Ecuador - Marks and Spencer

Hopefully, today we will be on safer ground and the actual wording on the outside of the packet will represent what is on the inside, see my previous post regarding the Marc De Champagne Egg.

On first inspection this looks like an interesting bar of chocolate titled, 'Equador' - single origin dark chocolate, from Marks and Spencer.

As with the Marc De Champagne Egg, this piece of chocolate also seems to be part of 'The Collection' which I now believe is a totally overused term and meaningless, as everything sold in Marks and Spencer seems to be part of The Collection. 


For some bizarre reason the packaging designers have become all excited and decided to go with two alternative spellings for the words 'Ecuador', spelt 'Equador' and 'Ecuadorian' spelt 'Equadorian'. Why?

The chocolate slab itself is bright and ebony in presentation and has an excellent snap. Marks and Spencer has described this chocolate thus, "this Equadorian dark chocolate possesses floral Jasmine notes with a slightly nutty aftertaste. The touch of astringency gives a surprising wholeness to the flavour profile. Perfectly paired with an aged tawny port". 

I have noticed more and more retailers are now pairing their chocolates either with fine wines, ports or surprisingly beers. Another retail opportunity never to be missed! In fact you can now buy some interesting bottled beers from M&S...try their Cheshire Chocolate Porter.

To be honest I can't place the Jasmine but I can certainly pick up a slight tobacco aroma with a hint of lemon. Just breathe it all in...delicious! 

The dark chocolate melts quickly with a slight sweetness and a fair amount of acidity which hangs around for a while. This is not unpleasant and compliments the rich, silky smoothness of the melting dark chocolate. 

In terms of ingredients there are not many, including: Cocoa Mass - Sugar - Cocoa Butter - Emulsifier: Sunflower Lecithin...which is good news if you are allergic to Soya Lecithin.

Single Origin Dark Chocolate - Ecuador

I really enjoyed this bar of chocolate and at £3.00 for 80g it proves to be good value for money. If you are looking for alternatives check out similar chocolates from Chocolatiers but expect to pay a bit more.

Marc De Champagne Egg - M&S

Marc De Champagne Egg

Remember that old saying, "All that glitters is not gold" and so it would seem with this Easter Egg purchased from Marks and Spencer earlier today. Beware and read the label carefully before purchasing one of these colourful eggs...unlike me. 

At a quick glance you may be forgiven for actually thinking that you are buying a chocolate egg filled with marc de champagne truffles. When in actual fact you are buying a decorative piece of cardboard, tied with a turquoise bow, in the shape of an egg filled with marc de champagne truffles. 

This attractive and eye catching Faberge style egg stands about 6.5" or 16.5 cm high and is filled with 10 marc de champagne truffles, approx. 145 g, sealed within a plastic bag to stop the icing sugar going all over the place. This particular egg has been earmarked as being part of "The Collection" which as far as I can make out could apply to anything from denim jeans or a pair of slingbacks. So, just another nonsensical marketing ploy to make you think somebody has selected this item for its uniqueness and quality.   

Made in Ireland

I've never been a great fan of Marks and Spencer truffles and this offering is very much the same old, same old, sugary and overly sweet concoction that I have come to expect from them. Each truffle is well made and covered liberally in icing sugar, perhaps best eaten naked. The soft sweet ganache is en-robed in a fairly thick casing of milk chocolate. I suggest you cut the truffle in half and scoop out the ganache with your tongue. 

The marc de champagne is not overpowering and adds a slightly pleasant alcoholic flavour. If only Marks and Spencer could cut down on the sugar and increase the cocoa content of their truffles then this might be a fairly pleasant experience. However, after the sugar hit you are left with a gloopy and slightly acidic feeling as it slides down your throat. Not the nicest of experiences and on reflection I've had more enjoyable sore throats.

Marc De Champagne Truffles - 30% Cocoa

I was disappointed from the start with this egg especially on discovering that there was no actual chocolate egg for me to crack open! So, staying objective was a problem from the beginning. However, the egg is well presented as are the champagne truffles. For the cost of £9.00 you do get a lovely egg shaped box and 10 'gob stopper' size champagne truffles. 

However, I feel that I could have done better with my money and perhaps I should have gone with a Percy Pig! However, if M&S is not your thing then here are a couple of examples of Easter chocolates available on the internet and high street:

This year's Easter gifts Chococo-style from £9.50...

