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Kcal 552 Fat 36.0g Carbs 50.0g (per 100.0g)
Since the start of the summer I have been slowly making my way through Lindt's latest 100.0g tafel range, which you may recall has been based around different ice cream flavours. Having already reviewed the Nocciola (See HERE) and Eiscafe (See HERE) variants the one remaining flavour left to try was this Amarena-Kirsh, which I managed to get hold of with a little help from my German friend Franzi. Through aid of the on-pack pictures and my loose understanding of German I was able to get identify that this was based loosely round Cherries, though it took a quick Wikipedia search to identify the origins of Amarena-Kirsch. According to my favourite online encyclopedia, Amaerna-Kirsch are an Italian speciality, which would make sense given that both the Eiscafe and Nocciola flavours have followed that theme (More about Amaerna-Kirsch HERE).
As I have referred to already above this bar came in a 100.0g format which was split into a 5x2 grid of blocks. The packaging, albeit hard to photograph, looked as wonderful as ever and I thought the pinky, red colours made it look the most exciting flavour in the range. The blocks were again slightly on the big side for my liking, though the way they were so beautifully crafted and shaped meant I didn't dwell on that flaw for long. Cutting the block in half for my photography I was delighted to see that the inner creme was studded with large bits of what looked liked frozen dried fruit. In addition to looking pretty gorgeous, the light coloured inner creme smelt pretty phenomenal, mixing a lovely variety of chocolate and genuine smelling red berry scents.
To this point the chocolate was displaying a wonderful promise and the proposition of 'milk chocolate with cherry creme and Amarena cherry pieces' was something I couldn't wait to get stuck in to. Much like the smells had indicated the cherry flavours didn't hang about in imposing themselves on the taste, and straight away they were detectable in the background of the sweet cocoa flavours of the outer chocolate. As ever with Lindt milk chocolate, the taste was luxuriously cream based and it melted with a glorious softness to reveal the inner filling below. As pleasant and smooth as the chocolate felt on the tongue, it was then eclipsed in mouth feel sensation by the creme which had a lighter silkier feel to it's melt. It was at this point that the cherry really flavours really started coming through strongly, with the red fruit flavours establishing a very sweet, yet very 'real' tasting cherry influence. Submerged in the creme filling, the small specs of Amaerna cherry rounded of the taste quite superbly. In comparison to both the chocolate and the creme, the small bits of fruit were sharp and zingy in taste and provided a refreshing juicy sourness to leave a lasting impression of cherry in the mouth. The pace of the melt meant the flavour longevity wasn't optimum, but that wasn't too much of a problem given I had a full 100.0g bar :D
Overall this was probably the best cherry flavoured chocolate that I have ever tasted and it has surprisingly scored the best out of all three of the Lindt ice cream themed bars I have tried this summer. As previous chocolates have shown, implementing cherries in to chocolate is not the easiest thing to do without creating an artificial taste. Thoughts of this chocolate being in any way fake tasting were completely absent when I was eating it. The cherry influences were expertly integrated, in fact I don't believe they could have done it any better. One consideration I did have this chocolate however, was the appropriateness of the milk chocolate coating. As good, and tasty as it was, one part of me couldn't help but feel that a dark coating might have been better matched for the sweetness of the fruit. I could well be wrong and the flavour balance could go out of kilter with dark chocolate overpowering the cherry, but I would still be very keen to try it if such a bar existed. If you like your cherries then this is a must try chocolate for you. This is another pearl in the crown of Lindt.
8.6 out of 10
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30 comments:
This looks and sounds delightful but the fact that is all about cherries doesnta ppeal to me lol I'm not a cherry fan really, I'd have preferred another fruit :)
Now this sounds like my sort of thing. I'm currently addicted to eating glace cherries after having them on top of some cup cakes the other day.
I bought a whole pot of them yesterday lol.
Rxxx
Thanks for the review Jim. It's such a shame we will probably never be able to buy these in our country. I did take a look in sainsburys the other day but I couldn't see any sign of any of the flavours.
If I had the choice I would buy the hazelnut flavour first and then the cherry.
Lindt are showing Cadburys and Mars how to do it this week lol.
