This is the second Leysieffer bar I have sampled, and it couldn’t be more of a contrast to the previous (Dark chocolate and Elderflower) bar I tried a while back. Many thanks to my little helper who selected these two for me, despite not knowing what was in them.
As you now know from watching Dr. Kiki’s video lecture on chocolate, white chocolate is made without cocoa liquor, making it sweeter, softer and (to my mind) a little blander, so the thought of an additional spicy cinnamon kick cheered me up a little.
However, when it came to the crunch I was left thinking that actually a little crunch might have been a good idea.
The cinnamon flavour was there but in a very subtle way, so that the overall taste was, once again, good old bland white chocolate. Notes of cinnamon were apparent when I sniffed it and when it first hit my tongue, but they never really developed into anything stronger than a hint, and that just made the overall experience just a little too soft and creamy for my liking.
Compared to the mouthwatering loveliness of the Elderflower bar this is a very poor second in my opinion. Of course, someone who loves white chocolate would probably beg to differ, but as a lover of the darker tastes I continue to find that white chocolate lacks that certain ‘oomf’ that only comes with a good dose of cocoa solids.
In-house brands owned by supermarket chains don’t normally generate an ‘Oh, this must be really good’ response for most shoppers, this one included. Coles supermarkets are the largest chain here in Australia and have re-launched their home brand to one that is either a wish or an order: “You’ll Love Coles…” we hope? Or is it “or else”?
They have had a Belgian chocolate range out for a while now and I’ve studiously avoided it until my daughter, becoming increasingly wise to the fact that I’ll buy chocolate if it’s new to our household, kept going on about it every time we went shopping. Finally, when it was on offer at half price, we got ourselves a block.
The block was very plain looking and didn’t suggest anything other than a run of the mill taste was to come. Fingers were crossed that the dreaded C-word (compounded) wasn’t about to emerge. As I’ve come to discover however, looks can be deceiving. These innocuous squares of bittersweet bliss were delightful. Not overly creamy or easily dissolved but the kind of dark you can happily chew into, enjoying the solid cocoa taste and eagerly reaching for more. It is quite dense in texture and pleasantly filling and would go down a treat with a glass of red. It was also a relief to see that it contains 46% cocoa solids and no scary ingredients.
Intriguingly, the photo on the front of the wrapper is of a chap named Ignace Liebeert, who Coles have described as a ‘Master Chocolatier’. Well he’s certainly not bad. A bit of googling reveals that he is part of family-owned business ItaloSuisse, who produce over 55,000 of dark chocolate each day with about 60% of it heading overseas. Their website makes for an amusing read when translated:
“We are also very straddles the health and safety,” says Ignatius Libeert, Head of Sales. “Our approach is focused on quality, even for children. This is not the case in other countries, where one product the hyper cheap for them to be accessible directly to their scholarship.” The website goes on to describe their chocolate as “the subjects are hollow, they preferred the children, always sensitive to new figures.”
Hmmm, very intriguing; and delicious: even more so.
It’s funny how these days part of any trip away always involves a quick hunt around for new and unusual chocolate to bring to the attention of Chocablog readers.
Well, the other day I was in Vienna and I happened to come across the Manner shop in the town centre. Manner are famous manufacturers of wafers, nougat, sweets and chocolate. This little box of Idelfonso Nougat chocolate contained 48% cocoa chocolate and was very nicely put together for a small product. Each piece came banded with a quotation (in German) from various famous philosopher or other historical figure.
The chocolate itself was slightly too sweet but the nougat flavours came through well. The finishing flavours were definitely nougat and bittersweet chocolate. The mouthfeel was smooth and the balance of flavours never went too far in one direction.
A tasty little treat.
I noticed this little box of chocs on display prominently in my local Thorntons so decided to give them a try. They had rather a lot of them on the shelf right at the front of the store, so they were either promoting them heavily, or it was simply a matter of nobody wanting to buy them.
The first thing I noticed was the price. 99p for a very tiny, very light (43g) box of 6 equally tiny and light chocolates. They’d better be good.
The actual chocolates are individually foil wrapped and look a little like mini Quality Street. Pretty colours, but clearly they’re not going for the higher end of the market with these.
The six chocolates are: Soft caramel, Creamy Fudge, Chocolate Truffle, Crunchy Praline, Double Chocolate Croquant and Orange Crisp. And it’s really not worth reviewing them individually. They’re all milk chocolates (with the excepion of the Croquant which also has a white chocolate layer). They’re all soft centres (despite the packaging showing whole nuts!). They’re all just a little too sweet for my tastes, but they’re not bad.
The trouble is – and this is something that repeatedly affects Thorntons chocolates – that they are just bland. It’s as if the person who came up with this had no real enthusiasm for chocolate, but just decided to chuck a few cheapo chocolate recipes form 30 years ago into a box and sell it for as much as possible.
Given Thorntons recent return to form with their Summer Collection, this is a real shame. They obviously do have skilled chocolatiers, but it still seems that the management either don’t understand we’ve all moved on since 1975… or they simply don’t care.
