Wild Gorse Flower by Chocolarder

If you are a visitor to Southwold, Suffolk, especially during the magical month of May, you will be familiar with a striking and prickly yellow shrub that is known as Gorse which bursts like a ray of sunshine from the scrub. 

A bright colour is not its only attractive quality but it also has a heady, thick coconut scent that envelops everything within a few metres. 

Certainly not something I would consider combining with chocolate, but the guys at Chocolarder have been working their magic to produce an aptly named Wild Gorse Flower bar of chocolate. According to the words on the packaging, "Gorse flowers are handpicked from around Cornwall's coast and steeped in cocoa butter for several weeks to impart their heady scent. Added to 40% milk Javan milk chocolate".

Chocolarder is an artisan bean to bar chocolate maker based in Cornwall and I've taken a paragraph directly from their website, "The Chocolarder is one of the only small batch bean-to-bar chocolate makers in the country. We produce fine quality, stone ground chocolate using organic beans imported from single estate, family run plantations in Venezuela, Java, Madagascar, Peru and the Dominican Republic. The select beans used at The Chocolarder are roasted, winnowed and ground over 4 days before being left to mature for 30 days. The chocolate is then hand tempered and made into bars. This obsessive attention to detail yields some of the finest chocolate in production today".

Chocolarder packaging is all recyclable

The chocolate is a single origin milk chocolate made from Trinitario beans from Java with a 40% cocoa content, infused with Wild Gorse flowers. The beans themselves have been through a grind length of 68 hrs. 

As I said on my previous tasting, their packaging is very good and also completely recyclable or sourced from recycled materials. On opening the greaseproof outer there is a very, very strong aroma of coconut, which brings back memories of sunbathing using coconut oil and gently frying in the Mediterranean sun. The coconut flavour is so strong that I almost expected there to be a white centre not unlike a Bounty. The 40% milk chocolate is lost in the strong coconutty flavour but melts easily with a fudge like texture. To be honest the chocolate does not come through until long afterwards.

Ingredients:

Cocoa Beans
Raw Sugar Cane
Whole Milk Powder
Cocoa Butter
Gorse Flowers

My only question is why did you have to use such a good quality chocolate that ends up being masked by such a strong flavour. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed it and so did everybody else who was lucky enough to try a piece.

Reasonably priced at £3.95 per 70g. To buy click here. 

Chocolarder - Cornish Honeycomb

Handmade in Cornwall

Chocolarder, new kid on the block when it comes to bean-to-bar UK chocolate makers. One of a handful of chocolate specialists including the likes of Duffy of Red Star Chocolate Ltd, based in Lincolnshire and Pump Street Bakery based in picturesque Orford, Suffolk.

Chocolarder is an artisan bean-to-bar chocolate maker based in Penryn, Cornwall. One of Cornwall's most ancient towns and an important harbour in years gone by. Now the centre of artisan chocolate production on the Lizard Peninsula. 

Michael Longman, a former pastry chef, started Chocolarder in 2012 after deciding he'd had enough of mass produced chocolate. A small chocolate bar maker with a strong sense of social responsibility demonstrated by sourcing only organic and sustainably grown cocoa beans from family run plantations. 

The packaging is very functional with a wallet like feel which allows you to keep your chocolate treasure in safekeeping for later nibbling.

Single Origin Milk Chocolate with Honeycomb....this 70g bar of milk chocolate, 40% cocoa solids, is made using single origin chocolate, Trinitario beans from Java with honeycomb pieces. The label also tells us about 'grind length' a statement that could be misconstrued but, essentially this tells us this is a bar of quality chocolate. A longer conche effectively translates into a dream bar of the brown, sweat stuff.....well that's the theory. 

A beautiful shiny exterior glistening like polished mahogany even under these gloomy grey Essex skies. A good snap and a creamy smooth rich fudgy loveliness intermingled with honeycomb crunch. The accompanying tasting notes suggest strong earthy and floral tones from locally sourced honey which has been cold-pressed. Allegedly this process ensures all the good stuff including vitamins and nutrients remain intact and are not destroyed by heat.

