Pump Street Chocolate Christmas Collections [ 01-Dec-21 6:46pm ]
After my recent review of Pump Street Chocolate's Eccles bar, I was contacted and asked if I'd be interested in writing about some of their Christmas collection. And so it was that a few days later, a delicious delivery arrived on my doorstep.
This year, Pump Street Chocolate have several Christmas themed items, which they’ve organised into different collections to suit various tastes and budgets.
Each collection comes gift wrapped with a Christmas card. I really like this approach, as it simplifies the process of finding a beautiful gift, while adding variety and giving the whole thing a touch of class. Pump Street are known for their elegantly simple packaging, but these collections have a real wow factor which is sure to get a positive response from anyone lucky enough to receive one.
That said, if you prefer to keep things simpler, all of the Christmas products are available to buy individually as well.
The first item I received was this Father Christmas made from 65% Ecuadorian dark chocolate. It comes in this attractive – and sturdy – cardboard tube that kept it in perfect condition. I know from experience that packaging irregular shaped items to be sent through the post is no easy task, so it’s great to see that it’s as effective as it is beautiful.
What does it taste like? Well I can’t actually tell you that, because this little beauty is going to be part of my own Christmas this year. But I’m pretty sure it’s going to be delicious.
The other item I was sent was a collection of Christmas themed bars in this very nice box. It’s a simple cardboard affair with a nicely printed paper sleeve, but it feels like quality. Balancing that line between simplicity, sustainability and elegance is something Pump Street do oh so well, and this box is right on point. Most importantly, it also kept the four enclosed bars in perfect condition.
The bars are:
- Eccles 55%
- Grenada Milk & Nutmeg 60%
- Gingerbread 62%
- Panettone 70%
Of course, I’ve already reviewed the Eccles 55% bar, which is absolutely fabulous. Here’s a quick summary of the others:
Grenada Milk & Nutmeg 60%A 60% dark chocolate made with cocoa beans from the Crayfish Bay estate in Grenada and flavoured with locally grown Grenadian nutmeg.
Gingerbread 62%Made with Pump Street Bakery’s Gingerbread Cookies spiced with ginger, cinnamon and cardamom in a Jamaican 62% dark chocolate.
Panettone 70%A traditional Panettone made with almonds and candied fruit in a 70% St Vincent origin dark chocolate.
All in all, I wouldn’t hesitate in recommending any of the Pump Street Chocolate Christmas collections for the chocolate lover in your life. But you don’t have to limit yourself to just the Christmas themed options; I would be happy to recommend any of their creations at any time of the year. They are unique craft chocolate gifts that taste as good as they look.
Information- Buy it online from:
- Contains dark chocolate, milk chocolate.
- Cacao Origin: Ecuador, Grenada, Jamaica, St Vincent
- Filed under bean to bar, christmas, pump street, uk.
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Pump Street Chocolate 55% Ecuador With Eccles Cake [ 23-Oct-21 11:57am ]
Pump Street Chocolate are one of Britain's best known and best loved bean-to-bar chocolate makers. Started by father and daughter Chris and Jo Brennan in 2017 as a sideline to their village bakery in Suffolk, they have quickly grown to be one of the world's most respected makers.
Being a spin-off from the bakery, they are well known for combining baked goods with their chocolate. In particular, their Sourdough and Rye bars take bread from the bakery and refine it into the chocolate itself. To combine bread and chocolate is no easy task, but Pump Street consistently manage to capture the flavour and texture of their bread in the chocolate, marrying the two expertly.
Combining an Eccles cake and chocolate is another matter entirely. A Pump Street Eccles cake contains raisins, currants, brown sugar and alcohol, all of which can potentially contain water – the enemy of chocolate! If you tried to simply grind one into chocolate, you'd likely end up with a thick, sticky mess.
I'm not entirely sure how they have produced this bar, but the chocolate itself tastes just like a traditional Eccles cake; bready and friuity with a hint of brandy, but you also get whole currants and raisins and just a hint of brandy. The result is very identifiably an Eccles cake, rather than some other kind of fruit cake flavoured chocolate. Each of the flavours – bread, fruit, spice and alcohol – are there and identifiable, but none of them detract from the chocolate.
I love this bar and highly recommend you check it out, along with the rest of the Pump Street range. The bakery series bars are always the most interesting to me, but Pump Street have proved themselves to be some of the best in the world, so you really can't go wrong whatever you choose.
