Gone Chocco

 

I fell in love with Wild Chocolates ’Wild About You’ range of truffles a few months ago when they were given to me by my father-in-law who’d purchased them on his way through from Melbourne airport.  They sat in the fridge for a couple of months before I tried them and were a sensation, featuring a variety of Aussie bush foods.

In fact they left me so impressed I tracked down the manufacturer and spoke to Adele who sadly told me that the range is not currently being made any more because it has a short shelf life and weren’t always being stored properly in shops. I kid you not when I say that we both sighed at the same time!

“We have a different range we can show you now though,” she offered. The Wild Chocolates website doesn’t exist yet, but their chocolates certainly do.

And here’s the first, in a gorgeous box, enticingly described on the back as ‘Luscious, fresh and meltingly soft white chocolate eucalyptus truffle centres made with real creamy chocolate and a splash of eucalyptus leaf oil….for a sublime combination of texture and flavour.’

This is the first time I’ve seen eucalyptus featured as a chocolate flavour and am pretty sure that they’ll be more fun than sucking on a honey-and-eucalytpus throat lozenge after a coughing fit….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The green sprinkles on the top are just chocolate but add to the overal impact, don’t they? Sapphire and I both said, “Oooh, wow, so pretty….” as the lid was lifted, but Love Chunks passed by and sniffed, “Oh the packaging’s a bit bright, isn’t it?” so one-third of the reviewing panel prefers their packaging colours on the more traditional side.

The pale green-coloured ganache provided a lovely creamy and sweet hint of eucalyptus. It wasn’t overpowering like the oils you squirt up your nose during a case of the sniffles or sloosh around your loo bowl during housework sessions but was distinct, unusual and utterly delicious.

Sapphire and I adored them and I regret not letting her have three of them. There are eight in the box, so we adults had three each, and she two.

Love Chunks wasn’t impressed with them – “It’s like eating Vaporub, erk,” but I could have eaten all eight on my own. As could Sapphire, if I’d let her. Maybe next time we’ll get ourselves a box each and not tell Love Chunks…..

Ask me nicely and I’ll tell you where you can find them outside of Melbourne, but for those of you with postcodes start with a 3 and a 0, try:

Icons Australia: Shop RM09, Mezzanine Level, Qantas Domestic Terminal Melbourne Airport 3045
Swords Chill: 348 Queens Pde, Clifton Hill
Sweet Ports: 175 Bay St, Port Melbourne
Brighton Chocolates & Baskets: 334 Bay Street,Brighton

And TONIGHT is the  Lindt Chocolate Ball in Melbourne! You can still donate to a very worthy cause, even if you can’t frock up and rock up. Click on the link below:

 

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.

Chocolate-covered coffee beans often make me nervous. As a coffee lover, I generally restrict myself to two cups of the finest per day to ensure that the neighbourhood is not treated to the sight of me doing nude cartwheels, or having the chorus of Gilligan’s Island running through my head at 3am.

Still, these looked pretty good and it was time for my second cup of coffee for the day….

 

 

 

 

 

 

A glance at the ingredients helped reassure me that my modesty and sleep patterns would remain intact as only ten percent of each chocolate was coffee bean, the rest was chocolate (containing a fairly respectable 53% cocoa solids).

I liked what they’d written on the back: ‘Coffee Snobbery. Occasions may arise where it becomes clear your friends don’t share your passion for a quality coffee. So, should they ever serve you an ‘instant’, instead of spurting it out in disgust, thank them for reminding you of your impeccable taste.’

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And these little bunny beans of heaven taste delicious. Unlike most choc-coated coffee beans I’ve tried, Newman’s have got the proportion of chocolate to coffee absolutely right.

Less gritty bits in your teeth but a nice caffeine crunch and the sweet swirling seduction of dark chocolate to boot.

Therefore, I scoffed twenty.

Or maybe it was thirty.

Forty? All I know is that I vacuumed the house in record time, found all my tax receipts, folded all the clean clothes, bathed the dog, did the grocery shopping and cleaned out my wardrobe before lunchtime……

 

I’ve been rather surprised and amused by how many emails* I’ve received about the new Swiss Gold White with Almonds block. It’s one of four new Australian-only blocks just released by Lindt but is the only one in white chocolate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now I’ve tasted – and enjoyed - the classic almond and brittle/toffee/caramel pieces chocolate combinations before but they’ve always been in milk or dark chocolate (the hard-to-find Cote D’Or springs to mind) and they have always contained almond pieces or slivers instead of whole almonds. Unwrapped, the block looks rather pretty…

 

 

 

 

 

 

….. with the sweet aroma associated with white chocolate and the added bonus of big nuts (meant in the nicest of terms) bulging out the back end:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After tasting these, I’m no longer surprised that no less than five emails** to me included the phrase ‘Nom Nom Nom’ to describe how much they enjoyed it. With a minimum of 29% cocoa solids (how come it doesn’t look brown?) and 12% almonds it tastes….. decadent, deletable and deliriously delicious.