Or

Something with imagination from Hotel Chocolat from £7.00...

Gingerbread Heart - Marks and Spencer

Firstly, I must give Simon Burns, MP for Chelmsford and Minister of State, Department of Transport, the thumbs up for making the effort to travel by train immediately it was pointed out that he was spending all our hard earned cash on a chauffeur driven car. I'm not sure if he is still taking the train on a daily basis? 

From what I understand he didn't even have a seat and had to stand all the way to Liverpool Street, poor love.



Horse is now back on the menu, well not knowingly on British menus. Tesco is jumping through hoops or is that over fences to apologize for their burger error? They must be secretly be loving all this free, if rather, unfortunate publicity!  

Not only is horse back on the menu but, so are other interesting creatures including crocodile, buffalo, kangaroo and springbok. The majority of these meats with the exception of horse are extremely expensive and out of reach of most shoppers. So, putting horse back on the menu in these times of recession seems like a good idea.  The French must be sniggering into their croissants at the thought of Les Anglais eating their beloved horses. It is all about national identity and we are the Roast Beefs, don't you know?! And we would probably rather die than eat the winner of the 2:10 at Curragh.

Iced Gingerbread Biscuit by Marks and Spencer

Ok, back to the biscuit from Marks and Spencer! At £1.50 this little biscuit, weighing in at just 43 grams, is perhaps on the small size. Especially when you consider you could probably make a whole tray for that price. But, that would mean buying ingredients, turning on the oven, finding a recipe, getting the recipe wrong at least once and then doing all the washing up! I think £1.50 is good value, don't you?

I'm not so keen on the plastic packaging as it makes it look cheap. Once out of the packaging the biscuit has plenty of gingerbread flavour and a good buttery taste. A crisp and dry biscuit rather than a chewy one. It was quickly wolfed down by the tasters in my household.  They didn't even see the biscuit's wording! Overall 5/10 for taste and novelty value.

I'm not sure how I'd feel if somebody gave me a heart shaped biscuit as a token of their endearing love....I might think they were taking the biscuit.

Chocolate Bunny - Marks & Spencer

Its all been happening in Chelmsford this week.  A deer runs through the town centre knocking a pedestrian to the floor and Simon Burns, Minister of State, Department of Transport, declares that he spends £80,000 per year on a chauffeur-driven ministerial car to and from Westminster.  Surely, a First Class rail ticket to Westminster would be more cost effective?  Simon defended his use of a government car by stating that he had classified papers that he needed to work on.  Isn't the Minister aware that there must be hundreds, no thousands of business men and women carrying sensitive documents to and from work......Simon, they use a briefcase and it has a lock. You must try one. 

It wasn't a wild rumor after all! Marks and Spencer has already started selling their Easter range of chocolate novelty items. The tins of Quality Street are still only half full and chocolate Easter eggs start appearing on the shelves! 

So, having waited patiently in the 'Returns' queue at my local Marks and Spencer's for far too long I decided a little treat was in order. 

Foiled Bunny

Described as a 'hollow milk chocolate bunny, weighing in at 180g. Priced at £5.00 or £2.78 per 100g. Wrapped in 'Easter' green foil, easily detachable bow and fluffy tail. All very cute!  In my opinion this is Marks and Spencer's take on the famous Lindt Gold Bunny.  Tesco is currently selling 3 Lindt Gold Bunnies for £1.20. At 10g each this makes them £6.00 per 100g.  Alternatively, you can buy a 200g Lindt Gold Bunny for £4.49 or £2.25 per 100g plus shipping from Lindt direct and your bunny comes with a little red bell.

30% cocoa solids

Unfortunately, my bunny looks like it has met a blunt instrument head on! I was very careful with bunnykins but, alas he has sustained a bit of damage and perhaps some outer packaging would have helped.  But, hey its going to be broken where its going!  None of the features are highlighted so the overall presentation is a bit plain and flat.  Interestingly, the chocolate is made in the UK but ribbon and fluffy tail are made in China.  Can't we make anything in our own country anymore?

The figure is well made with an even spread of chocolate throughout. Whilst the chocolate is sweet it is not overly sickly sweet and cloying.  Made with dried whole milk it has a smooth and velvety feel with an enjoyable caramel flavour.  An tasty piece of chocolate but, perhaps slightly expensive for what it is.  Some hidden chocolate treasures hidden within the bunny would have made its £5.00 price tag more attractive. Overall 6/10.

