November 12th: Green & Black's Ginger

Kcal 501 Fat 29.1g Carbs 53.0g (per 100.0g)

I think we are all aware by now that Green & Black's chocolate isn't one of my favoured ranges here in the UK. Apart from the odd bar like the Espresso, it is range that I have often found unremarkable and it has often disappointed me with it's not so special taste but over inflated price. In an effort not to be swayed by my previous experiences I thought I would give a few more of their bars a chance on the ChocolateMission rating system and picked up a few more flavours from their selection. The bar in the line of fire today was this Ginger variant which came billed as 'dark chocolate with crystallised ginger'. As previous experiences have shown dark chocolate and ginger can be a matched made in heaven when done correctly.

As you can see from the photo above this was another bar from G&B's standard 100.0g range and was split into the usual small sized blocks. Although this isn't exhibited by the wrapper above I have noticed recently that G&B's have started to change their packaging across some of their flavours - with the primary brown colour and indicative secondary flavour colour swapping round. I seem to remember writing about exactly this in a previous review so as you can imagine I view this packaging reformulation quite favourably. Unfortunately though the ugly looking, brown dominant packaging is still prominent across many of the flavours in the range, including this Ginger bar. On more of a positive note the chocolate itself smelt pretty glorious with a nice spicy ginger element evident amongst a strong current of bitter dark chocolate scents.

I will resist to rant about the ridiculously small sized G&B's blocks as I have touched upon this point so many times in the past, but even with the nature of the dark chocolate this was still a frustrating problem. If I was G&B's I would make their bars smaller in length, thicker and divided into bigger blocks. I think this would not only make the chocolate look better but it would also help the taste of the chocolate as each piece would have more time to develop flavours in the mouth. With the chocolate smelling as bitter and strong as it did I was really quite surprised when I placed the first piece in my mouth as I was met with some very languid and quite meagre cocoa flavours. To be honest I was expecting far greater strength from a chocolate billed as 60% cocoa min and I was a little disappointed with the volume of the dark chocolate taste. With the dark chocolate offering little more than a mild, unsweetened cocoa flavour set the ginger was thankfully a lot better and brought a bit of life to what was really a quite dull tasting chocolate. Unlike billed the ginger wasn't crunchy or crystallised in form but was actually quite soft and chewy when left to melt on the tongue. The ginger element wasn't particularly fiery or hot but brought a pleasant note of mild spice and warmth to the mouth. Out of all the dark chocolates I have had recently this wasn't the most satisfying but a 30.0g serving certainly did a reasonable job and went well with a cup of coffee.

Overall this was yet another G&B's offering that I would have to describe as 'nothing special'. At the heart of it's averageness the actual dark chocolate base was pretty underwhelming and didn't measure up in terms of it's 60% cocoa billing or it's strong smell that emanated out of the foil wrapping. On reflection the poor quality dark chocolate was really quite a shame given that the ginger element of this chocolate was actually pretty good. As I have described above this wasn't a really strong or hot ginger flavoured chocolate but the volume of the spice was nicely controlled with a sweet, syrup like undertone which took the edge off the normally quite harsh flavour edge. It is true that I do like the stronger flavoured dark chocolate but as previous reviews have shown I do have an appreciation for the slightly milder ones also. This was by no means a horrible bar of chocolate but having tried a fair few G&B's products now I am quickly coming to the opinion that they are too reliant on the flavours they incorporate into their bars and are not taking enough care with the actual chocolate. I have a few more G&B's bars to review in the coming weeks so time will tell whether this is a valid conclusion.

7.2 out of 10

November 11th: Cadbury Triple Choc Roll

Kcal 165 Fat 6.8g Fat(sats) 4.2g Carbs 24.6g (per 1/6th roll)

Back when I published my reviews of the original and caramel Cadbury cake bars loyal ChocolateMission reader Alan suggested I try this Cadbury Triple Choc Roll. This product can be found sitting in most supermarkets cakes section and costs just over the £1.50 mark. I am not going to get to hung up over this point but I think I should bring to the attention of everyone that the marketing guys at Cadbury obviously aren't quite at one with their multiples. Described as a 'Triple Choc Roll' I think it is almost natural to think that the product contains three different elements of chocolate. A quick look at the packaging suggested I was in for more than I was bargaining for and I read with great delight that this product constituted of four different chocolate formats - chocolate sponge, chocolate buttercream, chocolate sauce and lastly a milk chocolate coating.