Arguably the likes of ritter and lindt product more flavours and bars than both of the two I have just mentioned. They seem to be able to come up with new exciting things each time though.
This looks delicious. I would have preferred something like strawberry or raspberry but then I guess it would have been amarena kirsch lol. Brill review Jim.
Dx
The chocolate does look cool but why is the filling a look brown looking? It almost gives me the impression of fruit that has gone off? Is it just the way you have taken the picture again?
I thought you didn't like cherries? I remember reading you green and blacks review for their cherry bar and saying how bad it was. I think you might have got a bad bar of it or something because my sister bought it the other day and I though it was fine.
Sorry but I don't actually like cherrys so I wouldn't buy this one. I think I don't like them because when I was young I nearly choke on some that had pips in. Ever since then they have sorta scared me :(
Making a range of chocolates around ice cream flavours is an inspired idea. Have they made a chocolate mint flavoured one?
Choc mint is my favourite ice cream ever (thorntons do a mean one btw). If they make a minty flavoure I'm totally sold.
If this was any other fruit I would porbably be well keen but I just don't like cherries.
One of the best Lindt chocolates I have tried recently was their strawberry yoghurt white chocolate. OMG that was all types of amaze. I'm going to see if you have reviewed it already :)
The last few days tells us that Lindt Germany > Cadbury UK > Mars UK. Mega FAIL for the UK people.
Why do Lindt always make these things in 100 gram bars?
If I wanted to try all of them I would find that really annoying because that is too much to just try something to see if you like it. I'm such a sucker I would buy them any way knowing me.
As pleasant and smooth as the chocolate felt on the tongue, it was then eclipsed in mouth feel sensation by the creme which had a lighter silkier feel to it's melt
This sounds great. Was it like Lindors?
In comparison to both the chocolate and the creme, the small bits of fruit were sharp and zingy in taste and provided a refreshing juicy sourness
I'm glad you have said that. That is how cherries should be, not sickly and sweet like most cherry chocolates are.
I like the look of this one. Are these bars expensive or do they sell for about a quid? I bought loads of different Lindt chocoaltes from a pound shop last weekend. I couldn't believe they were selling them.
Lol I don't think any of us can moan about Lindt lacking ideas like we did cadburys. Cherry isn't something that interests me that much but I like seeing them try different things out with different flavours. They are loads more adventurous than our chocolate makers are.
Thanks for the post Jim I got my parents on holiday in Germany at the moment so I'm going to ask them to bring me back some of these chocolates you have been recommending recently. I think the ones I'm going to ask for are these new lindt ones and some Ritter flavours. Can you think of any others?
Why do Lindt no make apple flavoured chocolates? The only fruits I like that much are apple and bananas and neither are ever used to flavour chocolate. The manufacturers always seem to choose to use raspberries or other red coloured fruits. It's a bit annoying for me.
This cherry flavour doesn't interest me too much but I've only just seen the hazelnut and coffee one for this lot. Both of them look more my kind of thing but I was surprised to see you didn't rate them that highly.
I'm really getting in to my Lindt chocoalte at the moment. I'm coming round to the way of thinking that it's worth paying a little bit extra for their chocolate over the likes of cadburys and that lot.
I can't be dealing with cherrys of any kind I'm afraid. I once ate so many glacier ones as a child I ended up being really ill. You probably think I'm just being pathetic but I honestly can't put one in my mouth without gagging.
I think this might have been even better if they had used white chocolate. I agree with you that it was the best out of all three of the ice cream themed ones they made for this range.
BTW I bought these at an airport coming back from France. @Anonymous they cost me two and a half euros each.
I love the sound of this :) Lindt make some amazing products so I can imagine how good it is. If only they'd sell more like this over here :(
I think this sounds excellent. Its not even funny how we get totally nothing like this whatsoever in this country. Everything we make is so generic and boring. I bet they don't know how lucky they are in Germany, they are so spoilt for choice.
This looks amazing!
For those who don't travel to Germany (I'm going soon, can't wait!) Lindt Germany has an online shop - it's all in German but I'm sure you can figure it out ;-) The shop is closed in the summer, but will reopen soon and the choice is fantastic!
Thanks Jim as usual for this great review!
