Videri Chocolate Factory are a bean-to-bar chocolate maker based in Raleigh, North Carolina. They make a range of products, but these attractive boxes with removable lids containing two individually wrapped 43g bars are their primary offering.
As you can see, they come in several flavours and cocoa percentages, but the one thing they don’t mention on the box is bean origin – something unusual for a bean-to-bar chocolate maker. Videri’s chocolate maker, Sam Ratto tells me this is because they are still working on getting consistent supplies of beans – a problem that often faces artisan chocolate makers. He added that these bars are made with beans from the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela.
Rather than going with single origin products, Videri have chosen to create their own blends. While I generally prefer single origin chocolate, the Videri approach means that blends can be created to work with specific flavours, and also tweaked from batch to batch, in order to create a more consistent flavour when the beans themselves vary. Larger chocolate companies use this approach all the time in order to try to keep the flavour of the final product the same from year to year.
The bars I was sent to sample are:
70% Dark Chocolate
The highest cocoa percentage product in the range, and the only unflavoured dark chocolate. While it doesn’t have the glossiest of finishes, it does have a smooth texture, and in interesting flavour, although it’s certainly not the most complex chocolate I’ve had. There’s a subtle fruitiness to it and it’s very approachable and easy to eat. I did find it a little too sweet for my tastes though, which is odd for a 70% bar.
60% Dark Chocolate With Sea Salt
The other dark chocolate bars in the range are flavoured and a lower 60% cocoa solids. This one has small grains of sea salt on the underside, which help to bring out the natural chocolate flavours. I much preferred this blend to the 70%, and the salt works perfectly to enhance the flavours. It’s very easy to eat this one a little too quickly.
60% Dark Chocolate With Pink Peppercorn
Another enjoyable bar. I believe this is the same 60% blend with crushed pink peppercorns embedded into the chocolate, rather than salt. There’s a little bit of a kick to it, but the pepper adds more flavour than heat. I think I prefer the sea salt version, but still enjoyed my time with this chocolate!
60% Dark Chocolate With Peppermint
I’m not a big fan of mint and chocolate together. Too many cheap chocolate mints as a child finally caught up with me, so I wasn’t expecting to like this bar. Where as most artisan chocolate makers would perhaps choose peppermint oil to flavour a mint bar, Videri have chosen something uniquely American – crushed candy canes. And for some reason, I find myself enjoying it. I think it’s because the mint flavour isn’t overwhelming. I can still taste the chocolate, albeit sweetened by the candy. An interesting choice, and one that surprisingly (for me) works quite well!
Dark Milk Chocolate
The final bar in the selection is a dark milk. The label on this one also omits the cocoa percentage, but Sam tells me it’s 50% cocoa solids, which is exactly what I guessed. The milk solids take the edge off the natural bitterness of the cocoa and give a slightly malty finish, but don’t expect a sweet milk chocolate here. They add a flavour note, rather than transforming the chocolate into something sweet and creamy, and I’m OK with that.
The texture is a little coarse, but after a chunk or two, it becomes quite addictive. It’s an unusual, but pleasant experience, and one that I found grew on me. In terms of flavour, I still prefer the 60% dark chocolates though.
All in all, this is an interesting and unusual selection of bean to bar chocolates. The packaging is great, and the chocolate is very approachable and easy to eat. The decision to use blends rather than go for single origin bars perhaps gives less complex and distinctly different chocolates, but it does give Videri the opportunity to tweak and refine the blend of beans and final recipe without having to rework the packaging every time.
At the moment, the flavours and blends are a little more conservative than I’m used to and I’d love to see something more experimental, but that’s easy for me to say from thousands of miles away with little knowledge of the local market. The people at Videri do seem passionate about making great chocolate, and I’m sure we’ll be hearing from them again.
If you’re in the area, Videri offer free tours of their impressive looking factory. The chocolate is also available to buy online with worldwide delivery.
Information
- Buy it online from:
- Contains dark chocolate, milk chocolate (50, 60, 70% cocoa solids).
- Cacao Origin: Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela
- Filed under peppercorn, peppermint, salt, us, videri.
This is one of a trio of 40g sticks of chocolate by German chocolate maker Rausch, each named after the plantation that the cacao was grown on. In this instance the Amacado plantation is located in Peru, and I’m very happy to report that the cacao mass and cacao butter are two of only three ingredients in this chocolate. This makes it one of the ‘cleanest’ chocolates I’ve had in a while.
The slender stick is divided into six small ingots, each bearing the Rausch name. The chocolate is dark and glossy and has good deep fruity aromas. With a 60% cacao content this isn’t what we normally refer to as ‘dark’ chocolate, but it certainly isn’t milk or ‘bittersweet’ chocolate, although it does lack some of the real depth of higher cacao content products. The first impression I got from tasting this chocolate was a light, slightly sweet set of flavours, with light, fruity acidity underpinned by red fruit and a hint of woodiness. The finish is long and clean, with those light cacao notes persisting throughout.
