March 9th: Hotel Chocolat Rose & Violet Cremes

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Sons and daughters I hope you all haven't forgotten that it is Mothering Sunday this weekend! Indeed, it has come around early this year with the 14th of March being the date to mark in your diaries. To be honest up until a few weeks ago the day had slipped my mind completely (sorry Mum!), but thankfully a timely reminder and some samples later from the guys at Hotel Chocolat and I now look like son of the year as I gave my gifts a few weeks early :D score! One of the box of chocolates my Mum was treated to this year were these Hotel Chocolat Rose & Violet Cremes which came billed as 'fondant centres with natural essence of rose & violet in dark chocolate shells.'

I guess it is a bit cheeky that I have managed to review something I have gifted but given that there were twenty pieces (net weight 200.0g) there were plenty to go around. As you can see above the style of packaging was pretty similar to a lot of other Hotel Chocolat products I have reviewed in the past, and it was once again agreed all round that the glossy outer box and several layers of inner padding created a sense of sophistication and premiumness. As good as the outer packaging was the chocolates also managed to catch the eye, with the whiteness of the inner fondant really sparkling against the dark coloured chocolate.

Moving on to more important matters it would be no understatement saying that these Rose & Violet Cremes really divided opinion and this all started with the smell chocolates. Had this been a blindfold test I would have struggled to tell you these were chocolates at all as the flowery, sweet smells these emanated would have thrown me straight off course. On one hand I will admit that these aromas were indicative of the taste, though I personally didn't find them appealing in the slightest. For me the excellence of the outer chocolate was upset by the rose and violet fondants which completely dominated things as soon as they were encountered. Conversely (and luckily!!) my Mother loved how they smelt and tasted, and said that both filled her with warm nostalgic feelings of sweets that she used to have as a child. Out of the two I thought the flowery taste of the rose fondant was superior to the perfume like taste of the violet centres, but my Mum said both were as good as each other. After revealing that they weren't to my taste I was quickly banished from wasting anymore ... she liked them so much I had to sneak some from the box for the photos :D

Overall it was hard scoring these today because if was up to me I would probably have given them a 3 for both taste and smell, yet my Mum said I should give them a 10 ... 7 it is then!! I think it is very much a case of either understanding or expecting the taste, or simply just not (like me!!) Looking at the back of the box this probably shouldn't come as any surprise given that Hotel Chocolat proclaim that these are a 'British recipe that dates back to the early 1900s'. On reflection I guess they are pitched at a very targeted audience that isn't anywhere near myself. If my parents are anything to go by Hotel Chocolat did a very good job as they absolutely loved them, and said they would to have them again in the future. What I am being very careful trying to say here is that these Hotel Chocolat Rose & Violet Creme are probably more for a 'mature' consumer than they are for a young guy like myself, and if it is on that basis that these get scored on it looks like they are a very good product. If you are struggling to think of a gift for Mothers Day this year then I think these are good option for you to consider ... just don't be gifting them to me anytime soon thanks :D

7.2 out of 10

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