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Mel and Rose

Monday, June 24, 2013

Cadbury Dairy Milk Golden Crisp and Mint Crisp

Cadbury Dairy Milk Golden Crisp - IrelandWhen some folks love a particular product, they can be pretty specific about it. Cadbury’s Dairy Milk Chocolate is known worldwide, and because it’s so popular it’s made in several different locations around the globe. I’ve had Cadbury from Australia, South Africa, the UK, the United States and now Ireland.

I picked up these Cadbury Dairy Milk bars that have little crisps in them. The Dairy Milk Golden Crisp is milk chocolate with golden honeycomb granules. It’s a bit bigger than an ordinary single serving bar, at 54 grams, that’s 1.9 ounces.

The Cadbury Dairy Milk in Ireland is much like the UK version I’ve had, it’s made with a dash of vegetable oil. I can’t quite decide if this means that it’s mockolate or still chocolate, as it’s a small amount, but still replaces some of the much better cocoa butter that could have been in there. This chocolate also uses two emulsifiers, PGPR and ammonium phosphatides, which is similar to lecithin but made with rapeseed and glycerol instead of soy.

Cadbury Dairy Milk Golden Crisp - Ireland

The bar has a wholesome milky scent to it, not too sweet. There are a lot of little honeycomb bits in there. The honeycomb is also known as sponge candy or cinder toffee. It’s aerated boiled sugar, it’s usually a little salty tasting since it uses sodium bicarbonate to make the foamy texture.

I love sponge candy, so this was definitely a plus. It’s less sweet than other crunchies can be, so it moderated the heavily sugared milk chocolate. Still, the chocolate was more on the fudgy and grainy side of things. It’s candy, not fine chocolate, so I considered it satisfying in that respect.

Cadbury Dairy Milk Mint Crisp - IrelandThe Cadbury Dairy Milk Mint Crisp was a nearly identical bar, the wrapper was accented with green in the theme of the mint flavoring.

The ingredients were the same except for the notation for the honeycombed granules, which contain vegetable extracts of spinach, stinging nettle, and Tumeric.

The Cadbury milk chocolate is 23% milk solids and 20% cocoa solids. I guess the rest is sugar and vegetable oil.

Cadbury Dairy Milk Mint Crisp - Ireland

The minty bar didn’t seem to have quite as many honeycomb bits in it. What it did have was a lot of mint. The peppermint was strong, though it was flavoring the chocolate, not the honeycomb ...so it’s not quite a Peppermint Bark experience. The milk is sticky sweet and the mint seems to highlight that, instead of diluting it. The chips were crunchy and had that lightly salty note to them. It didn’t enjoy it quite as much as the Golden Crisp, but still found it engaging.

Overall, I didn’t sense too much that was better with the Irish version of Cadbury except that I liked this size of bar better than the large 100 gram tablets. I’m not a huge Cadbury fan, if anything, I’d opt for Kraft’s upscale and ethically sourced Green & Black’s dark milk chocolate. (And comparing the import price I paid for these bars, it’s actually a better deal.)

Related Candies

  1. Cadbury Wispa
  2. Cadbury Heroes
  3. Cadbury Dairy Milk Rum & Raisin
  4. Dove Peppermint Bark
  5. UK vs US Cadbury Dairy Milk
  6. Cadbury Dairy Milk Snack
  7. Cadbury Crunchie
  8. Parkside Candy Sponge Candy


Name: Dairy Milk Golden Crisp
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Cadbury
Place Purchased: Mel & Rose Wine & Liquor (Melrose)
Price: $2.50
Size: 1.9 ounces
Calories per ounce: 145
Categories: Candy, Cadbury, Chocolate, Mockolate, Toffee, 7-Worth It, Ireland, Mel and Rose


Name: Dairy Milk Mint Crisp
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Cadbury
Place Purchased: Mel & Rose Wine & Liquor (Melrose)
Price: $2.50
Size: 1.9 ounces
Calories per ounce: 145
Categories: Candy, Cadbury, Chocolate, Mints, Mockolate, Toffee, 7-Worth It, Ireland, Mel and Rose

POSTED BY Cybele AT 4:11 pm     CandyReviewCadburyChocolateMintsMockolateToffee7-Worth ItIrelandMel and Rose

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Haribo Hot Sticks

Haribo Hot SticksI saw these Haribo Hot Sticks first on the Candy Gurus site and knew I had to have them.

