It can’t have escaped your attention that it’s Valentine’s Day this week, so to celebrate, we thought we’d give away this box of 16 delicious, fresh chocolates from La Masion Du Chocolat, while giving you the opportunity to express your love… of chocolate.
To be in with a chance of winning, head on over to our Facebook page and leave a comment on the photo telling us what chocolate you love the most and why.
We’ll pick the winner – the answer we love the most – on Valentine’s Day and send the chocolates out as soon as we can after that.
Note that these are fresh chocolates, so if you do happen to win, you’ll have to eat them (or share them) by the end of February!
The competition is open worldwide (assuming you don’t live on a desert island and we can’t easily post the prize to you), and feel free to share the link with your friends, but only one entry per person, please!
Enter Now
I love this time of year. Valentine’s Day and Easter mean only one thing for me – vast quantities of chocolate. But more often than not, that quantity comes at the expense of quality. I have so many experiences of cheap seasonal chocolate, or mundane Easter Eggs that turn out to be completely hollow, that I don’t often hold out a lot of hope for seasonal chocolate treats.
And that’s why this little creation from Betty’s deserves a special mention.
As you can see, it’s a chocolate heart. But it’s a gorgeous chocolate heart. Embossed with a flower motif and brushed with gold powder, it not only looks special, but when you remove the cellophane, it feels special too. The chocolate has a weight and a quality to it that almost makes it a shame to break into it.
Inside, there are eight rather inviting pink champagne truffles, simply packed with paper to stop them moving around. The packing seems to have done the job perfectly, as they survived the rigours of the postal system in perfect condition.
When removed from the packaging, you can see just how pretty the truffles are. But more of them in a moment. First I want to talk about the chocolate heart they come in.
It not only looks good, but it’s made from quality chocolate too. It’s a 65% cocoa solids Venezuelan dark chocolate made by Felchlin, a well known quality Swiss chocolate maker.
I think it’s the perfect choice to accompany these truffles. There’s quite a lot of it, so you wouldn’t want a bitter chocolate, and a 70% might just be a little too dark. As it is, it’s sweet and smooth, and very easy to eat. It’s not a particularly complex flavour, but it’s pleasant nonetheless.
But the real stars are the Champagne truffles. They’re dusted in pink icing sugar, so you instantly get a burst of sweetness, before the chocolate comes to the front. The ganache is very smooth and fresh, and the Champagne flavour balance is just right. It’s quite a gentle flavour, rather than a full on alcoholic kick, which is just the way I like it. They are very difficult to stop eating once you get going…
At £18.95, I think this is a great value handmade Valentine’s gift, that’s a bit different from the mass market alternatives. If you’re going to give a Valentine’s gift at all, I think it’s worth choosing something that looks like you’ve put a bit of thought into it, and this fits the bill nicely.
The thing about receiving a box of chocolates in the mail from a company you’ve never heard of is that you’re able to form an impression based entirely on the product and not on previous associations. When I sat down to stare at the Heart to Heart Collection that Richart Chocolates sent me from their Valentine’s line, I decided the design wasn’t bad.
The classic white box with its magenta ribbon aren’t entirely to my tastes, but they work. A shiny silver wrapping inside the box adds glitz, and the design of the nine chocolates inside heads over to casual and playful territory.
So the first impression I get, based only on looks, is what I often get when viewing a company this way. Minimalist exterior and funky interior: do they go together to create one clear vision, one single image that embodies Richart Chocolates or are they still two concepts that haven’t quite come together yet?
The selection of chocolates offers a balanced variety of three each of white, milk, and dark chocolates. The chocolates in my box were less than pristine, but they did travel a ways to get to me. I find myself enjoying the white chocolate best, undoubtedly because it contains hazelnut praline and I can’t resist hazelnut in chocolate. The twist is the addition of Penja white pepper in the right dosage to give a sensation of warmth at the end without an excess peppery taste. It’s a wonderful munching chocolate.
On the other end, I can’t care overly much for the milk chocolate as its dominant flavor is passion fruit, which is in an unsalted butter caramel filling. The caramel is dark in color and free-flowing, which I neglected to think about when commencing to break the hearts with my knife. The buttery caramel means that this is a sweeter and less sour combination than some passion fruit chocolates. It’s properly Valentine’s, I suppose, provided you like passion fruit. You’ll also note that both the white and milk chocolates contain dark chocolate under the surface.
The last heart encloses rose and lychee white ganache with Criollo 72% chocolate from Venezuela. Always a good sign to have that type of info on a chocolate. The ganache is fragrant and perfumed like milky Turkish Delight. The chocolate is dense and dark, neither bitter nor sweet. It doesn’t call the attention overly to itself, but lets the rose take the majority of the weight. There’s an endearing softness to this chocolate.