Thanks to The Foodie Bag for supplying the photography background and other equipment used in this post.
Information- Buy it online from:
- Contains dark chocolate (55% cocoa solids).
- Cacao Origin: Ecuador
- Filed under bread, eccles, pump street, uk.
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Niederegger Loaf of the Year Hazelnut Toffee [ 22-May-21 3:07pm ]
I never much cared for marzipan as a child. I think it was a combination of the texture and flavour that didn’t appeal to me. Although it could simply have been the fact that I was only ever offered bad marzipan.
Looking back at some of my old marzipan reviews, it’s clear I wasn’t much of a fan, well into adulthood. But over the years my tastes have changed. I’ve also been lucky enough to try much higher quality confections, and it’s fair to say I’ve come around to the marvels of marzipan.
Recently, a representative of Niederegger, one of Europe’s best known marzipan producers, got in touch to ask if I’d like to try some of their latest range and a few days later, a rather delightful box of treats arrived in the post. This chonky 125g monster immediately caught my eye.
Described as a ‘loaf’, I can see the resemblance , however to me it looks more like a tightly wrapped German sausage.
Once unwrapped, we can see it’s actually a rather unusual dome-shaped chocolate bar. Cutting through it reveals a thin chocolate shell and a whole lot of marzipan.
Cutting into it and as you can see, it looks great. It’s a substantial feast, full of toffee-hazelnut marzipan goodness. And you’ll be pleased to know, it tastes great too.
Looking back, I think one of the things I didn’t like about the marzipan I had as a child was the ultra-smooth uniform texture that didn’t feel particularly pleasant in the mouth. This marzipan crumbles. It has bits. There’s stuff going on that just makes it more interesting that the overwhelming blandness of the cheap, packet marzipan that covered so many childhood cakes.
If I have one complaint it’s that the toffee flavour is a little subtle. The hazelnuts are definitely there, but the toffee is a little lost. That said, the flavour balance and level of sweetness is great. Not too sweet to be sickly, but sweet enough to mean that one bite is never enough. It took all my strength and courage not to eat the whole bar in one go.
Looking at the Niederegger website, there’s a few other flavours in the “loaf” range; Strawberry Cheesecake, Hazelnut Praline and Double Chocolate although they appear to be smaller 75g bars. I’ll definitely be seeking them out. I suggest you do to.
Information- Buy it online from:
- Contains dark chocolate (50% cocoa solids).
- Filed under germany, hazelnut, marzipan, niederegger.
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Fossa Chocolate, Singapore [ 04-May-21 11:30am ]
I don’t get a chance to review a lot of bean-to-bar chocolate these days. That’s partly because I don’t get sent chocolate for review quite as often as I used to, but also because a maker has to be pretty special to catch my eye in a world where new chocolate companies are popping up every week.
I’d heard of Fossa Chocolate when my friend Jess offered to send me a few bars, but I’d never tried them for myself.
Fossa are a small maker based in Singapore. They work closely with farmers, co-operatives and local ingredient suppliers to produce some extraordinary and unusual flavours. I’ve just got three to try here, but I can say right from the start that I’ll be seeking out more!
First off, I have to say how much I like this kind of packaging. It’s simple, elegant and plastic free. The bars are easy to reseal after you break a piece off, and you don’t have to wrestle with it to close it up neatly. The simple colour scheme adds a touch of class and makes it easy to tell the varieties apart.
I wanted to start my taste journey with the unflavoured dark chocolate; the 70% Indonesia Pak Eddy. The tasting notes on the bar say “Creamy almonds with notes of raisins and floral undertones”, but as we all know, everyone perceives flavours slightly differently, and there will always be minor differences between batches of craft chocolate anyway.
The bar has a great snap and a wonderful, rich aroma. It has a great melt too. A small piece on the tongue quickly and evenly starts to melt away releasing all its wonderful flavour. It’s chocolatey at first, but the more it melts, the more of those fruity, raisin flavour notes come forward. The balance is spot on, not too sweet, but not a hint of bitterness. Wonderful stuff.
Next up, I wanted to try the one I knew would be most challenging. “Salted Egg Cereal – Your favourite tze-char dish in a bar”.
I confess I didn’t know what tze-char was, but Wikipedia tells me that it’s a Singaporean term used to “describe a Chinese food stall which provides a wide selection of common and affordable dishes”. So, a local dish that will likely be much more familiar to Singaporean people. Although, I’m not sure if they would be familiar with it in chocolate bar form!
