December 10th: Artisan du Chocolat Magic Wands

I began my Christmas reviews this year with the objective of informing you all what were the best festive themed products out there in the market for 2012. To be honest with you I dont think I have done a great job. I've tried way too many quality products and I've subsequently recommended most them - sorry! If this mini apology of mine is ringing true for you I strongly suggest you read no further today as I'm about to muddy the waters even further by lauding over this latest offering from Artisan du Chocolat. Once again these guys have pulled it out the bag with their Artisan du Chocolat Magic Wands.

The Artisan du Chocolat Magic Wands come described as 'thin chocolate sticks filled with 8 fruity and spicy ganaches'. The fillings are mostly fruit based with lemon, raspberry, pear, strawberry, pineapple and banana on offer. The additional flavours of vanilla and cinnamon complete the exciting line up of the 225.0g pack (24 chocolate sticks!). My first impressions of the product were typical of all my experiences with Artisan du Chocolat. The gold coloured box, stylish fonts and decorative patterns oozed class and prestige, immeditedly establishing a high quality impression on me as the customer.

Under instruction from my contacts at Artisan du Chocolat I ate these sticks in the fashion they were designed to be consumed:

'The magic comes when savouring two wands together, which tricks your taste buds in sensing a third and entirely new and different flavour. Lemon and cinnamon wands melt in the mouth into cola. Raspberry and pear wands coalesce into fresh apple. Strawberry and vanilla become a comforting marshmallow flavour. Strawberry emerges from the magic of pineapple and raspberry wands. Raspberry and banana wands bring your taste buds back to the memory of bubble gum'.

... surely this had to be marketing spin!? ... Surely not! These sticks were just fantastic. The quality of all three chocolate types was high with gorgeous, smooth melts and distintice creamy (white), rich (dark), flavour filled cocoa experiences within all. Individually the flavours were divine - the fruit flavours accurate, real tasting and believable. The vanilla and cinnamon were suitably more sublte and progressive in their flavour amplifcation. The fun of combining the different fruits and spices was seemingly endless (though the fun did stop when I had eaten the lot - doh!) and there was much entertainment to be had discovering my own new flavours as well as the ones described above.

Overall there have been so many fantastic chocolate products coming out of Artisan du Chocolat recently it is hard to settle on a favourite but these Artisan du Chocolat Magic Wands have to be in the mix. I never for one minute doubted the quality of the chocolate wouldn't be high, though I never expected the fruit and spice additional flavours would bring as much to the party as they did. The inclusion of the cinnamon and some of the fruit themes do give it a festive lick, however if you have vested interest in a product marketed trulely for the Christmas market this might be the only shortcoming for you here. If luxury chocolate and exciting flavour combinations tick your boxes then you need look no further. Well done Artisan du Chocolat - yet another very prestigous ChocolateMission rating!

9.1 out of 10