Great review Jim very detailed. I also thought you didn't like cherries after some of your older reviews so I was surprised to see that you have rated this one so highly.
Did you ever find out what happened to Dean Groceries? I used them once and they were great.
Yummy I like the sound of Amarena Kirsch. I've actually come across amarena cherries before in a jar. What they do is they take sour black cherries and stick them in syrup to take the sourness off them. They are gorgeous.
This is the one bar in the range I was really looking forward to. I love Amarena ice cream so I thought it must be great to have a chocolate like this.
Great review Jim. Just wish we could buy it in this country.
PART 1
Alan
If you had asked me whether I wanted cherries in this bar or not beforehand I would have said no but they actually suited the bar really well. I would have it again for sure.
Rachel
Cup cakes are very 'in' at the moment aren't they. Loads of people at my work keep making all kinds of different ones and bringing them in.
Kim
I think looking in Sainsburys might have been a little ambitious but perhaps places like Whittardss of Chelsea might have them in stock some day? If not you only other option is getting them directly from Germany I'm afraid.
David
Indeed they have done. Lindt and Ritter have both made similar chocolates to the Spots v Stripes but they have also made several other flavours to go alongside.
Daisy
Yeah you can't really take cherries out of the equation and it still be amarena kirsch that is very true :D
Mark
It was more cream coloured than it looks in the photo. Believe me the fruit was far from off tasting. It was delicious.
Steven
I've never said I don't like cherries at all. I think people have just got that impression because the cherry flavoured chocolates I have reviewed so far have been rather poor. This one has set the record straight it seems.
Estelle
Oh dear that doesn't sound like the nicest experience at all. I'm not surprised you don't enjoy them now.
Lauren
They don't make a mint choc mint flavoured one I'm afraid. I wouldn't rule them out doing one in the future though. It is the sort of flavour than sounds likely.
Suzi
I really rated that strawberry yoghurt chocolate myself. If you look under the Lindt tab you should see my review of it. If you liked that the chances are you would like this Amarena Kirsch.
Mysterio
That is a pretty broad conclusion to make :D This week only shows a tiny proportion of what each of them.
Peter
I think they know that people will buy the bigger bars so they can charge more. I know it isn't ideal but I guess it is something we just have to put up with if we want to try all the latest flavours.
Katie
It wasn't quite as greasy or smooth feeling as Lindors but it was very smooth feeling. The only bit that roughed it up a bit to give it more grip were the fruit pieces.
PART 2
Anon
These would be a bit more expensive than the Excellence range. As someone has said already they retail for about 2.5 euros.
Harry
Most the German brands are more adventurous than our British ones. It's just the way their market is.
Lucy
Lucy I wouldn't know where to begin with the German chocolates :D just have a look under the German tab! I've reviewed so many things I forgotten about most of them.
Emma
I have no idea. Cadbury recently made a chocolate using apple for their Bar of Plenty range. That is worth a look at if you like your apple chocolates. The market is pretty sparse though for those sort of chocolates you are correct.
Warren
Good to hear you are starting to appreciate some of Lindt's range. Some of their standard bars are a bit hit and miss but you should be pretty safe if you stick with the Excellence range.
Vanessa
Thanks for the pricing information. I got these bars bought for me by various other people so I was bit clueless to how much they cost each. I'm glad you also thought this one was decent.
Phil / Sam
Haha it is very easy to get jealous of the selection they have in Germany. I would fear for your bank balance trying them all if you lived there mind you :D
Jack
Thanks for the nice words you are way too kind as always.
That is a good tip about the online shop. If you use Google Chrome it will translate it for you, making it easier to navigate.
Colin
I have no idea what happened to them I'm afraid. They literally disappeared off the face of the planet.
Michelle
Those sound really nice. If you search for them on google you can see some very similar looking products.
Ana
I think you would like this one Ana. Let me know if you manage to find it in Romania. You get a good selection of Lindt chocolates there don't you.
Gina
I think a lot of people are thinking that today - it's always the case for my UK readers more often than not.
Thanks for the comments today eveyrone. If you are looking at buying from this ice cream range I would suggest this one over the others.
JIM
So happy to see that u like most of the stuff. I also really like this one even if i am not that into fruity filled chocolate normally :)
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