As pointed out by GarnetFox in a comment on my Lindt Cherry/Chilli bar review, Green & Black’s also make a cherry chocolate. The Chocablog Rapid Response Team™ swung into action and acquired one of these bars to see how it fares when compared to the recent rash of cherry-related products that have been staining my shirts.
Green & Black’s bar uses a 60% ‘bittersweet’ chocolate, placing it in the middle of the cocoa content scale for the three cherry/chocolate products I have reviewed. Unlike the Lindt bar, the cherries are whole, dried (and of course organic) tart little things, comprising 20% of the overall bulk of the bar.
Of course, the immediate effect of using whole dried cherries in a bar like this is that it is impossible to snap the chocolate along the guidelines scored into the bar. One simply has to allow the cherries to dictate where the bar breaks.
Unlike the Holland & Barrett cherries, G&B seem to have managed to source cherries of fairly uniform size for their bar (probably just as well when you think about it – they’d never manage to make a flat product otherwise!). When you snap off a piece, it’s somewhat reminiscent of the perrenial favourite Cadbury’s Fruit & Nut – bits of fruit protruding through the chocolate and creating little craters in the bar where they came out.
The chocolate is, as one might expect, delightfully bittersweet and acts as a perfect counterpoint to the sharpness of the dried cherries. The cherries themselves are remarkably similar in taste to the Holland & Barrett cherries, but the chocolate that surrounds them is definitely a more adult oriented product. Where the Lindt bar offered smoothness due to the cherry content being more jam-like, this bar leaves you with a mouthful of delightfully tart little cherry bits to chew over once the chocolate has melted away.
With the chocolate being slightly less cocoa-heavy (10% less in fact) than the Lindt bar, and because it doesn’t also have chilli in the equation, this bar is remarkably moreish. As I sit and write these final sentences I am surprised to see that I have already hoovered up half of the bar! No doubt then that this is a winner.
Oh, and did I mention that Sainsbury’s are currently offering them at half price? See you in the sweetie aisle!
Once again, I have found another Lindt bar to sample, and this one is perhaps the most unusual of their bars I have seen on general sale in the UK. Chilli and chocolate in itself is nothing too left field, but it was the addition of cherry to the filling that had me raising an eyebrow in its general direction.
As previous reviews will attest, I have every confidence in Lindt’s chocolatiers, so after forking over a large amount of money for the bar, I made my way, Charlie Bucket-like, back to work to have a nibble of a corner. (Koff)
I decided to offer one of my co-workers (the guy who had in fact accompanied me to Perugia and was therefore well appraised of my, errrm, ‘interest’ in chocolate) a sample as well, so I sat down with him and broke off two shiny, wonderful smelling squares which we ate simultaneously.
We sat there chewing and making appreciative noises ( “Mmm yes. definitely great chocolate” “The cherry filling is rather lovely” etc.) until almost in unison we expressed a lack of chilli tang to the product. Still munching, we made our way to our little areas to continue working, as I wondered to myself if it were possible that Lindt had somehow managed to screw up a product.
It was as the last bits of chocolate were melting away that I was suddenly aware of a spreading warmth on my tongue – the chilli had arrived! Almost at the same instant, my friend reappeared and said “NOW I get the chilli!”
So somehow those clever so-and-so’s at Lindt have managed to produce a bar that releases it’s flavours over time. First you get the luscious dark chocolate, then comes the sweetness of the cherry filling, and as you’re finishing your mouthful, the chilli element creeps out onto your palate for a gentle, warming finish. A marvellous achievement on their part, and a great bar to tantalise your friends’ taste buds with.
Of all the chilli or spice chocolate I’ve tried, I would say that this is perhaps the most gentle, making it a good choice for a first chilli/choc experience. It’s also fairly rare to see any chocolate with cherries in here in the UK (unless you count Holland & Barrett’s chocolate coated cherries). Of course, being Lindt, it’s also made of some seriously yummy stuff, and while not cheap, it’s a mighty fine bar to offer round after dinner.
Another point to the Swiss.
Migraine Medicine
I am a loud and proud chocoholic who is also a migraine sufferer. Yes yes yes, I know that chocolate is a forbidden food that medical experts recommend that migraine sufferers steer clear of, but it hasn’t made any difference in my case, fortunately. I had a few miserable months – on several different occasions – suffering an entirely chocolate-free existence but Mr Migraine still elected to keep on visiting me on a far-too-regular basis.
The weird fact about having migraines is that when they have hit you in full force, being able to get down a good dose of caffeine actually helps reduce your swollen serotonin levels and quieten down those satanic gnomes playing techno music on your synapses. To put it more bluntly, it somehow allows my poor, thudding head to unfold from the foetal position and gives me an hour or two to get out of work and straight into bed or to do what I have to do before Mr Migraine gives me another king-hit to the head
This all leads to Cocolo, an Australian-branded organic and fair-trade chocolate that is actually manufactured in Switzerland. As such, it’s not cheap (about $6 for a 100g block is the cheapest price I can find for it), but the premium dark bar has 70% Bolivian and Peruvian cocoa mass, cane juice from the Philippines and cocoa butter from the Dominican republic, resulting in the involvement of six countries to bring about its existence. This all sounds very socially-aware and worthy, but how does it taste?
Pretty bloody great actually. When this marvelous migraine medication is taken with a cup of good Italian espresso coffee (country total now seven) it does its very best to give Mr Migraine a swift kick in the groin. Cocolo has a bitter taste and its strength of flavour complements coffee perfectly. It is not as creamy-feeling as some seventy percenters and has a slightly grainy texture so I wasn’t as tempted to inhale the entire bar in one sitting.
I don’t think it’s a ‘Stay in and watch a DVD with a glass of Baileys on Friday night’ kind of chocolate because it isn’t sweet enough, but it sure packs a cocoa-caffeine punch that enabled me to stagger out of bed by lunch time instead of bed time the other day. It also beats taking codeine and having to barf up in a bucket every half hour or so… I suggest that every major hospital emergency department stocks up on these blocks to save money spent on pethidine!
In the continuing saga of Cadbury’s hygiene problems, the chocolate company appeared in court today.
According to The Guardian, the company intends to plead guilty to six counts of contravening food hygiene regulations.
The case is in relation to last year’s salmonella outbreak and subsequent product recall.
(There is no word on whether they’ll be recalling Boost for being generally a bit crap and boring. But it seems unlikely.)