They’re a strange combination of flavors, at least to the American palate. The package describes them as Fruity-Spicy & Liquorice. They’re sugar crusted gummis in three flavor combinations: Hot Orange + Liquorice, Ginger-Lemon + Liquorice and Raspberry-Jalapeno + Liquorice.

Haribo is a global confectionery brand, but this package is for the German market, with the majority of the package information in German and a smattering in English.

Haribo Hot Sticks

There are three flavors, but I have trouble telling them apart. The raspberry was easy, since it was pink, but the orange and lemon versions were more difficult.

The texture is soft and bouncy, the sugar crust is fine and adheres well to the candy, so well that there was barely any in the bottom of the bag. Each has a licorice end, and that flavor was consistent across all the pieces. It was very sweet with a mild anise flavor. I’m not usually the keen on Haribo’s licorice, but this gummi version was mild and traditional.

Hot Orange + Liquorice - the orange end had a little tangy citrus note and at first, I had trouble detecting anything else, but soon the warming spice of what I can only guess is hot pepper started. It was really just the heat, there wasn’t much of the vegetable note to it. The licorice combined well with it, mostly evening it all out and providing a more lingering sweetness.

Ginger-Lemon + Liquorice - this was the flavor that drove me to find the Hot Sticks. I love Haribo’s Ginger Lemon gummis, so the addition of licorice sounded great. The earthy flavor of the ginger balanced very well with the herbal notes of the anise-licorice. The tartness of the lemon cut the sugary sweetness of the grainy coating.

Raspberry-Jalapeno + Liquorice - I have to admit that jalapeno is not one of my favorite flavors. The raspberry and jalapeno flavors were well balanced here. The tangy and floral berry notes came right out, but so did the green vegetable flavors of jalapeno along with the very warm notes of the pepper. When I just ate a bite from that flavored end, I found it slightly too hot for me. However, when eating as a whole candy, with the soothing woodsy note of the licorice, it’s interesting ... still, it was a bit chaotic. Of all the flavors here, this one was the least successful. But it could just be that I’d never tried that combination before and it was too jarring for me to appreciate.

Overall, it’s a really fascinating mix. Each bite is different, and because the flavors are separated on different ends, you can kind of control how much of a mix you get. I’ll probably stick with the much more mundane Lemon Ginger, but the addition of licorice, especially this particular version of a gummi licorice, is quite good.

Related Candies

  1. Haribo Gold Bears from Turkey and Germany
  2. Haribo Ingwer-Zitrone Gummis
  3. Haribo Pearlico Lakritz
  4. 12 European Licorices
  5. Ginger Chews: Hot Coffee
  6. Darrell Lea Licorice & Ginger
  7. Cowgirl Chocolates Buckin’ Hot Habanero Caramels

POSTED BY Cybele AT 1:26 pm     All NaturalCandyReviewHariboGingerGummi CandyLicorice Candy7-Worth ItGermanyMel and Rose

Monday, April 30, 2012

Hollywood Chewing Gum

Hollywood Chewing Gum

Here’s one of those weird purchases I made at a liquor shop called Mel & Rose that sells imported candies. There, within sight of the Hollywood sign, I bought Hollywood Chewing Gum: Chlorophylle. But it’s not a quaint local brand or even American. It’s made in France, by Cadbury (now owned by Kraft). It’s not even one of those original gum brands from the final days of the Victorian era.

Chewing gum first arrived in France in June 1944 along with the US troops during World War II, but it was not until 1952 when former GI Courtland Parfet returned to France that the first French chewing gum was launched. Named Hollywood, the green stick offered a soft mint taste called chlorophylle (spearmint).

