Gone Chocco

 

Diamond Creek is where Chocolatier first started. The three Grisold brothers – David, John and Mark – bought the small chocolate company back in the mid-1980s and learned their craft there and now, twenty five years later, they’ve revamped the brand and want to share them with you.

I remember seeing a large and flat gold box with ‘Diamond Creek’ on it for a crazy $5 markdown at K-Mart several years ago, and John Grisold confirmed that I hadn’t imagined it. “Yes, we were trying to work out if we should relaunch the brand or not,” he said, “but it didn’t get the impetus it needed at the time.”

Now they’re trying again but this time they’re only available at Woolworth’s supermarkets who have bought the entire stock.

I’ll be honest and say that the cardboard box and the individually-wrapped chocolates that are thrown together inside don’t scream ‘quality’ or ’something you can give as a gift’, but then again, it’s the first-born of the now successful and respected Chocolatier company, so it’s not going to be crap to eat, is it?

Each box contains  four flavours that all cleverly reference the ‘diamond’ of the company. The Brilliant Milk box has Brilliance (strawberry), Marquise (hazelnut praline); Solitaire (coffee) and Empress (caramel). When they’re out of their plastic wrappers they look rather pretty, don’t they?

At the top is the Marquise. This is a milk chocolate that contains a pretty decent hazelnut praline that has tiny chips of caramelised hazelnuts inside for something a bit extra. Hazelnut praline fans will find plenty to enjoy in this unassuming little square. Or diamond, depending on which way you look at it.

The Solitaire, on the right, has a white chocolate layer on top infused with tiny specks of ground coffee. Inside is a milk chocolate ganache with a coffee infusion. All elements worked perfectly and went down a treat with my hot morning cup of coffee. This could form a speciality box (or block?) all on its own.

Brilliance, on the left, is Chocolatier’s Strawberry Delice; one of their most popular chocolates. It smells distinctively of strawberries with a white chocolate ‘pink’ top covering a fruity milk chocolate ganache underneath. No wonder it’s one of John Grisold’s favourites as well.

At the forefront, the Empress has a dark chocolate top with a firm caramel underneath. ‘Firm’ in the sense that it’s not super-chewy and likely to yank your fillings out like a Fantail, nor is it super-dribbly like a too-warm Caramello; but like a beautiful, burnt-sugar toffee with a ganache texture. I love it when dark chocolate and caramel work this well together.

The Assorted Box has two of the same flavours inside – Empress and Marquise respectively – and two new ones, both in dark chocolate.

Excelsior – at the forefront-  is a delightful berry and coconut creation. The clear flavour of coconut is evident at first with sweet and creamy berry thrills appearing soon after. I could eat box after box after box of just these little beauties.

Crystal – seen here at the top – has a dark chocolate shell with a white top rendered slightly greenish due to the tiny shards of mint chips mixed in with it. When you bite into the ‘fun’ top, there’s a lovely surprise: a dark chocolate, mint-infused soft toffee underneath. Delicious!

The presentation is clearly done to make them affordable and underneath the indifferent packaging, they most certainly are worth it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And don’t forget the Lindt Chocolate Ball on Friday 6th August, to help fund a cure for FSHD. Frock up and have fun, or just donate to a very worthy cause!

 

Dr Lucy Burns is a blonde combination of Gretel Killeen and Pamela Stephenson and was sporting a black eye when we met,* having truly suffered for her art. And for a good cause…..

As the proud owner of ‘Better than Flowers’-  a business that specialises in creating unique bouquets of edible chocolates cunningly disguised as flowers, Lucy was reaching into the industrial-sized cooler used to store  the chocolates and had the door clunk into her eye.

We met up at the Lindt Cafe on Collins Street to talk about the upcoming FSHD Lindt Chocolate Ball to be held on Friday 6^th August at the Hilton Hotel in East Melbourne.

As we entered, I couldn’t help but notice Lindt’s Macaron tree, surely inspired by Adriano Zumbo’s scary Masterchef challenge?