Posted by Richard.

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!

Dark Chocolate with Chilli - Marks & Spencer

It's been a bit of a blogging vacuum this past few weeks as chocolate production has just got in the way.  A recent trip to Excel proved to be a good distraction for a few hours. I'd forgotten how huge Excel actually was and how much the area had developed since I last visited over a year ago. There were several events taking place including Hotelympia (kitchen equipment), a Zumba fitness contest, a baby show and a Superman/X-Men comic strip convention. What a mix!  I've never seen so many bumps, push chairs and scary coloured outfits!  Sorry, but Zumba people you might be fit but you've got no idea how to mix colours or have I missed the point?  Hotelympia proved to be successful and we ended up speaking to Willie Harcourt Couze for a while and tasting some of his 100% dark chocolate which was an experience.  

As I mentioned before the area around Excel is gradually being developed and improved and there are some interesting abandoned buildings to view. The Spillers Millennium Mills is one such building, apparently the largest mill to be built in London. Once the docks started to decline after the 1980's these buildings were left with no choice but to close. Now ram-shackled and broken they still look impressive but how long before the bulldozers move in?  Apparently this area is going to be developed into London's Pleasure Gardens but, I'm doubtful that this great building will remain. An interesting walk though. Ok, let's talk chocolate......

The Chocolate:  Marks & Spencer have chosen a 72% dark chocolate from Ecuador to make their new chilli bar. Dark with an excellent 'snap'! Aroma is good with hints of tobacco and forest floor. The chilli comes through almost immediately and goes directly to the back of your throat setting off a 'fizz' or tingling feeling that builds and builds as the rich, slightly sweet, dark chocolate melts. The heat from the chilli is not overpowering and is relatively mild in comparison to some other bars. The chocolate retains a really good liquid mouth feel all the way through but flavour is fairly short lived with some fruity acidity that cuts through the chilli. Having just consumed four chunks in a row my mouth is now starting to warm up!

Overall this bar of chocoalte works well with the chilli and at £1.69 for a 100g it is a sensible entry level if you like your chocolate hot but want to build up to the scorchers!  You might even consider putting a few chunks in your Chilli con Carne tonight! Score 6/10.

36% Peruvian Milk Chocolate

A bank holiday weekend of flash floods, lightning, dramatic seas, bright sunshine and huge billowing cloudscapes. Southwold looking at its best and most dramatic. Not the type of weather for fishing but these guys don't seem to care, like water off a ducks back, they slip out from the safety of the harbour into the rolling and bubbling sea bringing home flashing Sea Bass, slippery brown Dover Soles, and long sword like Mackerel. A trip to Samantha's, one of the few fishmonger's left in Southwold, is a great place, excuse the pun, to realise that cod and haddock are not the only fish in the sea worth eating! 

Hissing Sid's Sssssister

Fish were not the only thing on the menu this weekend. Snakes, well a Grass Snake to be exact was momentarily stunned as we explored the reed beds just outside Wangford. Good picture of my shadow don't you think! I've been searching for Grass Snakes for years and in one weekend I've seen three!  Interesting to read in the Times that the average price of a house in Southwold is now £366k. So pleased I picked up two for the price of one in the 80's. Had I had the foresight then perhaps that last statement might be reasonably accurate. I can remember when 'Gingers' house, located on South Green, came on the market, if only I'd had a few extra quid in the bank! Oh,well no point crying over spilt milk and talking of milk that leads smoothly into my next review.

The Chocolate: As with my previous review of their Peruvian dark chocolate this is another Fairtrade and Carbon Neutral product care of Marks and Spencer. The full story can be found here. The packaging is attractive and as you would expect can be easily recycled. 

The chocolate itself has a 36% cocoa content which producers a delicious cocoa aroma without the background sweetness I've come to expect with some bars. This particular bar is described as being full bodied with rich caramel nutty notes. Well it does exactly what it says on the tin. The chocolate melts slowly and has a delicious velvety mouth feel with little sweetness in the background. Caramel is the main flavour that comes through as you move the chocolate around with your tongue.


For me this is a good bar of chocolate and at £1.99 for 100g it is excellent value. Its not outstanding but it is different to some offerings I've tasted recently. If you want to explore chocolate this is a good place to start especially with English tastes preferring such sweet, rough textured chocolate. I would like to see Marks and Spencer expand their range and experiment with some different chocolates. Fingers crossed!