The gum is simple and pleasant. It’s the classic style of stick, right down to a real foil wrapper on each piece. The flavor is spearmint and it’s quite mild but with a good enough punch to make me feel refreshed and clean without a sticky or artificial feeling. The package also boasts that it has chlorophyll in it, you know, that stuff that allows plants to photosynthesize. I remember it was popular in gum and mints in the seventies, but hadn’t seen it on a package in quite a long time.

I like that it was made with real sugar, so few stick gums are these days. So if you’re looking for something to remind you of the classic Wrigley’s Spearmint Gum, this is probably the closest you can find since Wrigley’s went to artificial sweeteners. The sugar isn’t terribly grainy, but the flavor and sweetness does go away pretty quickly, much quicker than Chiclets, but this is a more adult gum than Chiclets.

Related Candies

  1. Wee Glee Gum
  2. Choward’s Spearmint & Lemon
  3. Spearmint Leaves
  4. Classic Gums: Black Jack, Clove, Beemans & Teaberry
  5. XyliChew
  6. Mentos Xtrm: Mint & Spearmint
  7. Tiny Size Chiclets


Name: Hollywood Chewing Gum
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Cadbury
Place Purchased: Mel & Rose Wine and Spirits
Price: $1.50
Size: 11 pieces
Calories per ounce:
Categories: Candy, Cadbury, Kraft/Mondelez, Gum, Mints, 6-Tempting, France, Mel and Rose

POSTED BY Cybele AT 7:37 am     CandyReviewCadburyGumMints6-TemptingFranceMel and Rose

Monday, July 11, 2011

Haribo Pearlico Lakritz

Haribo Pearlico LicoriceMy sense of adventure with licorice from around the world is starting to ruin my appreciation of licorice. I’ve found that I’ve spent a lot of time trying to appreciate other versions, especially the salted styles from Northern Europe, that I’m spending less of my time just eating the products I’ve already found I love.

After my earlier experiments with German licorice, more specifically, licorice from Haribo (Lakritz Parade, Goliath Lakritz-Stangen and Sali-Kritz) , you’d think I would have learned something. I found most of the licorice I bought there downright inedible by my preferences. Yet when I was at Mel & Rose Wine and Liquors last month, I bought yet another Haribo licorice product. At the very least while I was in Germany I could rationalize that the candy was cheap, most under one Euro per package, here it was over $3.00.

They’re called Haribo Pearlico. The ingredients seemed to indicate that they were a children’s licorice, with no ammonia salts. My mouth may say otherwise.

Haribo Pearlico Licorice

I admit that I was attracted by the look of them. Each is a large mounded gumdrop shape. They’re soft enough to be squished with firm pressure. The ingredients are all natural, so the muted tones of the little candy spheres coating the licorice center is made from vegetable dyes.

Haribo PearlicoAt the center of each is a soft licorice gumdrop made with treacle flavor and licorice. It’s earthy, soft and relatively smooth. The candy sphere are soft and crunchy, not dense like the American version that might be found on SnoCaps. If you’ve ever had the Haribo Raspberries, you’ll know what I mean.

The licorice center has a lot of molasses flavor, some deep ginger and beet notes, burnt sugar and soft anise. But every once in a while I was getting a real whiff of ammonia. At first I thought that certain colors were ammonia (yellow in particular) but it turned out that they were all the same, just very mildly “salted” licorice.

As a first introduction to the world of salted licorice, they’re good. The textures are fun, though the colors remind me of something that’s been left in the sun to be bleached, like old plastic toys found washed up in October on the beach.

The center contains a combination of gelatin and agar-agar so it’s not quite suitable for vegetarians.