This product failed to state and actual weight though it provided six large sized servings that each made for a fulfilling snack. Aside from the glaring inaccuracy of the 'Triple' branding (seriously this in very tongue in cheek!), I thought the product was presented well and it incorporated the purple Cadbury colour scheme to good effect giving the product a nice colourful look. Inside I was delighted to see that despite the flimsy protection of only one layer of plastic wrapping the inner cake roll was in immaculate condition. When I cut into the roll the cross-section looked appetising with each of the different layers distinctly obvious. As promising as the product looked I was further impressed by the smell which was a mixture of fresh cake and Cadbury chocolate aromas.

In previous Cadbury Cake Bar reviews I have often commented that I was disappointed Dairy Milk chocolate wasn't used, however this wasn't such an issue here due to the sheer amount of different chocolaty influences to the taste. Each an every layer was very sweet in terms of flavour but there was a consistent milky undertone that kept the sugary sweetness nicely in check. Starting with the outer milk chocolate I have to say it was little on the disappointing side and I would liked it to have just a been a bit thicker in order to give the outer portion just a little bit more crispness when bitten into. In my review of the Cadbury Cake Bars I did comment that the cake was a little on the bland side but in this instance I thought it was wonderfully complimented by the chocolate buttercream and chocolate sauce elements. Where the buttercream brought an extra dimension of buttery, sugary flavours the chocolate sauce delivered a very welcome moistness to each bite with a syrupy chocolate influence on the taste. The cake itself was dense and fulfilling yet still maintained a nice fluffiness and melted in the mouth nicely allowing the other buttercream and sauce elements to come to the party. Just as the packaging suggested I split the roll up into six servings which lasted a matter of minutes in my office environment - I was lucky I managed to grab a bit for myself!

Overall I have rated this Triple Choc Roll higher than the original Cadbury Cake Bar and on reflection the reason for this seems to lie solely at the inclusion of the chocolate sauce. I think in this cake roll the addition of the chocolate sauce brought the cake element to life and not only helped the problem of the cake being too dry but also brought an extra surge of sweet, chocolaty flavours to the taste. If I was to make this product better I would of made the outer chocolate thicker in terms of its portioning as it would have made the initial bite all that more pleasurable with the extra crispness that was only present to quite a minor degree. Personally I only tend to have products like this one at Christmas time once I have had that spoonful of Christmas cake and decided I don't like it and thus move on to the 'Christmas Log'. Those 'Christmas Log' products tend to be quite dear in terms of price though I think you would get as much pleasure out of buying one of these, sprinkling it with icing sugar and adding a decorative piece of holly on the top. Taking off my 'Martin's Money Saving Expert' cap for a minute I would also recommend this as a nice product to share between family or friends - it gets a ChocolateMission thumbs up.

8.0 out of 10

November 10th: Montezuma's Hula Hula

Kcal ??? Fat ??? Fat(sats) ??? Carbs ???

In my efforts to review some more UK based chocolates I recently got in contact with local chocolate producers Montezuma's who kindly obliged in sending me some of their newest products for me to review. Over the past year or so I have reviewed around twelve different offerings from Montezuma's speciality bar range with the quality ranging from pretty poor to actually pretty good. One thing that has been consistent across Montezuma's speciality range are the odd names they have given each of their variants and todays offering was no different. I guess with the name 'Hula Hula' Montezuma's have tried to encapsulate a Caribbean sort of theme and this was little surprise given the milk chocolate and coconut constituents.

