At this time of year, the chocolate rush never ends. No sooner is Christmas out of the way than Valentine’s Day is upon is. These are the first Valentine’s chocolates we’ve been sent this year, and I’m very pleased to say they’re from one of my favourite chocolatiers, Lauden.
In case you don’t know them, Lauden is run by husband and wife team Stephen and Sun Trigg. They based in Leeds, and they’re best known for their fresh, tangy flavours and beautifully transfer-decorated chocolates.
This year, Lauden have two special Valentine’s flavours to choose from; Strawberries & Cream (left) and Heather Honey. Both chocolates come in heart-shaped milk chocolate shells.
The heart-shapes mean that these chocolates don’t come in the usual hard plastic cases, but slightly less appealing card boxes. For a few brief seconds, I was a little disappointed, but then I remembered I had Lauden chocolates and I knew they would be awesome!
And of course, they are. The Strawberries & Cream is really just about the strawberries. And it’s the zingiest, tangiest, loudest natural strawberry flavour I’ve ever had. The ganache is made with white chocolate and there’s a hint of a creamy note there, but this is really about the strawberry. I love it.
The Heather Honey chocolate is a little more unusual. Like the strawberry, it’s a robust flavour, but pinning down actual flavour notes is much more difficult. It’s flowery, peppery, and really quite delicious.
I love these chocolates, just as I love most things that Lauden makes. I love how they manage to take fresh, natural flavours and make them so intense and delicious that the flavour stays with you long after the chocolate has gone. They’d make a great gift for any fine chocolate lover.
Chocablog has reviewed the odd product now and again, including chocolate shampoo and lip balm. You may call me crazy for it if you wish, but I am adding chocolate notebooks to the list. That is, one Chocolate Journal by Moleskine and a Chocolate Notepad by Chronicle Books of San Francisco.
You see, I was innocently picking up a book I’d been planning to buy at Barnes & Noble. Given my fondness for Barnes & Noble, I was also browsing around the store while I was there. The Valentine’s Day display was up, not a section I would normally pay attention to. But when I saw the words “Chocolate Journal” and “Moleskine,” I may or may not have gasped and reached out involuntarily for the thing. And it sort of came with me and my book to the register. And then I saw the word “Chocolate” on packaging I didn’t recognize at the register’s display. I looked over to make note of what brand the store was selling, liking always to keep tabs on who sells what chocolate. When I found that it was a notepad, I quickly put it on the counter before I could change my mind or the cashier could shoo me away.
At about twenty dollars for the journal and nine for the notepad, these are terrible impulse purchases, but I justify myself in saying that I am trying them out for any woeful chocoholic who might also see them and feel tempted.
I’ve never had a Moleskine before: they’re pricey and the plain design of their basic line doesn’t appeal to me. But I do collect journals, and I’m willing to pay more every once in a while for good-looking leather and fabric bound notebooks. The Chocolate Journal is in basic black so as not to be too much of a gaudy novelty. What it does have is a subtle imprint of a chocolate bar, including a couple of broken off pieces, on the front. View it from the wrong angle and you could miss the chocolate. That’s either a good or bad thing depending on your style. For myself, I’d prefer just a little more visibility, or maybe a brown color instead of black.
The inside begins with a few pages of basic information on cacao varieties and origin, vocabulary, and tasting guidelines. Overall, it’s handy and concise info. Next comes a section that allows you to take notes on under fifty chocolates. There is space to mark texture, aroma, flavor notes, etc. While there is even room for cacao percentage and country of origin, the only place to mark the company is under “product description.” That strikes me as odd. One page might not be enough for a Chocablogger, but it could serve as a useful tool for someone just getting into in-depth chocolate tasting. A Recipes section, which I find unnecessary, follows. Next is an Events section, which is nice but also probably too long for most people. Who really has the opportunity to go to more than a few chocolate events a year? The place to record Favorite Shops is more useful. Space for notes and even clippings follow, along with a handy fill-in index so that you can easily navigate your notes. The verdict: I like having this journal as part of my collection, but I would actually be able to get use out of it if it had more space dedicated simply to the chocolates.
Moving on to the notepad, I must explain that I adore its design. It’s vintage-inspired and trendy at the same time. But the tragedy is that, like a real chocolate bar, you must tear through the paper and foil to get to the notepad inside. So I cheated. I used scissors to cut the paper cleanly, refolded the empty foil, slipped the paper sleeve back on, and taped the paper shut in the back. It looks just as good as ever and I think I am more happy about it than the actual notepad.