Related Candies

  1. 12 European Licorices
  2. Panda Candy Coated Licorice
  3. Haribo Sali-Kritz
  4. Krema Batna
  5. Haribo Pontefract Cakes
  6. Barratt Liquorice Catherine Wheels
  7. Marich Black Heart Licorice


Name: Pearlico
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Haribo
Place Purchased: Mel & Rose Wine & Liquors
Price: $3.25
Size: 7.0 ounces
Calories per ounce:
Categories: All Natural, Candy, Haribo, Licorice Candy, 5-Pleasant, Germany, Mel and Rose

POSTED BY Cybele AT 3:44 pm     CandyReviewHariboLicorice Candy5-PleasantGermanyMel and Rose

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Nestle Milo Bar

Nestle Milo BarMilo is a chocolate malt beverage introduced in Australia in 1934 by Nestle. The powder is mixed with either hot or cold water to make the drink which boasts complex carbohydrates and added nutrients such as calcium, B vitamins and protein. It’s now become popular around the world including Southeast Asia, Europe and North America. Of course that kind of popularity means that there will be spin off products.

I’ve never had the Milo drink, but the idea of a malted beverage is right up my alley. When I saw the Nestle Milo Chocolate Bar at Mel & Rose Wine & Liquors recently, I knew I had to try it, even though the thing was nearly $5 for a 2.82 ounce bar. For that kind of coin I could get a really good chocolate bar, not just something from Nestle.

Even though Milo is an Australian drink, this bar was made in South Africa. The bar is thick and in a really easy to spot green thick plastic wrapper. The format reminds me of Cadbury big tablet bars, it’s compact at about 5.5 inches long, only 2 inches wide and thick. There are seven rows of double segments.

Nestle Milo Bar

Instead of being a malted chocolate flavored bar, this features big chunks of the Milo beverage mix. (I can’t tell if the stuff is also mixed into the chocolate as well.)

The bar smells rich and chocolatey: Sweet, milky and with a touch of malt and coconut. The melt isn’t quite as satisfying, it’s fudgy and rather similar to any cheap chocolate. It’s sweet and has a lot of dairy to it but then the malt notes kick in to mellow out the sugar. The chunks of Milo powder are crunchy and a little gritty, but dissolve quickly with a strong malt flavor with a hint of toffee, molasses and cocoa. However, there’s a lingering bitterness after all this, a little metallic and a lot like B vitamins. It’s not off-putting, just odd for candy.

I would love this bar to have actual good chocolate, stuff that’s creamy and smooth and less sugary. But it’s Nestle, so this is about as good as it gets unless you buy one of their branded names. I don’t think I’ll pick up this bar again, for a malt fix I’ll stick with malted milk balls or seek out the Ovamaltine bar sold in Europe.

Related Candies

  1. Trader Joe’s Milk Chocolate Malted Milk Eggs (Plus a Bonus)
  2. Nestle Milk Chocolate
  3. Nestle Crunch (Now Even Richer Milk Chocolate)
  4. Cadbury Dairy Milk Whispers
  5. Villars Swiss Milk Chocolate
  6. Malted Milk


Name: Milo Chocolate Bar
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Nestle
Place Purchased: Mel & Rose Wine & Liquors
Price: $4.99
Size: 2.82 ounces
Calories per ounce: 143
Categories: Candy, Nestle, Chocolate, Malt, 6-Tempting, South Africa, Mel and Rose

POSTED BY Cybele AT 12:14 pm     CandyReviewNestleChocolateMalt6-TemptingSouth AfricaMel and Rose

Monday, June 20, 2011

Beacon TV Bar

Beacon TV Bar (Milk)I found this Beacon TV Bar - Milk at Mel & Rose Wine & Liquors, which often has South African candies in stock.

The bar is described on the package as Tropical Coconut and Crunchy Rice Puffs in Smooth Milk Chocolate. Well, that’s an uncommon combination so I was intrigued. Add to that the bold wrapper, and I was sold. I also liked the name, as I work in television during the day, so it’s fun to try a bar based on the medium.

Beacon also makes other candies, like Fizzers (a chewy candy rather like Airheads but fizzy), large chocolate tablets called Beacon Slabs, Slim Slabs, Superfine (an upscale chocolate line) but perhaps they’re best known for their Beacon Allsorts, which are one of the best selling candies in all of South Africa. They have other candy bars with classic names like Wonder Bar, Nosh Bar, Inside Story and Now Bar.

