When I was newly on the path to matrescence, and every day was like a crawl to the peak of an oxygen-deprived mountain, I used to keep a giant bar of Dairy Milk (back then I liked it) in the car. I would sneak out, after first and second breakfast, lunch, dinner, bedtime, and bite chunks out of it, leaving teeth marks of guilty, desperate, pleasure.
Then one day summer really did come to England and it all melted. There is no despair greater, relatively speaking, than finding an expected treat quite gone.
I learned a few things: never store chocolate in a car; all chocolate melts if it gets too hot; buy high cocoa content chocolate as it’s that bit more robust to sneak into a summer picnic basket.
Today’s delicious bites – there are two – go from 67% to 85%. First was Love Cocoa’s 85% Colombian Dark (£5/75g). If this chocolate had a dating profile it would have a great bio: rich, intense, smooth. It’s a remarkably easy-to-eat 85%, so you can stay worthy and good while actually enjoying yourself.
For those that don’t know, the founder of Love Cocoa is James Cadbury, John Cadbury’s great, great, great-grandson. John was of course the founder of the original Cadbury chocolate. And the Dairy Milk I used to love was originally made by Cadbury’s in 1905.
Then I went on to Chocolarder’s Guadalcanal 67% (£7/70g) made from Solomon Island beans. The beans for this are taken from the island to the mainland by the farmers wading across the river – which has crocodiles in it – with the sacks of beans on their heads. The journey is worth it: this is a lively chocolate bursting with flavour. Quite delicious.
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