FSHD isn’t a chemical compound found in chocolate but is a common form of muscular dystrophy that causes progressive and irreversible weakness and wasting of muscles in the body.  The not-for-profit FSHD Global Research Foundation is working towards finding a treatment and cure for this debilitating disease, offering hope to thousands of sufferers and their families. In the few short years the foundation has been running, it has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to research projects around the globe.  Lucy also donates all of the profits from Better Than Flowers to FSHD.

Lucy was diagnosed with FSHD (pronounced: Fay-she-oh-skap-you-lo-hum-er-al) in her teens but that didn’t stop her pursuing studies and a career in medicine and raising two daughters with her husband, Ty. Based in the Mornington Peninsula, they are also ‘parents’ to three alpacas, four chickens, two ducks, two Jack Russells, two goats, a couple of rabbits and the unfortunately-named sheep ‘Lamb Chop.’

When not fashioning chocolates into bouquets and organising the Lindt Chocolate ball, Lucy works as a doctor three days a week for the navy. Lucy became disillusioned with the profits-first, 6-minute-medicine style of general practice, which she was unable and unwilling to deliver. Her job at Navy involves looking after hospital patients and allows her to spend more time with them, which is ultimately far more rewarding. “I enjoy my work but have realised that life is about so much more than money – Better Than Flowers gives me a creative outlet and a specific area to direct my energies. Why not combine the challenge of establishing a business with making a difference to FSHD awareness and research?”

I wondered if BTF bouquets would be a hit with blokes who would normally baulk at receiving something living, pretty and covered in petals. “Absolutely,” she nods, “Our footy team-themed chocolate bouquets are very popular.”

Perhaps that’s why Kevin Sheedy, quirky Essendon legend, is a featured guest at the FSHD Lindt Chocolate Ball, along with award-winning chef Luke Mangan and Australian Idol talent Roshani Priddis. “We are bringing together the public’s current fascination with food, Lindt chocolate and celebrity chefs for a great cause and it promises to be the most decadent – and fun – event you’re invited to attend this year,” Lucy says, smiling through her black eye.

Those interested in purchasing tickets – or just making a donation – are encouraged to do so quickly at www.fshdglobal.org.

…..and yes, of course we had hot chocolates at the cafe….. and some desserts ……

…..and yes, I bought some macarons to take home – and share – with Sapphire and Love Chunks – the heavenly salted caramel, the70% chocolate and the rose. All of them were divine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

* hence I’m using the photo on her ‘Better Than Flowers’ website rather than the one I took of Lucy yesterday that could be mistakenly used for a WorkSafe or domestic violence campaign!

 

Having two Lindt Cafes in Melbourne now means that there are two other avenues to sniff out the blocks and varieties of Lindt that we KNOW are found freely in Europe but, cruelly, can be rarer than chicken lips here.

I found this little stunner at Chadstone:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tiramisu is one of my favourite desserts to eat and to make (I might one day be persuaded to share my never-fail, always-impressive recipe with you if you ask – nay, beg – nicely) and I even like the Cadbury Desserts version.

But Lindt always manage to find that extra ‘oomph’ when it comes to their chocolates and this is no exception. Plus, it’s 150 grams instead of the excellence-sized 100 grams so I was already excited.

The smell of coffee and cream hits the nostrils as soon as the foil was torn open and the lovely embossed segments always look so inviting. And dammit it all, Love Chunks and Sapphire were hovering (they spring to life at the sound of the first tearing of the cardboard flap at the back of the Lindt pack like our dog does when we plonk her dinner bowl on the sink), so I had to share.

Still, fifty grams of sweet milk chocolate filled with a thin but flavoursome layer of dark truffle, coffee cream and biscuit pieces (presumably instead of soaked sponge) was divine. We all agreed; and this was obvious when all that was uttered was a slightly-less-than-eloquent “Mmmm, mmm” instead of real words or critiques.  Each square was nibbled delicately to make it last longer when what I really longed to do was snatch the block and inhale it all myself.

The ingredients show that the milk chocolate has a respectable 30% minimum cocoa solids and – what a shame – no fat, saturated or sugar or any nutritional information at all is included, so we’ll eat without fear or guilt.