Just like every Tom, Dick and Harry from this range the bar came in a 45.0g serving that was split into six individual blocks. Again the packaging incorporated the same style Montezuma's design work and I have to say I thought the the mix of the orangey red and brown colours worked well to give the box real stand out. Inside the chocolate was wrapped in the usual Montezuma's ghastly plastic packaging, though this was soon forgotten about once I opened the packet and smelt the glorious coconut led chocolaty smell that greeted me. In addition to smelling great the chocolate also looked pretty appetising with what looked to be a great deal of coconut nicely mixed throughout the chocolate.

If you have read any of my recent Montezuma's reviews (like the 'Snackle' the other day - HERE), you will be well aware that they have a pretty good quality milk chocolate. As with so many of their other bars the milk chocolate here was formed using 34% cocoa solids and 22.5% milk solids and it unsurprisingly formed the basis of the taste. Compared to the average milk chocolate this was noticeably stronger in its cocoa than its cream based influences and it offered up a crisp, clean taste. Like I have said in previous reviews I still stand by the judgement that Montezuma's chocolate doesn't have as much personality as other more mass produced brands as it doesn't seem to have a very distinctive taste. Luckily though what this Hula Hula bar did offer up was really tasty coconut dynamic that really added a great deal to the overall taste. The coconut was simply delicious with its milky, nutty flavours and it also brought a delightful crunchy element to the texture that was best enjoyed once the chocolate had melted away. Not surprisingly I ate the entire bar of this in one sitting and I would say that given the high amount of flavour and reasonably large sized serving it was a pretty fulfilling snack.

Overall this was yet another product that has left me thinking that there is a shocking lack of coconut flavoured chocolate bars out there on the UK market. As I have said above Montezuma's have a fair standard milk chocolate but at the same time it isn't really anything that special which means that the ingredients that compliment it have to deliver if the product is to be of a great quality. What was pleasing with this bar was that the coconut element was indeed very good and I felt that it brought extra dimensions to the taste and textures of the milk chocolate. As I often do I like to say how if would ever have a product again near the end of my reviews. The answer I would give if posed that very question for this bar would be a unanimous Yes! Personally this was a chocolate bar that I really enjoyed so if you like your Bounty bars then I would really consider giving this bar a try.

8.4 out of 10

November 9th: Thorntons Metropolitan Chocolates

You have to realise that your reviewing too many chocolates when a package arrives at your house with a note saying 'as promised please find enclosed' and you have no idea you are expecting them. Hey, I'm not complaining - perks of the site and all, suffice to say I was happy to receive this Thorntons Metropolitan selection box courtesy of one of their PR agencies SALT.
As they normally do with boxes of chocolates I get sent my family were all too happy to 'help me out' tasting them and giving their input for the ratings.

Just to make things difficult we all had differing opinions when it came to the presentation of the product. Although we could all appreciate the relatively nice looking design work on the outer box there were comments about the choice of colour and decoration of the inner pieces. Indeed, I myself didn't like the fact that half the pieces had cool looking patterns printed on their surfaces, whilst others looked boring and plain ... why not all of them!?

Described as chocolates inspired by chocolatiers from cities around the world, this selection included both milk and dark chocolates and constituted of 8 different pieces. Below are my thoughts on each with the customary rating ranging from Very Poor to Superb. Words have been kept light in the interest of review length :)

Vanilla Heights:

This was one of the unloved pieces that looked really plain sitting in the box. Unfortunately it wasn't only just unremarkable in looks but also in taste. The filling had a dense mousse like feel on the tongue but failed to add anything to the sweet tasting milk chocolate apart from a minor vanilla essence note. Poor.

Praline Piazza:

I had high hopes for this chocolate with its promise of 'velvety roasted hazelnut praline' but it didn't quite deliver the quality I was hoping for. The milk chocolate was unremarkable, whilst the hazelnut flavours were pretty much lost within the strong brown sugar notes generated by the inner crunchy feuilletine. It wasn't a horrible chocolate by any means but can be best summed up as disappointing. Hey ... at least it looked pretty! Poor.

