Although Dana Brewster and Mark Del Vecchio only founded Millcreek Cacao Roasters last year, already they seem to know what’s important about making fine chocolate. The Millcreek promo booklet I received along with a 70% bar has info not only about the company in general, but also about how the chocolate making process works and why Millcreek’s cacao comes from two farms south of Quito, Ecuador. I’m also intrigued by the fact that Millcreek’s base is Salt Lake City, Utah: the Amano factory is in Orem, Utah. Might Utah soon outdo San Francisco with its chocolate scene?
The design on this Millcreek bar shows restraint, which I mean in a good way. It doesn’t overdo colors or patterns and doesn’t flashily over-promise anything. That said, I think that if the designers felt inspired in the future to tweak the look, that would be nice; but I’m content for now. Sliding off the cover reveals a special touch: the Millcreek story is printed on an elegant, pearly-shining square of paper instead of on the back of the box. The 50 gram bar is also impressive. It wears a glowing skin with enough smooth space to let its beauty show and a large version of the Millcreek logo that gives the appearance of a medallion. The small air bubbles just communicate the handmade touch. The chocolate’s aroma is nuanced, a good sign.
My booklet tells me that the Ecuadorian Arriba Nacional chocolate is “fruity and nutty, the warm undertones lure you into a luxuriously smooth, rich finish.” For me, the key point in there is “warm,” which I might also describe as spicy–though, of course, not chili pepper spicy. I think many palates would pass it off as bitter, but what I want to emphasize is its depth. It has the layering of flavors that makes a chocolate high end. The warm notes are there from start to finish, but as the chocolate melts, touches of sweetness swirl into your mouth, keeping bitterness from being an issue for friends of the dark side. Completely smooth, it melts consistently and fluidly. All of these characteristics are good since the bar comes in at $7, the upper end of chocolate prices.
I only wonder, since this is on the darker side yet is also the base for Millcreek’s flavored bars, if it works as well in those contexts. But that isn’t completely relevant for this review. I’ll just say that, for future additions to the line, a milder bar would widen the appeal. Not that the deeper side of this chocolate wasn’t refreshing or that a company need necessarily appeal to non-dark side members.
Every once in a while I like to review something a little different from the fine dark chocolate we normally write about. Something sweet, sickly, or just plain weird. If only to remind myself just how much the chocolate I eat now is compared to what I used to eat.
My go-to place for sweet, sticky confections is Cybercandy. They have several shops throughout the UK, but their store in Garrick Street is one of those places that I find it very difficult to walk past without going in. Yes, I feel guilty. Stop looking at me like that.
Cybercandy specialise in hard to find imported confectionery. They don’t sell fine chocolate. But I was still quite excited when they got in touch and asked if we’d like some review samples.
Small problem. I looked through their website, and the majority of chocolate products they had are things we’ve already reviewed at some point over the years. So I ended up with just a couple of bars that I hadn’t seen before, including this… thing.
“Skildpadde”, as I’m sure you know, is Danish for “turtle”. Toms are apparently known for their individual chocolate turtles. This bar version is made up of three conjoined milk chocolate turtles, with a gooey filling inside each shell.
The first thing I noticed was that the chocolate was a little bloomed, but that could be partly down to how I stored them.
The goo inside is described as “rum cream and caramel”, but really it’s just a rum-flavour gloop. As soon as I cut into it, it started to flow out and make a mess everywhere. The taste is like a cheap rum & raisin flavour chocolate bar, only sweeter.
The chocolate is a very basic 46% cocoa solids “dark” chocolate, and although it’s quite non-descript, it’s not offensive either. But you don’t really buy this for the chocolate, you buy it for the sugar hit. It certainly does its job on that front, although it’s by no means the sweetest bar I’ve ever tried. The rum-flavour caramel is kind of unusual, but if I’m buying weird foreign confectionery, I’m generally looking for something a bit more unusual than this.
I was walking through a shopping centre recently, looking for a particular store. Like all those things that you find in the last place you look, the store I wanted was waaaaaay down one end, and I started looking at the wrong end. In a modern shopping mall, that means it’s a long way from one end to the other. Something good came of this mistake though: I found a Haighs store. And had a few minutes to spare. So I went in. Oops.
Haighs stores are special. Everything looks fantastic. The presentation is precise, clear and clean. I suspect I could eat my dinner off the counter, and probably the floor. The staff wear white coats, and even more amazing, they want to help! And something you never see anywhere else – when handling the chocolate the staff put on a pair of white gloves. Now that’s how these things are supposed to be done!
I could have chosen from a huge range of boxed gift chocolates, or freshly made chocolates from the glass counter available individually. Instead I opted for a big man-size block (which will be the subject of a later review). But the reason for this rambling write-up is the impulse buy. On the counter were small, plastic packs of “product of the month” – Choc Berries. So I had to have a pack of those as well.