Even Love Chunks – who turns his nose up at white chocolate – was impressed, as was Sapphire, who agreed with the general ‘Nom Nom Nom’ response of many other devotees.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Caution is advised, however, because despite its girlie appearance, the Lindt Swiss Gold White with Almonds is almost impossible to eat politely; ie you’ll gobble it all up in front of Masterchef and hope that your third of the 150 gram block doesn’t really have any fat in it.

Naughty but very, very nice.

* Emails, not comments. I’m assuming that emailers are shy and prefer to contact me directly rather than reveal themselves on this blog, especially if it’s concerning white chocolate…..?

** I kid you not.  LOL-cats have taken over the world as we know it.

 

 

Finally I made it to Monsieur Truffe’s shop in Collingwood. Having heard several friends rave about his chocolate truffles and buying his gorgeous picture framed selection of chocolate it was high time to visit the actual origin of the magic.

The funny thing is, I tend to go all shy when I walk into places that have already been discovered and revered, wondering if I’m ‘worthy’ enough or something. Dressing like a dag probably doesn’t help either, but no sooner was I gazing with interest at the blocks on the shelves, than Monsieur Truffe himself – or Thibault Fregoni, popped over to ask if I needed help.

Now, this humble site might be chocolate-related but I must share with you that  Thibault is rather easy on the eye and when you factor in his French accent, the divine smells of freshly ground coffee and truffles in the store and the fact that he reminded me a tiny bit of the ‘Perfect’ guy in the cheese ads on TV, then you’ll understand why my first response was “Uaoghdmfuflk.”

A few minutes later I walked out of the store with a box of his famous truffles and a few blocks I could scarcely remember choosing, but more on those another time.

The box hints at their hand made status (which is a GOOD thing regarding truffles) and Thibault stresses that he searches for the very best chocolate around the world in both flavour and ethics.

…..cocoa dust on the inner lining was also a very good sign….

 

 

 

  ….. before revealing the fifteen beautiful little treasures inside: 

 

 

Should I be worried that when I’m given a dark block, a milk block and really-extra ultra-uber milky chocolate block to try, that it’s the really-extra ultra-uber milky chocolate that blows me away the most?

Let me explain before you insist that I quit this job and spend the rest of my days with 85% Criollo being pumped intravenously. The irrepressible Oliver from Premier Food and Beverages emailed me to say, tauntingly, “I’ve just found my most favourite chocolate ever – Camille Bloch’s Extra Milk mousse.”

Now that’s a pretty serious claim, to select the so-called ‘weakest’ chocolate in terms of cocoa content and then practically dare me to try it…..

Unwrapped and put together like Willy Wonka’s idea of industrial non-slip flooring tiles, I was reminded of Dr Who’s daleks, but it would be me doing the exterminating.  They all smelled delicious.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Camille Bloch is a Swiss chocolate company that has been around for over 75 years and are most famous for their Ragusa and Torino chocolates, eaten by many homesick Swiss and German folk living in Australia.

At the moment though, they’re most proud of their mousse blocks, which have been revamped since I first tried them a bit over a year ago.

The dark chocolate mousse pictured here has an instantly-melty dark chocolate that contains 60% minimum cocoa solids, with a mousse inside. Yes, that’s bleeding obvious and it’s why they call it a mousse - but how often have you come across a chocolate shell actually containing something that you could in all honesty scoop out and identify as being as soft, creamy and fluffy as a real mousse? Well you can here and it’s going to give Lindt’s Petit desserts chocolate mousse block a very serious run for its money. 

To my surprise the milk (’lait’) is even better. The percentage of cocoa solids isn’t mentioned and when the list of ingredients are compared they’re the same except in slightly different order (and therefore, volume).

This is milk chocolate – and mousse – done to perfection. Sapphire and Love Chunks tried all three with me, and this was both of their stand-out favourite. You know that a chocolatier has made a winner when the most sense you can get from a taster is a bit of ecstatic eye-rolling and nothing more eloquent than, “Mmmmmm. Oh yeah…Mmmmmm.”

Finally it was the Lait Extra Milch’s turn.

I’ve gotta say, the anaemic look of the chocolate didn’t feel me with enthusiasm, especially when compared to the other two beauties we’d just enjoyed.

But…. or should I say ‘butt’ in reference to the amounts of it I now dream of consuming without regard to health, body shape and dignity……. Oliver was right. It is the best of the three. Even though the intelligent sector (not a very large part, admittedly) of my brain said, “But hey, the first three ingredients are sugar, milk powder and the always-marvellous vegetable fat before cocoa gets a look in,” I didn’t care.

