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.

Salted Caramel Filled Milk Chocolate

In terms of sport, summer seems to have arrived, but there are signs in the garden that things are also beginning to flourish.  Rather than fifty shades of green we now have some blue highlights making a brief appearance!  

England are progressing in the Euros and as usual driving us all crazy with their hopeless attempts at defending that goal mouth!

The British MotoGP is about to start with the gritty Carl Crutchlow back on his fearsome machine after falling off during practice. Thank god for air bags! Not only has he fractured his ankle but he also dislocated it!  British sportsman are a tough breed indeed!  So, Olympian's, I hope you're paying attention..... no backing out with a strained hamstring. No excuses allowed!


Okay, lets try some chocolate.....This particular bar of chocolate has been sitting at the bottom of my 'tasting bag' for ages, probably for good reason. Marks & Spencer must have decided to reign in the marketing budget on this one as the packaging isn't exactly
enticing and I have to say I've been putting this review off for sometime now. There is enough silver foil wrapped around this bar to roast a small chicken! Perhaps that's how you're supposed to recycle it?

100g Salted Caramel Filled Milk Chocolate

The Chocolate:  A milk chocolate containing 35% cocoa solids and made in Ireland doesn't fill me with optimism.  Described as a milk chocolate bar (60%) filled with smooth flowing salted caramel with a hint of sea salt (40%). The main ingredient is sugar with sea salt being at the very end of the list. Yeah, I know you only need a little salt! So, I'm not expecting this to be exceptional. In terms of aroma there are 'full on' wafts of caramel and sweet, sweet chocolate. The bar itself has a very shiny almost plastic appearance.  I have tasted Salted Caramels before but they are something I associate with skilled artisan chocolatiers such as Paul A Young rather than mass produced in a factory.

The chocolate itself is disappointing with very little cocoa flavour and just fades into the background. The liquid caramel is good and not overly strong but just lacks sufficient salt. This bar is never going to offend anybody as it is duller than a wet weekend, 4/10. Goes nicely with a cup of tea though!  Oh, here comes the sugar rush, temples throbbing...ouch this bar bites back!