As a brave and bold Australian chocolate reviewer, the question I get asked most often is, “Why haven’t you written about Haigh’s chocolates yet?” My answer has always been, “Because they’re so good, so huge in the chocophile world that I just don’t know where to start.”
Well, it’s high time I talked about them seeing as my heart, taste buds, waistline and wallet have all been significantly influenced and changed by this particular institution. Haigh’s have been making the best chocolates in Australia (yes, you heard me) since 1915, in my own proud state of South Australia. Apart from being owned and run by fourth generation Haigh’s lads, they are only one of two chocolatiers in our big brown land (how appropriate) who make their chocolate direct from the raw cocoa bean.
They also offer brief tours of their Parkside factory and it was there, for the first time, I got to see and touch a cocoa pod (not unlike a wizened paw paw) and see the beans (similar to almonds in appearance). The guide, a friendly gal called Naomi – who proudly pointed out her mother on the factory floor getting stuck into making huge slabs of Rocky Road – explained that Haigh’s source their beans from Ghana, Ecuador and Papua New Guinea. We were told about the roasting, winnowing, grinding, pressing, three days worth of conching process, but were most definitely not allowed to see it (even some staff have only ever visited the bean-to-chocolate factory, located elsewhere once, or perhaps never). She also told us that Haigh’s had been contacted by cocoa bean growers in other countries but decided not to use them because the beans weren’t up to scratch. Perfectionists indeed.
We did see the part of the factory where they used the liquid chocolate to make the stuff we love. It was noisy and yet the scent of fresh, sweet, dark chocolate was truly intoxicating. The ‘panned’ fruits and nuts were being gently rolled around in enormous copper bowls, being lightly sprayed in chocolate and then gently coated in a thin layer of sugar to add the gloss. How I wish I could have clambered in and joined those lucky little nuggets! The staff looked genuinely involved in their work and seeing the soft centres being hand-filled and decorated on a conveyor belt and some champagne truffles being made by two very dexterous ladies holding an animated conversation was a delight.
Enough of all that adulation, you say. What about the chocolate? I’ll tell you next time…
(Picture from Haigh’s customer centre store, Parkside. We were expressly forbidden to take any photographs or videos of their factory.)
I recently spent a couple of days in Athens, and of course any trip abroad instantly turns into a chance to hunt for new and unusual bars to bring to your attention. After all, most of us holiday at some time or another, and if you read Chocablog regularly you might just be interested in knowing what’s good to nibble on while you’re having fun in the sun.
This bar is made by Kraft, probably better known for their dairy products here in he UK, and it boasts a praline and wafer (the ‘waffle’ part) layer coated in milk chocolate. The praline layer is given extra texture by the addition of crushed caramelised hazelnuts.
It’s a good size, as the wafer layer is quite thick, but it still weighs in at 100g. It’s made in Greece, so I don’t know if it has counterparts in other EU countries. The milk chocolate is almost British Standard – i.e. it’s pretty low in cocoa content at 25%. The other thing I noticed when I tried it was that the whole thing is very sweet. While I was eating a piece I glanced at the nutrition information and discovered that this bar is actually slightly more than 50% sugar! Either the Greeks have a collective sweet tooth, or I just bought something intended for the younger inhabitants.
I found the combination of textures (chocolate, light, crisp wafer and nutty praline) rather pleasant, but the sugariness was overwhelming. When I tested it on the Junior Tasting Corps, they lapped it up (of course), but I was very careful not to give them too much in one sitting, lest I had to strap them down later.
Personally, I could see myself really enjoying a dark version of this bar, made with better quality chocolate, and less sugar. Perhaps Kraft might go posh and start making more adult-oriented choccies, but until then I’ll be avoiding this one.
I was quite excited to find this bar in M&S Simply Food in Marylebone Station earlier this week. Not only is it an obvious Toblerone rip-off, but it also looks uncannily like the Mahony bar that Kath reviewed a couple of weeks ago.
In fact, if you were to go on looks alone, you would swear this is exactly the same bar. But looking at the ingredients, it does appear to be very slightly different from the Mahony bar. With 30% cocoa solids and 33.9g of fat per 100g, it’s clear what this is. It’s a generic no-brand version of the Mahony bar made by Frey with slightly inferior ingredients to distinguish it from their own bar.
But it can’t be that different, because it looks and tastes exactly as Kath described. The honey pieces don’t have quite as much flavour as a Toblerone and the chocolate is a little sweeter and creamier, but this is definitely a winner.
But here’s the kicker. One of the main attractions of the Mahony bar is that it’s cheaper than Toblerone. Well this 100g bar cost me £1.15. You can pick up a 100g bar of Toberlone for 99p. I’m not entirely sure what’s going on here. Are we paying a premium for the M&S brand? That wouldn’t surprise me.
In conclusion, while this is a tasty little bar to try if you happen to be passing a Marks & Spencer food store, it’s probably not going to be much more than a curiosity, simply because the “real thing” is cheaper – and better.
Chocablog stalwarts will no doubt remember the heroic efforts I made in reviewing no fewer than eight Dolfin ‘taster’ bars last year. I was already well aware of Dolfin’s fine products, and finding that so many of the bars I tried were in fact rather lovely means that I now have a little ‘Dolfin-recognition’ reflex when browsing chocolate shops.
Well, I was in Athens airport of all places when I clocked a couple of new bars in a display of Dolfin chocolate, so naturally I snapped them up. A new twist is that this is, apparently, a limited edition for 2008, ‘entitled’ Summer Memories (possibly a slightly optimistic name for a chocolate bar given the appalling summer weather we endured last year).
‘Apple Crumble’ also had my mind ticking over. Were Dolfin trying to recreate a classic English dessert, or was I taking ‘crumble’ out of context?
Well, what we have here is a blend of Dolfin’s excellent 60% dark chocolate, apple, hazelnuts, sugarcane and (of course) a little cinnamon. The chocolate contains tiny (no, tinier than that) fragments of what seems to be freeze dried apple, and the dark chocolate is given a rich sweetness by the additional sugar cane. I believe that this is another first for me – apple and chocolate – and I found it very palatable indeed. Dolfin have, true to form, blended their chosen ingredients together in a masterful style, and in doing so have managed to come up with yet another uniquely flavoured bar to tempt us with.
Of course it’s well worth looking out for. Yes, it tastes fab. Unfortunately I have no idea how long this will be around for. It’s one of four that are being made available for this year only. Exact dates prove elusive, so my advice would be “if you see one, buy it”. You can’t really go wrong with Dolfin chocolate, If you like the sound of what the wrapper tells you is inside, it seldom disappoints.