Dreamy, creamy, swoon-worthy chocolate and mousse done to a previously untasted perfection. So soft and light it nearly floated across my palate… it’s wonderful! Milk comprises a hefty 28% of these eight orbs of heaven, so it aint one for lactose intolerant people; more’s the pity for them. Keep your eyes peeled for these three (esp the Lait Extra Milch) at IGAs owned by smart and sophisticated managers and whoever else stocks Camille Bloch chocolates.

 

I sometimes find Vivani chocolate at my beloved little local corner shop, but usually they are small bars and not blocks.  Vivani is made by the German family business known as Ludwig Weinrich who have been making chocolate for over a century.  The Vivani range is a fair bit younger than that though, having been released in 2000.

All of their ingredients are organically grown and certified and, in their words, they: ‘invest in healthy agricultural practices in countries where our raw materials come from…..By using crops from Third World regions we help to promote small scale farming and to protect the environment from pesticides and other chemical products. The higher prices we pay for organically grown cocoa beans and raw cane sugar result in a higher standard of living for the producers in the countries of origin.’

Now I’ll be honest with you: I’ve heard and read all that stuff before but have at times been very disappointed with the taste and quality of a product that is often pretty expensive.  Scarborough Fair is one that promised much but tasted so awful that I ended up throwing it out and I don’t do that very often.

It was afternoon tea time here at GoneChocco and what would go better with a freshly ground and brewed flat white (served in my unintentionally ironic cup: The Angel of Migraines) than a nice 70%?

I was surprised that there was almost no discernible orange aroma – let alone chocolate aroma – when I opened the foil, even after letting it sit out of the fridge for thirty minutes.

I was cheered up a little when the back panel revealed that it contained only four ingredients – the fewer the better when it comes to 70% and up.  Cocoa, raw sugar, cocoa butter and orange essential oil.

And that is why it tasted so delicious.  In fact, I’ll be so bold as to say that this one – as a 70 percent-er in any shape or form – is right up there with my current favourite 70 percent-er, Lindt Excellence Madagascar.  That’s a pretty big call, especially seeing as I can only find this bar every now and then!

It has a completely different range of tasting notes to Lindt’s Madagascar.  This one isn’t particularly strong in  earth, fruit or smoke flavours (your typical descriptors for ’serious’ chocolate that has 70% or more cocoa solids) but the delicacy of the orange oil makes the chocolate less bitter and muddy than you’d expect of a 70%.

I wouldn’t go as far as to say that it’s sweet, but the overall effect is of a dark creaminess rather than a serious bitterness. 

It would be perfect for people who are a bit scared of 70% to try because the orange flavour complements the dark chocolate and allows it to add a second dimension to the chocolate.  There’s a slight grittiness to it that Lindt doesn’t have but it is something that you can eat ‘for fun’ rather than for the ‘reward’ of a strong block that you have to concentrate on.  Does that make sense?

 

Look, as you’ll have guessed from my Cocolo balls, I’m no chef.  It’s Love Chunks who is the skilled kitchen wizz in our house; my job is to pack and unpack the dishwasher and I’m a dab hand at wielding a wet chux as well.

So, when this 200 gram block of cooking chocolate – Lindt cooking chocolate – arrived, I was more inclined to eat it straight out of the packet than try actually cooking with it. The ingredients differ from Lindt’s classic ‘Excellence 70% cocoa’ in that there’s extra cocoa powder.

Then I noticed the recipe on the back for Lindt Chocolate Mousse that almost sounded as though it was something achievable for a clueless cook like myself.

To make sure, I contacted Thomas Schnetzler, Maitre Chocolatier for Lindt Australia.  ”My advice is to get everything ready before you start melting your chocolate, and hopefully this time you won’t overheat it. Separate your eggs; whip the cream and get your egg-white meringue organised.”

But couldn’t I just eat— “Yes, you can eat it, but it’s ‘entry level’ Lindt, made for cooking, which is why it has extra cocoa. On first taste it has more intensity and a sharper snap, but Lindt excellence is smoother and has a better quality bean. When I’m developing recipes, I still prefer to cook with the Excellence, but this new block is ideal to use when you need chips or chunks in things, like cookies or cakes.”

Sapphire and I decided to make the Lindt mousse together. I separated the eggs - nervously as I remembered how hard it was for the Masterchef contestants to do it - and got the cream out.

As Sapphire snapped the block into squares and placed them in the saucepan, I tried a couple of squares from the second block and a couple of squares from an Excellence block (I always have a few of them ‘just around’ my house). Thomas was right – the specialty cooking chocolate is sharper on the palate and the extra cocoa and dusty notes are very evident. It’s still OK to eat straight, but not as good as the next couple of squares of Excellence. These immediately overshadowed the specialty as they were superior in terms of flavour, smoothness, creamy texture and lingering sweetness. OK, so back to the cooking.