I’m not a big fan of the flavour of egg (eggs are best used in cakes, as everyone knows), and as expected I did find it a little challenging. It’s a flavoured white chocolate, a little softer than the dark chocolate, but with a very pleasant creamy, cereal aroma.
The first taste is of a pleasant white chocolate, but as it melts, you get more of the egg flavour and a decent amount of spicy heat. A quick glance at the ingredients tells me it does contain curry leaves and chilli padi.
This is a tough one for me to review, because I’m not personally keen on the flavour, but it is clearly very well made and well balanced. I think it will appeal to those a little more familiar with “the original” than me.
Finally, we have Honey Orchid Dancong Hongcha Tea. A quick glance at the Fossa website tells me:
“Mi Lan Xiang (Honey Orchid) is a dancong tea cultivated in the Phoenix Mountain of Guangdong Province.
This lot was hand-harvested from Zhen Ya village in Spring 2010. Made into a Hongcha (western black tea) and further aged for eight years, this tea is incredibly smooth and creamy with very low astringence. It has a characteristic lychee fragrance and red date sweetness. Complemented by the biscuity Kokoa Kamili cacao from Tanzania, it is a delicious bar to be slowly savoured.”
There’s a lot to love here. First off, I love tea flavoured chocolates. They’re difficult to make, but when done right can be truly wonderful. I also love lychee flavour notes in chocolate, and I truly love the Kokoa Kamili cocoa beans from Tanzania. I’ve worked with them myself, and they’re amongst my favourite in the world.
So does the chocolate live up to all that? Totally.
Those lychee tasting notes are spot on. In fact, you’d be forgiven for thinking this bar wasn’t packed full of real lychee fruit. But it isn’t; the only flavouring here is tea. And while there is a little hint of a more recognisable tea flavour toward the end, it’s that smooth, tropical fruit flavour that shines through. I love this bar. It makes me want to seek some of the tea to try on its own.
Overall, an outstanding little selection of bars from Fossa. Their range is quite large, so I’m looking forward to trying more soon. You should seek some out too.
Information- Buy it online from:
- Contains dark chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocolate.
- Cacao Origin: Indonesia, Tanzania
- Filed under bean to bar, egg, fossa, singapore, tea.
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Summerdown Farms Peppermint Chocolates [ 14-Feb-21 1:33pm ]
A year is a long time in blogging, but it’s a whopping thirteen years since we last looked at a product from Summerdown Farms in Hampshire.
Back in 2008, Simon looked at some Summerdown peppermint creams. I confess I hadn’t gone through the complete Chocablog archives when they got in touch to ask if they could send a care package, but given the time that has passed, I’m happy looking at them again. As well as Peppermint Creams, Summerdown Farms sent some Peppermint Thins, some Peppermint Tea (not eligible for review on Chocablog, of course!) and a rather lovely mug.
Just a side note to PR people sending gifts; I cannot be bribed. Ever. But… it is a very nice mug.
First things first, it’s important to note that Summerdown is a peppermint farm, not a chocolate maker or chocolatier. They grow Black Mitcham variety peppermint on their 100 acre farm, then the peppermint oil to two unnamed chocolate makers in the north of England. This is a perfectly normal thing to do, but it does mean we don’t have a lot of information about the actual chocolate here.
One thing Summerdown did tell me is that the cocoa is sourced through the Cocoa Horizons project. Cocoa Horizons is a Barry Callebaut initiative (their slightly dubious answer to Fair Trade), so we can assume this is a standard Callebaut dark chocolate blend. One thing the label does tell us is that it’s 55% cocoa solids.
The precise details of the chocolate, however, are not especially relevant here. From the moment you open the box, you’re greeted by the strong, fresh aroma of peppermint. When you bite into one, that Black Mitcham peppermint is really all you can taste. The chocolate is their primarily as a vessel to hold the fondant cream in place.
That’s not to say the flavour is overpowering. It’s actually relatively restrained and well rounded, but mint is one of those flavours that naturally tends to hide everything else. The mint flavour here is actually very pleasant and refreshing. The texture is good too, with a nice snap to the thin chocolate shell and a very smooth creamy fondant.
The flavour does linger in the mouth long after the chocolate has gone, but it does so in a very pleasant way.
