Well, we’re only a few weeks away from Christmas, and of course that means seasonal chocolate products are already making their way onto the shelves.
The Cocoa Bean ladies were good enough to send me this rather interesting little number for my appraisal – a limited edition 53% cocoa bar containing (and I quote) “the heady aroma of Norwegian Spruce, the mellow melt of Rosemary, the burst of ginger, the tingle of winter spices and Clementine zest in the air”. Whew, that’s quite a lot to cram into a 75g bar!
It certainly has a distinct whiff of Rosemary and citrus about it, which is no bad thing in my book. I love the smell of Rosemary, and was delighted when I found my first Rosemary / chocolate combination earlier this year. Of course there is always the danger that using such a powerfully aromatic herb might detract from any other ingredient – particularly the chocolate! – so I didn’t hesitate too long before I popped a piece into my mouth for the real test.
The unique way Cocoa Bean make their bars means one can either select a virtuously small square or a slightly more satisfying rectangle. I opted for the virtuous square, and was rewarded with a first flavour of Rosemary that was surprisingly strong. However, it soon softened off as the citrus flavour of the Clementine zest. A glance at the ingredients told me that there was also a hint of clove (thankfully only a hint), cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, oil of pine (making this my second “tree” chocolate) and (but of course) frankincense and myrrh. In other words, there’s been some rather serious experimentation and blending going on to arrive at the final recipe.
The thing is – is this just a gimmicky Christmas novelty? The chocolate itself is excellent stuff. Dark, rich, soft on the palate, and it manages to make itself ‘heard’ above the zesty, spicy, Christmas flavours. The blend of flavours has obviously been perfected (one can only imagine how many hours were spent making THIS happen) and the whole thing hangs together very well. I found mysef admiring the Cocoa Bean sisters for daring to attempt this, and for pulling it off so well. It ought to be a limited edition just because of what it is, but I think it goes beyond ‘gimmick’. Think of it more like a Christmas special – like the seasonal edition of one of your favourite TV programmes. It’s brave, slightly wacky, and very tasty.
Definitely something special for a stocking filler or your Christmas hamper.
Information
- Buy it online from:
- Contains dark chocolate (53% cocoa solids).
- Filed under cardamom, christmas, cinnamon, clementine, cocoa bean, dark chocolate, frankincense, ireland, myrrh, nutmeg, pine, rosemary.
Back to coffee again.
Although these truffles are really very different from the Mocha Dark Chocolate bar. Being espresso, the coffee lends a dark, rich tone. It’s much nicer infused in the filling, becoming a very part of the chocolate, than in pieces. The extra smoothness of the truffle form adds a nice gentleness.
They’re delicious… but with a certain level of success reached, there are new levels of standards. When these taste so nice and look presentable, I find a problem. The word “truffles.” Such a sacred word it is, evocative of either moist, smooth, and rich beings like the Joseph Schmidt chocolates or divine and handmade rustics rolled in cocoa powder.
After having tasted these and the Starbucks Chai Truffles I believe the word is used a bit too liberally. But, good news, that’s my only complaint.
I was excited to see Milka on the supermarket shelves again because it’s been absent from my chocolate neck of the woods for many years for reasons unknown. My Austrian isn’t too good, but I think it says ‘Milk Chocolate with Alpine Milk.’ Now bear in mind that Alpine here in Australia is a menthol-flavoured cigarette brand, so I’ll assume they mean lactose liquid from cows that stand on Swiss hills. Or some such.
It was nice to see that it has grown to 200g blocks instead of the measly 100g blocks I remember buying back in the 1990s, but this was the only flavour available and not my utter Milka favourite, the coffee milk.
Undressed and no longer purple, the block revealed smaller, chunkier squares but with the same old Milka logo – I could barely control myself long enough to take this photo (I know it is very sad but you’ve got to take your thrills where you can find them).
Surprisingly, what Milka Alpine Milk reminded me of was – wait for it – Cadbury Dairy Milk. I was in shock: were my usually-reliable taste buds on strike? Was I wrong in trying this with a glass of red wine after dinner? Was I past this challenging chocolate tasting lark? Had I eaten too much Lindt? Actually, don’t answer my last question.
Whatever the reason, it tasted nice. Not astounding, not different, but nice. Love Chunks and Sapphire enjoyed it as well and we all admitted that because it had been a while since we’d eaten milk chocolate, we three Dark Siders might just automatically compare it to Cadbury Dairy Milk because it was only 30% cocoa solids. It certainly didn’t taste as buttery creamy as Lindt’s milk chocolate does and was very sweet. This was confirmed when I looked at the ingredients – sugar was the first on the list, consisting of nearly 60% of the entire block – that’s virtually the sweetest I’ve ever tasted so far.
Perhaps I need to buy another block (I know, the sacrifices I make for chocablogging accuracy) and eat it alongside a Cadbury’s plain Dairy Milk to fully test out my initial taste result. I’d also be keen to know what other chocoblog readers think.
I recently found myself in Spain again, and was delighted to discover that there’s a Chocolat Factory outlet in the airport. Naturally, I re-supplied with Chocolate & Pear Jam, but I also took time to select a handful of new items to share with you.
If I’d had more sleep the night before I would probably have taken some photos of the shop, the unique and rather lovely packaging (CF have won numerous packaging awards) and the very helpful assistant. As it was I was on limited time, as my travelling companion had more interest in retrieving bags and getting to the hotel than buying top notch chocs. Ah well.
This was actually the last item I chose, I almost overlooked it but the texture of the bar inside the sellophane wrapping intrigued me, and so I asked what it was. When I was told that this bar was made with sunflower seeds that was the decider. Into my funky CF carrier bag it went.
As you can see, it is indeed made up of sunflower seeds and chocolate. The look of both the packaging and the contents reminded me of handmade fudge shops and village fetes. The chocolate bar itself looks like something made to be sold at a school fair or National Trust gift shop, but the clear bag is becoming more and more popular, so perhaps these venerable institutions were just ahead of their time?
When it came to tasting time, this bar didn’t disappoint. A dark cocoa flavour to begin with, and the chocolate quickly melts, freeing up a host of roasted sunflower seeds and the occasional tiny salt crystal, which works brilliantly as both counterpart to the chocolate and compliment to the nutty flavour of the seeds.. The slightly bittersweet chocolate flavours combined with the sunflower seeds are almost praline-like, giving a very satisfying finish.
My only complaint has to be that it was so moreish that before I knew what had happened, I’d demolished almost my entire slab! A very well thought out combination, and one which I have no hesitation in recommending.