Beacon TV Bar

The bar looks simple and appealing. It’s about 4.5 inches long and blocky. It’s 1.65 ounces, which is less than a Snickers bar (though about the same volume) but more than a pair of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. It feels light so I wasn’t surprised when I bit into it and it was quite airy. The crisped rice is dense without being sticky like a marshmallow treat is. It’s held together by the lightest chocolate cream along with a bit of coconut. Though I didn’t catch much coconut texture, there was a lot of coconut flavor. It even overshadowed the chocolate. The chocolate coating may or may not be actual chocolate. There’s cocoa mass and cocoa butter in the ingredients list, but lots of other vegetable fats that could be in the coating as well. I wouldn’t be surprised if the coating did have a bit of vegetable oil to it, it’s a bit mild and waxy.

The portion is ideal for me, about 250 calories for the whole bar. There’s also a TV Bar White chocolate one which I could only imagine is extremely sweet, but perhaps the milkiness of a good white chocolate would go well with the coconut. There is similar bar here in the States called Crispy Cat Mint Coconut, which is dark chocolate covering crisped rice, mint and coconut. I like the milky notes to this one and think it’d be a good fit for American tastes. (Or perhaps Hershey’s will make a Whatchamacallit Coconut version.)

The bar is marked Halal and is also distributed in Australia.

Related Candies

  1. Twix Coconut (Limited Edition)
  2. Nestle Tex
  3. Limited Edition M&Ms Coconut
  4. Hershey’s Whatchamacallit & Thingamajig
  5. Atkinson’s Coconut Long Boys
  6. Crispy Cat


Name: TV Bar
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Tiger Brands
Place Purchased: Mel & Rose Wine & Liquors
Price: $1.65
Size: 1.66 ounces
Calories per ounce: 154
Categories: Candy, Chocolate, Coconut, Cookie, 7-Worth It, South Africa, Mel and Rose

POSTED BY Cybele AT 5:33 pm     CandyReviewChocolateCoconutCookie7-Worth ItSouth AfricaMel and Rose

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Chuao Venezuelan Origin Chocolate

Chuao is a small village in Venezuela, but to chocolate aficionados is the name for criollo cocoa beans from the area. Casey at The Chocolate Note has some wonderful coverage and photos.

Chuao Collection - Amano, Coppeneur & Chocolat Bonnat

For many years Amadei (Italy) had an exclusive deal for the beans from the region, so the only chocolate made from them was Amadei’s Chuao bars. The bars were hard to find and of course quite expensive (though bars from Chocolat Bonnat existed, that’s kind of another story). And of course there was just the one company’s concept of what was best about the beans (from the fermentation to the roasting & conching). Amadei is no longer the only purveyor of the coveted beans. I picked up three different bars from three different countries to see how they created a chocolate bar from the esteemed cacao: Chocolat Bonnat (France), Amano (USA) and Coppeneur (Germany).

Chuao - Chocolat BonnatThe Chocolat Bonnat Chuao bar is the largest of the group, a generous 100 gram bar (3.5 ounces). It’s 75% cacao and Kosher. There are only three ingredients in the bar: cacao, cocoa butter and sugar. No emulsifiers like soy lecithin and no vanilla.

The packaging is simple and the same as all the other Bonnat bars I’ve had. It’s a large bar with petite but thick rectangular segments. It’s wrapped in a simple paper-backed foil which is then covered in a simple glossy, embossed paper sleeve.

Chuao - Chocolat Bonnat

The bar has a beautiful sheen, a light touch of red to the brown color and though the photo makes it look a creamy color, it’s really quite dark.

The scent is rather earthy with a few green notes like olives. The melt is exquisite, smooth and thick without being chalky or dry. The chocolate is flavorful, angled mostly towards the deep flavors like smoke, coffee, dried cherries and molasses. There are some slight mineral notes, like iron. While it sounds like this would be heavy and rich, it still comes off a little lighter than that, mostly because of the texture and a lighter acidity. There’s a trace of bitterness towards the end but nothing distracting, more like a finish of a citrus marmalade.