Unfortunately, the biscuit component of the block contains palm oil. Yes, the biscuit only makes up one percent of the whole block and it the oil is only a percentage of that one percent but it begs the question as to whether it is really needed and, with environmental and conservation issues now raging about the Orangutans in South East Asia, can’t they get rid of it and get rid of it SOON?

FINALLY I found a block of the new Cadbury Old Gold ‘Toffee Crunch’  that some readers, commenters and emailers have already been talking about. It took about a month for it to reach my local Coles or Safeway and I haven’t seen any form of advertising for it anywhere.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Old Gold is as much of a Cadbury classic as Dairy Milk is. It contains a fairly paltry 45% cocoa solids, so it’s certainly not a strong version of dark chocolate unless you select their 70% Old Gold block. The website says: “Legal Description: The original taste of Cadbury® Old Gold® dark chocolate with crunchy toffee pieces.” Crikey, who knew you needed lawyers to describe the flavour of a family block??

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Despite the crumbs scattered on the top as a result of being hidden in the shopping trolley under a bag of oranges, then jostled in a green shopping bag, rolled on the backseat, lugged from the car and flung onto the kitchen counter before being ripped open, the squares had a nice sheen and the usual sweet smell that is associated with Old Gold.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

According to the ingredients, the block consists of 9% of crunchy toffee pieces (sugar, milk solids, salt, flavours, emulsifier 322) and whilst they are clearly visible and I could certainly feel their crytallised slivers get stuck into my teeth, they didn”t taste like anything much. I was hoping for a much more discernible buttery toffee flavour – especially considering that milk solids are included – but could only detect sugar. 

Sapphire and Love Chunks adored it, both proclaiming it moreish and delicious, and were quite puzzled at my lukewarm reaction of ‘Plain Old Gold with bits in it.’  I think that the ultra-sweetness of the dark chocolate might override the actual ’toffee’ in the ‘crunch’ a bit too much and wonder what it would taste like in either the 70% or Dairy Milk (one extreme to the other). 

For those of you who have tasted it, what do you think?

I’ve eyed off Ritter Sport for years and years, seeing them in David Jones, airport gourmet stalls and in sweet shops in classic, bed-and-breakfast historic towns. However, when they were priced at $8.50 for a 100 gram block and a German friend had once said, “It’s just our version of Cadbury,” I duly avoided them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then one day I was passing by a seven-eleven shop and went in to buy a newspaper. There, right by the counter, were these three blocks – Alpine Milk, Dark Chocolate and Marzipan, for $6 each. Time to try ‘em.

Ritter was set up in Germany in 1912 by Eugen and Clare Ritter. In 1932 Clare developed their now famous ‘Ritter Sport’ square block, designed so that “it fits into the pocket of every sports jacket and doesn’t break,” and there’s now around 30 different varieties sold to 80 countries.

Ritter stopped production during World War II and then had to make cocoa-free confectionery until 1950 when restrictions had lifted. These days, the company is still family-owned and run with grandson Albert at the helm, who, if photos are correct, has a pretty wild hairdo for an old guy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

History lesson over, tasting time to begin! The Alpine milk contains 30% minimum cocoa solids and is very creamy. And sickly. And, unfortunately, has a lingering ‘off’ taste that is an unpleasant reminder of milk that’s been left outside for too long. After checking that it was still within the use-by date (which it was), I noticed that the block contained hazelnut paste.

According to my husband Love Chunks, I’ve got a nose and a palate that can sniff out a speck of dried herb or spice from a mile away (ie good tastebuds) but couldn’t get even the tiniest hint of hazelnut paste.  Hmm. Maybe the next one will be better…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see, the unfortunately named Chocolate Negro 50% Cocoa has been heat affected, but looks ain’t everything.  This one had very little soft, creamy ‘mouthfeel’ and tasted dry and powdery. Think of eating cocoa dust and powdered sugar and picture a disappointed Kath at the kitchen table.

