Although I’m un peu fatiguée of chocolates in bonbon shape with coloured cocoa-butter splashes atop, I appreciate this is the way many chocolates truffles are made. Overcoming that prejudice, I tucked into a box of Scoff chocolates. They were beautifully fresh tasting – they are made in batches throughout the year and the latest batch has just been let loose. I liked every one of the nine flavours I tested, from lemon to malted milk. But the ingredient list is long and a bit mainstream; a cleaner, more artisan approach and this would be a winning brand.
Marks & Spencer has brought out some 1980s classics in original packaging for those wanting to go full Rivals: look out for Now!, Jet, Sparks and Coconut Grove and see which chocolate classics they remind you of. My testers loved them.
My more everyday chocolate, as I am a high cocoa-content woman, has been Willie’s 100% Cacao with pistachio and date or raisin and hazelnut. I am not generally a fan of 100% cacao (it can only be called chocolate if sugar is also an ingredient) and I once described the bulk of the hundred percenters as tasting like you’ve woken up after a night out with your face in the ashtray (Firetree 100% is the exception). But these, from Willie’s Cacao, very much make the cut. An absolute joy of a dark chocolate and, boy, do you appreciate the sweetness of the raisins when you come across them.
Date for your dairy: 26 and 27 September sees one of my favourite festivals – the Aldeburgh Food and Drink Fair in my glorious Suffolk. Various wonderful chocolate makers will be there, as well as lots of other food and drink. The atmosphere is always jolly and you may spot me walking around in my chocolate cord flares.