I've diligently placed what's left of my chocolate bar back in the wallet to be enjoyed later. But, it keeps calling me back which means it will be devoured sooner rather than later. Good job I ordered two! So, just on this premise alone this is a good bar of chocolate and competes well with the likes of Duffy and Pump Street. Priced at £3.95 for 70g.  

Well done my lovelies!

Rajoles - Chocolate Con Leche 40%

On a recent trip to Whole Foods I picked up a fantastic looking bar of chocolate, Rajoles, by Enric Rovira of Barcelona. But, before we get to those sweet delights lets talk retail. 

If you are like me and enjoy everything there is to know about food and retail then I highly recommend a visit to the Kensington branch of Whole Foods.  There are other outlets in Camden, Clapham, Piccadilly and Stoke Newington.  I guarantee it will be an education on how our food should be presented and prepared.  You may balk at some of their prices, which I agree are off the scale when compared to the likes of Tesco, but, I guarantee you will come out more informed, wowed and perhaps a little lighter in the wallet.  No product is undersold and marketing is bold and in your face!  There are tasters everywhere and opportunities to win prizes or obtain sizeable discounts on certain offers.  The cheese-mongers was one of the best in terms of choice and just general presentation.  I was amazed to find out that you can even make your own peanut butter!  There are restaurants situated on the top floor, but they were going through an upgrade at the time of my visit so they're not looking their best right now. 

My only gripe with Whole Foods is their staff.  At the final stage of the journey the cashiers were an absolute let down.  None of them smiled and barely offered a welcome such was their boredom!  Ok, it was early in the morning but there can be no excuse for such poor customer interaction. I'm always impressed with female cashiers that can chug down 4 pints of water before you reach their till point!  Unfortunately,  I just can't shift that image however hard I try. Plus, the online survey monkey doesn't work...grr. Apart from that it's great.

Chocolate from Spain?  That certainly wasn't on my chocolate radar but this distinctive looking bar grabbed my attention. Rajoles, made by Enric Rovira.  According to his website it all started in 1993 whereupon a plan was hatched to open a new bakery selling all manner of chocolate delights created by Enric. If you have not come across Enric before you should check out some of the coolest looking chocolate images I've ever seen, especially the Easter Egg creations.  His chocolates are inspired by architectural elements of Barcelona.

Rajoles is the name they use for their chocolate bars. It is a polysemous (never used that word in a sentence before) word in Catalan meaning both slab and chocolate bar. 

This milk chocolate slab has a cocoa content of 40% and is sweet but not overly so.  Butterscotch is the main flavour to come through and the smooth milk chocolate melts sublimely on the tongue. I can't tell you where his cocoa originates but who cares when it tastes this good!

This is a delicious bar of chocolate that has been well made with perfect shine, snap and best of all no holes! A lot of thought has been put into the creation of this bar. In terms of price you're looking to pay £3.99 for a 100g slab which in comparison to some 'high end' chocolates is excellent value for money. 9/10.

In Barcelona the streets are paved with chocolate not gold!  How interesting and creative. Now, I only wish I'd picked up more than one bar!

Enric will be at Chocolate Unwrapped this weekend. To buy online click here.

Pale Rose - Amelia Rope

What to do jog or blog? Well its such a beautiful evening that I've decided to do both. Living in Chelmsford has a number of benefits one it is close to London for commuting and secondly it is not too far away from the lovely Essex countryside and tonight it is looking its best. Just a mile down the road and a hop skip and a jump through the local housing estate and you're into fields of green. Evenings like this bring out all types of people including joggers, dog walkers, tough men with tattoos and teenagers smoking something that you might find at a Bob Marley concert rather than on a park bench. The bird life (feathered variety) is also rampant with vibrant green woodpeckers strutting their stuff, dainty warblers doing what they do best and distant cuckoos making themselves known to one and all. By the way the sheep at Hylands school look like they're ready to be introduced to mint sauce!