Orange Garden:

This was the other of the long finger like pieces in the box and it was thankfully a lot better than the other. My mother is a big fan of chocolate orange and really enjoyed the way the orange essence flavours established themselves in the latter stages of the melt leaving a lasting fruit note in the mouth. The intensity of the orange wasn't over bearing on the chocolate which delivered a friendly, yet full flavoured dark chocolate experience. Good.

Manhattan Melt:

I laughed out loud when I read the description of this chocolate having just eaten one. 'Equsitie Ecuador milk chocolate with a crisp fruitiness and delicate hints of flowers & herbs' ... sorry Throntons but who are you kidding!? Granted this chocolate had a smooth enough melt in the mouth but lets be honest here it offered nothing like the intricacy in flavours that it built itself up as having. The taste was predominantly milk led with the undertones of cocoa present throughout. Summed up nicely .... Standard.

Q Couture:It probably won't surprise you to read that I thought this one looked the nicest sitting in the plastic tray. Billed as filled with a ganache noted with quince I wasn't all that excited by the actual prospect but it was actually one of the more enjoyably pieces in the selection. The dark chocolate was flavoursome with its unsweetened cocoa led taste and melted nicely into a sweeter fruit noted filling. This one looked great and it delivered .... simple really! Very Good.

Cloudberry Hill:

This piece was very similar to the above Q Couture but just had an outer coating of milk chocolate rather than dark. For this very reason it just simply wasn't as good. Yes it had one of the pretty patterns on it's surface but as with the other pieces from the selection the milk chocolate wasn't a patch on the dark chocolate pieces. The cloudberry ganache had a minor blackcurrant like hint to it but it's tartness was balanced by the sweeter tasting milk chocolate. Good.

Midnight Melt:

No prizes for guessing whether this was better than the equivalent milk chocolate piece! In comparison the depth of flavour was just far greater with the taste nicely balanced with unsweetened cocoa flavours that never entered the world of bitterness. It was by no means the greatest tasting dark chocolate I have ever had but hey, given the averageness of the milk chocolate on offer here it was made to look all the better. Good.

Soho Caramel:

I immediately thought 'Uh-Oh' when I saw this one! Not only did it look exactly like Paul.A.Young's award winning salted caramels but it was billed exactly the same as 'caramel hinted with an after-hint' of saltiness'. With such a tough benchmark no surprises these came off quite poorly and frankly they didn't match up whatsoever. The chocolate was thin and lacked presence in the taste, whilst the caramel had an odd floral note that over rode the promised salt lick. I don't want to be too harsh given the standard of the obvious comparator. Standard.

Overall I think the ultimate score and individual ratings give some perspective to how disappointing this selection box was. With an RRP of £10.99 you have to expect consistent quality and this is just something Thorntons don't seem to be able to do. The milk chocolate was frankly pretty average and wasn't up to scratch with what you would expect from such a costly box of chocolates. In fairness the dark chocolate was better and there are some nice chocolates in the box such as the Q Couture and the Orange Garden. At the end of the day though, a few nice chocolates don't make a well rounded selection box and there were just way too many poor ones. I think it is a fair assumption that a lot of us will be buying chocolate selection boxes in the next few weeks to gift for Christmas and I would have to say given the price you should avoid this one.

5.8 out of 10

November 8th: '7Days of Chocolate Reviews' - Edition 22

### JIM's Corner & QOTW ###

HI All,

I am going to keep it short this week as there is plenty of stuff to be getting on with Christmas coming up.

As a head ups I am quickly just going to outline what to expect coming in to 2010 as there are going to be a few changes on the site.

Having finished University and started full time employment in June 09 I have decided that I will now be switching my posting days to Monday, Wednesday and Friday. With the site being updated everyday at the moment it is pretty hard keeping tabs on everything and having written over 800 reviews already (loads huh!?) I am thinking I should start being more selective about the products I review ... so question of the week is ...

'What do you think about the move from 6 posts a week to 3?'

