It used to be that I associated Elizabeth Shaw with Christmastime boxes of gold foil wrapped mint crisp chocolates, somewhat traditional in style and beloved of the older chocolate lover.
Well it would seem that the old girl has had a new lease of life. These days Elizabeth Shaw make these – chocolates filled with three flavours of vodka.
It’s strange. I felt a little like Deanna did recently – I wasn’t really looking forward to trying these, but I can’t really say why. (The obvious punchline now being that after a handful I felt much better about them.)
So what do we get in the shiny tube? Shiny chocolates of course, filled with one of three different vodkas – ‘plain’, lemon, and raspberry.
I discovered two ways of attacking these. The first involves a little patience and a gentle tongue, and I allowed the shell to slowly melt before the vodka flooded out and mingled with the melting shell. The second method involved cracking the base off and necking the shot before enjoying the shell on it’s own. I’m delighted to report a complete lack of any sugar shell, by the way. Great news!
Since all three have the same chocolate shell, I thought it best to look at that before going into the different vodka flavours. It’s ‘borderline’ dark (we still need that percentage-darkness chart!) and has a good sheen to it. It’s a little sweeter than I expected but I suspect that is in some part to counter some of the tang of the vodka. As a precursor to the vodka it’s very pleasant, melting just slowly enough to allow you to savour some of the deeper flavours. Once the vodka is released though, you won’t taste much else for a few seconds. It’s a good sized hit as well!
A thick base means that once the vodka has gone there’s more chocolate to enjoy as a finish.
So what about the three flavoured vodkas?
The neat vodka is of course just that. Like it or don’t like it, simple as.
The lemon vodka is a little sweeter, but does add a satisfyingly zesty citrus burst. A quite pleasant surprise, and one that won me over quite quickly. The raspberry vodka also added a lively fruity note to the proceedings.
However, of the three I found myself liking thew lemon the most. Lemon and chocolate aren’t often found in the same mouthful, and I rather like them. As for the vodka/chocolate pairing – well, you either like vodka or you don’t, and if you don’t then these aren’t going to appeal at all.
If you do like the idea of vodka and chocolate you could do a lot worse than these. They’re strangely moreish, particularly the two fruit flavours.
I love my local Foodland store. Each visit turns up something new or unusual. They have the usual selection of Cadbury and Lindt, but it’s the selection of other odds and ends that I look out for.
So I was quite surprised to find what appears to be a Cherry Ripe clone. This is a “Healtheries” Simple bar, which I’ve never heard of. Perhaps that’s because the Healtheries brand comes from New Zealand. That said, the packaging says it’s made by “Aussie Bodies” – better know for the muscle man protein powder.
Which brings an interesting diversion… Aussie Bodies was founded by Steve Outtrim – one of those Internet / Dot-Com millionaires, who used to run a company called “Sausage Software”. Seems like he sold his Sausage shares at just the right time – he scored millions, the buyers of his company, like many other buyers, saw the value crash soon after. Instead of sitting on his dough, he was overweight, and found out about the high protein diets. When he found how much protein powders sell for, he decided it was a good business to be in. Seems like he’s moved on, and Healtheries and Aussie Bodies now have new, presumably common, owners.
The packaging proclaims a “fact file”: gluten free, wheat free, source of fibre, no artificial sweeteners. On the back is a rather twee statement: “Simple Chocolate bars provide an indulgent wheat and gluten free treat for any time of day”. Yerrrrsssss…. But most chocolate is wheat and gluten free, and provides an indulgent treat (that’s the point, innit?).
Seeing as I’m an ingredients freak, and health claims make me dubious at best and downright suspicious at worst, a quick check on the back reveals that the chocolate is dark (44%… not very dark), and the chocolate is about 32% of the total. Seems like less. Oh, and the no artificial sweetener claim must be true, because the sweetener is sugar. Yoiks!!! That has to be one of the first times I’ve seen sugar claimed as the healthy way to go!
Anyhow, the important part is what is tastes like.
