I’ve been eating Gü products of one sort or another for a while, but for some reason it hasn’t occurred to me to write anything about them until now. Dom wasn’t too pleased with his Gü chocolate experience, but I’ve only ever eaten their mousses and desserts, until now.

These new ‘Naughties’ come in a variety of flavours, but I picked out the Rocky Road tub as my first. The ‘Naughties’ branding had me thinking about the Filthy Food Company and their fresh cream bites (currently languishing in the ‘where are they now?’ archive, products no longer on sale in Sainsbury’s, website abandoned). Luckily for Gü there isn’t the ridiculous ‘ooh Matron’ style innuendo and sauciness that accompanied the Filthy products (although I’m not sure I’d want to ‘Get naughty on the road’ – isn’t that encouraging careless driving?).

So what do we get in the tub? Sixteen chunky little Rocky Road bites formed from caramel, cherries, raisins. marshmallows and biscuits, wrapped in a 36% cocoa milk chocolate. The chocolate coating is fairly generous, but with all of that caramel and marshmalllow in there these were always going to be very sweet, and sure enough they have a whopping sugar content. The structure of the Rocky Road bites is quite remarkable. They obviously survive shipping and being carried home just fine, but as soon as you bite into one it’s all over as they start to break up. Quite a feat to produce something that’s so structurally sound up until you bite into it.

There’s definitely chocolate there, and when you catch a taste of it it is quite rich, smooth and verging on the darker side of milk, but with all of the other sugary, sticky, fruity stuff that’s been crammed into each piece these are not for people who wish to enjoy the flavours of good chocolate. I found myself agreeing with Dom’s assessment of the Caramel chocolates – way too much sugar which just seems to obliterate a lot of potentially interesting flavour combinations. However, as a sweet office treat in the afternoon (with a cup of tea at around 4pm to provide a sugar rush and defeat the mid-afternoon slump perhaps?) or something to nibble in front of the telly, these probably fit the bill rather well. I’m sure the majority of kids would really go for these as well, so rather than getting ‘naughty’ on the road these might well serve to pacify child passengers – at least until the sugar rush hits them and they have to be strapped in tightly!

Too sweet for my tastes if I’m honest, but the ever-expanding range of Gü desserts does seem to have something for everyone, and I shall certainly be looking more closely at more of their products in the near fütüre.

It’s been a while since I reviewed any Greek chocolate, so I thought I’d delve into my chocolate stash and find one of the bars sent to us by reader George Loumakis.

According to George, this bar is “an absolute classic in Greece, arguably the most popular chocolate bar here and has been around since the 1950’s totally unchanged”.

So is it any good, or is it just something that’s popular because it’s always been around?

As you can see, it’s a fairly ordinary looking block. It doesn’t look particularly classy – even the typeface the chunks are embossed with looks a little cheap.

The 28% milk chocolate is very sweet and not particularly great. There’s no nasty vegetable oils in it, but I detected a slightly artificial flavour to it. But something interesting happens when you bite into one of the small almond chunks – they suddenly release their flavour and when combined with the chocolate, the overall taste becomes similar to that of a Snickers bar. Sweet, nutty, chocolatey and really quite moreish.

There’s really nothing special about it, but then there’s nothing special about the KitKats, Mars Bars and Bountys of this world either, but they sell in their millions. And I think that’s why this bar succeeds. It’s a cheap, tasty snack. It’s certainly not a gourmet product and I wouldn’t buy it now – but I don’t think I would have complained to find a bar in my lunch box as a kid either.

Derry Church Artisan Chocolates has an interesting history. Pastry chef and chocolatier Eric Cayton grew up around Hershey, Pennsylvania, where he grew to admire none other than Milton S. Hershey’s work. He eventually started the Derry Church company to fulfill his chocolate passion. Eric has sent me nine of their bon bons, which are all handmade without artificial flavors of preservatives. The packaging is simple, two black boxes held together by an off-white band with the small town style logo. The chocolates are nice-looking, as well. Moving clockwise, we have:

Derry Church – A good-sized 3-part milk chocolate with dulce de leche caramel. The caramel is very pale and tastes more like toffee than the average caramel, but is good. The milk chocolate is high quality, and though it looks like it would be thick, a little more wouldn’t hurt the combination.