Please note that every so often there will be a more general (non-review) post on Saturday/Sunday just so I can keep everyone up-to-date with the goings-on on other blogs and the ChocolateMarket.

Let me know what you think and have a great week.

JIM

What have ChocolateMission readers been talking about this week?

George, Susanne, Ana & Phil all suggested I try some more chocolates from the Lindt Petit Desserts range ... SEE HERE

Russ commented that however Cadbury are at making brownies, local bakeries will always come out the winners ... SEE HERE

Alan & Phil were disappointed at the look of the Cadbury Desserts Berry Panacotta and said they wanted Cadbury to bring back some of their flavoured chocolates ... SEE HERE

David thought the Montezuma's Snackle looked particularly underwhelming, though Steven suggested I try their Dark Chocolate, Lime & Chilli bar ... SEE HERE

News from the Chocolate Market:

* Toblerone has a new TVC that will be on air soon ... SEE HERE

* As does Cadbury Flake, backed by £1.5m media spend ... SEE HERE

* Why not Nestle After Eight in the TVC mix as well ... SEE HERE

* Hannock's have released some new Droste chocolates ... SEE HERE

* Cadbury Roses not in a tin? ...Oh please! ... SEE HERE

Posts from other blogs I enjoyed this week:

* GiGi Reviews - Gi made me ridiculously jealous by reviewing the Reese's Peanut Butter Lovers Cups ... SEE HERE

* The Impulsive Buy - Having removed his man boobs from last week Marvo tucked into a very unappetising Chilli n' Spuds Chilli Meal ... SEE HERE

* Japanese Snack Reviews - These guys showed that even the Japanese do Cake Bars ... SEE HERE

* Foodstufffinds - Cin found some of the new Galaxy Probiotic drinks ... SEE HERE

November 7th: Trumpf Schogetten Strawberry Yoghurt

Kcal 541 Fat 33.0g Carbs 54.0g (per 100.0g)

Last week I told you all how I ventured into my first ever Lidl last week and bought the remaining variants of Trumpf Schogetten range that I hadn't managed to try yet. Well today I tried my ninth flavour from the portfolio in the form of this Strawberry Yoghurt bar, which was described as simply 'milk chocolate with a yogurt-strawberry-filling' (36.0%). Over the last few months I have tried endless yoghurt filled chocolates from Germany so this one had quite high standards to live up to thanks to the preceding Ritter Sport, Ferrero and Milka bars.

Seemingly Trumpf only produce their Schogetten range in one format so it won't surprise you to hear that this bar came in a 100.0g size that was split into 18 individual blocks. I will save boring you to tears by ranting about the quality of the outer packaging again, but for those who don't yet know my opinion I suggest you see HERE. Although I was still far from impressed I thought that the light pink theme suited the wrapper more so than other colours on different variants and the actual chocolate itself looked pretty enticing. As you can see in the photo above when cross-sectioned each block had a plentiful helping of yogurt filling which had red speckles throughout. In addition to looking rather tasty the chocolate smelt very appetising and avoided having the overly artificial fruity smell that many other fruit based bars often have.

Before tasting this chocolate I had a pretty strong expectation that this chocolate would be way too sweet but I am glad to report this wasn't quite the case. In previous reviews I have commented that Schogetten milk chocolate is normally a little on the sugary side, and I was expecting with the added sweetness of the strawberry this was going to be a little too much. Thankfully this bar proved me wrong and the flavours of the centre filling gave the chocolate far more balance than I was expecting. As expected the outer milk chocolate provided some light, sweet cocoa flavours that had a minor hazelnut note but it was the yogurt filling that really took hold of the taste. Like the chocolate, the centre melted with a pleasant smoothness though it was just a tad more viscous making the flavours stick in the mouth that little bit longer. Tastewise the filling had strong cream based milky undertones that had really pleasant firm bursts of strawberry fruit coming through which made for an overall fine tasting chocolate. I ate this chocolate 6 blocks at a time which made for a nicely fulfilling chocolate that delivered on its promised flavour credentials.