As you can see, it’s another flat bar. Breaking it open (which I had to do for the fans of dissection out there who chastised me last time I forgot this part) the cherry insides are a vibrant striking red. It LOOKS like it should glow in the dark, and the ingredients do list “colour (129)”. Checking that shows this is “Allura Red (FD&C Red 40)”. YUM!
It sure smells good though, the cherry aroma is strong and appealing. And in spite of the brilliant red, it doesn’t taste too bad. Like the Cherry Ripe, this has some kind of cherry and coconut filling, which is not too sweet.
Is it better than a Cherry Ripe? Don’t know. They are both good. But them I am biased; I’ve been a sucker for the Cherry Ripe since about age 5.
About the only really obvious improvement is to tone down the “fact file” and the health claims. It’s dubious and easily seen through. Though, admittedly, anybody buying this for a snack will just guzzle it down without reading the fine print like I do.
I’m very familiar with Rocky Mountain’s Milk Chocolate bar, but this is, strangely, my first time trying the Dark Chocolate. Interesting to note that only the Milk says “gourmet.” Maybe they think Dark Chocolate already sounds more fine than Milk Chocolate?
One thing about these is their size. They look and feel a little small for 85 grams because they’re much longer in comparison to their width than most bars. The golden foil-wrapped bars have the same print on them, calling Rocky Mountain “The Peak of Perfection in Handmade Chocolates.” I don’t know if I’d go that far.
Even though I’m kind of in a “must taste every kind of chocolate” mood right now and therefore unlikely to be buying much chocolate I’ve had before, the milk bar is an exception. I usually only eat a little bit at a time, but I’m still tempted to eat this whole bar. It’s very creamy, but not in a melty kind of way. The light chocolate and caramel flavors speak the word “confection” in a wonderful language. It isn’t as greasy as some offerings, but it could still be a little better on that score.
First impression with the dark bar: wow, it’s black!
Rare to find such a dark color, not meaning to say I think it’s a good color. I’ve mentioned what I call the “Nesquik flavor.” Here it is again: thick, gloppy, sweet and black rather than a nice dark. This one has less sugar, but it tastes horridly sweet to me. It was doomed as soon as I laid eyes on it. I really can’t each much of it. Main line: Rocky Mountain is great for confections and I love them for that, but run away from the darker offerings if you’re used to another quality in the dark chocolate world.
The final Valentine’s offering from Hotel Chocolat this year, and I’ve saved the best… well, the biggest at least… for last.
I had no idea what was in this giant, pink, 700g box, and I deliberately avoided looking at the description on the back so it would be a nice surprise. The bright pink box is laced up like a bodice, meaning rather than just ripping it open, you have to… undress it.
Once you’ve “tugged at the Heart Strings” (as Hotel Chocolat puts it), the box opens and you’re presented with this:
A rather large solid milk chocolate heart… with lots of pink bits. The Hotel Chocolat web site describes it as:
“A heady blend of love and chocolate in a daringly flirtatious, ribbon-tied corset. Just tug the heartstrings and slowly reveal a striking milk chocolate heart swirled with fruity two-tone strawberry chocolate. Pressed with luscious kirsch truffles and pralines, crunchy strawberry shortbread, chopped hazelnuts and crushed meringue pieces.”
Yup. That sounds about right…
Unfortunately, and somewhat typically, my heart was broken in two. I’m not sure how or when it got broken, as it was well packaged, but that could be a bit of an issue – and it did spoil the wow factor a little. But not much.
The important thing is how it tastes, and I can sum that up in one word: divine.
I simply love the strawberry chocolate (a mixture of chocolate and freeze dried strawberries). The aroma and flavour are chocolatey and fruity and incredibly moreish.
But the best part of Heart Strings is that you never know quite what flavours you’re going to get. Because it’s impossible to break off a piece accurately, you always get a slightly different combination of milk chocolate, straberry, meringue or truffle. So even a slab of this size never gets boring.
If you really want to make an impact this Valentine’s day, then I would absolutely recommend this. But if you can, I would also consider buying it from a physical Hotel Chocolat shop, rather than online if you want to make absolutely sure that your heart doesn’t get broken in the post.