Peppermint Thins
Also included in my care package was a box of Peppermint thins. These are thin, solid discs of chocolate flavoured with peppermint oil. They’re nice enough as a refreshing after dinner type mint, but they’re just not quite as interesting as the peppermint creams.I also noticed they al have scuffed looking edges, so they’re just not quite as attractive. The flavour is very similar to the peppermint creams, but you do just get a hint of the dark chocolate flavour here as well. I would call these inoffensive rather than spectacular.
Love Or Hate?I’ve never been the biggest fan of mint flavoured chocolate, especially strong peppermint. I wondered if I was alone, so I posted a poll on Twitter and was a little surprised by the result.
I'm really interested, how do you feel about the chocolate and mint combination?
— Dom Ramsey (@DomRamsey) February 11, 2021
If you’re one of the 78% of people that say they love mint chocolate, then I think you’ll enjoy these, especially the peppermint creams. They’re a great alternative to some of the better known chocolate mint brands, and it just seems like a lot of attention has been paid to flavour balance.
Highly recommended for mint lovers, but if you’re one of the 22% then I don’t think these will change your mind just yet.
Information- Buy it online from:
- Contains dark chocolate (55% cocoa solids).
- Filed under mint, summerdown, uk.
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Zotter Chocolate Christmas 2020 Selection [ 04-Dec-20 1:30pm ]
It’s fair to say that 2020 hasn’t been the best year for most of us. I’m sure you’re looking forward to it being over as much as I am, and what better way to celebrate the end of a terrible year than by treating yourself to some great Zotter Chocolate.
When I’m looking to cheer myself, I’ll usually go for filled or flavoured chocolates more than single origin, high cocoa percentage craft chocolate. It’s quite easy to end up just buying cheep chocolate and feeling guilty, but Zotter is one chocolate maker that lets me satisfy my cravings in the knowledge that I’m getting the best quality, ethically sourced bean-to-bar chocolate at the same time. I’ve reviewed several of their chocolates before, and even visited the factory a few years ago – something I would highly recommend once we can all travel again!
With that in mind, I hit up the Zotter website and bought myself a little selection of Christmas themed chocolates to lift my spirits. Here’s what I ended up with.
Star With Almond PralineZotter’s Mi-Xing Bar range allows you to create your own large chocolate slabs in a huge variety of shapes and flavours. You can choose your base couverture, add fillings and toppings and really make it your own. For the lazy (like myself), they also have a “Best Of” selection of pre-designed slabs, and that’s what we have here.
There’s certainly a lot going here in this chocolate star – so much so that it’s practically a meal in itself. This is a raspberry, caramel and white chocolate couverture star with almond praline with mini cinnamon chocolate stars, cacao nibs covered in white chocolate, crispy passion fruit chocolate pieces, green tea leaves.
What I like best about this is that each bite is gives you a slightly different combination of flavours. At 100g it’s the size of a large chocolate bar, but it’s so much more interesting. And I guess you could also put it on top of your Christmas Tree (well out of reach of small, hungry children of course).
Vegan Heart With Hemp PralineZotter have a lot of options for vegans, but I thought I’d go for one of the more unusual ones with this heart.
The underlying coconut flavour is quite strong in this one, and for my tastes it’s just a little bit too strong and I didn’t get a lot of flavour from the hemp. I did like the raspberry mini hearts and I think this would have worked very well with a more of that raspberry flavour. It’s just a touch too coconutty for my own tastes, and I think if I’d designed it myself I would have gone for a different base couverture.
Still. What could be more 2020 than eating your own broken heart?
Zotter Chocolate Hand Scooped Bars
These filled bars are probably what Zotter is most famous for. They come in a vast range of weird and wonderful flavours, several of which I’ve reviewed here over the years. I picked out a few from their Christmas range to try.
White chocolate mousse with a white chocolate coating tastes exactly like you think it might. It’s creamy, sweet, soft and smooth. In terms of flavour, it’s very simple but it’s also more than a little addictive. White chocolate fans will love it.
The name doesn’t give much away, but this bar has a marzipan and red wine filling that strongly evokes Christmas for me. The red wine flavour is strong, but balanced well with the marzipan so neither gets lost. I suspect such a strongly flavoured chocolate might be polarising, but I love it.
Fröhliche Weihnachten (Spiced Marzipan on Cinnamon Praline)Another marzipan filling, this time with a hint of cinnamon spice and a subtly crunchy praline. The flavour is much less intense than the previous bar, making it very easy to eat the whole bar in 2 minutes flat. Ask me how I know.