Coppeneur ChuaoI’m already quite fond of Coppeneur. From the packaging, which is this smart little matte black “wallet” that’s sealed with a dot of wax to the beautiful design of the bar’s mold. I’ve bought several of their Ocumare bars in the past (straight dark chocolate and Mit Chili & Cacao-Nibs) but never wrote about them. They’re difficult to find in the United States, I’ve been buying my bars at Fog City News in San Francisco.

Like the Bonnat bar, the Coppeneur Chuao Dunkle Schokolade is made only with cacao mass and sugar. There is no added soy lecithin or vanilla. This bar is 70% and comes in a 50 gram tablet (about 1.76 ounces).

Chuao Collection - Amano, Coppeneur & Chocolat Bonnat

The bar has a similar red hue. The format of the bar is different from both the Bonnat and Amano, so I photographed them together. It’s quite thin but has an excellent snap to it.

The initial melt is quick and smooth but the thing I noticed first was the raisin flavors and light tangy notes. Though it’s only 70% instead of the 75% of the Bonnat, it’s not sweeter though perhaps a little more acidic and has a dry finish. Though most of the flavor notes were overwhelmingly fruity, like prunes and raisins and dried cherries there were some light roasted notes of pecans. Towards the end, the flavors got deeper with notes of toffee, leather and tobacco.

There were a couple of little gritty bits, this bar is a 70 hour conch. I have another set of bars from Coppeneur that I got in Germany that are paired: a 70 hour conch and a 100 hour conch. I’ll be trying those soon.

Amano ChuaoThe third bar in my roundup is the American Amano Chuao bar. I’m fond of Amano’s other Venezuelan single origin bar, the Ocumare, so I was excited to taste the Chuao.

This bar comes in the same package style as the other Amanos, a slim and glossy box. The bars are 2 ounces (56 grams) and wrapped in a sturdy gold foil. This bar differs from the other two in the ingredients: cocoa beans, sugar, cocoa butter and vanilla beans. So I was curious what the vanilla beans would contribute to the profile of the Chuao cacao. The cacao content is 70% and is Kosher (note that it’s also made in a facility with nuts, peanuts, dairy & soy present).

Amano Chuao

I find the size and format of the bar to be ideal for the way that I like to each dark chocolate. The bar is thick, but not so thick that a lot of chewing is necessary. The segments are a great size for a single taste and the foil is of good quality for rewrapping and saving for later.

The first flavors I got were woodsy and green with a little citrus peel twang in there of grapefruit. The melt is smooth but a little more gritty and sugary than the previous two bars ... and when I say gritty, that’s just a comparison. Taken by itself I don’t know if many folks would notice. The vanilla is noticeable in the flavor profile, I definitely got some oak cask and cognac flavors in there and the finish has that vanilla note and the freshness of white tea. There are more floral notes, like orange blossom and jasmine. But there’s also a kind of volatile quality, a sort of burn like orange oil can give after a while.

Chuao - CoppenhauerI’ve been nibbling and formulating my tasting notes for these bars for about two months. I traveled with the bars, taking them all the way to Europe and back. The Venezuelan Chuao beans are extraordinary and very expensive. They create a wonderful chocolate, apparently every chocolate maker is able to do something extraordinary and unique with the beans. The price is prohibitive though and in some ways it makes me question spending that much on a bar ... the Chuao bars are usually priced 20-25% more than the other bars in that company’s line - so my Coppeneur bar was $8, where a regular single origin bar from them would be $6 and these are only 50 grams to begin with. 

My final conclusion is that everyone makes a wonderful chocolate bar from these beans. But I’ve also been very impressed with each of these company’s chocolate bars made with other less expensive beans, they’re simply good chocolate makers. I’m not convinced that the chocolate bars are worth the premium for these beans in particular, but fans of chocolate in general should try at least one of the bars made from Chuao beans as a point of reference. Personally, I’m not afraid to go back to blended bean bars, which offer a good balance of consistency of flavor over they years and affordability. But with some folks, once you go Chuao you never go back.

