The Cadbury Dairy Milk Desserts range has been around for about three years now and has either been a definite Yay or a Nay. It’s been no surprise to notice that their tragic versions of desserts such as lemon cheesecake, boysenberry shortcake and fudge brownie aren’t crowding the shelves, but their pretty good Crème Brulee and Tiramisu are still around and selling well.
Then I spotted this new one:
Cadbury have decided to follow Nestlé, who have in turn copied Cocoa Farm and Lindt by now packaging their blocks in slim, thin cardboard boxes. What Cadbury have done that is becoming increasingly typical, unfortunately, is sell this block at the same price as their other 250 gram blocks, despite only being 210 grams.
Usually, the argument for slightly downsizing something is due to the ingredients being more expensive to obtain and therefore rather than increase the price and upset their customers, they decrease the size so that whilst it looks the same as the other varieties, you’re actually getting less for your money.
However, when you open the pack, you can see the usual, familiar filled squares of Cadbury Dairy Milk which, on the ingredients panel, makes up seventy percent of the total block. The remaining thirty percent is the ‘berry pannacotta flavoured filling.’ Oh, so the berries and the pannacotta mix must be unusual or a bit expensive, then?
Not according to the pack. The ingredients – in order of volume, are milk, sugar, vegetable fat, cocoa butter, milk solids, cocoa mass, etc, with the chocolate itself containing a fairly low 21% cocoa solids. I don’t see anything here that constitutes an expensive ingredient – surely ‘vege fat’ isn’t a budget-breaker?
Perhaps my niggling over the invisible 40 grams (the size of an individual bar) is minor but it’s not as uncommon as you think. But how does this taste?
Really nice, darn it all. Yes, it’s just a fluffy pink blob of strawberry-ish filling inside that’s been flavoured with who-knows-what kind of artificial chemical components, but with the classic Dairy Milk chocolate it’s sweet, seductive and results in making you automatically snap off row after row to chomp, suck and swallow; not a sensible square after square.
And, darn it twice, but if I *did* happen to lose all sense and reason and control and end up inhaling the entire block in a hard afternoon at the computer, then I’d be rewarded with a whopping 75 grams of fat. Oops!
I truly feel bad about this. I got this unique bar while on vacation, so I kept it nice and wrapped up for a week. But on the return drive, what happens? I realize that the heater is on and the bag the chocolate is in is sitting right in front of one of the vents. Tragedy didn’t make me very happy. But, oh, well, I thought, it is a $6.50/85 gram bar, and since the finer chocolates are usually hearty as pioneers, it should be okay taste-wise, at least.
The looks did suffer most horribly, hence my attempt to hide most of the damage in the picture by only showing four of the sixteen squares. But a deep and chocolatey smell emanated from it, bidding me continue on. Evidence of the “stone ground” process is in the chocolate’s grainier, more rock-like look, though it still has a good breaking sound. Inside your mouth, you can feel the small bits of chocolate and sugar. Just as I was considering that they distract too much from the flavor, I started to get a soft banana flavor, so my assumption was a little off. The funniest thing, though, was that I was reminded so much of biting into Mexican hot chocolate, minus the cheapness.
Normally, I save any research of a company for after I taste their chocolate to keep from being sidetracked by them instead of the actual product. And I was glad of this this time because I had the chance to pick up on Taza Chocolate’s motive on my own. Namely, to “combine the Mesoamerican tradition with a modern, high-quality product manufactured in a socially responsible way.” One of the cofounders, Alex Whitmore, studied with a stone miller in Oaxaca after starting the company in Massachusetts. As opposed to conching, Taza uses machines with hand-hewn granite millstones from Mexico for a cultural flavor and to preserve many of the inherent nutrients. Besides being dairy, gluten, and soy free and USDA organic, this Dominican Republic bar is Direct Trade. That’s Direct Trade, not Fair Trade. On their site (which is full of information and worth taking a look at), Taza explains the problems they see in the Fair Trade system. By going Direct Trade, they deal more directly with the growers and can use the money they would’ve used for the Fair Trade logo to pay them more.
