January 5th: Tesco Finest Italian Gianduiotti

Kcal 60 Fat 4.1g Fat(sats) 1.5g Carbs 4.6g (per piece)

At the back end of last year I got a request from reader Lottie for me to review a pack of these Italian Gianduiotti. Generally I do try to stay well clear of Own Label (Supermarket brand!) chocolates as there are hundreds of varieties in Tesco just alone but when I saw these sitting on the shelf they looked to be something a little different from the norm. Contrary to what I was expecting these ITALIAN Gianduiotti were genuinely Italian, and were 'produced in Italy for Tesco'. On the pack I discovered they were 'indulgent cocoa and hazelnuts milled in to a velvety paste with a soft texture and refined aroma' - that's gianduja to me and you!

These chocolates came in a 180.0g bag and set me back a pretty hefty £2.40 in the pocket. Presentation wise the product reminded me of a bag of fresh coffee but I thought it looked relatively smart none the less with the inner chocolates kept nicely fresh in thick, silver inner foil wrappers. The pieces themselves were nicely sized and could be consumed in a comfortable two mouthfuls; I felt they could have looked a little prettier though I guess it is probably a little harder to keep gianduja in a firm shape than other denser types of chocolate. Although perhaps a little underwhelming aesthetically these Gianduiotti smelt fantastic with some strong nutty scents coming to the fore as soon as they were unwrapped.

Of course with these being ginaduja chocolates the longevity of the melt in the mouth wasn't long so it was down to the strength of the flavours to make these worthwhile consuming. Thankfully I can report that they were very much worth my while and I had further confirmation of this from my family who also dug in to the bag over the few days they survived in our household. In line with expectations the melt was indeed incredibly fast and the chocolates quickly softened in to a liquid state when simply left of the tongue. Thankfully the flavours were soon forthcoming with the woody tasting hazelnuts quickly coming to the party and grabbing authority on the experience. The taste was indeed majoritly nut led though there was of course a relatively strong chocolaty background taste with the cocoa sweetened somewhat by a hint of bourbon vanilla. Each chocolate was rich yet at the same time a little moreish - I didn't want to consume more than two of these at a time though there were occasions were a thought of a third didn't feel necessarily greedy.

Overall I did like these Tesco Italian Gianduiotti but I am not sure whether I would be happy about paying £2.40 regularly to make them a frequent purchase. I have to say that I enjoyed the immensely flavoursome hazelnut experience and loved the dominance at which the nuts had in the overall taste. Personally though as a matter of personal preference I tend to like grittier praline chocolates that have just a little bit more bite and texture to them as chocolates like that seem to leave a greater lasting impression in the mouth. An example of this would be like the filling in the Schogetten Praline bar where the inner praline innards was a little differentiated in texture against the smoother outer chocolate. Regardless I would still say these are certainly worth a try if you like ginadujas or pralines - I know I would certainly welcome having them again if they were bought for me.

8.0 out of 10