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I'm going to kick of my Christmas 2010 Hotel Chocolat reviews this year by looking at two of their seasonal themed fruit offerings. With the help of my ever willing family, I have been photographing and sampling Christmas products for the last few weeks - Christmas has indeed come early in the ChocolateMission household.
Hotel Chocolat Cinnamon Rum Sultanas
'sultanas soaked in golden rum with a pinch of cinnamon, enrobed in white chocolate'Both of these products today came in the tub packaging format and with 150.0g of produce inside. I normally dread the thought of having to photograph plain white chocolate items but the amazing sweet and and spicy smells emanating from the packaging were enough to distract me from my tough task at hand.
To sum these sultanas up in a load of random words I would have to choose creamy, fruity, boozie spiced deliciousness. Indeed these sultanas were fantastic and got gobbled by my tasting panel within minutes of them being opened. The white chocolate that surrounded the plump fruit centres was thick across all of the pieces, whilst the sultanas inside were juicy and fresh. Taste wise everything was so wonderfully progressive, with the flavour journey starting with a firm set of sweet cream based flavours before evolving into an array of cinnamon, rum and sweet fruit. The culmination of these different elements created quite the flavour party in the mouth and had us all reaching back for more time and time again until the whole lot was gone.
8.1 out of 10
Hotel Chocolat Mulled Wine Cherries
'cherries soaked in fortified wine spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves, then enrobed in thick dark chocolate.'I have to fess up right away here - I think we all know I'm not the greatest love of cherries, but if there is one thing I'm certainly not, it's a wine drinker! With that in mind I wasn't particularly looking forward to these, so it was lucky I had did indeed have my family taste panel involved here.
Similarly to the sultanas above, these cherries displayed the most delightful of fruity scents when I opened the tub for the first time. You might not be able to gauge from the photo, but these were significantly bigger in size compared to the sultanas, this was helped largely by the fact that the dark chocolate was still very thickly coated despite the larger fruit size. I needn't say much about the outer chocolate - it established rich cocoa flavours from the outset and the additional fragments of almond nut created an undercurrent of delicious savoury butter flavours. As good as the chocolate was, the cherries were equally as flavoursome. They were everybit as fresh and juicy as came described, and the sweet red fruit flavours were enhanced magnificently by several spiced elements, most notably nutmeg and cinnamon. This combination was nothing other than utterly delicious - I was surprised by how much I liked these.
8.5 out of 10
Overall these were some of the best chocolate covered fruits I have ever tried and I loved the seasonal flavour sensation brought to the party with the spiced elements in both. The look, feel and taste of Christmas has been encapsulated in these fruits perfectly - even as a non-wine drink I couldn't help but love the Mulled Wine Cherries, they were really very tasty. I would recommend both of these products as worthy of trying out and buying this year if they tickle your fancy. I would love to say stick them top of your Christmas list but there are way too many Christmas themed chocolate reviews to come :D make sure you stick around for the best coverage of the Hotel Chocolat range this year.
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41 comments:
Lol it's pretty mental seeing christmas things up here already but I wont complain if you manage to string them out for two months :)
These sort of things never appeal to me. I would rather just buy some straight up chocolate than mess around with chocolate fruits etc. The fruit is just taking up important chocolate space lol.
This is so exciting I honestly I cant wait to see what you say about some of the box of chocolates they have this year.
I haven't ever drank mulled wine so I dont have a clue what they would taste like. Those white choc sultanas look and sound amazing though. I have a real thing for rum.
Rxxx
Great review Jim. The last Hotel Chocolate booze truffles I had was an amaretto one from a 'winter collection box that my sister got. I didn't really like it to be honest because it was too strong. It took away all the nice flavours of the chocolate which was not what I wanted at all. I don't mind mild alcohol flavoured chocolates but when it's too strong I dont like them.
Thank you so much for the reviews. How many of the things are you going to be reviewing from Hotel Chocolat before Christmas? Its going to be uber useful for my shopping this year. I always spend hours deciding what I should buy for everyone.
Omg those cherries look stunning. My finger is already hovering over the buy button and its only just turned Novemeber. My only saving grace is that the website says they arent getting stock of these for a few weeks ........... phew. How did you get such an advanced preview?
Dx
Brill post Jim. I don't even like this sort of thing but your photos are so tasty looking. I love the fact they have made the chocolate so thick on them. Normally when you buy this sort of thing the coatings are paper thin.
