About a month ago, we got an email from a reader in Ireland asking if we’d heard about Nestlé’s complete revamp of its “Black Magic” brand. In an effort to get with the times, and “after thorough market research”, Nestlé have replaces their old-fashioned box of dark chocolates with bars of chocolate.
Well I’ve never really been that fond of Black Magic, but I’m aware that it’s been around in the UK since I was a kid, and when I happened to see this bar on sale in Waitrose, I thought I’d give it a go.
As you can see from the photos, the packaging is rather nice. Under that thick paper wrapper and foil, there’s a rather nice looking bar of chocolate as well.
Unfortunately, that’s where it starts to go a bit wrong. It seems that Nestlé have updated the branding for modern tastes, but haven’t bothered to update the chocolate at all. It’s the dullest, blandest dark chocolate I’ve ever tasted.
According to the wrapper, this is a 52% bar, so I wasn’t expecting a great deal, but other than the initial, decidedly average chocolate taste, there are no other interesting flavour notes here at all. It’s the exact same issue that Deanna talked about in her Guittard review – it neither has the creaminess milk chocolate or the flavour of dark chocolate.
The wrapper describes it as “mellow”, but what they really mean is “No Added Interestingness”. But even the description Nestlé give it confirms to me that they’re fully aware this bar has no taste at all.
The fruit and nut don’t add a great deal either. Very occasionally you’ll get something stuck in your teeth, which relieves the boredom for a few seconds, but that’s about it.
It seems to me that this is a blatant attempt to get some of the Green & Black’s market, but the problem is all Nestlé have done is changed the wrapper and the logo. That might fool people the first time they buy it, but they won’t come back for more.
At least you knew you were getting something naff back in the 80s….
Coeur de Caramel au Beurre Demi-Sel & Coeur de Nougat
How interesting to find Kath singing the praises of a Nestlé bar the day I decide to review these two offerings from France (bought in Spain, as it happens).
Nestlé’s “Coeur De” range is not, to the best of my knowledge, available in the UK, so I was interested to see how it would measure up to other, more recent (and distinctly more posh) milk chocolates. Both of these bars use the same milk chocolate, and I was somewhat surprised to find that the cocoa content wasn’t listed on the packaging. Not a great start, as far as I’m concerned.
Couer De Caramel (au beurre demi-sel) had a layer of crunchy caramel surrounded by milk chocolate. Well, I say surrounded, but once I tried to break the bar into squares it became very apparent that the alliance between chocolate and filling was an uneasy one. The chocolate couldn’t wait to get away from the Daim-like layer of caramel – possibly due to the fact that this type of caramel has a slightly oily sheen, but also equally possibly because the milk chocolate is of such low quality.
It’s waxy, not very creamy, unpleasant in the mouth, and delivers very little flavour.
The caramel part of the bar is perfectly acceptable (if a little on the sweet side), but I’m afraid Nestlé haven’t built a reputation for making caramel, and this bar is not going to do them any favours in the face of such huge competition these days.
Having disliked the first bar so much, I have to admit that the prospect of Couer De Nougat didn’t thrill me. Same cheap, nasty milk chocolate but with a thin layer of chewy nougat to repel the chocolate, and boy, was it chewy! My initial attempt to break the bar along the lines given proved fruitless. At one point I considered resorting to a pair of scissors to divide this one up properly! Again, the filling is perfectly acceptable but very sweet, and the chocolate is completely forgettable.
How on earth Nestlé think they can get away with punting this sort of dreadful old rubbish out when all over the world people are waking up to the huge range of complex flavours and taste possibilities that good quality chocolate offers is beyond me. I don’t remember exactly how much I paid for these bars, but I know it was too much.
The milk chocolate used in these bars epitomises everything that’s wrong with mass produced, ‘industrial’ chocolate. Putting it into a well-designed box which hints at a luxurious taste experience just won’t cut it any more, Nestlé people. I’m sure you have the wherewithall to produce some half decent (or even excellent) chocolates, so why have you even bothered to begin inflicting this sort of nonsense on your customers?
Avoid.
I suppose if you were to ask my friends and acquaintances to name one thing about me, many of them would tell you that I do quite like my food. I enjoy cooking almost as much as I enjoy eating, and consequently I’m always keen to try new flavours.
I’ve been aware of Mole sauce for some time, but I’ve always baulked at the idea of preparing it, mainly because it requires a stack of ingredients, takes a long time to get right, and is very easy to bugger up. Imagine then my delight when I clocked this jar among the rack of dips at my local Sainsbury’s. Yes folks, if you’re keen to get as much chocolate in your diet as you can, you can now dip your nachos, tortillas and crudities in a spicy sauce with chocolate. They’ve even used Mexican chocolate for an authentic flavour.
Of course there are other ingredients as well – tomatoes (naturally) spices (of course) and haricot beans for texture, but believe it or not the chocolate flavour does actually come through as a finishing note. It’s very subtle, a little bittersweet, but definitely there. The initial tastes are spicy tomato with chipotle and jalapeno making a fiery mixture, then as the fire dies away the dark chocolate comes through as an interesting (if somewhat bizarre at first) finishing note.
The label informs me that this is another limited edition, so I guess I may have to attempt my own mole sauce at some point after all, but for now, I’m enjoying this dip a lot. Give it a go if you like your chocolate spicy!
For the first time in our thirteen year marriage, my darling husband Love Chunks actually got up from watching a live broadcast game of Australian Rules Football featuring his team the Adelaide Crows to tell me that the chocolate I’d just given him to taste was – in his words, “The. Best. Ever.” Wow.
As I was stunned silent, he added, “How come you didn’t get more blocks of this?”
That’s right, chocablogophiliacs, the new Lindt Creation 70% is that good. Now I’ve already raved about the Lindt 70% Intense Orange, and we were keen to try Lindt 70% caramel.
Lovely, lustrous, lyrical Lindt have finally answered my prayers for a hoped-for combination of good quality dark chocolate and caramel. I’m heartily sick of overly-sweet milk chocolate and what passes for caramel, and this beauty-of-a-block delivered salvation in spades. As with the orange flavour, the intensity of the dark just sings to the sweet lightness of the caramel, with both flavours mingling together and still producing two separate taste sensations on the tongue. The only complaint I have is that ten large squares divided into a household of three chocolate-lovers eager to get their fair share is rather difficult. We each took our turn to have four squares instead of three.
The third and final Lindt Creation 70% block of the terrific trio, Pure Chocolate, looked exactly the same as the other two, but without the additional layer. In this case, appearances were deceiving because it didn’t need anything else, and allowed the character and quality of the chocolate itself to shine through and I’m glad it was the last of the three we tried.
Pure Chocolate was truly delectable. The outside is nice and thickly coated; good enough to chomp or suck slowly. Then the inside introduces itself to the palate as a vastly superior version of whipped mousse. This is also dark chocolate but a substance so light that it cruelly captivates, tantalises and then disappears to leave the eater to enjoy the last few notes of the still dissolving hard chocolate.
The filling is not as buttery as the inside of their Lindor balls, but fluffier than their chocolate tart variety. For a few crazy moments I wished I was ant-sized so that I could belly-flop into the filling with my mouth open. Brilliant, top-class stuff.
Well done Lindt – I intend to have my will state that my ashes are to be scattered over your premises!