Aus der Weihnachtswerkstatt (From The Christmas Workshop)French white nougat with pistachios and hazelnuts in 60% dark milk chocolate. Who doesn’t love a good nougat? This one is a soft, whipped nougat with plenty of flavour and crunch from the nuts. There’s a lovely subtle honey flavour underlying the nuttiness and the whole thing works exceptionally well with the rich dark milk chocolate coating.
A blend of butter caramel and praline with small crunchy caramel crisps in 50% milk chocolate. The filling for this one looks like the mousse-style fillings of the other bars, but it has a strong buttery caramel flavour. There’s a hint of nuttiness in the flavour and a nice little crunch to the texture. Again very well matched flavours, although this one is just a little too sweet for my own tastes. Of course, I still ate the entire bar in no time at all.
Glücksbringer (Lucky Charm)A sweet 40% milk chocolate mousse with 60% dark milk chocolate coating. Very simple flavours here, but they work so well. The best part of this bar though is the texture. The soft creamy mousse filling is reminiscent of a Milky Way bar, but obviously done much, much better. The chocolate shell is thick enough to give a decent crunch when you bite into it before the mousse melts in the mouth. Perfect execution.
Overall, I’m very happy with my choices here, but the truth is that Zotter’s selection is so big that they have something to suit every taste and mood. Whether it’s as a gift to someone you love, or a treat for yourself you can’t really go wrong. When I ordered, international shipping was free for orders over 35 Euros and everything arrived in perfect condition in less than a week.
Zotter Chocolate Christmas Photo Gallery
Information
- Buy it online from:
- Contains dark chocolate, milk chocolate, other types, white chocolate (50, 60% cocoa solids).
- Filed under austria, christmas, zotter.
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The Mallow Tailor Chocolates [ 05-Nov-20 7:49pm ]
It’s been a while since I’ve done a full-on chocolate review, but when Kate and Janet from The Mallow Tailor got in touch and asked if I’d like to try some of their filled chocolates, I couldn’t say no. After all, it’s 2020 and I deserve a little more quality chocolate in my life.
As is often the case, it turns out that saying yes to chocolate was a good decision on my part.
Based in the Brecon Beacons area of South Wales, The Mallow Tailor specialise in beautiful chocolates filled marshmallow, caramel and fruit ganaches. And as you can see, first impressions are very good!
Filled Chocolates
I decided to cut into one of the chocolates to get a better look and was rewarded with this glorious sight.
This is the Salted Caramel in a dark chocolate shell and as you can see from the photos, it has the perfect consistency. The filling is smooth, sweet and perfectly gooey. It’s the kind of chocolate you need to be a little careful with. Bite into it without thinking, and and you’re going to end up with caramel all over your clothes.
Luckily, I’m an expert caramel consumer with many years experience and hardly made any mess. Much.
The chocolate has a strong resemblance to Paul A Young‘s famous salted caramel, both in appearance and flavour. That’s no bad thing, of course. The one thing that sets Paul’s chocolates apart though, is his choice of chocolate that perfectly complements the fillings. This Mallow Tailor can’t quite match that, and the dark chocolate shells do have a noticeable cocoa flavour
Next up was a raspberry ganache in white chocolate. Again, the filling was wonderfully smooth with a subtle but well balanced flavour. I particularly liked the balance of sweetness in this one; something that’s quite difficult to get right in a white chocolate.
The Lime Ganache in a dark chocolate shell is another well balanced chocolate. The lime is zesty and zingy, but doesn’t overpower the chocolate. This is the flavour that worked best for me with the Belgian dark chocolate that The Mallow Tailor are using.
I could tell the box wasn’t going to last long, so decided to plough on with my scientific endeavours and stuff my face some more. The Marshmallow in a milk chocolate shell was surprisingly good. I wasn’t expecting much from a mallow filled chocolate, but I can see why this is their signature creation. The filling had a nice soft texture and a very pleasant vanilla flavour that worked well with the choice of chocolate.
Finally I tried the Caramallow; a combination of salted caramel and marshmallow. I was at first expecting this to be some kind of mixture of the two fillings; a foamy caramel of some sort. Instead, we have two distinct layers in a dark chocolate shell. It’s a pretty good combination, although I think personally I do prefer the flavours separately.
Stollen Slab
Also included in my little care package was this interesting little bar. Kate calls it a “deconstructed stollen” covered in milk chocolate. I’m told that it’s made with raisins, cranberries and fresh nutmeg which are steeped in Barti rum and combined with big chunks of marzipan. And I love it. I do have a bit of a thing for marzipan in chocolate, and that’s what has had me nibbling on this bar throughout the day.
