Sunday 11 November 2012

Zotter - Walnut-Marzipan

Clearing out my chocolate draw today I came across several chocolate bars that I'd totally forgotten about. Amongst this slightly old collection of confections was a bar from Zotter.  This was great news but a Best Before date of Feb 12 is not really ideal and I nearly had second thoughts about eating it.  But, in my book, if it smells okay and looks clear of anything green and furry then it is probably alright to eat.

As usual Zotter do not fail to impress with their packaging standards. In my opinion they are world leaders in their field.  I'm sure there are people out there right now buying up the artwork rather than the chocolate.  So, I was surprised to read on their website that many people do not believe they take their chocolate seriously?! 


Dark Mountain Milk Couverture 50%

There are very few companies that actually make their own chocolate from 'bean to bar' and Zotter is one of them. They have very close links with their farmers and have amassed a wide and diverse range of cocoa suppliers from around the world. In total Zotter buys chocolate from 11 countries Peru, Brazil, Ecuador and surprisingly India. You can see the full list here.

Hand Scooped - This is hand-made in Zotter speak. Hand Scooped is a range of bars that have one, two or even three distinctive layers.  This bar reminds me of an over sized praline and I imagine the processes are similar but on a massive scale.


70g Walnut and Marzipan - for adults only

Once out of the packaging this bar is best seen cut into slices to enable you to see the various distinct layers. This particular bar is made with freshly roasted and caramelised walnuts mixed with marzipan and rum which is then coated with dark mountain milk chocolate. The marzipan is sweet and the 'crunch' I can only assume comes from the walnuts. The chocolate itself doesn't provide very much in the way of flavour as it is masked by the slightly overpowering marzipan. Soft, sweet, almost like eating a piece of cake! 


Organic and Fair 
Marzipan, you either love it or hate it and I felt that there was nothing unpleasant about this bar and therefore it deserves 5/10 for flavour and 9/10 for presentation. 

To the people of Zotter, I promise that I'll review my next bar within the 'best before' deadline next time but, I think it stood up rather well considering how late I'd left it! 

Zotter you need to check your website. Planet Organic is not selling your products at the moment? However, Chocolatiers is selling this bar at a special price of £2.16, a 30% discount.

4 comments:

  1. This was one of the first Zotter bars I ever tried and I'd still say it's one of my favourite hand scooped bars. I have to confess I like the single origin Labooko bars better, because I find the hand scooped bars too focused on the filling, which I believe is such a pity... the chocolate is lovely and would deserve more attention.

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  2. Hi Ana, good to hear from you. I agree the Labooko bars are very good. Some of the hand-scooped flavours are just a bit whacky....and as you say the chocolate plays second fiddle to the filling!

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  3. You had me at the 1st sentence...
    'Clearing out my chocolate drawer today'
    Oh why is my chocolate drawer MT???
    quelle dommage :(

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    1. Yes, indeed! Chocolate drawer has been re-stocked thank goodness. Now, I just have to eat and review each one...its a tough job! :))

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