Here’s another find from LIDL.
I came across these around the same time I found the J. D. Gross bars a couple of months ago and have been munching my way through them ever since. There are a variety of flavours (including cinnamon) available, but I have only tried the ‘pure’ chocolate version so far.
As you can see from the picture on the packet, these are whole roasted almonds ‘enrobed’ (as the posh choc makers like to say) in milk chocolate and dusted with cocoa powder, and they are quite simply delicious.
Pop one in your mouth and you get the immediate hit of the dark cocoa powder, followed almost immediately by the milk chocolate starting to melt and adding its sweetness to the mix. Bite down carefully and you can split the chocolate away from the nut and let it all melt away before you sink your teeth into a wonderfully crisp almond.
A word of warning – if you go to LIDL to buy these, don’t make the mistake I did and buy just one bag. They’re far too moreish – you’ll just end up monstering the first bag without realising it and then pining for more. I’d also beware of sharing them too. It just makes them disappear twice as fast!
Seriously recommended, and not too pricey either.
Every time I think of Fruit & Nut, this is what comes to mind:
That was over 30 years ago and I still know all the words.
These days of course, Fruit & Nut is part of the Dairy Milk ‘superbrand’, and as with a lot of the products in the range, it’s lost some of its appeal for me. I liked the fact that all these different chocolate bars had different branding. These days, there’s less scope to do fun things with different products in the brand and we’ve lost some of the best ads on TV.
Having said that, I do still like an occasional Fruit & Nut.
It’s not something I buy regularly (particularly now that I eat chocolate for a living!), but I do still buy it. The chocolate is exactly the same as a standard Dairy Milk bar, so if you want to know how it tastes, just go read the review. That way I don’t have to type it all again and I can concentrate on getting this piece of nut out of my teeth.
The nuts in Fruit & Nut are almonds, and don’t really taste of much. They do add a nice crunch to the bar, but in my opinion, they’re just a little too big – particularly in this small 49g bar – they often just stick out of the side. I think I’d prefer it if they were chopped up and spread more evenly through the chocolate.
The fruit part of the bar is raisins. There doesn’t seem to be as many raisins as there are nuts, but at least you can taste them. They have a nice fruity tang and add a distinct chewyness to the bar.
I’m the kind of person who will happily munch on a bag of mixed nuts & dried fruit, so the addition of chocolate makes this a nice snack for me. Other people may find it a little dull.
The name and branding may be different, but this bar hasn’t changed much in years. It could be improved, but I’m not sure I want Cadbury to change it.
You may have read my glowing review of this bar’s sister, Limette.
Well it is my sad duty to report that while the chocolate component of this bar is identical to the Limette bar, the chocolate aroma has been all but annihilated by an over-zealous maracuja oil putter-inner. This bar smells like it’s been sat in Great Aunt Agnes’ handkerchief draw for ten years. While I am rather partial to the odd passion fruit, the flavour of this bar is so overpowering as to render it unpalatable. It’s like accidentally getting perfume or deodorant on your tongue.
I have no idea who thought it would be a good idea to use so much Maracuja (yes, that’s passion fruit to you English speakers) but I’m afraid this bar scores a Chocoablog first for me.
People, may I present to you The Bar I Could Not Finish.
Need I say more?
Well I’m back in my usual territory here, sampling the more unusual dark chocolate products I love so well.
This is my third review of a Lindt product, and once again it’s remarkably different from the previous bars I have tasted (Creme Brulee and Caramel).
This bar is made from cocoa grown in the tropical forests of Baracoa, Cuba – not somewhere you’d automatically associate with chocolate production.
A glance at the back of the packet tells me that this is one of three regional bars (the other two being from Madagascar and Ecuador) and that it is the ‘mildest’ of the three at 55% cocoa, but what intrigued me about this bar was the promise of a ‘very pleasant note of tropical fruits’. I double checked the ingredients, and there is no additional flavouring, so what’s the ‘tropical fruits’ bit about I wondered?
Having had a rather unpleasant experience with a Feodora Passion fruit bar, I was somewhat wary of being assailed by a perfumy, sickly sweet aroma and taste, but being the fearless, dedicated type, I proceeded anyway.
The smell test was very promising – no nastiness, but a distinct sweet/sharp tang above the usual cocoa aroma. Very interesting indeed.
The taste is unlike anything I have tried before – you get the initial hit of dark cocoa, but it is almost immediately joined by a very definite citrus note. Hard to define as being like a certain type of fruit, but most certainly there. I can only describe it as being rather like that mixed tropical juice you can buy, but very subtle and certainly not at odds with the cocoa taste. The chocolate itself is as smooth as you (or I) would expect, not too ‘dark’ tasting and ever so slightly bittersweet.
I would definitely recommend this bar. Its unique flavour puts it on the ‘must try’ list for any serious choc-head and I can see it going well with coffee and cake or being used to coat fruit. Once again, the chocolatiers at Lindt have come through with another top notch product.
