Last week I took a look at the Gourmet Truffles from Mackinac Island Fudge Shop, but now it’s time for big boys. What we have here is three large slices of chocolate flavoured Mackinac Fudge. In a nice box with a ribbon.
Firstly, I want to say that American fudge and English fudge are a bit different. Generally speaking, American fudge is a little smoother, a bit more moist and dense (making it heavier), whereas English fudge is usually a bit drier and more crumbly. They are both delicious… just different.
American fudge is more likely to come in weird and wonderful flavours. But being Chocablog, we’re just interested in the chocolate varieties…
What we have here is three flavours; Chocolate, Chocolate Peanut Butter and Chocolate Walnut.
I’m pleased to report that they are all delicious. They’re smooth, sweet and properly chocolatey. And despite being quite heavy, they melt in the mouth beautifully. They’re all very sweet, but you’re not going to eat these in one sitting. Just break off a small piece to nibble on with your morning coffee. Yum.
My favourite of the three varieties is definitely the Chocolate Walnut. The nuts are light and crispy and really add to the texture and flavour of the fudge. I wasn’t so keen on the Peanut Butter variety and found it just a bit too sweet and peanutty for my tastes. The ‘plain’ chocolate variety comes somewhere between the two.
Despite the fact that I’m convinced you could get diabetes just by looking at these gorgeous fudges, I highly recommend them. The cost of shipping may not make them practical if you’re outside the US. But shipping costs aside, these go straight onto my ‘recommended’ list.
While Dom was busy blindfolding himself and playing games with Hotel Chocolat’s Secrets and Desires box, I was nibbling my way through this – the Love Selection. A seasonal selection of Hotel Chocolat’s slabs which included two Love Slabs (one dark, one milk chocolate), a Milk Chocolate Praline Fusion slab, and a milk chocolate Crostinin Fruit and Nut slab.
The Peepster Box is a novel way of packaging a set of four slabs. In effect, if you choose to go the Peepster route then the contents are your choice.
The first one to come under scrutiny was the Crostini Fruit and Nut slab. Having sampled many a HC chocolate, this was surprisingly busy. I’m used to tasting chocolates which rely on the subtle blending of one or two flavours with high quality chocolate, but this slab was a riot of cranberries, sultanas, almond pieces, whole hazelnuts and pieces of crostini biscuit. It was definitely quite unlike my usual Hotel Chocolat experiences, and while I enjoyed the combination of flavours, I did begin to wonder if HC had somehow decided to reinvent the greatly missed Fuse Bar. Despite the over the top nature of the bar, it was possible to make out the flavours of all of the constituents, and the fruit and nuts were of a very high quality. The sultanas are enormous, very juicy and bursting with flavour, the cranberries are similarly large and provide an excellent tart counterpoint to the chocolate, and the hazelnuts are perfectly roasted and very crunchy. A very posh Fuse Bar indeed!
The two Love Slabs contain the crispy pancake pieces which I made note of when I reviewed the Seasonal Selection Box. I really liked the crunchy layers in the chocolate, and they make a welcome re-appearance in this bar, alongside some very tart little sour cherries. The bar itself is made of either dark or milk chocolate blended with white chocolate which has been colourised pink with beetroot extract. I have to admit that I’m not a big fan of white chocolate, but I’m sure there are plenty of people who would love the creamy, milky taste of one half of these bars, especially when the crispy pancake pieces start to make themselves known to your tongue, or you hit one of the wonderfully tart little cherries.
The Milk Chocolate Praline Fusion Slab is a combination of milk and white chocolate and hazelnut praline. The addition of he white chocolate gives it a slightly sweet flavour and the overall blend has the most incredibly soft feel in the mouth. It’s almost bordering on melting in the packet, and as soon as you pop a piece in your mouth it’s melting away. The combination of praline and the two chocolates is lovely and creamy, if a little on the sweet and rich side (don’t overdo it!).
My overall impression of this selection is that it tends to err on the side of the softer, sweeter tastes – not something I have come to associate Hotel Chocolat with, but having said that they do carry it off very well (as one might expect from a premium brand). If you love your milk and white chocolate and occasionally visit the Dark Side then I’d say this was an excellent selection. It’s certainly another great way of exploring Hotel Chocolat’s increasingly diverse range of bars and slabs, and as ever it’s tastefully packaged. An excellent gift for your (chocolate) lover.