Related Candies

  1. Amano Dos Rios 70% Chocolate
  2. TCHO Fruity
  3. Domori Cru
  4. Four 99%-100% Chocolate
  5. Amano Single Origin Bars: Madagascar & Ocumare
  6. Chuao Chocolatier


Name: Chuao 75% “Venezuela”
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Chocolat Bonnat
Place Purchased: Mel & Rose Wine & Liquors
Price: $8.99
Size: 3.5 ounces
Calories per ounce:
Categories: All Natural, Candy, Chocolate, Kosher, 9-Yummy, France, Mel and Rose


Name: Chuao 70% Dunkle Shokolade
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Coppeneur
Place Purchased: Fog City News (San Francisco)
Price: $8.50
Size: 1.76 ounces
Calories per ounce: 155
Categories: All Natural, Candy, Chocolate, Single Origin, 8-Tasty, Germany


Name: Chuao 70%
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Amano
Place Purchased: Fog City News (San Francisco)
Price: $9.75
Size: 2 ounces
Calories per ounce:
Categories: All Natural, Candy, Amano, Chocolate, Kosher, Limited Edition, Single Origin, 8-Tasty, United States

POSTED BY Cybele AT 4:50 pm     All NaturalCandyReviewAmanoChocolateKosherLimited EditionSingle Origin8-Tasty9-YummyFranceGermanyUnited StatesMel and Rose

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Grether’s Pastilles Blackcurrant

Grether's Pastilles BlackcurrantInside this tiny little box are nine pastilles. They’re called Grether’s Blackcurrant Pastilles and they’re world famous. They’re made in Switzerland, in a process that must be incredibly expensive and labor intensive because this little box cost $2.99. Remember, I said there are nine little lozenges in there. That’s 33 cents each. Per ounce, this is far more than I pay for some really incredible chocolate.

Grether's Pastilles Blackcurrant

Let me just say, the packaging is lovely. The tin is nicely made, with smooth edges and rounded corners. The printing on it is excellent and the design work fits the candy so well. I love this little tin and considering the fact that I paid $3 for it, I’m definitely going to find a use for it. (I think I’m going to put my earphones for my MP3 player in it.)

Grether's Pastilles Blackcurrant

The pieces are soft but stiff, the shape fits easily in the mouth. They all bear the GP initials on them but aren’t distinctively attractive really. They’re translucent but quite a deep shade of purple.

They melt slowly, and though I can chew them, mostly I just squish them a bit. The melt or dissolve is smooth and has a dark blackcurrant flavor to it, it’s a mix of blackberry, pomegranate and boiled jam flavors. It’s a little tangy but mostly floral and berry.

They do soothe in a way that hard candies simply can’t, but without being sticky. Blackcurrant isn’t one of my favorite berry flavors, there’s a weird note to it, like the vine called Lantana that’s prevalent here in Southern California. It’s just a little gamey to me. I think the texture is spectacular, but the flavor and price is just too much for me. I wish they did a raspberry, honey or licorice though.

Related Candies

  1. Eat with your Eyes: Pine Brothers Cough Drops
  2. Dr. Doolittle’s Pastilles (Lemon, Grapefruit & Wild Berry)
  3. Grapefruit & Blackcurrant Pastilles


Name: Blackcurrant Pastilles
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Grether’s
Place Purchased: Mel & Rose Wine & Liquors
Price: $2.99
Size: .7 ounces
Calories per ounce:
Categories: All Natural, Candy, Gummi Candy, 6-Tempting, Switzerland, Mel and Rose

POSTED BY Cybele AT 5:32 am     All NaturalCandyGummi Candy6-TemptingSwitzerlandMel and Rose

Meticulously photographed and documented reviews of candy from around the world. And the occasional other sweet adventures. Open your mouth, expand your mind.

 

 

 

 

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