None of these chocolates wowed me, but I enjoyed them. At $25, each heart comes out to be about $2.77. I would be callous to say that that isn’t roughly average, if anything only slightly higher, but I still find it too much. Even $20 would sound better. For $25, I want this collection to be more special. These chocolates had a good balance of flavors and were neither mundane nor too adventurous (meaning good things for a Valentine’s box), but I would like to see a few tweaks to make them that much better.
We’ve already looked at Paul A Young’s Chipotle Valentines Brownie, but now it’s time to look at his Valentine’s chocolates selection for 2013.
This year’s collection is apparently all about finding the right chocolate for the right person, hence every chocolate in the box has a different ‘personality’, from “The London Gent” to “The Hipster”. I confess to being a little confused by the concept, as it implies that you not only have nine people in your life, but also that you’re buying them a single box of chocolates to share!
Of course, all that actually matters is the chocolate. So what exactly will your nine Valentines be getting? There’s a helpful menu included in this box, and the first thing that stands out is just how many collaborations there are.
Paul loves to work with other artisan food producers to make his chocolates, and the Valentine’s collection contains collaborations with the likes of Rodda’s Cream, Tapped & Packed Coffee, The Rare Tea Company and Ginger Pig. For me, that’s reason enough to buy them!
So let’s go through them in order. The chocolates are:
The London Gent – Treacle & Black Pepper
I’m not sure why this is called The London Gent, but whatever the reason, the chocolate is delicious. A subtle treacle flavoured ganache in a dark chocolate shell. I didn’t pick up much pepper here, but I loved it just the same.
Ginger Pig Black Pudding, Beer & Ginger Biscuit
Yes, that’s black pudding. In a chocolate. It’s a flavour that has been around for a while, and obviously means this collection isn’t suitable for vegetarians. The flavour is… interesting, but it’s not my cup of tea.
Chopotle Chilli And Thames Honey
This chocolate has the same smokey edge as Paul’s chipotle brownie, but I have to admit, I wasn’t keen on the honey flavour here, and think this chocolate would have been better without it. That may be a matter of personal taste, as I’m not a big fan of honey in chocolate anyway. I did like the heat that built toward the end though.
Love Potion Florals
I’m not usually a fan of florals in chocolate – I find flavours like jasmine often end up tasting a little like soap to me. But this chocolate is delicious. There’s a hint of rose combined with other delicate floral hints that I can’t quite put my finger on – but I do know I enjoyed it. Maybe I do like florals after all. I never did find out what the ‘love potion’ ingredient was though.
Rodda’s Cornish Clotted Cream, Raspberry Champagne & Rose
The heart-shaped chocolate in the centre of the box is like a sophisticated turkish delight. That rose flavour works wonderfully with the smooth cream ganche, and the raspberry Champagne just provides a tangy hint that cuts through the sweetness.
Tapped And Packed Espresso Bean Martini
Tapped And Packed is an independent coffee chain with three shops in London. It’s where the hipsters hang out and drink espressos, while talking about their iPhones and eating cake. I’ve no doubt they’ll be eating these chocolates too, because they’re amazing. A strong fresh coffee flavour and a hint of alcohol from the Sipsmith gin works amazingly with the dark chocolate shell. I could definitely do with a few more of these.
The Hipster – Bourbon, Cigar Tobacco & Cocoa Nibs
I have to confess, there’s little I find more annoying and pretentious than ‘hipsters’, so it’s not a name I would have chosen for this rather delicious, sweet and spicy chocolate. It’s rather enjoyable, with a gentle heat from the tobacco leaves that builds slowly, even after the chocolate has gone.
Rare Tea Company Bergamot Tea, Orange & Lemon Curd
Tea is a popular flavour in chocolate, but a difficult one to get right. It’s so subtle that the chocolate often overwhelms it. I confess I didn’t pick up a lot of tea notes in this, but I absolutely loved the orange and lemon curd in a white chocolate ganache. They’re flavours I like anyway, and the balance is perfect here.
Indian Rose Petal Masala
This one has a very interesting flavour combination, that’s really quite nice. The white chocolate ganache lets the flavour of the masala spices and rose come to the front and is a nice counterpoint to the dark chocolate shell.
All in all, this is a great collection of chocolates. I had my own favourites, and I’m sure others will choose differently. As a whole, I don’t know that they’re particularly ‘Valentinesy’, but that just means you can buy a box for yourself without feeling guilty. They’re too good to share anyway.
Paul A Young does not currently have an online store, but if you call one of the shops, they can often arrange delivery for you.