In case you were wondering, this one’s Italian.
Perugina are owned by Nestlé Italia, but don’t let that put you off. This is proper dark chocolate – a gift from a friend who recently took a long weekend in Italy.
Florence, I believe… the city, I mean. My friend was not in The Magic Roundabout. As far as I know…
But I digress.
I didn’t really know what to expect when I opened the box. I don’t speak Italian and the illustration on the box doesn’t give a lot away. But I was pleasantly surprised…
The box contains 12 small “slabs” of rich, dark, glossy chocolate. A few had been broken on the journey back from Italy, but that didn’t spoil my enjoyment in any way.
Each slab is about 3mm thick and roughly the same shape size and shape as a credit card. Indeed, these would probably make quite an acceptable form of currency. They just look and feel like a quality product. Break one in half and it snaps with a satisfying ‘thunk’.
Taste-wise, it’s rich and not too sweet, but the flavour has none of the interesting or subtle overtones that, say, the Amano dark chocolate I reviewed the other week had.
Personally, I don’t mind that – the chocolateyness alone carries it.
I think these would be the perfect accompaniment to a nice cup of coffee… or even better, break a couple into a bowl of vanilla ice cream in the summer. They’re pretty good on their own just to nibble on, but they’re not a “stuff your face” kind of chocolate.
I’d guess this is aimed at the “middle of the road” market. It’s above average, but not quite in the same league as something like the Amano or Hotel Chocolat dark chocolates I’ve tasted lately.
Great for sharing with friends over coffee or ice cream… but you’d have to find it first, and I don’t think it’s quite worth a trip to Italy.
During my brief foray into radio the other day, a listener rang in to suggest that I track down a “chocolate fizzy drink” made in South Australia.
I’d never heard of it and was duly intrigued. A visit to Bracegirdle’s specialty chocolate café saw me pay $4 for a 250ml bottle of a liquid that resembled Coca-cola and I’ll have you know that I saw a 99% cocoa content bar there that I might get up the courage to try another day. I also sought out a childhood favourite, a packet of Allen’s Chicos because the caller reckoned that Chocolade tasted a bit like them.
Firstly, the Chicos.
The only way I can describe them (especially if we ignore the particularly cringe-worthy design of the packaging) is that they are the consistently of jelly babies (or, in the UK’s case, wine gum?) but with a rather pleasant chocolate flavour. Yes, the first ingredient is sugar – cunningly disguised as ‘glucose syrup’ and then followed by ‘sugar’ but they also have full cream milk powder and cocoa in them as well. They are exceptionally soft and designed so that it is impossible to stick to one – or even one handful.
So, did the Chocolade stack up to the Chicos? Yes and no.
The design of the bottle is rather elegant, presumably to help me get over paying $4 for 250ml. This seems very steep, especially when, like all other carbonated drinks at a quarter of the price, its main ingredient is water, sugar, flavours and food acid. Also, the girl who served me in the shop said that they don’t sell too many of them, as “Customers are a bit freaked out by drinking cold fizzy chocolate – they’d rather have a chocolate milk or hot drink with their cakes, truffles and fondues.” Fair enough.
Chocolade did remind me of Chicos but as a liquid it was more a weird experience than a pleasant one. After giving my eight year old a few sips to try, she declared it “Delicious!” which is odd considering that she loathes Chicos. My husband Love Chunks on the other hand, hated it. “Bleuuggh, it might as well be Frangelico mixed with tonic water,” he gasped, spitting it down the sink and washing his mouth out with water. (Needless to say he had a ‘big night’ on the grape water a few years ago. The good times ended when the bottle of Frangelico was brought out from the back of the drinks cabinet. He then spent the next day clutching the ‘white porcelain phone to God’ and has disliked the liqueur ever since).
Therefore, I would describe Chocolade as a curiosity to try the once rather than a new drink sensation that will force us all to give Coke, hot chocolate and iced coffee the big elbow forever.
