In the past five years it’s gotten a little easier to find ethically sourced candies for the holidays.
Divine Chocolate makes Fair Trade certified chocolate using cocoa from the Kuapa Kokoo cooperative in Ghana. For the most part in the United States we just get their bars, but for the past two or three years, I’ve seen some of their holiday items at stores like Whole Foods.
The Divine Milk Chocolate Praline Mini Eggs are described as milk chocolate eggs with hazelnut praline filling. The upright box comes in the palest pearl blue color with some very light icons in the background in the same style as their bars. The box only holds 3.5 ounces, which is about 8 foil wrapped praline filled eggs. At Whole Foods they cost $4.49 per package.
These remind me an awful lot of the fair trade Tony’s Chocolonely Easter Eggs available in Europe. So much that I’m wondering if there’s a common production facility in common.
The eggs are 1.5 inches long and about an inch at the widest. They come in two different foil colors: gold and pale blue. Inside the foil the eggs have an interesting shell pattern that reminds me of crocodile.
Each egg is about 13 grams or .46 ounces, so they’re quite a little morsel. The suggested serving is three eggs and I calculated that they’re about 70 calories each, which means 153 calories per ounce ... a rather fatty little chocolate egg. But there is one gram of protein per egg. The ingredients say that the chocolate is 27% cocoa solids and 20% milk solids. Also, the entire candy is 19% hazelnuts. The chocolate is fair trade certified, but that only makes up 67% of the ingredients.
The milk chocolate shell is filled with a thick and dense milk chocolately hazelnut cream. They smell deeply toasty and nutty. The milk chocolate is sweet and sticky and tastes pretty much the same as the filling. It’s soft and rib-sticking with a good mouthfeel and melt. It’s a little on the fudgy side, but barely grainy (the particles from the hazelnut). They’re really filling and though very sweet, it’s not to the point that it burns my throat.
Many fair trade sweets are more for adults, this one would definitely please children. It’s attractive, filling and well made. The price is a bit dear, but that’s what happens when you pay everyone involved a decent wage.
Related Candies
- Pernigotti Gianduia: Piedmont Hazelnut Paste
- Tony’s Chocolonely Chocolate Easter Eggs
- Milka NAPS Mix (Assortment)
- Real Eggshell filled with Hazelnut Chocolate Truffle
- Choceur Nougat Bites & Marzipan Bites
- Caffarel Gianduias
- Lake Champlain Hazelnut Eggs
No cross-section photo? ;(
Made me look up your review of Godiva’s almond butter egg (the only thing I’d buy more than once from American Godiva). It’s something I haven’t seen anyone else make.
theatrenut - sorry about the lack of the photo documentation. We had a leaky roof and had to take down the ceiling in my little room I use to take photographs. I had to dismantle everything and pack it up for a couple of weeks. I didn’t realize that the cross section didn’t turn out until after I took it all apart. It really does look exactly like the Tony’s Chocolonely egg though.
The Godiva one is a little less sweet and has a bit lighter note to it compared to the hazelnut. Can you buy the almond ones separately?
Are you fat or obese?
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