There is nothing classy about the way I rip open a chocolate package. I’m like a bear finding a sockeye salmon in a fisher’s bag on the riverbank. So it was that returning from holiday I saw a Pierre Marcolini parcel kept shut with far too much tape for my liking. The suitcases in the hall were ignored as I went at it in a Hitchcock frenzy and a letter opener.
The new Pralinés collection has just launched this week online, in store from Friday. This is not a cheap box (18 very small chocs for £21 or 36 for £37) so don’t @me, but this is a luxury chocolate brand and if you like pralines and nuts, you won’t find a better selection. Inside are tiny squares of exquisite, perfectly executed pralines – think of them less as a box of chocolates than a box of tiny desserts. In fact, if you have guests over and can’t be bothered to make pudding, bring these out at the end of a meal and feel the love.
Mine didn’t have a menu as I got an early box so, of course, over the next two days I had to test each one several times. The box was inspired by South America and all the chocolate is from Brazil, the cocoa content varies from creamy milks to grownup darks. The pralines are cashew nut, hazelnut and cocoa, coffee, pistachio, cinnamon, nougat, caramel with salted butter, almond-hazelnut and hazelnut. All gorgeous, but the caramel with salted butter stopped me in my tracks.
The problem with this box is that the chocolates are too good, and the pieces – precision-cut squares – are so small that you tell yourself eating seven in one go is really totally acceptable.
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