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### Jim's Corner & QOTW ###
Hi All,
I hope you have all had good Halloween weeks and have bags full of chocolate and candy to much your way through.
This week I received my Christmas samples from Hotel Chocolat so prepare yourselves to start seeing some reviews coming your way soon.
In addition to that I also received a big parcel of different chocolates from Germany courtesy of ChocolateMission reader Susie. The package contains so many different chocolates I have no idea what to try first ... this got my thinking about question of the week ...
'Which country produces the best chocolates?' UK? US? Germany? Japan? Other??
Let me know what you think - I will tell you my view later this evening.
Have a good week and thanks for all the ongoing contributions.
JIM
The ChocolateMission Omnibus:
Right at the start of last week I posted Hotel Chocolat's answers to the questions that all you guys sent them a month or so ago. Thanks again to Matt at HC for co-ordinating this with me, be sure to take a look at the interview HERE.
This week has been full of reviews of Nestle's and Cadbury new mini bakes / mini bites products HERE. Readers like Lottie and Steven has expressed their annoyance and this ongoing trend of 'Mini' products and I have to say I agree with them. Like reader Mark so aptly put it wouldn't hardly hurt these manufactures to start thinking about outside the box.
The review I most enjoyed writing this week was the Snickers Fudge which was sent to me by my chums at CandyPirate HERE. Whilst most were excited by the product it was duly noted by Rachel that it wasn't the cleverest move taking the caramel out the bar ... a view I very much agreed with.
Despite my best efforts to ignore Halloween this year I did yield yesterday and posted a review of the Cadbury Cinder Toffee Cake Bars HERE.
News from the Chocolate Market:
* Hancocks are introducing a new brand called Bella Vista to the UK market ... SEE HERE
* Kraft have got a new Terry's Chocolate Orange TVC coming on air for Christmas ... SEE HERE
* Cadbury's strong business will only push up the price for Kraft according to the Grocer ... SEE HERE
* Fox's have revealed their Christmas NPD which contains some tasty sounding chocolate biscuits ... SEE HERE
* Nestle are already planning their 2010 Easter range ... crazy world eh!? ... SEE HERE
Posts from other Blogs I enjoyed this week:
* ImpulsiveBuy - Marvo posted his 7th podcast ... includes Marvo man boobs ... SEE HERE
* CandyBlog - Cybele had me drooling at the sight of the worlds biggest Reese's Peanut Butter Cup! This had me drooling like Homer Simpson ... SEE HERE
* GiGi Reviews - Is running a soup competition ... yep you read that right ... a soup competition :D Get your entries in now ... SEE HERE
* JapaneseSnackReviews - These guys are awesome at getting the latest Kit Kat products from the Far East. Check out their review of the Salty Caramel KitKat mini bite things ... SEE HERE
* Foodette Reviews - I wish Starbucks in the UK did cookies like this - these sound divine. SEE HERE
Sunday, 1 November 2009
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22 comments:
In terms of variety, and especially when it comes to filled chocolate bars, I'd vote for Germany.
However, I particularly like dark chocolate, and in terms of quality my choice would always be Italy. Amedei, Domori, Venchi... Plus so many small local manufacturers. Not always on the cheap side, but well worth the money as the quality is amazing. Unfortunately (could also be seen as a good thing though) lots of these chocolates are only available locally. I had a great time discovering them when I was living in Italy.
I've never particularly liked British chocolate. Too much sugar, too little cocoa.
Uk but that is because I stick with what I know.
The US make some of my favoured things like reeses but for actual chocolate it has to be England.
Woop what a great idea bring mugs back for Easter eggs lol I love them. Best chocolate country has to be Belgium as you get fresh truffles galore.
Rxxx
Germany because they make Milka
Your all wrong Swiss chocolate is best.
LOLS like Rachel says bringing mugs back to easter eggs is a stroke of genuis.
I still have a smarties one like the shown in the picture on the grocer site. I am such a saddo :-)
I personally think that UK chocolate is the best (galaxy yum) I am probably biased lol.
Maggs
I think all the different countries have good and bad so it's hard to choose lol I obviously like UK choc but as others have mentioned Belgium chocolate is lovely and amazing variety from Japan!
I would say Germany, isn't that where Lindt is based? (I forget now).
I think the UK is good for basic everyday chocolate (Cadbury) but not variety. Then again, Hotel Chocolat is very good for luxury.
Japan for variety but Belguim for quality.
Do the French even make chocolate? I can't remember Jim ever doing a review about a chocolate from there?
My vote is England. America's standard chocolate usually has weird ingredients in and tastes bad. Japan is just okay, but nothing special. I haven't tried chocolates from many other places, so it's definately England for me. :)
Looking forward to the Hotel Chocolat reviews. I still haven't bought anything from there. :| Perhaps I should write it on my Christmas list instead...
Countries don't make chocolate (or candy). Companies do and their excellence rarely has anything to do with the nation they are in.
I'm loving the retro Smarties egg - to me that will always be the Smarties 'look' as thats how I always remember it growing up! lol. I love easter egg mugs too, my oldest surviving one from childhood was a Wispa one (it even had the original early logo) until it got broken a few years ago! :(
Germany... ;-)
But I like the US choccies that have peanut butter as a filling too.
Japan because of their fantastic Kit Kat range...
Darn... I like to many to pick from!
Hmm. I'm going to be sitting-on-the-fencey, and say Europe in general.
I would say Germany due to the variety but then that's fillings really isn't it? For actual quality I wouldn't like to say jim, I really wouldn't!
Whittakers chocolate from Austrlia is divine but I have to say the UK make some delicious chocolates. Last time I went there I had so many good things from Thorntons.
Muchos luv Nattie
Everyone
To be honest I think Cybele has hit the nail on the head here.
Some countries are more inclined than others to have manufacturing facilities than others (Germany, UK & US spring to mind) but this doesen't make that country any better at producing chocolate than another ... that is down to the quality of the output of the companies themselves.
In my opinion Germany are lucky with the amount of decent chocolate companies they have ... without scratching the surface you have Ritter, Milka and a lot of Lindt product.
Similarly the UK also hosts some fantastic companies ... Cadbury, Hotel Chocolat ... the lists are endless.
The US may not spring to mind for many of you instantly but there is no doubting how enjoyable some of the confections that the likes of Hershey and Ghiaradelli produce.
So like a lot of you I will just sit on the fence. As cybele pointed out there is never going to be a definitive answer but hey it is nice to hear everyones views nonetheless!
As for the retro mugs coming out in Easter I think it is a good idea! Everyone loves a bit of nostalgia afterall!
I hope you all have great weeks it is always great hearing from you.
JIM
I understand the whole companiesand countries thing but I still think we should recognise that most of these companies are based in Europe.
I think Golden Touch has a good point - it is true that companies make chocolate not an actual country BUT it is usually recognised that certain nations (and the companies that reside there and/or the people in charge)as a whole are good or better than others eg Belgium - as it must surely relate to how those countries view chocolate, the traditions over many decades or centuries, consumer likes etc regardless of what particular company is making them etc. So yes a company is physically making the chocolate but what is behind that chocolate is also highly relevant and perhaps more to the point? I think the nation has everything to do with the quality of the chocolate etc.
UK all the way baby.
You're all forgetting Poland lol most the chocolate bars I buy here in the UK are bought in from Poland. They are cheap as in the pound shops.
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