The Chocolate Cellar Chilli Selection

We have actually reviewed one of these bars before. I gave the dark chocolate with rose and chilli a very favourable review back at the start of 2008.

The Chocolate Cellar are participants in Chocolate Week this year and sent us this selection of chilli chocolates to celebrate the occasion.

Just as last time, the packaging is very simple. But I don’t think these bars are really designed to be sent through the post. If you want to buy them, you’re probably going to have to pay a visit to The Chocolate Cellar’s Liverpool shop or keep an eye on their blog to find out about all the events they’re participating in for Chocolate Week.

So aside from the Rose and Chili bar, we have a milk chocolate with lemon and chilli, a white chocolate with orange and chilli, and this rather spectacular looking dark chocolate with cranberries and lots and lots and lots of chilli…

Now if you ask me, that amount of chilli flakes and seeds is just showing off. This isn’t one of those slowly mouth-warming chocolates that leaves you with a nice tingle. It starts off hot the instant you put it in your mouth, then just gets hotter and hotter. The cranberries are tasty and flavourful, but they can’t really compete with the heat of the chilli.

It isn’t the kind of bar that you want to be alone with. It’s like that slightly crazy ex-girlfriend that seems exciting and fun on the surface but you know has a secret plan to do you physical harm. An interesting topic of conversation amongst friends, but definitely not long term relationship material.

The other bars are a little more sane, but they still fall into the hotter end of the chilli chocolate spectrum.

The milk chocolate with lemon and chilli works surprisingly well. The lemon adds a subtle tang that cuts through the sweetness of the milk chocolate, without obliterating the cocoa flavours. Personally, I’d have liked to try this one with less chilli. The heat still builds quickly and hangs around in your mouth long after the other flavours have gone.

The white chocolate with orange was probably my least favourite of this selection. The creamy sweetness of the white chocolate just didn’t sit right with the orange flavour for me, and again, the chilli was a little too strong for my liking.

But serious chilli-heads will undoubtedly love the range of chilli chocolate on offer here, and for that reason alone I’d recommend picking up all four bars and sharing the experience. They’re certainly not every day chocolates, but The Chocolate Cellar does a whole range of more down-to-earth chocolates for us mere mortals. Go check them out!

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