Third time lucky? I love marzipan and the Germans are naturally good at it. Aren’t they…….?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not on this occasion. Yes, it’s obviously heat affected chocolate and being the same 50% as the ‘negro’ I tried to focus just on the marzipan inside. Ack Ack Blerk: too dry, too crumbly and whatever bitter almond flavour that should have been there had either faded away or never developed in the first place. I even tried to slice off the chocolate and have it on its own but ended up throwing this – and the other two blocks – straight into the bin. In the BIN dear reader….!

So, with the odour of the off-milk from the Alpine chocolate still in my nostrils I found myself $18 poorer and very, very disappointed.

Am I being too harsh? Should I try to seek it out again, this time with my fingers crossed that it’s still in good condition?

 

Who doesn’t like receiving a present in the mail, especially when it reveals a parcel as pretty as this?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Inside, I found two boxes of Waterthins Chocolate Selection biscuits. The box on the left are ‘Creme Delights’ and what looks like caramel oozing out is actually ‘cocoa nut creme’. The box on the right are Wafer Straws.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They were opened just in time for Mrs Krups to make my morning coffee and they had a delicious burnt-sugar- toffee smell that wafted up as I was leaning in to take a photograph.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Firstly, the Creme Delight. It has a pretty generously-thick disc of milk chocolate on the top (with a not-so-shabby 32% cocoa solids), covering their version of the creamy Tim Tam filling (also on par) and a fine-crumb base (hence the powdery stuff on the top of the chocolate) that is one of the best factory-made biccies I’ve eaten in a long time. Om nom nom, two biscuits down……

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Onto the Wafer Straws. I’ll be honest right out and say that wafer has never really rocked my world. If I had to take ‘em or leave ‘em, I tend to walk off and not look back. As for these fellas, they were pretty wide to be a straw until I took a bite and realised that they were hollow – a couple of minutes earlier I could have tried slurping my coffee through one! The wafer in this is delightfully crisp and somehow holds up against the thickness of the chocolate and there’s a hint of hazelnut flavour lurking in the background as well. These are many many notches above your standard crap-wafer-and-thin-chocolate-gunk that’s normally available. Om nom nom, three more down…..

Okay, so I’ve established that I *love* the way they taste and have since seen them on the top shelf in the chocolate biscuit aisle at Woolworths (Tim Tams are at eye-level, so Waterthins are kind of hidden), so what’s the catch?  A couple, actually. Some of the ingredients don’t make for happy reading – there’s no hazelnut, it’s peanut paste; vegetable fat is in both biscuits and they’re made in Poland.

This is where, as a chocolate reviewer who wakes up every single morning with the first thought, “I want chocolate” before her face has even unfolded or her bladder emptied, I find myself in a dilemma. Utterly delicious and addictive vs vege fat and Poland.

Thoughts anyone?

…and while you’re thinking, click on the link below, complete a survey and be in the running to win a years’ supply of Belgian chocolate.

Junior Mints were previously only known to me via Kramer from Seinfeld when one flew out of the packet he was eating (whilst watching live surgery) and plopped inside the, um, insides of the patient….  Milk duds too were something that Americans mentioned often in sitcoms and movies that they’d buy at the Candy bar but I’d recently only seen both brands at my corner shop.

Now we all know that the US isn’t exactly world-renowned for the quality of their chocolate (yes, even Godiva. There, I said it) and I wonder if the childish names also have something to do with it?  It’s difficult to picture, say, James Earl Jones asking for a box of Milk Duds or Michelle Obama putting ‘Junior Mints’ at the top of her catering requirements. Then again, until recently we had a bar called a Polly Waffle….

Made by Tootsie Roll Industries (just to add further sophistication to the actual product), Junior mints are essentially creamy white mint fondants covered in dark chocolate. The chocolate itself contains a minimum of 32% cocoa solids so it’s closer to a milk chocolate yet doesn’t have any milk in it. Very strange; but the end result is a very dark looking but very very sweet and oily chocolate and not one I’ll be seeking out again.

