Competition Reminder

Just a quick reminder that our Easter Competition closes this Friday, so if you want to be in with a chance of winning a Chocablocka hamper from Handy Candy, then you’ve only got a few days left to enter!

Enter Now!

Bloomsberry Emergency Chocolate

Deanna and I may be on different continents, but we both came across these ‘Emergency Chocolates’ from Bloomsberry at the same time. Deanna picked up the dark version and I found the milk chocolate version. So here’s both our reviews in one handy, pocket-sized emergency post.

Deanna’s Review: Dark Chocolate

I’ve been seeing these little boxes around a lot, but I knew that under the smiling cover, it would be no better than average. Which is sad because it could really be pretty entertaining.

“For immediate relief of: Chocolate Cravings, Lovesickness, Exam Pressure, Mild Anxiety, and Extreme Hunger.”

I let my hopes go up just slightly at the wrapper inside, then started suspiciously eyeing the yellow “gold” wrapper underneath. The twelve big rectangles smell sweet. . . and very unpromising. They taste. . . horrible. That’s really the only word. Hideously sweet in the worst way and synthetic and gross.

Hence the name. You’d only eat it in an emergency when you have no other options. Even then. . . well, I guess it’ll partially satisfy your chocolate cravings if you really are desperate. Trapped under a radioactive bombed city for a score of years. Because there’s no reason I’d pay for the box when the chocolate inside is no good. These people have a wide range, but they’re obviously not putting the attention where it needs to go.

Dom’s Review: Milk Chocolate

I’ve been seeing this kind of gimmick around for a while now from various manufacturers – in fact, I even reviewed one last year. I didn’t expect to enjoy it then, and I wasn’t expecting to enjoy this one either.

As you can see, the box looks very similar to Deanna’s dark chocolate version. The only difference being the colour and the silver foil (rather than gold) inside.

The design of the chocolate inside is a bit different though:

The bar smells not unlike Kinder chocolate. It’s 33% cocoa solids, but cocoa butter and whole milk powder are listed as the second and third ingredients (after sugar).

The result is that the bar smells and tastes creamy and sweet. There isn’t a huge amount of chocolatey flavour here, but the overall effect isn’t too bad.

Texture wise, it’s quite glossy and a little waxy and it doesn’t melt in the mouth as readily as a better chocolate. But again, it’s not bad… it’s just not great.

But that still leaves the issue of who exactly would buy it. It’s a novelty gift and nothing more. I’m guessing the recipient of either of these bars isn’t going to go out and buy it again, and I certainly won’t be either.

Aero Mini Egg

Earlier this week, Nestlé’s PR people got in touch to ask if they could send us some samples of their new Aero Mini Egg… and within a couple of hours of giving them the details, a courier turned up with a small packet containing five of them. Why can’t all chocolate be delivered that way..?

I ate three before I remembered I had to do a review. So I best get started.

First things first – the packaging is a little unusual. Rather than being simply wrapped in foil like most mini eggs, this one comes in a little plastic pouch. It certainly stands out as something different, but I’m not sure I like it. I don’t like plastic packaging much anyway, but with this particular wrapper, it’s almost impossible to tell that it’s either Aero or an egg at first glance. I would have thought that would be important for a new product.

Packaging aside, this is much as you’d expect. A little (24g) egg, roughly the size of a Creme Egg. Or a Mars Egg. Or a Cadbury Caramel Egg. Suffice to say, it’s egg size.

Now I have to admit, I’m not much of a fan of the full sized Aero. It’s just a bit too boring. But in this smaller, eggier form, I really quite liked it. Being a mixture of chocolate and air all the way through, it’s less sweet – and much lighter – than a Creme Egg, and I didn’t find myself feeling sick after having eaten three four of them.

So if you’re the kind of person that normally picks up a Creme Egg or three every time you go shopping, I’d recommend picking up one of these and giving it a go.

Healtheries Nougat Roll

After my previous Healtheries Atomic Cherry experience, I approached this one with some trepidation.

The Healtheries Simple Nougat Roll, with its friendly pictures of coconut and apricot, looks appealing. I decided to ignore the “Fact File”. Debunking “health” claims is getting boring.

Opening the pack reveals a square log-looking thing, chocolaty with coconut. A pleasant whiff of coconut means we’re off to a good start. That’s when things started to go downhill. I forgot what a nougat is.

Breaking the thing into two to photograph was best described as a challenge – one which resulting in bits of nougat, chocolate, and coconut being spread over me and the kitchen bench. Note to self: Must take out of refrigerator for longer next time. At least the insides don’t seem to show evidence of the dreaded atomic red artificial colouring.

Inside, is, well, white. With a few bits of apricot here and there. The chocolate layer is very, very thin. Dissection has its uses, because we can see just how little chocolate is actually used. Taste time.

This is… well… nothingy. The chocolate is not very chocolaty. The nougat is not very apricoty. About the only thing that stands out is the coconut. Oh, and it’s fairly sweet. Checking the pack shows that the chocolate is compounded. Oh dear.

Really, the whole thing is fairly inoffensive. There is nothing horrible or disgusting about it, but nor is there anything to make the eyes light up, and have you saying “wow!”. It’s easy enough to eat, but just boring.