Just a quick reminder to our American readers that you’ve only got one more day to enter our Hershey’s competition.
We’re giving away three rather cool Hershey’s goody bags, and we’ve had relatively few entries for this competition, so your chances of winning are very high.
So why not take a minute to enter now. The competition closes on Friday night, and the winners will be notified next week. Good luck!
The thing I enjoy about being a chocolate reviewer is that even though I have to run and power walk as often as possible so that I don’t resemble a human Lindor ball, it does make me feel as though I can ‘treat’ myself after a particularly punishing run.
And thus, I found myself at San Churro coffee shop and chocolateira in Highpoint, Melbourne.
Bear in mind that I’d been for a run earlier that morning and had not eaten any breakfast before rushing out to do the grocery shopping, the banking and search out some obscure hardware parts needed for Love Chunks’ handyman tasks.
Thus, my eyes were fixated on the Tapas tasting plate. It didn’t say for two people, it just had things in divisions of two, so I assumed it would do the trick in providing a midday meal for a hungry Chocablogger.
When it arrived, it left me momentarily – and quite uncharacteristically – speechless. Oh. My. Cocoa Loca Lordy Loo!
In addition to my Chai Latte (yes, I was feeling a bit poncy that afternoon), we have:
Melted ‘chocovic’ milk chocolate from Spain (Top Left)
Dark and milk chocolate ‘catanies’ – praline, toffee and cocoa dusted almonds
Dark chocolate ‘chocovic’ icecream
Two triangles of densely moist and muddy brownies
Salted pretzels for dipping (crunchy, salty and just enhanced the sweet creaminess of the melted milk chocolate)
Four freshly cooked churros – long fried donuts sprinkled in icing sugar that are then dipped into the melted chocolate
Two chocolates of my choice – I chose the ‘Pachamama’ (milk chocolate, peanut butter and salt) and the Caramelo Latte (milk chocolate, caramel and coffee)
Naturally, the melted chocolate and icecream selections also include dark and white chocolate and there are six other divine hand made chocolates to choose from as well.
I ate the ice-cream first and it was as rich and mousse-like as I’d hoped. The churros were crisp on the outside and softly cake-ish in the middle and tasted superb on their own. When dipped into the chocolate they were even better. The Catanies are already a personal favourite of mine and were thoroughly enjoyed as were the brownies.
Everything was top notch quality and wickedly delicious. And yes, I ate everything except six catanies that the waitress put into a cute little cardboard box for me to take home.
And yes, I felt utterly full and sick afterwards and didn’t need any dinner that night. But it was worth it.
And the napkin’s motto really speaks to me: Better to have enjoyed it and made a mess than never to have enjoyed at all. Absolutely!
Another visit to my local butcher means it’s time for more strange foreign imported chocolatey goodness. Or so I thought.
Today’s pick of the crop is “Original Biscuit Ressana Raspberry”, which the box proudly proclaims to be a biscuit with Fruit Rapsberry Jelly: A promising start. Just ignore the carefully whited-out price label that I could not remove.
Something that tickles my fancy is that this is manufactured (according to the Gold label thingy on the front of the box) “by original technology”. It’s not often you tout your claims to technology in chokky bikky manufacture, but there you are. I’m even more tickled by the manufacturer: Swisslion Agroplod, in the republic of Macedonia. A few of our big western companies need to take lessons and get names like that; names with character and soul.
So with some anticipation we finished Sunday lunch and said “how about a nice chocolate biscuit to go with a cup of tea”. We all agreed that was a smashing idea. A quick diversion to photograph the box and the biscuits was in order, then some serious eating and taste-testing.
Well, boy am I disappointed.
There was a very strong berry smell when I opened the pack. That must have been it for the berries, though. I think they escaped at that point. In terms of presentation we have a small biscuit with a splodge of sweet stuff on top, and a thin smear of chocolate. From one biscuit to another, the splodges are in different places – some in the centre, some way offset to the side. The box picture and the reality are not quite in alignment. According to the label, the berry jelly comprises 38% of the product, and the chocolate is 20%. Further, the chocolate is supposed to be 47% cocoa solids.
The splodge of sweet stuff is not the nice red berry colour shown on the box, it’s more of a pale pink/brown. It’s also quite a thick jelly, so it has a texture closer to rubber. And the only real flavour is sugar. Similarly, the chocolate is just nothingy. I’ve tried, in the name of science, eating a few of these upside down so the chocolate hits the tongue first, this makes a marginal improvement with a hint of cocoa and berry flavour coming through. You have to search hard for it though. I don’t know how they do it, but there are not many things where the chocolate is there in name but not flavour.
And finally, the biscuit has a curious texture: not crisp, not soggy either, but somewhere in between. It sort of melts away.
Don’t get me wrong – these are perfectly edible. But I’m sorry to say, they just don’t float my boat.
I can include Ghirardelli’s Twilight Delight in the list of chocolates that helped bring me to the Dark Side.
Back when (just a few years ago) I found most plain dark chocolates a little boring, a bag of individual squares became my friend. I discovered how easy it was to bring a square with me during the day to savor slowly at some point.
Returning to it now, I find the aroma underneath the light gold foil reminds me of chocolate chips. I guess I’ve habitually been using Ghirardelli chocolate chips long enough now that it was bound to happen. Ghirardelli manages a unique flavor in their dark chocolate. This one is described as “highly aromatic, with mocha, blackberry, and dark cherry notes throughout.” The sweetness and bitterness of this bar hold hands like a cat and a dog. They shouldn’t get along so well, but since they do, anyway, they end up so similar as to be nearly indistinguishable. The delicate smoothness gives a gentle touch, with a thick, though pleasant, aftertaste left after it melts. I’d forgotten how nice it is.
Looking at the name, I can see how it fits, though it’s four in the afternoon right now and twilight is still a ways away. The soft colors of the fading light; the scorching of the sun taken away, though its heat lingers; the comfort of another day at its close, even with a touch of restless anticipation for the morrow. Oh, yes, and it’s delightful.