60% Peruvian Dark Chocolate

Rubbish Picture of V!

It's Saturday, it's lashing down with rain, we're in Writtle, Essex, wellington boots are the order of the day and it is summer allegedly. So, we can only be in one place. Yes, that's right we're at the V-Festival. Well, to be exact several thousand other people are at the festival and I'm just an onlooker.  Jet setting artists fly into London's newest helipad, Hylands Park, while shuttle buses are running backwards and forwards from the centre of Chelmsford, but they're all empty, festival goers seem far happier taking their chances in the rain. Writtle looks like it is in a state of lock down with roads closed and security personnel eyeing you suspiciously. Festival goers are a hardy bunch with nothing more than a flimsy piece of plastic sheeting for protection and a couple of tins of beer. However, they continue to keep smiling, looking forward to the nights entertainment. A Domino's Pizza truck has just pulled up and the guy is asking, "who ordered 20,000 pizzas with garlic balls!" Fortunately, the rain has gone and the sun is shining, lets hope it stays that way. Enjoy! Let's talk chocolate....

Background: This bar of chocolate has been on my radar for a while and a recent trip into our local store was a good excuse to pick up a couple of bars. Original packaging makes this bar stand out. Marketing have shown some imagination at last! Not only is this bar a Fairtrade product but it also claims to be Carbon Neutral. Will this fact make it taste any better? Those clever people at Marks and Spencer have calculated the amount of CO2 emitted during the whole chocolate production process. As they know the quantities of CO2 released during production they can work out how many trees to plant. To find out more on the subject click here. They're working with 1,800 producers in the ACOPAGRO cooperative.

The Chocolate: It's good to be reviewing a plain bar of dark chocolate without any additional ingredients that might mask subtle chocolate flavours. This chocolate is described as full bodied with fruity red berry notes. Well, they're bang on the money! The aroma is a mix of heavenly dark chocolate with oodles of fruit. Having a 60% cocoa content means that it is not dry or bitter in anyway. The mouth feel is literally juicy and you just want to keep popping another square into your mouth. It's delicious and at £1.99 for a 100g bar it is good value for money and deserves a score of 8/10. Well done to Marks and Spencer.

Marc De Champagne Truffles

No 1 husband, well let's be exact, my only husband, kindly purchased some champagne truffles from Marks and Spencer for me to review tonight. Alarm bells ringing. What has he done now?! Allegedly, nothing, it seems he's just being generous in his old age. Apparently, he decided not to buy them in London in case they were damaged before photos could be taken. Which is good thinking but strangely enough the price in Chelmsford's M&S store was more expensive than in Moorgate, London. Shock, horror!

Marc De Champagne Truffles

Packaging: Marks and Spencer you've spoiled us! An attractive looking box with the truffles held in a clear cello bag. Brown tissue paper ensures there is not too much movement in the box. The design for the packaging is reminiscent to their chocolate bars that I featured a few months ago. Well done to the marketing team for keeping the costs down and saving themselves a lot of stress and sleepless nights over the design. Show some imagination please! 

The Chocolate: A milk chocolate with a 31% cocoa content has been used to make these little babies. Ingredients include: sugar' dried whole milk, cocoa butter, cocoa mass, glucose syrup, invert sugar syrup, Marc de Champagne, Brandy and preservative E200. Hence why the shelf life is almost forever, well to be precise, 17/01/2012. For those of you new to chocolate, Marc de Champagne, is a colourless brandy that is produced by distilling the grape skins, seeds and stalks which are left from the pressing process at the first stage of champagne making. 


There is a thick coating of icing sugar over each of the truffles and the aroma is a mixture of brandy and sweet milk chocolate. The outer casing of chocolate is very sweet and there is not a lot of cocoa evident. The ganache centre is soft and sweet with a strong brandy taste as you'd expect. For me there is probably too much icing sugar as it makes the whole thing very sweet and slightly astringent on the back of my throat. However, the Marc de champagne is good and I like the overall mouth feel.


These are reasonable truffles even though they have a shelf life higher than some forms of radiation! There is also far too much sugar for my liking and cocoa content is a bit low. However, when you consider the price at £5.25 for 10 truffles/145g they are excellent value for money. Overall 6/10 for price and flavour. And by the way M&S you owe me 25p! Explain the price difference please!