London – Butter toffee sandwiched between 70% dark chocolate and roasted almonds. It’s the almonds that lead the flavor with a slightly bitter tone. The toffee, which is even paler than the caramel, is compared to “very thin glass,” and from getting at it in isolation, I agree. It would be nice to have more focus on it, yet it does act as a pleasant accent with the chocolate to the almonds, flavor and texture-wise.

Tangier – African honey and tangerine juice with cumin and cayenne chili. The picture shows a milk chocolate, but mine was dark. The quick-melting ganache is strong with the sweetness of the honey, the tang of the tangerine, and the warmth of the spices before it gives way to the chocolate. Similar to a passionfruit, but I found it superior with its less biting approach.

Paris – Homemade strawberry jam and French white chocolate buttercream in a ruffled and lacy dark chocolate mold. The filling is very light and airy, buttery with a smaller strawberry taste than I’d expected. The balance is fitting, though, in its delicacy; it’s the balance with the chocolate that could be improved. The filling mostly dissolves before they can work together much.

Savannah – Peaches made into a white chocolate ganache, put in a dark chocolate cup, topped with brown sugar, toasted oats, and white chocolate. It’s very pretty, like a mini dessert. The peaches are fresh and warm-tasting, with the crumbly oats and chocolate accenting their flavor.

Plymouth – “Smooth, creamy pumpkin caramel with just a hint of pumpkin pie spice” in dark chocolate. It’s a miraculously quick answer to my request for a pumpkin chocolate a couple weeks ago. Essentially, it’s pumpkin pie wrapped in dark chocolate, just with a less solid texture. The familiar flavor would make for a good Thanksgiving chocolate.

Burlington – Vermont maple syrup in a milk chocolate ganache with an oven-roasted pecan on top. Perfect flavors for this time of year. Maple syrup is very sweet, but it works with the milk chocolate in a way to keep everything balanced, with the pecan giving a nice touch.

Dublin – Bailey’s and arabica coffee in a milk chocolate ganache. A smooth blending of the three flavors into a long-lasting taste. Good, but nothing new.

Veracruz – Vanilla beans and cream infused to a white chocolate ganache and set on dark chocolate. A tiny thing, like a small flower. The air-exposed part of the ganache is stiff, but this doesn’t do any harm. I’m enjoying the raw vanilla flavor.

Overall, a nice set. The $18 price tag is a bit high, though, in comparison to other offerings. These don’t pop out enough yet for $18. I’ll still recommend them as pleasant handmade chocolates, but I would do so more wholeheartedly if that price went down.

Cocoapod is a sweet company best known for their “Build A Bar” personalised chocolates. They sell more than just chocolate though, and the review package they sent me contained an advent calendar with (mainly non-chocolate) sweets and a big bag of Fruit Salads & Blackjacks (Mmmmm!) as well a little chocolate car, a chocolate lolly and a white chocolate ‘plaque’ with my name in big milk chocolate letters.

Obviously, we can’t review the non-chocolate stuff here, suffice to say it all looks colourful and fun. Luckily, they do a variety of bars that you can use as the starting point for your customisation, then add letters (in a variety of colours) and edible transfer patterns.

The ‘plaque’ with my name on it weighs 93g and is about 6.5×2 inches. I really didn’t want to eat this – partly because it’s just so pretty and partly because it’s mainly white chocolate and I knew it was going to be sweet. I’m quite impressed with how the finished product looks, and I’m not sure that the recipient of such a gift will want to eat it in a hurry either – white chocolate or not.

But in the interests of science, I bit into my name… and was surprised at how good it tasted.

Both milk and white varieties are actually pretty good. The white chocolate is 28% cocoa solids, and while it doesn’t have much flavour, it’s not too sweet, meaning you can chomp through it without feeling sick before you get to that strawberry flavoured pig.

The milk chocolate is 33% cocoa solids and is smooth, creamy and rather good. I had been expecting something along the lines of cheap Easter Egg chocolate, but this turned out to be very enjoyable. The lolly and the car are made from the same chocolate and disappeared disturbingly fast.

Obviously, you’re probably not going to buy this stuff for yourself, but for a unique Christmas gift, they Cocoapod certainly has my seal of approval.

Today brings another sampling of the staple food of the chocolate fiend: the Chocolate Mint biscuit.