Hershey Company-owned Milk Duds are little blobs of very chewy caramel coated in some form of milk chocolate whose cocoa solids aren’t mentioned. What is mentioned doesn’t make for comfortable reading: corn syrup, vegetable oil (cocoa butter, palm oil, shea oil, sunflower and/or safflower oil), non fat milk, dextrose, brown sugar, whey, mono and diglycerides, sodium bicarbonate, milk fat, salt, resinous glaze, soy lecithin, tapioca dextrin, vanillin and artificial flavour……

They taste like our Fantails but in rabbit poo form – ie hard little lumps. Like the Junior Mints, the chocolate is an after-thought and the main effort is put into gnawing away at the hard caramel until it softens, melts and disappears.  One 52 gram box is considered a single serving, but I could barely make my way through a third of them.

In summary, neither have changed my perception of American chocolate – childish, scary ingredients and next-to-no effort put into the actual chocolate. Avoid.

 

Since moving to Melbourne, it had been a long time between (hot chocolate) drinks that I’d visited Bracegirdles.   Until recent times, it was mostly Haigh’s and Swiss Glory that got all the accoldates in SA, but Bracegirdles started winning awards for their chocolates and their cafes were always packed. 

Bracegirdle is actually the surname of owners Sue and Garry. No, they don’t resemble hobbits, but when I first met Gary I didn’t check his feet too closely – mostly because he was so busy to stand still. He and wife Sue set up the business because of their passion for great chocolate, top notch coffee and to create the ideal atmosphere in order to enjoy the experience.  “We want people to feel as though they’re guests in our own house,” which is why the main dining area has a fireplace, comfy chairs and a heritage home feel about it. This passion for their business also extends to each other – they wanted to work together but ironically they are now each managing a shop on opposite sides of the city and busy establishing another one in Beresford’s winery at McLaren Vale. 

On this visit I took my daughter Sapphire, my best buddy Jill and her daughter Lana. As first time visitors, all three of them inhaled the smell of fresh coffee (made by South Australia’s Barista of the Year) and warm chocolate when we walked in.  The three of them ordered hot chocolates, and I asked for a mocha

The girlies also had two chocolates each – Africa (70%) and Lillypilly for Sapphire and a milk chocolate kangaroo and rose cream for Lana.  They shared none of them, but proclaimed them delicious, as were their drinks. Jill had the lemon tart and kept murmuring, “Oh my God, this is delicious, I need to bring Kent and boys here for the hot chocolates, now I know why it’s full of people at all hours of the day….”

As for me, well how could two mere chocolates suffice? I needed four:

Two are their current biggest sellers:

Lemon Hazelnut – the lemon flavour arrives first, then a refreshing taste of fresh cream with hazelnut emerging at the end. Divine.

Atomica (coffee) – this isn’t as strong as some coffee chocolates are, with caramel reaching equal dominance with the delicate coffee tastes, which worked perfectly.

And two others that appealed to me:
Cherry Surprise – No gross glace cherries in sight, but filled with moist coconut and a very distinct hit of cherry liqueur. This aint for kids, so that leaves more for us adults to enjoy.

Crunchy Peanut Butter praline – I’ve been craving this since tasting – and loving – it last year and it never disappoints.  Creamy peanut butter and chocolate is a pairing that I used to think only belonged to trailer park troglodtyes, until I tasted it. This version is particularly good.

So there you go, neglected South Aussie readers – finally, some chocolate that’s available in your neck of the woods!

 

Momami Creation La Choco La is a rather interesting name seeing as they’ve given themselves a French-sounding name but are made in Germany and have been imported to Australia by Premier Food and Beverages.

It is only when you look at them in more detail that you realise that each block consists of three separate, wavy-shaped pieces that fit together like a particularly appetising jig saw.

The block on the left has milk chocolate and cafe nougat as the top and bottom flavours with white chocolate, cranberry and almond making up the centre.

With 34% cocoa solids, the milk chocolate is good quality and the tiny toffee shards leave the merest hint of coffee when the chocolate melts away. The white centre-piece has teeny-weeny pieces of chewy zingy cranberry and crunchy, toffee-covered pieces of almond. The white chocolate contains a minimum of 28% cocoa solids, so again you’re getting something decent, not ‘filler’.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The block on the right has chocolate florentine as its top and bottom layers, with white chocolate, strawberry and hazelnut brittle in the centre.

