Gone Chocco

Ah, Haigh’s.  Expensive; yes.  Slightly intimidating to walk into their shop when you’ve never been before or don’t know what you want; yes.  Elegant; yes.  Worth the trip; yes.

For many years, Haigh’s was only known to me as the alternative place to meet up with friends in Adelaide’s Rundle Mall (“Nah, not at the silver balls, I’ll meet you at Haigh’s on Beehive Corner”) and the occasional gift bag of delicious chocolate frogs.  The violet crèmes, shiraz truffles, King-Sized frogs and scorched almonds came later; as did the bargain shelf at their factory outlet.

Therefore, amongst their top notch stock and rather glamorous shop fittings, these fairly slim and plain blocks are easy to overlook, which is a shame.  Maybe it’s the photograph of John Haigh, grandson of the founder of Haigh’s – he looks a bit forbidding and as though he’s saying, “Put me back DOWN you peasant and get out of my shop!”

Haigh’s Premium Milk Chocolate has a richer, stronger flavour – even the sweeter milk variety – and is made straight from the cocoa bean.  Haigh’s are still the only chocolatier in Australia (unless Cocoa Farm’s plantation is producing yet?) that do this.  The taste really is something that elevates it beyond what else is available, and at $8.00 for a 100 gram block Haigh’s are certainly aware of it. But – dammit all – their chocolate is unique. 

Plus, they add more cocoa solids into their chocolate than anyone else.  My extensive research (oh alright, a glance at two other brands) shows that Haigh’s has 32% of cocoa solids compared to Cadbury Dairy Milk’s paltry 21% and even Lindt’s 31% found in their Swiss Classic block.  Yes, that all-important extra one percent.

Their Milk Coffee Chocolate is even stronger than their Premium Milk with 36% cocoa solids and 1% of coffee.  The natural cocoa flavour perfectly aligns with the coffee to produce a creamy but edgy combination that sings in your mouth.  Love Chunks and I devoured this in front of Spicks and Specks one evening, punctuating our snorts at the telly with more intimate and earthy, “Oh my god, mmmmm” sounds as we sucked each delicious square.

Nutrition panel, Schmutrition panel.  It’s got lots of fat for you – 32 grams per 100 for the plain milk and 33 grams for the coffee respectively; and 19 and 18.8 grams of saturated.  Sugars are around 47 grams if you don’t share the block.  Otherwise, find your main squeeze, share it equally and halve those scary numbers.

Or eat it yourself but realise you have to run 6 kilometres at 12.6 km per hour to burn off the 520 calories in one block….