I’m so pleased to have discovered The Mallow Tailor, particularly at a time when we could all use a bit of a chocolate pick-me-up. At the start of another lockdown in the UK, we should all be thinking about supporting small local businesses, but it’s also a great time to show the ones we love that we’re thinking of them. And what better way than with the gift of chocolate.
Information- Buy it online from:
- Contains dark chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocolate.
- Filed under caramel, lime, marshmallow, marzipan, raspberry, salted caramel, stollen, the mallow tailor, uk.
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Online Mystery Chocolate Tasting With Chocolate Ecstasy Tours [ 19-Jul-20 5:27pm ]
Regular readers will know I’m a big fan of Jennifer Earle’s Chocolate Ecstasy Tours; walking tours of some of London’s best chocolate shops and sweet treat establishments.
Unfortunately, the current pandemic has meant that these tours have had to go on hold, and Jen has had to look for other ways to keep the spirit of the tours going, while giving a much needed boost to some of the smaller chocolatiers and chocolate makers who have struggled during the lockdown period. To that end, she has come up with a couple of great ideas for finding great chocolate without ever leaving the comfort of your home.
First up, Jen has created a directory of online sellers, an extensive list of small producers in the UK who are selling sweet treats and baked goods online. It’s a great place to find a chocolate gift for a loved one or a pick-me-up for yourself!
More recently, she has introduced a new and exciting idea, the Online Mystery Chocolate Tasting, and she was kind enough to send me a tasting pack for the latest tasting.
When you sign up for an Online Mystery Chocolate Tasting, you’ll be sent one of these packs in the post and a link to join the Zoom videoconferencing event via email. One of the great things about the tastings is that anyone can join the Zoom event and watch along, but obviously you’re only going to get the full experience if you have the tasting pack.
On this occassion, Jen had invited master chocolatier Paul A Young along to talk about the chocolates as we tasted them. Although structured, the discussion was quite informal and conversational. Paul gave some insights on how he uses particular flavour profiles in his own work, and after tasting and discussing each piece of chocolate, Jen revealed what it was and gave plenty of background information about the maker.
In our case, all the producers were British bean-to-bar chocolate makers, but it’s important to note that there will be different chocolates – and types of chocolate – for each tasting event. Otherwise, of course, it wouldn’t be a mystery! If you are looking to find out more about the chocolates, or have specific dietary requirements, then you can drop Jen an email beforehand just to check the chocolates in your chosen session are suitable.
While the video chat was limited to Jen and Paul, the rest of us were able to make comments via the Zoom chat as well as give quick feedback via the “Thumbs Up” feature. This was a great way to involve everyone while avoiding any chaos that may have resulted from everyone being allowed to speak. There were over 70 people in the call, so this was probably for the best!
I really enjoyed the format of this online tasting, and thoroughly recommend it to anyone who loves chocolate. It’s a great little gift, or something to do as a couple on the sofa (the tasting packs contain enough chocolate for two) and you can engage as much or as little as you are comfortable with. I really appreciated the fact that anyone can come along and join in, and Jen has also made the video from this tasting available in full. You can watch it below.
At the time of writing, the next tasting event is August 12th 2020 with Bettina Campolucci Bardi of Bettina’s kitchen. Tasting packs cost £19.95 and you can purchase yours here.
Information- Filed under chocolate ecstasy tours, jennifer earle, paul a young.
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Galaxy Vegan Chocolate [ 09-Feb-20 8:55pm ]
It's been a while since I've looked at any mass market confectionery chocolate, but these new Galaxy Vegan chocolate bars really caught my eye when they were announced recently.
In theory, creating vegan chocolate is easy. All dark chocolate should be dairy free and therefore vegan. But if you want to replicate the sweetness and creaminess of a milk chocolate, it's a lot more difficult.
There are a few options that manufacturers can use to replace the milk in milk chocolate, but they all have drawbacks. A common one is rice flour, but if you'd ever tried a pure rice milk chocolate, you'll know it doesn't really taste much like milk chocolate. Rice lacks the creaminess or the fat content to give that satisfying milk chocolate flavour and mouthfeel.
Some manufacturers use oat or almond flours, but they have drawbacks of their own, not least of which is the fact that they add a distinct flavour to the chocolate.
