Here’s another of the wide assortment of chocolate I managed to pick up on a recent trip to Finland. My schedule didn’t give me a lot of time to shop, so I was rather pleased to discover that Helsinki airport has quite an impressive range of chocolate and other artisan products available through an Eat & Joy shop there.
From what I can gather, Eat & Joy is a Farmer’s/Artisan food producer market specialising in Finnish produce ranging from fruits to fish to exotic meats (bear sausages anyone?) and of course chocolate. I had a quick chat with Aki Arjola (who was manning the shop that day) and his enthusiasm and love for Finnish produce was evident from the off. I wish I’d had more time to chat and make notes, but it was all I could manage to pick out a few items to stuff into my already bulging hand luggage before running to my flight.
This 100g slab of ‘dark’ chocolate is my first foray into fine FInnish chocolate and I was a little disappointed to discover that ‘dark’ means 54% cocoa – the European ‘bittersweet’ percentage, and that unfortunately Eat & Joy have neglected to inform us of the origins of their chocolate.
It’s a chunky slab of dark, glossy chocolate which has quite a dark aroma with subtle leathery high notes. In the mouth it melts quickly, and then the salt comes out to play. When they sprinkled the salt on this bar, they weren’t scrimping, and that’s definitely a very good thing because otherwise this chocolate might be nothing more than another reasonable, middle of the road, sort-of-sweet darkish chocolate bar.
Instead the simple addition of salt creates little bursts of contradictory flavours which in themselves serve to lift the overall taste of this bar from ‘alright I suppose’ to ‘really rather nice, could I have another piece?’. The finish of this Finnish chocolate (sorry, I had to) is light, clean and long, and there are usually little salty fireworks lurking to the end as well.
I’m not sure I’d call this ‘great’ chocolate, but I can call it moreish.
We’ve had a bit of a love affair with The Grenada Chocolate Company since we first encountered them four years ago. Possibly the most ethically-minded chocolate company on the planet, they go well beyond what we think of as “bean to bar” chocolate, describing themselves as “tree to bar”. The chocolate is made on site in the same place as it’s grown by a co-operative of cocoa farmers, headed by Mott Green.
When we interviewed Mott for World Chocolate Guide back in October, he talked about this bar, but this is the first time I’ve actually had a chance to sit down with a bar to myself to review.
It’s similar to the first Grenada Chocolate Company bar we ever tried, being a robust 71% cocoa solids. Of course differences in bean batches and chocolate making techniques mean that artisan products like this change over time, but nearly all of what Simon wrote about the chocolate back in 2008 still stands true. It’s a rich, dark and glossy bar with a sweet flavour and very smooth texture.
But the first thing I noticed was just how beautiful the bar is. Simply wrapped in foil and paper and beautifully moulded, it looks and feels like a quality product.
Of course what differentiates this bar is the addition of Himalayan salt, sprinkled over the back of the bar. There’s not as much of it and it’s finer grained salt than I was expecting, but even this small amount really does help lift the flavour of the chocolate.
The result is a truly delicious chocolate. The naturally sweet and slightly fruity notes of the Grenada chocolate work perfectly with the hint of salt. I do think it may have benefited from a little more, coarser grained salt, as that would have added an additional texture element, but that’s a minor point. This is a chocolate I could eat all day.
If you’ve not tried any Grenada chocolate yet, this is the bar I’d recommend starting your journey with.
After waiting patiently for quite a while, I’ve finally crossed paths with another bar of Romanian chocolate. And not surprisingly, it is also from Heidi Chocolate who happened to make the other bar from Romania I had before making me suspect that they are the only company in Romania making chocolate. Probably not though.
Anyway, this time around it is a rather pretty bar of milk chocolate with caramelized almonds and dried cherries. The look of the bar, right down to the packaging, is very reminiscent of the newer Lindt Passion bars with the peephole box that shows off the encrusted surface. And, as the photos show, there’s a lot of stuff on there. So much that there’s an assumption that this is a bar which will positively explode with flavour but as Heidi demonstrated to me in the past, it isn’t quite that simple.
The chocolate is relatively sweet anyway – only 30% which is perfectly acceptable for milk chocolate – but the caramelized almonds adds to that quite significantly. And the cherries don’t actually get much of a look in apart from a periodic fruity burst that could easily be some other kind of berry instead. I really was expecting to be slapped across the face by the cherries and all I got was a polite tap on the shoulder. The sweet, crunchy almond pieces were rather nice though and they were what kept me coming back despite the added sugar.
So this was a slightly above average bar of chocolate, which is definitely one to eat rather than to savour. The level of sweetness was just too high for me and I couldn’t get through more than a couple of squares at a time. With persistence, I did eat the whole thing but I don’t think I’d pick it up again. Those with a very sweet tooth might enjoy it though. I, on the other hand, am waiting to see what else Romania as waiting in the wings.
Well these are some of the prettiest little chocolates I’ve seen for a while. Made by chocolatier and patissier Sven Herzog, the little box contains four perfectly formed treats.
Red Berry Praline
This may win a prize for the cutest looking chocolate ever. Designed to look like a little ladybird complete with chocolate-button-face, it’s almost a shame to eat it.
It’s an unusual chocolate in that the base is dark chocolate, while the top part of the shell is coloured white chocolate. I assume this is to give some rich cocoa notes to what would otherwise be a purely white chocolate. Inside, there’s a layer of praline and another of red fruit jelly. It tastes, really good – like posh peanut butter and jam. I could happily eat a box of these.
Pinot Noir & Cherry
The moment I cut into this milk chocolate ball, the filling started to pour out. It has a similar consistency to caramel, but has a sweet cherry flavour with just a hint of wine. It’s fruity, tangy and delicious. Like a grown-up version of the cherry flavour sweets I used to eat as a child. I want more of these too, please Sven.
Riesling & Passion Fruit
The second dome-shaped chocolate, which again features a white chocolate shell and a dark chocolate base. Inside, a layer of ganache and a passion fruit jelly. I think this one is more of an acquired taste, and I found the combination of flavours didn’t work quite as well as the other chocolates. But I still want more.
Raspberry & Rhubarb
A dark chocolate ball, coated in white chocolate and decorated with a tangy fruit powder. Inside is a pale rhubarb and raspberry ganache that has the same thin texture as the Pinot Noir & Cherry, and a flavour with a deliciously fruity kick. Yeah, I’d like some more of these ones too.
I think this selection particularly appeals to my love of fruity flavours, so if that’s not your thing, you might not get as much out of them as I did. Herzog does a complete range of other beautiful looking chocolates, so I think there’s probably something for everyone. I can’t wait to try more.
They’re available to by online or at London’s Venn Street Market. I highly recommend giving them a go.
