November 18th: Montezuma's Acid Zest

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

With scores ranging from 6.6 to 8.6 you wouldn't be far off the mark describing Montezuma's chocolate as variable at the best of times. Whereas some of their offerings like their 'Surf Nut' and 'Culture Shock' bars have been fantastic they have almost always followed these up with a chocolate that has been no better than average or worse (e.g. 'Space Hopper' etc). With really no idea what to expect the day came for me to try yet another from their 'Speciality Range' - the 'Acid Zest' bar. The 'Acid Zest' was described on pack as 'white chocolate with orange nibs and lemon' and offered up a pretty unique sounding proposition. Unique sounding it may have been, but more importantly was it any good?

If your already 99% sure how much this bar weighs chances are you read this site a little too much :) As expected the 45.0g bar split into six separate blocks which I shared out between a few members of my family during a mid afternoon coffee. Aesthetically all was well with the outer packaging with its bright vivid colours, though once again I have to pass comment on the cheap looking inner plastic wrapper that spoilt the effect of the premiumness somewhat. Despite my hatred of the plastic packet one part of me makes me wish I didn't open it and that was the god awful smell that was revealed once opened. With the fruit completely lacking presence I would personally have described the smell as 'slightly gone off milk' but one of my family went for the slightly more vulgar 'baby sick' description. With the smell proving more than a little unsettling the clean cut nature of the blocks provided little in the way of piece of mind.

The bar thankfully tasted better then it smelt ... but truth be told it was still pretty poor. With name 'Acid Zest' I was really expecting something very strongly flavoured but this just sadly wasn't the case. I have had Montezuma's white chocolate before but never have I perceived it to be lacking flavour to this degree. As soon as the piece entered the mouth I was instantly alarmed at the lack of flavour the chocolate was delivering as it melted on my tongue. To be honest it is very hard to describe the taste as it is wasn't almost non-existent due to the fruit influences adding very little aside from a subtle lemony background note throughout. The white chocolate itself was unfortunately no better and offered a dried milk like sweet taste that never generated any telling or lasting impact. Although I didn't enjoy the dry, lacklustre melt of the chocolate all that much I did enjoy the texture brought to the party by the chewy orange nib like pieces which at least brought some interest to what was a dull taste. A 45.0g bar shared between a few of us was never intended to make for a fulfilling but it also failed in its job of offering a small indulgent chocolate flavour hit.

Overall despite this bar scoring a lowly 5.5 I would say I have been kind score wise. This chocolate couldn't possibly have tasted as bad as it smelt so it was never going to score as bad in taste category as it did the aroma one. To put it in perspective how 'off' this bar did smell I guess it gives a little insight when I say that had consumption not been for review purposes I probably wouldn't have even contemplated eating it. Looking at the scoring chart the only thing that saved this chocolate from getting a truly dismal score was the fact that the orange nibs added a little bit of interest to the texture, whilst the outer packaging gave it a slightly funky look. Just as I opened this review saying Montezuma's range has it good'uns and it's duds and this one just so happens to be the worst of the lot I have tried yet. Even if your the biggest white chocolate fan I would tell you to avoid this one -I can assure you that it will do nothing for you whatsoever.

5.5 out of 10