One dairy alternative that we don't see very often is hazelnut paste. Of course, there are many chocolate products that contain hazelnuts, including everything from Nutella to high end gianduja, but it's rarely marketed as a vegan milk chocolate alternative.
For these new Galaxy Vegan bars, Mars has opted to use a combination of hazelnut and rice flour to replace the dairy. Hazelnuts have a high fat content, which is great for replicating the mouthfeel of milk chocolate, but they do also have a strong flavour. I suspect that's one of the reasons why rice has been used as well in the chocolate recipe. The hazelnut gives creaminess, but the rice helps to offset the flavour and give the chocolate "body". Hazelnut paste is a thick liquid at room temperature, so if too much were used, the chocolate would end up very soft.
So how well does it work in these bars?To my surprise, very well indeed.
There are three flavours in the range; Caramelised Hazelnut, Caramel & Sea Salt and Smooth Orange. There's no "unflavoured" option, likely because they're all going to taste of hazelnuts to some extent. They are smooth and creamy, and you might never guess they were dairy free if you hadn't been told.
I particularly liked the Smooth Orange, but other friends who sampled them preferred the Caramel & Sea Salt.
For a product that I'd class as a "supermarket chocolate", these are a great choice for vegans and non-vegans alike. You pay a little more than a standard Galaxy bar, but you're getting a large (100g) bar and a product with a very clean ingredients list. There's no palm oil or shea, and only natural flavourings and a little sunflower lecithin added.
I'm sure the increased price and the very fact that it says "Vegan" on the front will annoy some, but I'd be quite happy to eat any of these, which is more than I can say for most confectionery chocolate these days.
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Chocolate Society Hot Chocolate Shaker [ 03-Dec-19 10:53am ]
Until a few days ago, I didn’t realise how much I needed a hot chocolate shaker in my life. This little plastic cup from The Chocolate Society has changed the way I make hot chocolate for good.
What is a hot chocolate shaker? Put simply, it’s just a cup with a lid that allows you to make a perfectly smooth hot chocolate by shaking chocolate with hot milk or water. The simple act of shaking helps the drink form an emulsion much more effectively than stirring or whisking.
If you try to shake a hot drink in a normal jar or bottle however, you’re more than likely going to be faced with an explosion of hot liquid. The problem is that heat from the liquid causes the air in container to expand rapidly, effectively turning the whole thing into a hot chocolate bomb. It’s not something I recommend trying at home.
Al Garnsworthy at The Chocolate Society thought about this problem and came up with a fantastically elegant solution; an expanding rubber lid that pops up when the pressure inside the jar increases. It’s a simple idea, but it works incredibly well.
There’s also a few other design features that make this a must-have device for any hot chocolate lover. Most importantly is the way the lid firmly seals onto the jar. Let’s not forget you’re going to be shaking a container full of hot liquid, so it’s absolutely vital that lid stays firmly in place when shaking. I was a little nervous the first time I tried the shaker, but I needn’t have worried. As long as you’re careful to make sure the lid is nice and tight, the seal is good and strong.
After a couple of seconds shaking, the lid pops up. After about 10 seconds shaking, your hot chocolate is ready.
The other nice design touch is the jar is insulated with a double wall, meaning it stays cool to the touch at all times. It’s made from a very strong plastic and feels like it can take a lot of abuse and keep going for years. It’s dishwasher safe, but because there’s no nasty residue, it’s really easy to wash by hand too.
But the best thing about the Hot Chocolate Shaker is the quality of the drink it makes. With traditional hot chocolate making methods, I always find some residue at the bottom of the mug or pan I’m making it in, even after thorough whisking. Every time I’ve tried the shaker, I’ve produced a perfectly smooth drink with no residue at all. It actually tastes better because more of the chocolate is emulsified and less is left behind.
I know there are fancy hot chocolate making machines on the market at the moment, and I’ve not tried any of those. They may be wonderful and produce an even more satisfying experience, but I love the simplicity of my hot chocolate shaker. I can take it to work, heat some milk in the microwave and make myself a fast and delicious drink that’s as good as any I’ve had.
It’s currently on sale for under £20, which is great deal for such an effective kitchen gadget. If you love hot chocolate or know someone who does, do yourself a favour and pick one up.
My hot chocolate shaker was provided free of charge for review by The Chocolate Society.
Information- Buy it online from:
- Filed under chocolate society, hot chocolate, hot chocolate shaker.
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