Christmas already? The world has gone mad!!!! I was in Tesco yesterday and they were already playing Christmas songs in the store.
Its great seeing reviews of the smaller things because I think they are going to be the sort of products I'm more likely to buy. The giant slabs they make are great but they are well expensive and not the easiest thing to share with people. The small tubes like these are great, you just have to watch out people don't eat them all.
I don't like cherries so I will do without them but the sultanas do look very nice I have to say.
It's funny that all you have to do is put a bit of cinnamon and alcohol in chocolate and all of a sudden its xmas themed :-)
These aren't cheap you know. They are still £7.50 a pot which I think is too expensive. Is it me or they ramped up the prices a lot this year. I know you will say you have to pay for quality but that is excessive IMO.
Mulled wine is like the nicest thing ever, those cherries have to be amazing.
I like having mulled wine on really cold winter evenings, you get all warm and boozed up at the same time .... whats not to love :)
Thank you for starting your Christmas reviews Jim. It seems well early but its all going to be useful by the time it comes around to buying stuff for presents etc.
I think these are more suited to my parents than myself or my brothers. I think they would love the cherries especially. Thanks again for the reviews.
Hey Mr!!!!! What ever happened to Hotel Choc being banished to Mondays ;P You chaught me by surprise with this one, I wasn't prepared to be seeing Hotel Choc this early in the morning. I think I'm going to need to cut up my credit card this month. I can see myself maxing out on chocolate if you are saying that even the small things like these are this good.
Caramel Santas
Christmas Dinner Chocolates
Classic Selection
Tiddly White Snowmen
Milk Reindeer
Advent Calenders
........... can/are you going to review all of them for us. Those were the ones I have picked out the catalog this year.
Thank god you have started with the things I'm totally disinterested in lol. I agree with David when it comes to HC I would rather just buy plain chocolate. You can buy these sort of things in the supermarket (cheaper versions of them anyway lol) HC is so expensive its better off saving your money for the big slabs and stuff.
After I saw your review of the kirsch cherries I was looking for them in our Hotel Chocolat store but they had sold out :( I think I will bypass them now and get some mulled wine ones. They sound so yummy, did they not taste of orange at all though? I thought there was always orange in mulled wine?
This is just cruel. I wont be buying anything for Christmas until well into December so I will have to wait for ages to try these. I always do all of my shopping in one big lot when I get paid at the end of November :( It's going to be so hard seeing all these reviews coming up if you are posting them everyday.
I'm loving the reviews already Jim. The photos look v professional today, better even than the ones on their website. I don't think Hotel Chocolat understand that people want to see what is inside the chocolates, if you look on their online store you can only just see that the cherries are big balls of chocolate. You one looks tons better ;-) ..... can I have some free chocolate now lol?
When are you doing any competitions for Christmas? Please dont run them on Twitter I dont have it.
Omg I'm going to have a right old struggle picking out what to buy if everything is going to be rated this good :( Why couldn't you just say both of these were rubbish, I can see myself getting so confused by the time it comes around to putting my order in this year.
Are you going to be reviewing the tiddly santas? Lol I bought some at the weekend and I have finished them already :) Don't worry you aren't alone! Some of us are already gnoshing on christmas chocs lol.
If you are still taking requests I would love to know your thoughts on those new yule logs.
If your so called chocolate mission is to brainwash us all in to buying hotel chocolate things then you are totally, 100%, absolutely ..... doing brilliantly LMAO.
My christmas list starts today with both of these bad boys.Terrific review Jimbo.
This isn't going to end well for my bank account.
One thing I wish they would do on their website is give more details of what chocolates are in each of the boxs. It's pretty annoying not knowing what is included in each of them.
To be honest, I am not sure I like this early start of Christmas reviews, though I guess in your case it's simply a way of getting through lots and lots of Christmas themed goodies until Christmas. I just generally try to igrnore anything Chrismassy until the first of Advent..
However, these souns utterly devine. I aboslutely love cinnamon and the spices used in mulled wine. The cherries sound like the perfect Christmays treat! And since they are fruity, they are even healthy. ;-)
Neither of these are my sort of thing but I'm pretty sure my g/f would go mad for the white chocoalte sultanas. Shes recently got obsessed with those sort of dried fruit things.
This might be one I have to consider buying for her.