Pale Rose by Amelia Rope, Academy Chocolate Winner 2011 no less, has been sitting in my chocolate selection bag for a while now and I thought it was time to share. According to Amelia's website she developed this bar after being bombarded by rose lovers who tasted the Pale Edition 01 milk chocolate bar.

To quote, "I realised that rose lovers are totally rosy people and when you want rose you need to taste it. So a ridiculous amount is added to the chocolate to engulf you in rose luxury. I feel I have heard the comments 'Turkish delight' in a chocolate bar' millions of times during tastings". 

The Chocolate: This is a 39% milk chocolate from Ecuador so expect a good cocoa hit. As the actress said to the bishop, "you've got to give me more to work with darling!" I'm actually referring to the size of chocolate sample that Amelia has sent me. Ok, I promise I will never mention this again! 


There is a lovely delicate aroma of rose coming from this chocolate. This is what I like about Amelia's chocolate the flavours are always so well balanced. The flavour is amazing and it is giving me goose bumps which doesn't normally happen when I eat chocolate. Turkish delight is the best way to describe this flavour not in any way over powering it lingers in the background like scent allowing the rich cocoa to come through with a final rose flourish at the end. The milk chocolate is smooth, slightly sweet and has a great velvety mouth feel.


Overall a great 'square' of chocolate, 9/10. OMG I think I'm finally hooked on rose chocolate. I have to say I didn't see that coming! At £5.60 it is a hefty price tag but you're unlikely to taste anything like it. To buy this chocolate click here.

A Taste of London - Milk Chocolate 40%

With the Royal Wedding just one sleep away I thought I'd nip into Hotel Chocolat to see what Royal delights they might have for sale. You know something to nibble on while all the pomp and ceremony takes place. Well you can imagine my surprise when I discovered to my horror that the place was devoid of any Royal Wedding tat paraphernalia. Would you believe it the shelves were empty apart from Easter Eggs on special offer! There was absolutely nuffink! As they might say in East London. What a disappointment. Off with their heads! I searched high and low and eventually found something British that could be loosely connected to the Royal Wedding. I checked a few of their main competitors and the story seemed to be the same. Very lack lustre but it is probably all down to customer demand and I'm sure there is a good business case for not doing it. Marc Demarquette seemed to be the only one who had done something specifically for the wedding. Marc has created a luxury chocolate gift box on sale at £25.00 available from Fortnum and Mason. 


However, many Chocolatiers are taking the opportunity to celebrate British success such as Montezuma who have their 'Great British Pudding' range which looks interesting. Thorntons are also doing a similar promotion with their Best of British Hamper available from their website at £17.50.


The Packaging: The packaging is simple, understated and stylish. The blurb on the back try's to conjure up the mood of the sixties and how London captured the imagination of the world producing some wonderful icons such as the Mini, Carnaby Street, Mary Quant, Twiggy and the King's Road. Apparently our capital is one again the centre of attention in terms of style and food.

The Chocolate: This is a 40% milk chocolate so we're expecting it to be strong and robust. Unfortunately, my bars didn't travel too well and they are broken! But not to worry they are going to be broken where they're going.

Naked and Broken

The aroma from the cocoa is so delicious you can almost breath in the chocolate. It is well tempered and melts quickly producing a smooth and velvety mouth feel. What I'm really pleased about is that it is not too sweet. A rich cocoa flavour with caramel and a slight hint of wood in the background. I'm really enjoying this bar of chocolate and if I'm not careful there will be nothing for tomorrow! These iconic mini slabs weigh in a 100g (for 2) at a cost of £4.00. As far as I can see these are only available in store. Well worth it and receives a score of 7/10. Looking forward to polishing the lot off tomorrow while London grabs the worlds attention for a few hours.