Lime is one of the divine foods, on par with butter and honey. Naturally, then, I got excited over seeing this bar, even if chili chocolates are fast becoming common. Chili coupled with lime, though, I was hoping would have some of the addictive feel of other chili/lime combinations.
The chocolate is dark for only 64%, with a strong chili smell. It feels velvety, building slowly up to the spice of the chipotle that starts to coat your throat. But where’s the lime? I can’t really taste it, but it seems like its essence is in the stinging aftertaste. It’s similar to the addictive feel, only you’re happy to just stick with the lingering taste instead of quickly having more. If you do keep on eating, your mouth already seasoned to it, then the spice isn’t so much of a shocker and you can taste some of the chocolate’s sweetness.
One of the pieces broken in two is good for me. And the aftertaste, by far the best part, lasts for minutes after. Ten? Fifteen? Doing a little math here, that means you can get five to seven hours out of one bar! I doubt most people will be in a hurry (even if it takes them less than seven hours) to finish it; it’s one to savor. Certainly more interesting than the plain World Market bar I tried before.
Another of the ever-expanding range of Thorntons slabs, this one is 38% cocoa milk chocolate infused with Tonka Bean.
In case you didn’t know, Tonka Bean isn’t something that was used to make tough toys for tough kids back in the 1970s, it was in fact once used as a cheap substitute for vanilla (presumably back when vanilla pods were hard to come by).
At 38% this bar is definitely at the top end of the milk chocolate scale, but it has surprisingly delicate flavours. The cocoa flavours are very light and the Tonka Bean adds an underlying vanilla/nut combination with a gentle hint of spice which makes the overall taste extremely moreish. It’s quite sweet (in fact it’s over 46% sugars) but somehow the sweetness doesn’t detract from the flavours. The lightness of the flavours is reflected in the mouthfeel. While it’s packed full of lovely light cocoa flavour, it doesn’t cloy the palate at all. Eating one chunk just leads to another, and there’s no ‘overload’, as the mouth is left clean and ready for the next piece.
I can see why Dom has nominated this as his favourite slab to date. It’s a damned fine example of top notch (and dangerously easy to eat) milk chocolate. The light, almost fruity flavours of the cocoa combine extremely well with the Tonka Beans infused with cocoa butter. I enjoyed this quite a lot, but I doubt I could monster a whole slab on my own, purely because of the sweetness, but if you love your milk chocolate you’re quite likely to find yourself making one or two of these disappear quite rapidly.
San Churro is an Australian-based chocolateria that owes its origins to Spanish chocolate as well as their relaxed, sociable way of life. San Churro was the head monk for the Queen of Spain in the sixteenth century and saw the happiness and health that chocolate provided the aristocrats. He was dismayed that this magical food was denied the general population and made it his life’s work to make it available to all. Bless him!
I recently met up with Mark Attard from San Churro (www.sanchurro.com) and discussed our mutual admiration for Spanish chocolate genius Ramon Morato (“he’s as nice as he seems, there’s no ‘act’ in his friendly public persona”), why there are other top notch chocolatiers in countries other than Belgium and how San Churro wants to make great chocolate but without the ‘wank factor’ that sometimes intimidates people.
What impressed me most is that San Churro only have eight handmade chocolates available at any given time to celebrate the season and the effort put into sourcing top quality ingredients and creating wonderful flavours. As it is now winter here in Australia, their latest batch of eight is the ‘El Fuego Dentro’, meaning ‘The Fire Within.’ They had me at ‘El’…..
Time for sampling! The Pachamama is a combination of milk chocolate, peanut butter and sea salt and is, in Mark’s words, “like a grown up version of peanut butter cups.” The salt adds a delicious additional layer of flavour and just made me want to reach for another and another and another. This is definitely the best peanut-butter chocolate I’ve ever had.
The Avellana is a milk chocolate and hazelnut praline with tiny crunchy nougatine pieces sprinked over the top. This is intended for traditional gianduja lovers but has more depth and interest than that. Mark says it’s “like a comforting friend in a time of need” (yes, can you guess he’s a marketer as well as café owner?) but if so, this one’s a truly top mate that’ll not only provide a shoulder to cry on but also give up their bed so you don’t have to sleep on the lounge and insist on you having the last of the boutique beers in their fridge. Superb.
