October 18th: '7Days of Chocolate Reviews' - Edition 19

### Jim's Corner & QOTW ###

Hi All,

I have been busy writing some festive themed reviews this week with a few Halloween and Christmas products consumed in the past few days.

As I am not a big fan of the holiday itself Halloween wont be covered off to a great extent but some of the chaps from Hotel Chocolat were kind enough to send me some of their latest products and I also bought some of the Halloween themed cakes bars from the likes of Cadbury. These reviews will be published in the last week or so of October.

The Christmas reviews will kick off on November 20th and will no doubt cover Nestle, Cadbury and Hotel Chocolat's ranges this year ... maybe the odd white chocolate covered Oreo biscuit from Kraft too ;) ... which brings me to question of the week ...

'Are there any specific Christmas products you want to see reviewed?'

If so please give me an indication so I can make sure I can cover them all off!!

Unfortunately the guys at Hotel Chocolat are still ridiculously busy with preparations for Christmas, thus no answers to the questions just yet! I got promised them by the end of this week so fingers crossed they will make appear next weekend in '7Days of ChocolateReviews'.

Have a great week and please continue the great contributions to the site.

JIM


The ChocolateMission Omnibus:

I always like to get the week off to a good start and pleased with the response I got to my post Monday which looked at the new Mars Dark (UK) vs Mars Midnight (Poland) ... SEE HERE. At the present reader comparisons were a little limited with Russ, Alan and Alex all oddly having tried the Polish bar but not the UK one - I hope they all let us know their thoughts when they finally track one down.

Moving on in the week I got to try a bar that is no longer available in the UK but still has presence in South Africa - Cadbury Flake Snow (SEE HERE). Personally I found it a little on the sweet side, however it seem to evoke good memories for the likes of Rachel, Cin & Lottie.

Also this week I really kicked on my investigation of the UK cake bar range reviewing the McVitie's Penguin (SEE HERE) and Cadbury Original & Caramel offerings (SEE HERE). As pointed out by a few readers I did epically fail when it came to providing the joke on the back of my Penguin Cake Bar but don't you worry the same mistake hasn't been made in my review of the normal Penguin bar that will be published in early November.

Lastly Friday was the first outing for Moser Roth on ChocolateMission in the form of their Dark Chocolate & Orange variant (SEE HERE). I have to really once again thank ChocolateMission contributor Susanne for providing me with the chance to try this bar and I obviously wasn't alone in my thinking given the positive response from the likes of Phil and Ana.


News from the Chocolate Market:

* Mikado has become the fast selling everyday product in the impulse sector ... SEE HERE

* Hannock's has created a new gifting range in collaboration with Beeches ... SEE HERE

* Cadbury & Maryland have announced their Christmas biscuit line ups - if you want to see any reviewed see QOTW above ... SEE HERE

* Cadbury have been accused of racial stereotyping in their latest fairtrade advert ... SEE HERE

* Quality Street & Matchmakers are again going to receive big marketing spend this Christmas ... SEE HERE


Posts from other Blogs I enjoyed this week:

* Chocablog - If your going to look at one other site this week it has to be Chocablog. Despite many an invite unfortunately due to work commitments I could attend myself but their coverage of Chocolate Week has been extensive and brilliant with all their contributors going into overdrive with articles each day with the latest news ... SEE HERE

* CandyBlog - I loved this review looking at Hershey's Cookies n Creme vs a cheap supermarket alternative! Bravo Cybele ... SEE HERE

* Foodstufffinds - Tried some posh hot chocolate this week from Butler's ... this has got me thinking on some new mini ChocolateMissions for the new year ... SEE HERE

* GiGi Reviews - It has been gum week on GiGi Reviews! As an avid chewer it has been amazing looking at the different flavours they get in the US ... SEE HERE

* Japanese Snack Reviews - The award for bizzarest review of the week has to go to JSR - what on earth is a Pizza Weiner Rapper ... SEE HERE