June 18th: Cocoa Deli Rocky Road Clusters

Kcal 236 Fat 11.1g Fat(sats) 6.5g Carbs 31.0g

I couldnt say that before today I had even heard of 'Cocoa Deli' let alone tried any of their products - well I can tell you that they manafacture their goods in the UK and as far as I can tell sell their products as far away as Australia. Today I sampled a pack of 'Rocky Road Clusters'...which on pack are described as '3 clusters of soft marshamallows, moist raisins & caramelised hazelnut pieces smothered in smooth Belgian milk chocolate'.

The pack was split nicely into 3 'clusters' which combined weighed in at a plentiful 45g - the combination of heavy fruit and nuts made for a pretty substantial product. The product came in a nicely presented plastic wrapped package with an inside cardboard sleeve for extra protection. The packaging certainly did its job in that respect but the lack of foil packaging made the clusters have an unspectacular musky cocoa scent. The clusters in appearance looked a tad disinteresting in their whole state, though once split open the different marshmallow and nut colours gave them an interesting look.

As ever I slightly chilled this product before eating it..this made for the milk chocolate having a nice fresh crispness to it...it was thick in its proportion and had a nice milky smooth taste; it also had an initial smoothness once melting in the mouth..overall I would say the milk chocolate was a pretty good standard.

The combination of the different elements gave this product a nice mix of textures...the raisins were plentiful (over 20% of the overall bar content) and were second only behind the milk chocolate in flavour strength. They had a strong sweet fruit taste and gave a nice chewiness to the bite. The hazelnuts were pretty much the opposite...only consistng of 2% of the bar, adding very little in flavour or texture...very poor in comparison. The marshmallow element was also slightly lacking in content at only 7%...were it was evident though the marshmallow added a nice sugary taste and soft texture.

Overall this is a pretty unique product and though not the easiest to find in the shops, its a nice option to have if your looking for something slightly different. Its nice to find a bar that contains raisins in that actually have a nice fruity fresh taste and which provide more than just a bland chewiness. The Belgian milk chocolate was also of a pretty good standard - it had a nice smooth texture and creamy taste...the bar slightly faltered in that the hazelnut and marshmallow elements wernt the strongest and were little more than just filler...in truth if both were implemented properly this could be an outstanding product. I would recommend this product to anyone who fancies something slightly different from the norm...theres not many products like this one out there so why not give it a go.

7.5 out of 10