Going with my reminder of hot chocolate, Taza’s flavored chocolates are made in the traditional disc shape. They’re labeled to be eaten as is or made into hot chocolate. I actually made some with this bar, just to see how it would turn out. Very nice. Like the chocolate itself, it has the strength of the historic blended with sophisticated quality and comfortable familiarity. Worth looking into as something that’s different while still easy to catch onto.
When people find out I review chocolate they inevitably tell me how lucky I am, which is true. Occasionally something comes along that makes me realise just how lucky I am, and this is one of those occasions.
A couple of years ago I was in Belgium on a mini-break and I spotted this very box in Galler’s shop window in Brussels. I was immediately impressed, intrigued and very keen to try these amazing looking chocolates. Well, now I can.
Galler’s philosophy of chocolate making seems to be very much along the lines of ‘one eats with one’s eyes first’ because the presentation of this product is nothing short of superb. The box is a curved wedge of blue which flips open to reveal twelve discs of chooclate, each adorned with a series of stripes in aquatic blues and greens. They are lovely to look at, that’s for sure.
The chocolates themselves fall into four categories. We have a white chocolate covered disc with Fleurs de Sel de Guérande (from Brittany, and arguably the finest salt in the world), more white discs with Wakame seaweed, then two lots of dark chocolate discs – a set which contains Black Hawaiian salt, and another which contains Nori, which normally comes in sheets for cooking and sashimi making.
Interesting stuff then, and certainly a good way of getting my palate going after over a month of being unable to taste properly.
So, where to begin?
The good news (for me at any rate) is that the white discs conceal a rich, dark chocolate filling, and the Fleur de Sel de Guérande disc had a sublime balance between the three flavours. As the white chocolate rapidly gave way to the filling, my mouth was flooded with the rich chocolate/salt combination. It’s mouthwateringly good – as the sweet white chocolate mingles with the dark filling the palate is treated to a beautifully subtle set of flavours which you just want to go on for ever. A great blend of tastes and a very auspicious start.
Having ‘done’ salty, I decided to stay with the white discs and attempt a Wakame chocolate.
As before, there was a dark interior lurking under the white chocolate shell, only this time the flavour it delivered was decidedly different. The chocolate flavours were much more pronounced, and held a slightly sweet, mildly tangy note from the Wakame. Never overpowering but obviously present, the blend of chocolate and seaweed had me savouring this one right down to the last swirl of the tongue around the mouth. Excellent combination again, and done very well.
When it came to the dark discs I decided to repeat the tasting order.
Having enjoyed the Fleur de Sel so much, I was looking forward to the Sel Noir d’Hawaï. What could black salt offer, and how would it taste? The answer was, oddly enough, darker. Rich dark chocolate flavours blended with a richer tasting deeper salt tang, Having tasted quite a variety of salted chocolates of late, I am happy to report that this one is right up there with the best. A wonderfully smooth filling teases the palate with rich saltiness as the dark chocolate releases its flavours. The combination is devastatingly moreish.
The finale (for me at any rate) was the Nori chocolate.
In a similar vein to the Wakame chocolate (but obviously with much richer dark chocolate flavours) the Nori disc held another delicate balance of flavours. I would have been hard pressed to identify the seaweed flavour as seaweed but it adds a soft, subtle, almost floral sweetness to the overall taste.
These have all the classic hallmarks of ‘posh chocolates’. From the unusual packaging to the beautiful design of each piece and finally in the subtle and harmonious blend of slightly avante garde flavours, Jean Galler has created chocolates that are a delight for both eye and palate. A wait of a couple of years was worthwhile, and I’m looking forward to trying more Galler chocolate very soon.
Thorntons just sent a few samples to review, one of which – Dark Chocolate With Macadamia – I’ve already reviewed, so I thought I’d give it away to one of our Twitter followers.
For a chance to win it, just send out a tweet with the tag #chocablog in it, and I’ll pick a random winner this weekend. It’s a small 70g bar, so I’m happy to open this up to anyone on Twitter, no matter where you are.
Click this link to send out a Tweet (the link won’t send it, just pre-fill the form) – feel free to edit it and say whatever you like, but just make sure you keep the #chocablog hash tag in there so I can find you!
And do follow Chocablog on Twitter too. We’ll be giving away more stuff there soon!