It’s just that the notepad is inevitably boring. It’s a light brown block with tear-off pages that look like a chocolate bar. It isn’t an over-spoken novelty and hence not so tacky, but that means it also isn’t very exciting. Sure, I think I’ll enjoy writing notes on a faux chocolate bar, but the question is whether it’s worth nine dollars to do so. In fact, I would feel better if both of these products were just a couple of dollars less. But I did buy them at these prices and I don’t regret it. I would still recommend them if you have any interest and would have been more than happy to receive either one as a gift. Gifting is, after all, probably their main market.
Vietcacao is a French project which aims to develop and grow sustainable cacao production in the Bến Tre region of Vietnam. The Vietcacao team collaborate directly with the local farmers and community in Vietnam, cutting out the middlemen and ensuring that growers benefit directly from their crops. This not only means a better deal for everyone, but also that they can control how the beans are treated at every stage of the process.
Once harvested, the beans are taken to the south of France, where they’re magically turned into chocolate in Franck Morin’s factory. There’s a number of bars in the range, and I’m starting off by taking a look at two flavoured chocolates; a dark chocolate with peppermint and a milk chocolate with cashew and cinnamon.
Opening the mint bar, you’re immediately greeted by the strong aroma of fresh mint. I confess to being a little unsure of this, as I’m not the world’s greatest mint chocolate fan. It’s quite difficult to balance such a strong flavour without entirely overwhelming the chocolate.
The bar itself is dark and glossy and has a good snap. Bite into a piece, then let it melt on the tongue, and your mouth is quickly filled with a fresh, natural mint flavour. This is something a little different from the average mint chocolate, as it actually tastes of fresh mint.
But most interestingly, you can still taste the actual chocolate. After a few moments of intense, minty freshness, the natural flavour notes in the chocolate start to come through. It’s sweet, fruity, and really very pleasant indeed. It’s a flavour combination that works surprisingly well.
The milk chocolate is much softer, with no real snap. Scattered throughout the chocolate are tiny pieces of cashew, which add as much to the texture of the chocolate as they do to the flavour. The cinnamon turns out to be barely noticeable at all. The milk chocolate itself is delicious and creamy, but the added flavours don’t shine through quite as much as I would like. It’s still a great bar, but I actually prefer the mint and dark chocolate. Quite the opposite of what I was expecting.
The Vietcacao bars are still a bit difficult to get hold of outside of France, but if you do spot them, I recommend giving them a go. I’d also recommend trying the non-flavoured versions, as the Vietnamese chocolate is really something quite special in its own right.
If you follow my (somewhat infrequent) posts here, you’ll know I have favourably reviewed a number of Moser Roth products in the past. My nearest supermarket has changed from a Waitrose to an Aldi, and consequently I often find myself scanning the shelves to see if anything new has come in.
These truffles were around during the Christmas season, and were available in three varieties, one of which was an orange version. I chose the ‘Intensely Chocolatey’ version in order to try and capture the essence of the product.
As you can see, Moser Roth’s product design leaves a little to be desired – unless of course they were going for that ‘joke shop’ look. It’s not just the shape of these truffles, their colouring makes them a little, shall we say, comedy?
Looks aside, I was keen to see how they tasted & I was not disappointed. The first thing to note is that these truffles melt like they were made from raw chocolate. That little whirl of chocolate takes about ten seconds to evaporate away like a wisp of cloud, leaving behind a small clump of cacao nibs for you to chew on. In fact, it melts so quickly that it’s hard to work out how much depth of flavour the chocolate has! The nibs are crisp, flavoursome & a welcome addition, but I wanted to know more about these amazingly light truffles, so I started reading the box – and that was where the trouble started.
For one, there is no given cocoa percentage. It’s anyone’s guess how much actual chocolate is in one of these.
Unfortunately, the first listed ingredient is vegetable fat (coconut and palm) and ingredient three is hydrogenated vegetable fat (again, palm and coconut). The manufacturers were kind enough to reduce the fat in the cacao powder, but it really is a case of too little too late.
One of these chocolates contains 22% of the adult RDA of saturated fat.
Go back and read that again. Yep, if you eat five of these truffles you’re on course for obesity. Which is wrong. Very wrong.
The funny thing is that once you know what’s in these truffles, the next time you eat one it just doesn’t taste as good as it did when you were in the dark abut the fat content. Armed with the terrible truth, I found myself thinking that the cacao flavours weren’t that strong (which they aren’t) and that the pleasant mouth feel was primarily due to the huge amount of fat in each truffle.
It’s for this reason that this review has to be more of a warning than a recommendation. it’s this sort of confectionery that will put your health at risk and that’s why I have to say ‘avoid!’ – for the sake of your health.