 

Sapphire whipped the cream until it was in the ‘ribbon stage’ according to the recipe or until ’soft peaks formed’ according to Kath. I used electric beaters to whip the egg whites, sugar and a pinch of salt for the meringue, feeling ever-so-pleased (and relieved) when they too, turned into stiff peaks.

Sapph melted the chocolate in a small saucepan placed into a larger saucepan full of just-simmered water. The chocolate melted like a dream.

After the chocolate and egg yolks were combined, the meringue was added – very gently – to the mixture.

Sapphire got out our classic 20-cent garage sale champagne classes as I tried very hard to keep myself from sticking my finger in for a taste.

We were rather impressed with the light texture of the mix and just as I was starting to spoon it into glasses, my brother and sister-in-law popped in.

Five servings were easily arranged and there was still enough left for us three GoneChocco Locketts to have another serve tomorrow.

Sapphire grabbed four squares of the Lindt Excellence and melted them, as she was very keen to make some squiggles on grease-proof paper and add them as decorations to the mousse.

The results, for her first try, were very impressive:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the mousse?  Loved by all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

With packaging, less is most often more.  The less it screams out at you, the more confidence in itself it presents; the more class it promises within.  Chocolatier’s dark brown box sits firmly within the ‘No need to shout, it’ll soon be found out’ category.

The box itself is heavy, not flimsy, which makes me even more optimistic that what is hidden inside is worth discovering.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The little ribbon pulls the drawer open and …..

…. after the protective plastic covering is removed …..

…. it reveals THESE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My friend Helen was over for a morning coffee and despite being self-proclaimed arty farty types fond of a poncy word or three all we could utter at the sight and smell of them was “Ooooooh.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before trying them our one quibble was with the plastic tray the chocolates were sitting in.  Being such an elegant box, couldn’t a bit more attention be given to placing these chocolate cuties on paper or thin cardboard or foil?

No matter.  There are six flavours and all of them deserve their place in this selection.  Each are generously coated in dark chocolate (53% minimum cocoa solids) that absolutely perfectly complements each flavour, namely: Grand Marnier Noir, Caribbean (spiced rum and raisins), Hazelnut Gateau (praline centre), Pure Dark (with cocoa nibs), Fruits of Passion (raspberry liqueur and cream centre) and Short  Black (coffee infused).

Each flavour was distinct.  Sure, they’re all flavours we’ve heard of before, but here these classic combinations are done extremely well.  All centres were soft and melted with or alongside the fudgy richness of the dark chocolate, enhancing all flavour notes and lingering tastes. 

There is no way that Helen or I could decide which chocolate we liked best.  She kept turning the lid of the box over, saying, “Where can I get these?  These beat anything that Lindt has in their boxed range, how come I haven’t seen them before?”

And would she notice this dark box on her supermarket shelf?  “YES. It’s dark, elegant and I know that it’s going to give me something that’s top quality.”

Chocolatier is Australian owned-and-run and this selection should confidently hold its own against the world’s best.  Yes, the world’s best.  Too many fools reach for Godiva because it’s expensive and they’ve heard of it when they’d be wiser and smarter to reach for these.  As Molly used to say, do yourself a favour and find a box.

 

 

 

 

 

Click here for stockists.

 

My final two Haigh’s blocks are possibly my favourite ones: their plain dark block and their milk orange.

Haigh’s know they’re good, dammit and so they’re not cheap and not available anywhere but in their own shops or via their website. 

These blocks hardly need any adornment because they sell themselves on their reputation and taste and therefore can get away with costing $8 for a mere 100 grams of heaven.

First up is the dark.  Containing 51% cocoa solids and including milk as its last ingredient it shouldn’t scare off anyone who prefers to dwell on the lighter side of the chocolate wheel.

It snaps off cleanly and melts in the mouth as you’d expect from Haigh’s.  It is very sweet with a quite distinct “cocoa powder’ flavour from their secret source of cacao beans that they make into chocolate straight out of the jute sacks they arrive in (and are the only chocolatier in Australia to do so).  The sugar lingers on the palate.  This is a chocolate best eaten with a hot drink to refresh your thirst nearby but easily remains one of the loveliest introductions to the world of dark chocolate.

Unwrapping the milk orange chocolate block means that the inviting aroma of orange wafts up first before tasting which – being an orange and chocolate fan myself – only serves to enhance the experience.

Orange is the first flavour to hit the taste buds too, but this soon gives way to the simply smooth and creamy milk chocolate.  At 32% cocoa solids, the chocolate still has a lot of cocoa flavour on offer which shows why it is the only milk chocolate and orange combination that I like; as I usually adhere to the dark choc/orange spectrum.

Nutrition-wise, these blocks aren’t much different – around 32.3 grams of fat per 100 grams (18.5 grams are saturated) and roughly fifty percent sugar.   Whatever: they’re both divine.