While writing this review, I remembered that I had reviewed something remarkably similar from Marks & Spencer about twelve months ago, and a look back at that review had me thinking how similar this bar was to the M & S version. It was definitely as easy to dispose of as its British made counterpart, and given that I bought this in a supermarket several thousand miles away I would suggest a trip to M & S might be a little easier should you wish to sample some Peruvian chocolate. That said, if you’re out and about in europe I woudl definitely keep and eye out for Rausch’s distinctively long, thin bars.
“Save the best for last” they say, so I did.
My final Easter Egg review for this year also happens to be the one I saw and thought to my self “Oooh, I rather fancy one of those” when we were invited down to preview the Hotel Chocolat Easter range. Well lucky old me, I was right!
This is an egg of two distinct halves, because true to for Hotel Chocolat have decided to showcase two different types of cacao here. Side one is a 66% cacao Madagascan Sambirano Valley chocolate, and side two is a darker, beefier, 82% cacao Ecuadorian Hacienda Iara chocolate – a longstanding Hotel Chocolat favourite. Nestled inside these two (as ever remarkably thick and sturdy) shells you will find a selection of dark chocolate egglets (at last!) in four flavours.
Two of the egglets are cast from the same 66% Sambirano chocolate as the egg, while the other two are a Hacienda Iara (again, same as the shell) and a ‘wild card’ egglet made from 70% Venezuela Chuao dark chocolate and filled with a Pecan praline. I say ‘wild card’ because there’s a little note on the menu explaining that it’s a last minute replacement for a Gran Couva Praline.
If you’ve never had a Hotel Chocolat egg before, you may be surprised by the shells. They’re thick. Very thick. Actually breaking a piece off to taste is a bit of a challenge but ultimately very rewarding of course!
First taste was the Hacienda Iara shell. It’s been a while since I’ve eaten any of this cacao and with a cacao content of 82% I was anticipating big flavours. The surprising thing is how light on the palate the chocolate is. It has a delicate, soft mouth feel and a lot of acidity but it never cloys or becomes overpowering. There are subtle floral notes and the finish is long and light, making it dangerously moreish.
By comparison the Sambirano shell has a much fruitier, more floral taste which is almost bursting with fruity, cherry-like notes. It’s totally different but equally wonderful, showcasing just how good this Madagascan cacao can be – so much so that I found myself going back for a little more, then a little more (while making appreciative noises of course!).
It’s a similar story with the egglets. The Sambirano one bursts with light, floral fruity cacao flavours which if anything are more pronounced due to the filling being made from Trinitario & Criollo beans while the chilli egglet teases you with more of that fruitiness before the Habanero chilli spiciness sneaks up and sets your mouth tingling. Be warned – this is not a half-cocked chilli truffle!
The Chuao Pecan Praline egglet was another stunner. A couple of years ago everyone was jumping up and down with excitement about this Venezuelan cacao, and this serves as a timely reminder of just how good this cacao really is. The Hacienda Iara Egglet is further confirmation of how good THOSE flavours are.
It’s not often I say this, but there really isn’t anything disappointing about any of the elements here. It’s an extremely well presented package which does exactly what it sets out to do, showcasing some of the world’s best cacao. It’s unfussy, elegant and oozes understated class, and I liked it so much that I really would be happy to eat one of these every month.
Yes, it’s not cheap at £30.00, but I’m pretty sure you’d be hard pressed to find another egg which offers as much in terms of taste & quality. A winner in anybody’s book.
If you’re anything like me, you’ll find you never have quite enough chocolate. Yes, I have three rooms packed full of bars, bonbons and goodies, but it’s never quite enough. That’s where this Easter Egg from Thorntons comes in. It’s a beast of an egg, weighing in at a whopping 1Kg and standing almost 30cm tall.
The back of the box suggest you share this with “family”, but honestly, do they really deserve it? Best just to keep this egg to yourself I think.
It’s a bit difficult to get a sense of scale in these photos, so here’s the egg lying next to the standard unit of size comparison round here – a 20p coin.
So yeah. It’s big. But what’s the chocolate like?
It’s a 30% milk chocolate, and it’s… well, it’s just Ok. I wouldn’t go further than that. It’s quite sweet and very creamy, so Galaxy lovers might enjoy this egg. Importantly, there’s no added vegetable oil or flavourings in the chocolate, so that at least sets it apart from other confectionery Easter eggs.
As you can see, the chocolate isn’t particularly thick – a fact that initially disappointed me, until I remembered that it did still weigh 1Kg, even with a thin shell. More disappointing was the lack of any goodies inside. I wasn’t expecting it to be filled, but I did find myself imagining what it would be like filled to the top with caramel…
Thorntons do actually do higher quality chocolate eggs, but this one is clearly made for scale, rather than quality. If you’re the kind of person who thinks size matters, then this may be the egg for you. If you’re into fine chocolate with distintive flavour notes, then it definitely isn’t.
After having nibbled on some of the chocolate, I’ll probably use the rest for baking or my own sporadic attempts at making chocolates. I just need to clear out another room in my flat to store it all first…