And thus it happened that watching television a day or so later (yes, they did last that long), I was overcome by an attack of the chocolate munchies and decided to break into the pack. I even shared them with The Lady of The House.
The pack contains two types – a milk chocolate with Strawberry, and a dark chocolate with Raspberry. Both are best enjoyed by letting the chocolate melt slowly in your mouth.
Dark Raspberry
This begins with a very rich, fairly sweet dark chocolate which is both earthy and very fruity at the same time. Although called “dark”, this is not a bitter chocolate at all. It just melts away to leave a sweet fruit centre. This centre is not a dried berry as is sometimes found. Instead, it’s some kind of fruity confection, soft, sweet, and intensely flavoured. On trying this my immediate reaction was “oh my goodness, you have to try one of these!”
Milk Strawberry
The milk chocolate reminds me a lot of the milk chocolates we don’t seem to find a lot of in Australia. The aroma seems to resemble that of some European brands. While I found it difficult to identify the dominant aroma, it reminds me a little of condensed milk. The flavour though, is subtle, rich, quite sweet and not as fruity as the dark chocolate. Milk chocolate lovers will go into raptures over it. In a similar manner, the inside is fruit confection which delivers a burst of flavour at the end.
Both of these little balls of joy are simply outstanding. Although a small pack is not cheap, if you are near Haighs – pop in and pick some up. You don’t be disappointed.
This is one of those chocolate bars where I have so much to say, it’s difficult to know where to start.
Let’s turn this review upside down. You need to buy this chocolate bar. In fact, you should probably just head on over to Rococo Chocolates now, buy a bar, then come back here and I’ll tell you why.
Got one? Good. Let’s begin.
Regular Chocablog readers may know that ‘Grococo’ is a joint venture between The Grenada Chocolate Company and Rococo. It is actually a nine acre cocoa farm on the island of Grenada. Usually, the beans produced by the estate are used in The Grenada Chocolate Company’s bars, but this year they decided to take the small harvest and use the beans to produce a single estate chocolate bar.
But this isn’t just any chocolate bar. I’m sure you’re already aware that The Grenada Chocolate Company is just about the most the most ethical and sustainable chocolate making co-operative on the planet, but this bar takes those ideals to extremes.
It’s not just about ethics though. Owners Mott Green and Chantal Coady have gone to equally extreme lengths to get the best possible flavour out of each and every bean that has gone into this chocolate.
I want to share a few facts about Gru Grococo to illustrate just how much effort went into producing it:
- The Trinatario beans come entirely from the Grococo farm. This is “single estate” rather than just “single origin”.
- The beans are fermented and dried in The Grenada Chocolate Company’s precisely controlled fermentary and high tech drying racks.
- Every bean is sorted by hand so that not a single bad bean gets through. This means that there’s no need to add any vanilla to the chocolate, something that’s done in almost all chocolates to cover up bad flavours.
- The chocolate factory itself is solar powered.
- The wrapper is made from carbon neutral paper, made with wind power.
- The finished bars were shipped from Grenada to the UK in a square-rigged sailing cargo ship with no engines, using solar and wind power to cool the chocolate on its 8 week journey. Yes, really.
At £11.95, this may be the most expensive chocolate bar you ever buy. But it may also be the best. Years of reviewing chocolate has taught me that it’s a very subjective thing, and what some people love others may hate. But I really think you can feel and taste the quality and attention to detail that has gone into producing this bar.
Rococo’s Chantal Coady told me that we should all be paying more for a chocolate. The price that most people expect to pay for a bar of chocolate does not reflect the work that goes into producing it. As a result, cocoa farmers struggle to make a living, and as consumers we’ve become used to very poor quality chocolate.
Paying a few pounds extra for a bar of chocolate like this, is like paying a little extra for a quality wine. It’s not something you need to do every day, but when you do, the difference is obvious.
And that difference really is obvious in this chocolate. Of course, it’s beautifully moulded using the same moulds The Grenada Chocolate Company use for all their bars. It’s a glossy, deep redish-brown colour and in itself it’s a work of art.
It’s almost a shame to break into it, but wonderful aroma means you won’t be able to resist for long. Of course, it breaks with a beautiful clean snap, and looks just as good on the inside as it does on the outside.
And it tastes wonderful. It’s not just the chocolate making process and pricing that’s comparable to wine, it’s the flavour too. And this chocolate has a wonderfully fruity flavour, very much like the Madagascan chocolate I love so much, but a little less jarring and intense than Madagascan beans can be. After the fruity hit, the flavour develops into something more rounded, sweet and chocolatey.
I really do love this chocolate. I love the passion and hard work that has gone into making it, and I love how it tastes. It isn’t cheap, but then it shouldn’t be cheap. Whatever kind of chocolate you think you like, you should try this.