I think its cool you are starting your reviews for Christmas already. It gives us all loads of time to see what is going to hot property before everything sells out. That was one of my main annoyances last year with Thorntons and Hotel Chocolat. I had sorted out in my mind everything that that I wanted to buy for my family but by the time I got around to paying for it loads of the items had gone out of stock. This year I will be loads more prepared so this doesn't happen again.
Chocolate enrobed fruit? Lol dont you just mean fruit with chocolate on? I hate it when these manufacturers use all that marketing guff to make things sounds more special than they actually are, they should just give it to us straight without all the fancy words. That way we could spend more time eating rather than looking all these things up in the dictionary lol.
If this is going to be the going standard for everything you are going to review from Hotel Chocolat I'm going to have a really rough time picking out what I want this year.
Because it is so far away from the time most of us will want to buy stuff please can you make sure you do a review with most recommended items for Christmas this year. You should make sure you put things from people like Thorntons in there for thoroughness.
Good reviews Jim these were two things I had noted of interest. The only thing putting me off them a little bit is the price. You have to admit both are well expensive for what they are. They have to be making a huge mark up on these since they are just chocolate covered fruits. The would be very cheap to make I can imagine.
Woo Christmas! If I keep visiting this site daily it might remind me to start shopping before the middle of Dec.
These little tubs of fruit always pass me by as I think if I'm going to buy something from Hotel Chocolat, then I'll make it a proper box of chocs or a slab. However, these things seem to score consistently in the 8s so I guess these are something else to add to my "must try" list, which gets longer by the day. The cinnamon sultanas are the most appealing out of these two. Thanks for the review, can't wait to see what else you have in store for Christmas.
Oh, I was looking around their website last week and these were among the Christmas-themed products that caught my eye (along with the selection boxes). And I was going to place a request for them to get reviewed, so it was a really nice surprise :)
About Christmas products being already sold: it's getting ridiculous, I must agree. For the past three years, Christmas sweets have been making their appearance in stores as soon as October starts. I've ignored them so far, I only bought some Christmas limited edition bars yesterday and I don't think I'll go for any other Christmas products for two weeks at least.
If this is the sign of things to come I can see my christmas credit card bill being very expensive this year ;)
They should have released a few lines of chocolate nuts to go alongside these though. That would have been very cool.
Your write up must be good if you got me considering buying these :) I'm normally completely unfussed by these sort of products but those cherries sound divine. Can I just say your photopgraphs look a bit tasty as well. You always do a good job with them.
Hi All,
November 2nd and it all kicks off eh :D Apologies to anyone who thinks this is all too early to be getting things going but as you can imagine what with the growth of the site recently there are LOADS and I mean LOADS of reviews to get up before this season ends.
Thanks for all the comments again today. I genuinely do read them all thouroughly.
David - Re: The fruit is just taking up important chocolate space
Haha that did make me laugh. Solid balls of just plain chocolate wouldn't be half as exciting if you ask me.
Golden - Re: Strong Hotel Chocolat Booze Chocolates
They have been known to over do it on the booze front in the past. I have tried some of their chocolates before that have literally scorched the back of my throat :D
Kim - Re: How many of the things are you going to be reviewing from Hotel Chocolat before Christmas?
Well the second batch arrived today :D .... so put it this way! A lot of stuff.
Daisy - Re: How did you get such an advanced preview?
They have had a load of these products ready for sampling for a while now. It was about two months ago they had the grand reveal launch which I sadly couldn't make.
Tricky / Katie / Nils - Re: Photographs
Thanks for the kind words guys. I sadly cant take credit for them though as my father did them :D
Anon - RE: I was in Tesco yesterday and they were already playing Christmas songs in the store
God that is too much. I don't think I am ready for 'Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer' just yet.
Sally - Re:'The small tubes like these are great, you just have to watch out people don't eat them all.'
I should try telling that to my taste panel :D
Richard - Re PRICE
Back on form I see Richard :D Indeed £7.50 is asking a lot for these I think. That perhaps swings these in tothe category of only buying them if you know you are going to be a fan of chocolate fruits. Those unfussed by them might be left a little disappointed given the price.
Shaun - Re: I like having mulled wine on really cold winter evenings, you get all warm and boozed up at the same time
We used to serve it in a pub I worked in. It was such a pain in the arse to make but the punters loved it.
Andy - Re:'It seems well early but its all going to be useful by the time it comes around to buying stuff for presents etc.'
Great. Thats the plan of getting them up in Novemeber and early December.
