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?
I’ve tried the milk & marzipan and didn’t like them either. However, they have some better chocolates (biscuit, dark mousse, duo with white & milk chocolate). They used to have some alcohol ones a few years ago (amaretto, rum) and those were really good.
I may be hallucinating but I am sure that I have seen these Aldi before (they don’t appear to be on their website though) for much cheaper like $2ish. My husband (the Swiss) told me not to bother buying them as they are quite ordinary. So maybe without the heat damage they still wouldn’t be very impressive.
This is one of those annoying cases where there’s an enormously prolific range of Ritter flavours out there in the rest of the world, but only the boring ones here. I remember loving the tang of the yogurt one, and the cornflake one is fantastic, but the ones in Australia are, as you say, not so special. Although I’ve had the marzipan one a few times and it’s been quite nice (and definitely in better condition!) You’re right, though, that it lacks a strong bitter-almond flavour of marzipan.
Kath, my mum was born and raised in Germany, coming out to Australia in 1953. (brought me with her, lucky me). Over the years she frequented continental delis and continental stalls at Central Market whenever she could to buy some of her favourite foods that she was homesick for. NEVER did she buy chocolate from any of these places. In our house it was Cadbury blocks or Red Tulip liqueur cherries. So there’s your answer. Stay away from the German stuff. Stick to Swiss and Belgian. And Cadbury.
Ana, I’ll keep my eyes open for the flavours that you describe but might get them from somewhere a bit more likely to store them better than a 7-11 without air conditioning
CBear, I *must* make it to Aldi sometime soon because I’m keen to try the Moser Roth blocks they have there. And if your Swiss Man is unimpressed by Ritter I’m inclined to take his advice. Tell me, what sort of chocolate does he like?
Hannah – yoghurt? (is it as good as the Lindt ones I tried earlier this year) Cornflake? Yep, you and Ana are right – we’ve got the boring ones here!
And River, your German mother didn’t even want to buy them! And now, even though it’s barely 8.00am in the morning as I’m writing this, I have a hankering for those classic Red Tulip liqueur cherries – why didn’t Cadbury (after acquiring Red Tulip) continue making them?
The Swiss Man is a big Lindt fan. Camille Bloch (the booze filled ones are his favourites)and of course also their Ragusa blocks (all Swiss seem to miss them terribly). His top favourite when in Switzerland are the Morenkopf (or politically incorretly named negro heads). They are creamy marchmallow on a wafer base which is coated in chocolate. They don’t really excite me but I guess it’s what you grow up with. Cailler Frigor and finally Lint Kirshstengeli or Williams. Little batons filled with cherry or pear schnapps. I personally would kill for some decent champagne truffles….and now I need chocolate…and schnapps.
Cadbury aqcuired Red Tulip????
When did this happen??
Now I know why my Red Tulip Easter Rabbit didn’t seem as nice as I remembered them being. I’ve bought them for years, but this year they just seemed….ordinary.
Next Easter I’m switching to Haighs.
Ah Camille Bloch I’m familiar with, CBear and Ragusa but the other stuff? Any of it found here in Oz?
River, Cadbury taking over Red Tulip was some time in the eighties and the lovely boxes of Red Tulip chocolates have since disappeared…
Nope not as far as I know. Unfortunately they are also too fragile to get friends to post to us and end up as a squished melty mess teeming with ants dribbling out of our letterbox. (Our postman isn’t very bright.)
I have a theory that maybe the one that you have sampled may have been off. You did say that it tasted like spolit milk didn’t you? Do your friends at PFB stock them? If it’s a hit in Germany, it couldn’t be that bad, could it?
My husband is Swiss and says that Ritter was always kind of looked down upon because it was made in Germany (and as you say it was their Cadbury type of brand). Having said that he says the marzipan one was nice so I think your batch was definitely compromised by the heat. His favourite everyday choc in Switzerland was Cailler but now that we live in Australia we have discovered that Aldi chocolate is quite acceptable especially when compared with Cadbury which just tastes waxy to us after being spoiled by living in Europe for so many years. My husband will not eat Cadbury choc under any circumstances. My personal favourite everday choc was actually Cote D’Or which is Belgian of course. I prefer Belgian over Swiss in general (except in the husband dept;)) as I find it more dense and rich in cocoa and not as sickly sweet as brands like Lindt. They did sell plain blocks of Cote D’Or for a short time here at Coles but I can’t find them anymore and they were very thin blocks whereas in Belgium they were nice big and chunky blocks (and at reasonable prices as well). These days I don’t eat much supermarket brand choc anyway and would rather just visit local chocolate makers for fresh produce. I am working my way through all that Melbourne has to offer and it is a lot! Personal faves (so far!) include Ganache Chocolate in South Yarra, The Chocolate Master in Preston and Max Brenner in South Melb but the quest goes on…
Maybe one day, CBear, someone will import it for us, in air conditioned containers…..
C23, I will review these again, to be fair – now I just need to find some in fresh and good condition!
Belinda – once again the Aldi chocolate is mentioned. I *must* get there soon! I remember Cote D’Or being available at Coles and have very fond memories of their dark chocolate with raspberries, a milk chocolate with caramelized nuts, their plain varieties…. but I can’t find any of it anywhere these days. For Melbourne chocolatiers, don’t forget San Churro (They started here), Monsieur Truffe (Collingwood), Coco Loco (Northcote), Chokolait (off Little Collins Street) and Cacao (GPO and Collins Street). Ganache is another place that’s on my list to visit and all of these ‘quests’ make my ‘Must Do’ list a pretty enjoyable one!