Sea Salted Caramel Bar - Paul A Young

An early raid on Easter chocolates was usurped by a bar of Sea Salted Caramel from Paul. A. Young. Phew...that was a close one!

For those of you who are new to the world of chocolate, Paul.A.Young, is a confectionary wizard when it comes to making fine chocolates with fresh ingredients. You can find PAY stores in Wardour Street, Camden Passage, The Royal Exchange and Heals. His empire is certainly expanding! I recently discovered that you can buy some of his chocolates online at Craved. 

You can find such flavours

including Sourdough; Chilli and that old favourite you either love it or hate it, marmite. Not surprisingly this rather edgy marmite bar is on offer at £3.50 reduced from £5.90.

Paul and his team of apprentice wizards, that's certainly an apprenticeship to end all apprenticeships if they offer such things, make all their chocolate delights without the use of complicated tempering machinery preferring the coolness of marble to facilitate the magical process.

As you would expect, the chocolate, a 64% Madagascan dark chocolate, is delicious,  delivering a woody and fruity almost zesty aroma.
 

50g - Sea Salted Caramel Bar

The soft caramel has been sandwiched in between two pieces of chocolate which have been cleverly glued back together. Maldon sea salt has been combined with the sweet caramel to provide a little astringency;  very subtle. This particular bar won Gold at the International Chocolate Awards European Semi-Final. You can now learn how to make this bar by joining one of his workshops,  but hurry as these events are selling out fast.

Little effort or for that matter expense has been made in regards to packaging. A simple piece of fairly thick clear plastic held together with two labels and a purple bow. Paul makes it clear he wants his chocolate to do all the talking. Substance over style. 

Nowadays caramel and sea salt is probably the most popular flavour in the world and can now be found in absolutely anything. I enjoyed this bar which is really well balanced but to be honest I prefer a plain bar rather than the squidgy mix.

Akesson's - 75% Single Plantation & Pepper

Chocolate and Pepper? Surely not. 

Well, Akesson's would have us believe that these two products are a match made in heaven. 

Akesson's is not a brand name that probably springs to mind when talking chocolate. 

They seem to be popular in Germany, Austria and Belgium but have little presence in the UK apart from a sprinkling in Paul A Young's emporiums. I first came across them at Chocolate Unwrapped a couple of years ago and enjoyed tasting their 75% Criollo bar. To find out more follow this link. 

According to their website pepper and cocoa grow in the same environment and Akesson's have both in their plantations. Voatsiperifery 'wild' pepper is rare and only grows in the tropical forests of Madagascar. Only the young shoots produce the fruits and are handpicked by the locals.

Chocolate and Pepper?

Open the cellophane wrapper and your nose is met with a delicate peppery waft .  A 75% dark chocolate doesn't melt quickly so there is very little 'liquid' in your mouth and for a few moments intense 'pepper' is the only flavour that just seems to fill your mouth. Eventually a fruity burst takes over from the harshness of the pepper which is a welcome relief.   The texture of the chocolate is also grainy and  fairly crunchy due to the pepper.  

I've discovered that the best way to enjoy this bar is to take only small chunks. This means you can release the pepper and fruit at the same time which improves the overall taste. It is beginning to grow on me. The picture shown below is actually a 'Criollo' bar as the 'Trinitario' bar had some bloom.

I'm slightly mystified as to why anybody would want to mix pepper and chocolate. It is a totally different experience to that of chocolate and chili but then people probably say the same about this combo.  If you ignore the pepper, which is hard to do, there is a delicious bar of chocolate lurking within. The intense fruity flavour was delicious the rest can best described as an unfortunate union. The pepper flavour is very intense and lingers on and on even after the chocolate has long gone.

The bar is beautifully made and I can't fault the quality of the ingredients but I personally dislike the combination. Overall 9/10 for ingredients and 5/10 for flavour and enjoyment factor. To find a list of retailers follow the link.