I spotted the Leda Minton “(Now with a DARK CHOC coating)” in my local supermarket the other day, and thought it was worth a try – especially after my previous experience with a health-claiming choc-mint biscuit.

This seems to be similar, with its claims of Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Egg Free, Vegan, non GMO. I’m left wondering if it has any actual FOOD in it. The claims on the pack are pretty much the high point.

Firstly, the chocolate is compound: Raw cane sugar, palm kernel oil, soy flour, cocoa powder. Whilst the chocolate coating is claimed as 34% of the product, the percentage cocoa in that chocolate is not stated. But it’s very soft, and quite sticky. You need to wash hands after eating.

Secondly, the remainder has the usual suspects for ingredients – to avoid the gluten there is chickpea, tapioca and rice flour, more palm oil, etc.

The biscuit part is actually not bad. It’s nice and crunchy, and youngest son compares it quite favourably to a Tim Tam (which is therefore high praise). The mint splat on top uses natural peppermint oil, and is very minty – but the flavour in this case does not linger for hours after.

The disappointment though is the chocolate. A dark chocolate coating is not soft. This is soft. And really, there is no excuse for compounded chocolate – it’s possible to use real chocolate which is still free of the gluten, eggs, and what-not. Perhaps worst of all though, the chocolate tastes pretty ordinary. The palm oil does have some kind of flavour coming through which is slightly unpleasant, and this detracts from the experience.

For those with health troubles or allergies this might be a way to get a chocolatey treat. For everyone else, you can do better elsewhere. The poor quality of the chocolate and the use of palm oil mean that I struggle to recommend this. Edible: yes. Do again: No.

Another one of Holly Caulfield’s handmade, organic chocolate bars, this time infused with cardamom – one of my favourite spices.

This is a 37% cocoa milk chocolate bar, made using organic ingredients and is of a similar high standard to Holly’s dark chocolate bar which I reviewed back in September. At almost £4.00 a bar, this stuff isn’t cheap. It’s in the same price bracket as a Hotel Chocolat ‘Purist’ bar, but it is handmade and Holly does use top quality ingredients – and this shows when it comes to tasting.

A well balanced, smooth and creamy milk chocolate with a good whiff of cardamom which was evident as the packaging was removed. The chocolate is very smooth, full bodied and not too sweet, with the cardamom adding it’s own unique top notes to the mix. It’s quite gentle, subtle blend – don’t expect rampaging cardamom flavours, after all, this is primarily chocolate, and Holly loves her chocolate.

Like it’s darker sibling, there’s a sense of good quality ingredients blended together with love and skill, and the result is a very tasty bar of chocolate. Full flavoured and creamy milk chocolate with a very pleasing mouthfeel, long on flavour with an underlying tang of cardamom which lingers on the palate as the chocolate melts away. Despite my best efforts to the contrary this bar didn’t last as long as I would have liked.

Ms Caulfield is very active when it comes to publicising her wares. A glance at the Chocoholly website shows that she’s often out and about, giving away samples of her chocolate at various shops and food events, or persuading local business to give samples on her behalf. You can buy this and the rest of her range of products at John Lewis’ food halls, so it isn’t hard to track down, and I’d say it was well worth doing so if you’re partial to some good quality chocs with interesting flavours and beautiful packaging.

The Halloween costumes are gone and the supermarket shelves have been filled with brightly coloured tat, which can only mean one thing. Christmas is right around the corner!

This little bag was seen hiding in the “Edible Brightly Coloured Tat” aisle of my local Tesco and being the season of goodwill, I thought it only fair that I gave it a home.

“Snow Bites” are really “snow balls”. They are very simple little things – marble-sized balls of solid milk chocolate (with lovely added vegetable fat), coated in a crisp white sugar shell and rolled in icing sugar.

Think of them as the result of a late night encounter between a bag of Maltesers and a tube of Smarties in a Tate & Lyle factory.

So what we have then is a already sweet Cadbury milk chocolate, coated in sugar then rolled in more sugar. They must be awful, right…?

Wrong!

These little things are seriously addictive. They taste very similar to Smarties, but with much more chocolate in each one, they’re incredibly addictive. Yes, they’re sweet, but they’re also completely unputdownable.

They’re also rather cute to look at, so I guess they would make fun Christmas cake decorations, or just put a few bags out into bowls for guests at your party.