Ginger Choc Man is that revered combination of dark chocolate and ginger but reminds me more of gingerbread than the usual crystallised ginger. It has a slight ‘kick’ to it which just makes it go down even better with a cup of hot black tea. Nicely done.
Caramelo Latte. This heavenly blendn of milk chocolate, caramel and coffee is a dessert, morning tea, afternoon tea and late night supper treat all in one. The coffee isn’t too strong, the caramel isn’t too sickly and the milk chocolate sings to them both. Beautiful. Beautiful, Beautiful!
The only white in their current batch, the Besos Del Amor is a decadent mix of milk chocolate and Baileys covered in white chocolate. The Baileys liqueur is easy to spot without being overpowering and the overall sweetly creamy effect is dreamy rather than icky. It’s a rare day when I can say that this is a WHITE chocolate that I’d gladly have more of.
The Pear Perfecta is the closest, most dazzlingly delicious pear-filled chocolate I’ve ever eaten (sorry, Lindt). The confident fruit flavour oozes into your mouth as soon as the soft dark chocolate shell cracks open, with a teasing hint of cinnamon creeping in before blending into a chocolately pear dessert in one heavenly mouthful. If only they grew on trees….!
Jamaican Heat is the ideal way to introduce folk previously afraid of chilli in chocolate towards the warmer side of the spectrum. This is a Gianduja (milk chocolate and hazelnut blend) with some smooth Jamaican pepper. You’ll notice a pleasant tingle but not a mean bite and will want to eat another one. Or two.
The Azteca was left until the end so that my tastebuds wouldn’t be too overwhelmed to fully appreciate the other seven. This dark chocolate and chilli starts off as a tingle before working its way along the tongue towards the back of the throat and becoming a more insistent hot force. It’s not unpleasant but certainly makes its presence felt. Chilli heads will love it.
San Churro the monk would most definitely approve of all of these. It is a privilege to be able to chat to someone with a real commitment and enthusiasm for their product and then also to be able to genuinely say that the chocolates are all sensational flavours with not a dud amongst them. Cielo en la tierra!
To commemorate the 40th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the moon, Choclatique has fashioned a set of 15 space-inspired chocolates to their Moon Rocks Collection. They sent me the four following samples.
Mission Control Fig
Beware of the blue on here. Though no artifical colors or flavors were used, this stuff gets stuck all over your fingers. Beneath the color and dusting of gold (which edible metal is on each piece in the set) is a 32% milk chocolate shell, encasing fig and a concoction of peanuts, peanut butter, and graham crackers. I’d never thought of a peanut/fig combination, but as both are fresh-tasting, they come together nicely. Next to their strong flavors, the chocolate stays discreet.
Cosmic Crunch Caramel
This one’s gray-colored, also milk, and has a sticky caramel filling with a few cacao nibs in it. The caramel, while possibily the sweetest I’ve tasted, has a pleasant taste of vanilla sugar that brings out the chocolate’s flavor. Though the nibs seem like they’re encrusted in sugar, they add sophistication to the lot.
Pluto Pomegranate Caramel
The maroon color and 64% dark chocolate protect a bright, though still earthy-looking, red caramel. Said caramel, though stiff like the other one, didn’t respond well to the dissection. It kept falling out, leading to a new sticky mess on my fingers. A sugar flavor comes off stronger than the pomegranate, and though the darker chocolate has more presence, I still found this one to be too sweet to be better than okay.
Apollo Almond
White chocolate in silver-white, with a sort of almond paste inside. The chocolate actually has too much impact on the flavor of this one for my tastes, being just an average white chocolate. The filling is interesting, though, reminding me of Mexican Wedding Cookies and redeeming the overall effect.
The fig one, despite its bright color, is the best out of these four. I’m not convinced yet of the plain chocolate’s worthiness, but as Choclatique seems to center more around fun designs and flavors (they have over 150 intriguing-sounding flavors), I guess that isn’t of the greatest consequence, anyway. They’re a bit overpriced at about $2 each, but they’d make great gifts. Though the angles and colors of this set initially look very… unique, they do succeed in being entertaining, intergalactic chocolates.