An alternative - Traditional Marc de Champagne Truffles from Charbonnel et Walker are priced at £11.75 for 8 truffles/135g. 

Marks & Spencer - Extra Fine Milk Hazelnuts

Feeling a bit sorry for myself today as I've put my back out. Not just a little kink! No, we're talking L - shapes. Aren't backs the worst thing ever when they go wrong. On the plus side people are doing things for me such as cooking, shopping and other mundane tasks. I just wonder how long this back pain will last it could be weeks. I sent the husband for chocolate tonight as I needed to blog. I'm dictating and eating chocolate while he takes pictures and does the typing. I could get used to this. Yeah right. Anyway husband obviously was stuck for choice and came back with the biggest slab of chocolate I've seen in a long time. It's a man thing.

The Chocolate: This particular mahussive bar of chocolate weighs in at 200g. Marks and Spencer describe this bar thus, "this silky chocolate is made to our own unique recipe using milk, whole hazelnuts and the finest cocoa beans. An additional milling process creates the melt-in-the-mouth texture that makes our Swiss chocolate taste so special". The milk chocolate has a cocoa content of 35% which is a good start. I think the best way to attack this bar is with a hammer, goggles and full risk assessment. There are enough hazelnuts to support a small family of squirrels throughout the winter. If you have to look at the calories take my word for it there are lots. Approximately 590 calories per 100g. Yikes, if you eat this bar all by yourself you will have eaten half your daily allowance for an adult. Plus, there are 42.1g of fat per 100g. God no wonder I never read labels too closely. The cocoa content was a bit of a red herring as this bar of chocolate is very, very sweet which obliterates the cocoa flavour. As you break the bar the heat in your hands melts the chocolate quickly and it almost slips out of your hand like a piece of soap. The hazelnuts have a lovely crunch and provide the flavour for this bar. There is a hint of honey and caramel but these comes through much later. There are no artificial colours or artificial flavourings. Who cares you've just eaten 84g of fat!

I had to use a wide lens to get the whole bar in this picture. Honest. If price and size are two things you look for in a bar of chocolate then this is for you. At £2.15 for a 200g bar this is great value for money. But is it money well spent? Great if you have a big family. In terms of flavour this bar only scores 4/10 as it is too sweet. Why did they bother with the extra milling? I couldn't find this bar on line but you can buy it in any Marks and Spencer outlet.

White Chocolate with Vanilla

White chocolate is one of my favorites especially if made with berries. Having tasted the excellent Icoa from El Rey this bar from Marks and Spencer is going to find it tough to make an impression.

Packaging: Relatively ordinary plain 'cream' paper wrapper with a flash of silver across the front. There is no indication as to where the cocoa butter comes from except that the bar is made in Switzerland. There is a full list of ingredients and helpful nutritional information. 


The bar is described thus, "We use just cocoa butter, milk, cane sugar (which has a rich, slightly caramelised flavour) and real vanilla pods to create this luxurious creamy white chocolate".


The Chocolate: White chocolate is not really 'chocolate' in the true sense as it only contains cocoa butter from the cocoa bean. Many purists would turn their noses up at the stuff and refer to it as confectionery and not chocolate! The taste comes mainly from the addition of vanilla which is extracted from vanilla pods. Cocoa butter is a fat that looks and feels like white soap. Sounds delicious doesn't it! In fact the cocoa butter is added to give chocolate a smooth texture and is an expensive ingredient. 

The Taste: Vanilla is the first smell that hits you when you open the foil and the vanilla seeds are evident within the bar. The taste is very disappointing, the overriding flavour coming through is skimmed milk. The mouth feel is waxy and almost like eating a very mild bar of soap.


Ingredients: Cane sugar, Cocoa Butter, Dried Whole Milk, Dried Skimmed Milk, Ground Vanilla Pods. White chocolate contains milk solids 26% minimum. Priced at £1.39 for 100g.


This is not a particularly good white chocolate as far as I'm concerned and this is where spending that little bit more money for a quality bar will pay dividends. Alternatively, if you're desperate for white chocolate stick with those well known brands if you know what I mean!


I can't even bring myself to score this bar which is disappointing. I'll probably use it for baking.


If you're shopping for good white chocolate then visit http://www.chocolatetradingco.com they have a great range and I hope to be tasting some soon.