They really aren’t anything special at all, but I just can’t stop eating them. Luckily, there’s a generous 100g in each bag, so I’ve still got some left….. er… oh. They’ve gone.

Well, this was a big surprise. It turns out that Canada, being the forward thinking country that it is, has taken it upon itself to pump up the cocoa solids in their KitKat and Aero bars to a whopping 70%. So these aren’t just the usual “dark” versions of the bars that have been showing up in other places around the globe, these could potentially be the holy grail for dark chocolate lovers if they pass the taste test.

The Aero is actually a little disappointing. The problem is that apart from the bubbles, there isn’t anything else added to the chocolate and so that means this is just some rather ordinary 70% chocolate with some texture. And that’s about it. Plus, as is the trend with the darker incarnations of bars, it is a little on the small side at just 42g.

The KitKat, on the other hand, is not disappointing at all. Quite the reverse. The combination of the dark chocolate and the wafer works really well. Plus the wafer centre doesn’t come across as being too sweet either, which was my real fear, so it isn’t battling the bitterness of the covering. Instead, it is a wonderfully harmonious experience that was over way too quickly. My only advice would be to buy them individually because you can imagine what is going to happen if you keep several of them in the house.

Nestlé are very aware of the perceived healthiness of 70% chocolate and so have noted on the wrapper that both bars are “an excellent source of magnesium and naturally occurring polyphenols” although there is also something about balanced diet and exercise too, so let’s not kid ourselves.

I’m really not sure if Canada is just ahead of the game when it comes to using 70% chocolate in popular consumer bars (we also have 70% M&Ms on our store shelves…), but given the love piled upon Dark KitKats in the past., I’m expecting to get a lot of people begging for me to share these. Maybe we can work something out…

Here we have the offspring of a sticky liaison between the Tesco Turkish Delight Bar I reviewed back in June and a box of After Eight mints. This isn’t going to be pretty.

As far as I can tell, this is the same 25% milk chocolate (with vegetable fat) and filling (primarily glucose syrup) used in the bar, and it’s really quite bad. It’s very, sweet and very sickly.

Which is why it boggles me that this product even exists. Clearly it’s going for the ‘after dinner mint’ market, but if you present this garish pink box after a dinner party, I can pretty much guarantee your friends will never speak to you again.

Admittedly, the format of these ‘Thins’ gives a slightly better (and less sticky) experience than in the bar format, but everything about them just screams “I couldn’t be bothered”. So my advice is not to be bothered and avoid these entirely.

If you’re looking for a more sophisticated after dinner sweetie that won’t prompt your guests to disown you, I recommend the Bendicks ‘Bitters’ range. Proper 95% dark chocolate with strong, refreshing flavours (as opposed to a lingering chemical aftertaste that you get with these things).

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a box of pink yuckiness to dispose off.

I picked up this bar and the Tcho “fruity” bar at the recent Chocolate Unwrapped show (Dom had the other two). As I am not personally a fan of dark chocolate, I recruited a friend to share the experience with me. Dom already described the packaging and general appearance in his post about the “Nutty” bar, so I shan’t go into that, though my friend did point out her mild annoyance at the fact that the bars don’t break evenly into pieces along the marked lines, which seems odd for such attractive, seemingly well thought out bars.

This bar was made with Madagascan chocolate beans, that are said to have a citrus edge to them. Like the “nutty” bar Dom reviewed, the “citrus” bar did not taste very much at all like citrus to me .It offered a short burst of freshness to begin with, which quickly faded into the bitterness I usually associate with dark chocolate. My friend, while noting more of the citrus tones (lemony, rather than orangey, she said) also noticed the quick fade.

Neither of us felt the sour cream finish mentioned in the blurb on the back of the packaging, but the bar was rather creamy compared to many other dark chocolate bars I have sampled in the past (though still not as creamy as milk chocolate, obviously).

I found the concept behind this series of bars interesting, as they seemed to me from the blurb to be educational in nature – teaching people who don’t know much about chocolate how to be connoisseurs, at least in their own eyes. Having tried this one, I found the flavour description reminiscent of the blurb you often find on wine labels telling you about the wine being fruity, flowery or spicy. More often than not, the flavours hinted at seem practically nonexistent, as was the case here. As I prefer strong flavours in my chocolate, this wasn’t really the bar for me at all, but purists or aspiring purists may find it interesting.