Dark Mandarin Edition 01

This year our garden has produced a number of bird nests including blue tits and blackbirds. Between them they've produced an abundance of young birds which are all at different stages of growth. However, whilst this is lovely the blackbirds can definitely move on to pastures new next year. They are a complete nightmare, squawking begins at 4am and goes on for most of the day or until their voices give out. The neighbours cats that dare to venture into our garden are dive bombed and defecated upon from a great height. This is very amusing if not a little stressful and alarming for everybody. The birds try their best to frighten the cat to death whilst staying out of reach of those deadly claws. I never have my video camera with me when this happens which is a bit annoying as I'm sure Spring Watch would love it. Last night I saw my first Red Kite flying over Chelmsford. Much to my surprise this is not a first for Chelmsford apparently. Ok, that's enough twitching for one day!

In case you didn't know Amelia Rope appeared on Masterchef and went on to attend the Valrhona Les Bonbons de Chocolat course following a conversation with a friend. Chocolate bars are Amelia's latest creation adding to her range of crystallised flora dipped in chocolate and decorated with gold or silver leaf and bespoke truffles. Amelia does not compromise on quality, taste, indulgence and purity. This focus and attention to detail is heaped upon this bar from beginning to end. The packaging is superb!

Dark Mandarin Edition 01

The Chocolate: Visually this bar of chocolate has a stunning lustre about it that I've rarely seen before in other bars. There is not a mark on this bar as my picture below demonstrates. I'm lying actually as the bar took a direct hit whilst in the post so, I've cropped the picture just a little. This particular chocolate is from Madagascar and has a 67% cocoa content made from a single origin bean.

Amongst the fruity aroma of the dark chocolate there is just a tiny hint that orange (organic mandarin oil) has been used in the making of this bar. As soon as you put a chunk of chocolate in your mouth the subtle mandarin oils are released. I expected the mandarin to be a little stronger in flavour but it is a delicious bar of chocolate. There is no bitterness from the chocolate or from the mandarin oil. 

This is a lovely bar of chocolate that has been beautifully presented and perfectly made. However, I think the mandarin flavour was a little thin for my taste but I'm really nit picking. Again Amelia's bar scores a high 9/10. £5.60 for a 100g bar is not for the faint hearted in these austere times but if it's quality you're looking for it is money well spent. To buy online click here.

Thorntons - Milk Chocolate with Pistachio

Time is against me this evening! However, there is still time to taste another chocolate block from Thorntons. On this occasion we're moving up from bronze, missing out silver altogether and heading straight to gold! Who likes coming second anyway. This chocolate was awarded by The Guild of Fine Food in 2009. Thorntons also had another gold award that year for their 'Milk Chocolate Strawberry' bar. 


To quote directly from their website, "The Guild was formed in 1995 with a mission to create close links between suppliers and retailers in the independent food sector. With over 1300 members across the UK, it communicates to retailers, producers and suppliers through the ‘industry voice’, Fine Food Digest magazine. Through its unique membership database of accredited suppliers, it identifies thousands of speciality food lines available exclusively to the independent sector, enabling retail members to establish a point of difference between themselves and the supermarkets.

In 1996, the Guild launched the London Speciality & Fine Food Fair and it continues to organise exhibitions in Yorkshire and Scotland under the banner of Speciality Food Fairs. Since 1993 the Guild has organised the Great Taste Awards, the national benchmark for speciality food and drink, which attracts over 4500 entries each year. The GTA has gained widespread recognition among the country’s retailers and consumers and is now seen as the benchmark for fine food in the UK". To read more about The Guild click here.

Once again Thorntons have presented this bar in an eye catching colour, pistachio green and is described as a melt-in-the-mouth creamy chocolate from Madagascar. The chocolate has been given an extra crunch with slightly salted pieces of roasted pistachio. 

The Chocolate: This is a milk chocolate from Madagascar with a 32% cocoa content. The chocolate melts quickly and works well with the salted pistachio nuts. For me it's a bit too sweet and sickly and the pistachio nuts are few and far between. Personally I think pistachio nuts should accompany a gin and tonic or a cool glass of lager, not chocolate. However, I'm sure there are plenty of people who would disagree with me on that one.

For me the chocolate should have been of a higher cocoa content with slightly more pistachio nuts to provide greater crunchiness. So far the Dark Chocolate with Macadamia nuts scores above this and it only received a bronze? Sorry Thorntons this chocolate doesn't quite make it out of the blocks for me and I can only award it a slightly nutty 5/10. Good value for money though, 3 bars for £5.00.