Overall this bar was a nice little surprise and although I wouldn't say it was quite as good as the Ritter Sport or Milka alternatives it was still a chocolate that I on the whole enjoyed. It won't surprise you to hear that the thing I think let this bar down slightly was the milk chocolate but it largely took a back seat to the really fine tasting strawberry filling anyway. If I was to compare the strawberry yogurt fillings of the Ritter Sport and Milka bars to this one I would be very hard pushed to pick a favourite - this Schogetten one was every bit as good (if not better) than both of them with its creamy, fresh fruit flavours that had no inclination of any artificalness whatsoever. When put in the context of price this has to be a bar that has a strong claim to be the best of the lot when it comes to value for money. It wasn't the best fruit flavoured yogurt bar I have ever tried, but it was a pretty damn good one at the same time.

7.9 out of 10

November 6th: Montezuma's Snackle

Kcal ??? Fat ??? Fat(sats) ??? Carbs ???

A few readers have been commenting recently that I haven't been paying enough attention to the chocolates that we have available to us here in the UK so over the next few weeks and into the coming year 2010 (scary huh!?) I will endeavour to maintain a bit of focus on what is on offer in the UK marketplace. For me personally chocolate doesn't get anymore local than Montezuma's who produce their chocolate in West Sussex, England. It has been almost a year since I have reviewed a Montezuma's product but the guys there were recently kind enough to send me along a few samples of the latest few additions to their portfolio. Included in this sampling package was this 'Snackle' bar from their Specialty range. The Snackle bar came billed as a pretty simple offering of 'milk chocolate with cocoa crispies' so think Nestle Crunch but with a little more potential.

Like many of the other Speciality bars I have tried beforehand this bar came in a 45.0g serving that I ate over the course of one evening. Just as with my previous ten reviews from this range I liked the outer cardboard box and I think Montezuma's have done well in their decision to keep a bit of consistency with their designs but differentiate the bars through the use of colour. Unfortunately it seems that Montezuma's are still persisting with their decision to keep their chocolate plastic wrappers inside the casing. One year on I still don't think this looks good and whilst I like the fact that the chocolate is air sealed I think the wrapping is at least worthy of some branding to make it look a little decorative. The chocolate itself also looked a little on the plain side though it was nice to see the cereal pieces dispersed nicely throughout the bar and it at least smelt quite nice with it's fresh smelling chocolaty scents.

In the above paragraphs I have already mentioned the fact that the direct comparison to this bar would be the Nestle Crunch bars that are widely distributed throughout the US and Europe. What I am pleased to confirm is that this bar did indeed taste better than the Nestle Crunch but at the same time it wasn't exactly light years ahead. The milk chocolate in this bar was formed using a 34% min cocoa and 22.5% milk solids recipe so it was unsurprising that this chocolate was a little less sweet tasting and more cocoa rooted in it's flavours compared to the more mass produced chocolates. Personally though I would say that whilst this chocolate was no doubt of a fair quality it was far less distinctive in terms of it's taste compared to say Dairy Milk or Galaxy. Another thing that I have also commonly failed to understand is the addition of rice cereal to chocolate. I find more often than not that whilst it adds a relatively nice additional crunch element to the texture it simply adds very little in terms of flavour and this was very much the case here. A cereal like influence was detectable amongst the taste of the milk chocolate but it's impact was minimal.

Overall this bar just turned out to be yet another rice filled milk chocolate that never went further than just being a slightly better than average offering. As aforementioned the standard of the chocolate was higher than what you would find in the equivalent Nestle Crunch bar but truth be told it wasn't really to my preference to some of the more mass produced chocolates that we can find here on the UK market at least half the price. If you are a fan of the Nestle Crunch bars this could be worth a look at if you wish to treat yourself but I think price is a really important issue here as Montezuma's actually charge £5 for four of these Speciality bars - that's £1.20 each. When you factor this into the equation I just can't really justify recommending this bar to anyone as it does very little to differentiate itself from what is already out there to warrant the high price.

7.5 out of 10