The florentine tastes of peanut pieces and slivers of brittle that go nicely with the milk chocolate. The strawberry centrepiece is harder to detect any strong flavours in at first, but eventually the fizz of strawberry emerges, so that it doesn’t just taste like just slightly gritty white chocolate.

These are gorgeous-looking chocolates that use good quality ingredients. I have to ask, though: wouldn’t this be great as a 1000 piece jigsaw instead of a 3-piece?

 

A little birdy (who actually likes to refer to himself as Wally the Walrus) was brought back a pack of Delicaseys Orange Bliss by his beloved wife ‘SWMBO’ (She Who Must Be Obeyed) and he raved about it. Intrigued, I visited the link and promptly ordered five different types of chocolate.

Owned by Casey (no other details; she’s like Cher or Madonna or our Kylie), this little enterprise kicked off in 1999 after her mate and restaurateur Wayne Smith encouraged her to create chocolates with natural flavours. Orange Bliss was the first chocolate off the starting block and remains one of her top sellers today. Delicaseys now has around 20 intriguing flavours and can be found at Sydney’s Paddington markets, selected stores and online.

In Casey’s own words: ”I work predominately with dark chocolate and ensure the right balance with the accompanying ingredients. Each recipe is carefully blended using high-quality roasted, dried and freshly cooked products. You can easily distinguish the quality of our chocolates as they are carefully prepared by hand in small batches.”

After reading her blurb and dutifully photographing the bags, I was dying to try the Orange Bliss, Tasmanian Pepperberry, Limone, Brandy Plums and Sour Cherry Brandy chocolates.

On the far left we have the Orange; at the top we have the Tassie Pepperberry, then the Sour Cherries in brandy, followed underneath by the Limone slices and finally the Brandy plums.

All of them are coated in a dark chocolate (53% cocoa solids) and, true to her word, have no scary ingredients. The fruity smells co-mingled intoxicatingly as I snapped away, tempting me so badly I started drooling like Pavlov’s dog.

The orange was calling – no, SHOUTING – my name. This bad boy would have to be the most generous, most moist, fruity and juicy bit of candied orange I’ve ever had in my life. They’re not chewy or unwieldy but have the most deliciously sweet marmaladey tang that is a perfect match to the chocolate. In fact there’s more orange than chocolate and it works.

The Tasmanian Pepperberry is presented as thin snapped segments of chocolate. Tastewise, I realise my wordsmithing skills are not good enough, but I’ll try. It’s like a sprinkling of cocoa nibs but instead of bitterness, the pepperberry gives an earthy and also a caramel-like crunch to the chocolate, which serves to enhance the ‘woodiness’ of the dark chocolate.  How’s that – or, eat and enjoy the crunchy bits.

The Sour Cherry brandy chocolates are little blobby bits that taste more like prunes than the morello cherries I’m used to. Think of moist, grown-up prunes with the fun of chocolate encasing them and you’re partly there. When I then tried the Brandy plums, I was initially struggling to tell the difference between the two varieties, except that the brandy emerges as the chocolate melts and then lingers after its gone. Both are pretty bloody nice ways to get some dried fruit into my system!

I saved the Limone until last and, as you can see from the photo above, they’re all slightly different shapes and sizes that show they’re hand made. And delicious. These are…… tangy, sweet, bitter, citrussy, chewy, moist…. all done so perfectly that they kind of fizz up in your mouth like a good natured flavour explosion. YES YES YES!

 I was lucky enough to also try a couple each of Dark Delight (almonds), Fleur de Sel (dark chocolate with salt), Ginger, Hazels (with hints of divine butterscotch toffee splinters), Almond (in milk chocolate), Pecan Cranberry (in white, but oh so right) and Chilli (dark). ALL of them rocked my world that one blissful afternoon…..

Do yourself a favour…..You can order online (as I did) or click here to check what shops stock them in your neck of the woods.