mouthfeel, great texture and lots of flavour. The added ingredients don’t make themselves known immediately, so I was able to enjoy the rich dark chocolate before pieces of coconut were released to join the chocolate. It’s classic dark chocolate – rich, soft, and smooth as can be. The chilli is indeed subtle. It’s there but only as a companion to the chocolate. It never takes over and never gets scary. The coconut pieces are crisp and retain their flavour even when the chilli is in full flight on the tongue. It’s an unusual pairing but it does work, and I thoroughly enjoyed the chocolate. If you have your doubts bout chilli and chocolate this could well sway you.
Based on this first encounter I’m very much looking forward to my next Chocoholly bar, which will be a milk chocolate confection (she was kind enough to send a few things).
Now, if you’re in London this Friday (18th September) I have reason to believe that Holly will be at John Lewis’ Food Hall in Oxford Street between 12:30 and 4:30, giving away samples of her entire range. I’d recommend you get down here and try some of this for yourselves. Of course, we’d be very grateful if you told Holly you read about her here, and do say hello (I’m afraid I can’t make it myself).
Bubbly chocolate from Cadbury may be a relatively new thing down under, but in my particular part of the planet, Cadbury have been making it for almost as long as Nestlé. Wispa of course was killed off by Cadbury in 2003 as part of the great (and misguided) Dairy Milk rebranding.
Fast forward to 2007 and Wispa was reintroduced following various online campaigns to bring it back. National newspapers even credited Chocablog for accomplishing this feat, but it took another two years for the Wispa Gold variant to return.
Once removed from the shiny, sparkly wrapper, Wispa Gold looks quite dull. There’s no markings, no fancy design or interesting patterns, no nothing. I would go so far as to say it’s the most boring looking chocolate in the history of everything.
Inside, things get marginally more interesting…
As you can see, the ‘Gold’ in question is a thin layer of caramel. The tagline on the wrapper calls it a “cheeky layer of caramel”. I have no idea what “cheeky” means in this context, but judging by the caramel itself I would have to guess at “really sweet and runny”.
The bubbly chocolate is also reduced to a thin layer, and the whole thing is wrapped in non-bubbly chocolate, which ends up being most of the bar. And that’s all there is to it. It’s exactly the same ingredients as Cadbury’s Caramel… sorry “Dairy Milk With Caramel” – just put together is a different (and more expensive) way.
The overall result is something that’s quite different from a regular Wispa. You don’t get that light, almost velvety texture, but you do get a little variation in taste and texture – something the original Wispa has never had. It’s still light enough that it’s not overly sickly, and I managed to scoff my way through this 52g bar with ease.
I was 25 when this bar was first launched in 1995, so it wasn’t really part of my childhood. If it was part of yours, then it will almost certainly bring back happy memories, but I can’t see myself craving another in the foreseeable future.
(And yes, I’m just hoping Cadbury kill it off again, so we can get credited with bringing it back in another 15 years…)
I wanted to take a moment to let you all know about Chocolate Unwrapped, a consumer chocolate show which kicks off this year’s Chocolate Week.
According to their web site:
“The UK’s first dedicated chocolate show, Chocolate Unwrapped will have all of the very best chocolatiers and chocolate companies under one roof. We’re delighted to announce that exhibitors confirmed are: Artisan du Chocolat, Rococo, Paul a Young, Chococo, Melt, Hotel Chocolat, Sir Hans Sloane and Thorntons. Also chocolate cakes, representatives from the growing countries such as Mexico and Ecuador and Foyles selling chocolate books.”
The show takes place on Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th October at London’s May Fair Hotel, and tickets cost £15 on the door or £12.50 if you book in advance.
Simon and I will both be there as a prelude to our extensive coverage of this year’s Chocolate Week which takes place over the following 7 days.
Visit their web site to find out more and book your tickets, and hopefully we’ll see you there!
So, having established Jean Galler as a purveyor of fine quality chocolate and a man not afraid to experiment with unusual flavours and product design, I receive another sample box. (I have come to recognise the boxes, as I am sure whoever sends them now knows my address by heart.)
Of course, I had seen these on the Galler website and in their catalogue, but nonetheless I couldn’t help but smile at first sight.
Just what is going on here? Is that professorial Belgian I saw in the Kaori video actually a Nutty Professor? My view of Galler as a maker of elegant and unusual chocolate products was being challenged here.
These ‘Langues de Chats’ (a pun in itself. ‘Langues de Chats ‘ are a French biscuit.) come in white, milk and dark chocolate and I had been sent a tin of ‘large dark ones and a tiny tin of 6 little milk chocolate ones. The milk ones were given to a friend’s children with a demand for one word from each of them to describe the taste. ‘Yummy’ ‘Creamy’ and ‘Lovely’ were duly offered.
This tin contained 18 dark chocolate, praline filled ‘Langues’, each of which continued the comic cat theme to the last.
As you can see, the tin is a generous addition – definitely made to keep after all of the contents are long deceased. Each ‘Langue’ is individually wrapped – excelllent for little treats or stocking fillers perhaps?
Once I’d finished grinning back at the crazy cat face, it was time to attack.
Now that’s a ‘Langue de Chat’.
As you can see, the Praline filling is a rich, creamy confection which is the colour of gingerbread. It’s loaded with deep, buttery nuttiness and compliments the lightly flavoured 70% cocoa dark chocolate coating perfectly. I’m not sure these would appeal to younger palates very much, but slightly older children might find themselves deserting sweeter, less heallthy chocolate. As a novelty gift, possibly for those who still prefer their dark chocolate adulerated or on the lighter side, they’re a good choice. However, at almost 50p per chocolate they’re probably likely to be a gift rather than an indulgence.
If you’re looking for something ‘a bit different’ for a present for someone (particularly someone who likes cats) then look no further. I would hope that these flavours are available elsewhere in the Galler range, because otherwise there might be a lot of people who never get to taste them.