Lauren / Estelle / Karen / Michael / Emily / Selina - Re:'I can see myself maxing out on chocolate if you are saying that even the small things like these are this good.'
Put it this way ... if you are getting itchy trigger fingers just looking at these I fear for what you might buy when you see some of the upcoming reviews haha!
Graeme - Re: Your list
I will be covering off a lot of those you mention ... if not all.
Amanda - Re: did they not taste of orange at all though? I thought there was always orange in mulled wine?
It was definitely in the mix but it wasn't the most prominent of fruity flavours amongst all the cherry ones.
Anon - Re: When are you doing any competitions for Christmas? Please dont run them on Twitter I dont have it.
Details of an Hotel Chocolat comp will follow soon. I just need to work out the logistics of it all.
Ian - Re: Tiddly Santas
I'm sure they will make an appearance at some point ;)
Justin - Re: If your so called chocolate mission is to brainwash us all in to buying hotel chocolate things then you are totally, 100%, absolutely ..... doing brilliantly LMAO.
It's not the point of the 'mission' at all :D I'm glad you like the look of these though. Plenty more on the way.
Michael - Re:'One thing I wish they would do on their website is give more details of what chocolates are in each of the boxs. It's pretty annoying not knowing what is included in each of them'
I see your point but there website would get very complicated if they did that for every product. It would be a nightmare for them to continually update that. Hopefully my reviews can help out there anyway.
Anne - Re: Your Comment
Apologies if it seems inapropriate starting them already but I have to fit in a lot of stuff this year so I have little choice. Haha I would love to say that these could count as a portion of fruit or something but I think the insanely good chocolate that coats them might negate that fact :D I wouldn't worry about that sort of issue anyway! Just enjoy them.
Kevin - Re:'Chocolate enrobed fruit? Lol dont you just mean fruit with chocolate on?'
Ahhh come on! You have to give these people some licence to spout their marketing wisdom :D It wouldn't be the same if they just called them chocolate covered sultanas would it.
Emily - Re: Because it is so far away from the time most of us will want to buy stuff please can you make sure you do a review with most recommended items for Christmas this year.
Closer to the time I will be posting a 'Jim's 2010 Christmas Hotpicks' .... that sound suitable to you guys?
Robert - Re: The only thing putting me off them a little bit is the price.
Indeed the price is expensive for what they fundamentally are. That said they are some of the best chocolate covered fruit products I have ever had so there is that to consider.
Ria - Re: Your Comment
You better make sure you keep visiting each day :D It's going to be an awesome run up to Christmas I promise you.
I know these sort of things are easily overlooked but these are genuinely some of the nicest things that Hotel Chocolat do. I think they are great to have in terms of mixing it up with the normal slabs, they are also pretty good for sharing if you consider yourself that kind haha :D
Ana - Re: Your comment
I do like to take you guys from surprise from time-to-time. Do you photograph everything you buy? You seem to always have handy photos of them.
I'm glad to hear you want to see the selection boxes reviewed. I've been making my way through a load of them across the last weeks :D Reviews will of course be following shortly.
Thanks everyone - this is just the beggining of the long road up to Christmas. If you have any requests or products you wish to see featured please don't hesitate to get in contact.
JIM
Oh, I take photos of every stupid thing... flowers, trees, pigeons, doves, seagulls and other birds, interesting buildings, interesting ads... anything that catches my eye... not just the sweets that I buy. If I see somebody with a cute dog, I'll ask that person whether I can take a picture of the dog. My poor phone took tens of thousands of pictures :))
These both look so yummy. I took your advice last time and tried out the rum and amaretto sultanas and they were both gorgeous. I was dreaming that they would make some white chocolates ones :-) It looks like they have made my dreams come true woop woop.
Stop wasting time with these piddly things and get on to the real stuff.
Both of these sound absolutely delicious! I'll have to get some for christmas, the white chocolate ones sound particularly good.
Spiced deliciousness, what a lovelly way to describe the saltans, well its worked I have a friend in the UK coming over to Qatar in two weeks, and my order is in, I want some of these for christmas. I just have to make sure that I can resist them.
Both of these fruity treats sounded great but not being a huge fan of white chocolate and loving cherries it was an easy pick which one I should treat myself to. ;-)
I obviously bought the cherries and my that was a great choice! They are every bit as good as you wrote! The spices complement the wine and cherry flavours really well and I love the fact that you get bot dark and milk chocolate. The little almond pieces make for a nice contrast in texture.
Well worth their money I think!
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