“Fragrant figs ripened in the Aegean sun, paired with zesty oranges, enveloped in our rich dark chocolate. Heaven.”
Sounds good, doesn’t it? Certainly my first chocolate/fig combination, and from a company I normally associate with pasta sauces!
The back of the wrapper continues in the same vein, asking the buyer to summon all their willpower and hold back while breathing in this chocolate’s aroma. They have used Trinitario cocoa, orange zest and figs from the female trees (apparently male figs are inferior) to produce this bar, and they’re obviously very proud of it. The interior of the wrapper hasn’t been wasted either. Open it out and stand by for a potted history of the company and a rundown of where they source their ingredients from.
I liked this approach to presentation. It’s informal, informative, well laid out and makes good use of the space available. As for the chocolate itself, I’m pleased to report that it doesn’t disappoint either. At 59% it’s reasonably dark, and the zesty tangerine flavours of the orange hit as soon as this touches your tongue. As the chocolate melts away, the citrus flavours continue to build in a most pleasant way and the little chunks of fig are set free to be chewed up with the last of the chocolate. It’s the fig taste that you’re left with at the finish as you chew up the remaining pieces rounding off what I consider to be a jolly tasty little chocolate bar.
Of course being organic means that it’s not cheap, but I think Seeds of Change are onto a winner here. There are a few other bars in this range, and based on my impressions of this one, I wouldn’t be too surprised if you see others appearing on Chocablog in the near future.
Thank you M&Ms Australia, thank you! You may have disappointed me last year when you advised that it was too difficult to manufacture Peanut Butter M&Ms in Australia due to not having the correct machinery or the will to even attempt to do so for your most ardent fans and so on and so forth but you’ve more than made up for it by introducing us to your new line of M&Ms with dark chocolate!
What I don’t understand is the total lack of fanfare for this fantastic new flavour. I haven’t seen any advertising anywhere for these little discs of delight and they were nearly hidden amongst all of the Christmas-themed boxes and bars lining my local supermarket shelves. Somehow my true Chocoblog nose won out and I soon found them. Delicious destiny.
It was difficult to tell who was more excited about the smallish 225g bag in my hands – me, the reviewer, or Love Chunks, my ever-willing tasting assistant and husband. We decided that a perfect M&M munching opportunity would be in front of the telly that night.
We weren’t disappointed. The dark chocolate was a distinctly different – and much nicer – taste than the usual milk chocolate variety. Not that I don’t love the milk chocolate M&Ms (because I do and have inhaled more than my fair share of the little fellas) but these new dark ones are in a class of their own.
A glance at the back of the packet – after shaking it in the hopes that a few lone Ms might be still hiding in there – revealed that the chocolate consists of a minimum 42% cocoa solids. As such, the Dark Side Dwellers amongst us might scoff at Mars Confectionery’s definition of ‘dark’ but my taste buds weren’t worried in the slightest. M&Ms’ delightfully crispy outer shell also meant that they were on the sweeter end of the scale and most definitely more-ish. One gorilla-sized handful was nowhere enough.
You can accuse me of pathetically clutching at straws, but I noted that the fat content of these divine little delicacies was 23.5g per 100g, which, if compared to the dark Lindt chocolate fat content of 42g seemed almost diet-like in comparison. Well I was certainly going to try and tell myself that after scoffing my exact share – 112.5g – of the bag in less than half an hour….
In the word’s of Australia’s oldest and vaguest pop-music guru, Molly Meldrum, “Do yourself a favour” and get yourself a bag or seven of these dark blue beauties. Stat.
Sylvia pointed me toward this interesting article about a Japanese company who have come up with a method of infusing fresh fruits with chocolate.
The fruit is first freeze dried, the water is removed and chocolate is “infused” into the gaps left behind.
Scientists at Fresh Functional Food Composite, the company behind this innovation originally developed the technology for industrial use. Figures.
Personally, I can’t say I’m entirely convinced. After all, it was “scientists” who came up with the idea of non-melting chocolate a while back… ’nuff said
Since I first posted a review of a Petits Desserts bar, both Dom and I have been wowed by the authenticity and the quality of what is obviously a premium product, so discovering another, untried Petits Desserts bar is something of a coup. It’s a pretty safe bet that when you taste one of these bars, you’re in for something special.
This particular slab of loveliness is made up of a 47% dark chocolate exterior which is home to a soft, dark mousse filling containing orange zest. The outer layer is suitably bittersweet, and the filing is quite simply divine. A dark, melting mousse with a tang of orange and tiny pieces of orange zest. Now THIS is chocolate orange!
Of course, as we have previously noted, Petits Desserts don’t come cheap. However, this isn’t a bar you’re likely to consume in five minutes, It’s very rich, quite dark tasting, and really does put me in mind of a rich chocolate mousse. I could see this being served up with a cup of good strong coffee to round off a meal, and being very much appreciated by all.
Like it’s companions in this range, Petits Desserts Dark Orange s a fine example of the art of Lindt’s chocolatiers. It’s top of the range stuff, and it tastes like it. All I can hope is that they continue to produce more Petits Desserts, because we have yet to find one that hasn’t made us want to wax lyrical about it. These are for special occasions, or for when you feel like you deserve something special – and special is precisely what they are.
