Thorntons Lightly Salted Pistachio

Posted by in Chocolate Reviews on January 7 2010 | Leave A Comment
Thorntons Lightly Salted Pistachio

I first tried a ‘pre-production’ version this bar back at the Chocolate Unwrapped show in October, and I’m really glad to see it’s now available in the shops. It’s another square block of solid chocolate, and as you can see from the picture below mine didn’t quite survive its trip through the post intact. But no matter, it’s the taste that’s important…

The chocolate is a 32% Madagascan milk (the same as the strawberry block I reviewed back in July) and is creamier and a little sweeter than the Venezuelan beans found in the Venezuela and Tonka Bean blocks. I’m sure that sweetness won’t be to everyone’s taste, but I found it worked really well with the saltiness of the pistachios that are studded throughout the chocolate.

Thorntons Lightly Salted Pistachio

And they really are quite salty – but in a way that works perfectly with the chocolate. The pistachios reminded me of sweetened popcorn with a nutty, caramel flavour. The chocolate and pistachios on their own would be pretty good, but when combined, something wonderful happens. The combination of flavours works really well for me.

And the textures work equally well. The soft, creamy milk chocolate and light, crunchiness of the pistachios make this block incredibly moreish. There’s no way you can just eat a single square of this stuff.

This is probably my new favourite Thorntons block. Definitely worth trying.

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Comments On This Post

  1. lisa-j

    i personally think it’s quite gorgeous!! the bursts of salt as you get a bit of pistachio perfectly compliment the sweetness as you said, just lovely… i won’t tell you how many i’ve eaten!

  2. Dom (Chocablog Staff)

    Go on, tell us how many you’ve eaten. 🙂

  3. Michael

    Dom –
    You’re going to have to coax Thornton’s into sending some samples over to Canada because this sounds REALLY good. I’ve enjoyed some Côte d’Or Pistache Noir 70%, but the pistachio is a bit muted in it. And no salt. And dark chocolate. So this would be better.

  4. Maggie

    I couldn’t help myself and picked up a bar on my way back from lunch. And what a delicious bar it is! I love the contrasting sweetness of the chocolate with the saltiness of the pistachio. On my Thornton’s favourite list, this one’s right at the top, together with the macadamia and the tonka bean bars.

  5. Oh my, I must must must get this when I go to England for the first time next month! I’m obsessed with salt in chocolate – it’s just magical – and also adore pistachios.

    I’m also feeling validated because I just wrote a review where I said Chocolove’s dark chocolate with sea salt and almonds reminded me of butter caramel popcorn, and felt a bit silly saying so. Now I feel better!

  6. Sounds superb! Wish I could get them here.

  7. Having just started my own budding chocolate blog, I bought some of this chocolate and opened it for review this evening. Having suffered a cut, bleeding gum and come worryingly close to a broken, tooth, I spit the stuff out to find sharp, solid pieces of nut shell in it. It’s a shame, because until that point (pardon the pun!) I was enjoying the taste very much.

    Needless to say, I’ve emailed Thorntons about the problem and hope they’ll get back to me. However, I wanted to warn other readers that this may be a manufacturing problem.

  8. Katie Jackson

    Gill, what happened after? The same thing happened to me, and it’s a good thing I didn’t give any to my niece. There’s no warning on the box. Is it worth me complaining?

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