Chocolate Christmas

Note: The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of RetoxMagazine.com

The Chocolate Festival

On Friday Dec the 10th Retox Magazine had visited the London’s Southbank Centre Square for The Chocolate Festival where one could spot some of the top and most unique chocolatiers at the Chocolate Festival letting visitors sample and buy some of their finest gourmet chocolates.

Hotel Chocolat’s Purist Bar - 100% Dark Organic

First we spotted the "100%" mark on the packaging. We found this quite unusual and so we stopped to investigate. The energy at this stand was great! The charismatic characters representing Hotel Chocolat kept us smiling and intrigued!

We then took the 70g chocolate bar back to the Retox Magazine’s den for sampling, courtesy of Hotel Chocolat, and we found the chocolate bar being a recipe of a true genius. As you take the first bite you get an intense cocoa hit, which then fades allowing layers of dried fruit, roasted nuts and jasmine to come through. We found the Hotel Chocolat’s Purist Bar to be extremely palatable, the mix of flavours finely tuned and the base note long lasting. We give the Hotel Chocolat Purist Bar a 100% thumbs-up!

The superb clean-cut contemporary presentation of the cleverly designed, cut and folded outer packaging makes it unique and the futuristic curve of the chocolate bar hiding under the wraps is a nice change from other typically rectangular chocolate bars.

Retailing at £5 on the official Hotel Chocolat’s website, this avant-garde Hotel Chocolat’s Purist Bar - 100% Dark Organic makes a tasty, classy and a cleverly presented gourmet chocolate gift for this Christmas.

Demarquette Fine Chocolates – Moroccan Mint Tea gourmet chocolate

Demarquette is another gourmet chocolatier that spreads good chocolates and happy vibes. The chocolate that we have tried in particular is the Moroccan Mint Tea flavour chocolate from the Fresh Ganache Chocolate Collection. This chocolate is a Marrakechi-inspired traditional and authentic infusion of green tea and young succulent fresh mint leaves. Once the Moroccan Mint Tea chocolate enters your mouth, it takes a second’s delay for the full pungent flavour of the fresh mint to hit the palate. The presentation of each chocolate in Fresh Ganache Chocolate Collection reflects the flavour of the chocolate as can be seen in our picture on the left. Another scrumptious addition to our carefully selected list of gourmet chocolate gifts this season.

Gourmet chocolate gifts from Paul Wayne Gregory where indulgence is everything – literally!

Award scooping Paul Gregory (pictured in the centre holding something that resembles a gun), along with his terribly charismatic team pulled out a series of mind-blowing surprises out of his magical choco-bag! Paul Gregory, the name behind serious bespoke chocolate artistry, displayed a tabletop packed out in gourmet chocolates, all uniquely flavoured and ready to tickle and tease our palates.

The chocolate that has topped the list in our notebook is that of the passion fruit flavour. This chocolate bonbon is a bit of a smooth operator with a fruity spank! The balance between the dark chocolate and the fresh passion fruit pulp is just right. It tastes fresh, rich and natural. Another one of those lip-smacking chocolates from Paul Wayne Gregory included the one with the dark rich rum filling infused with fresh spice, apparently becoming one of the company’s signature pieces and we can see why!

Praline Crunch was a unique chocolate for it had a strong hint of sea salt to carry through the flavour of the praline base. Perhaps the hint of salt was a little too overpowering for my taste, thus this chocolate is more of an acquired taste. Nonetheless, I would try it again just to see if I stand by my opinion. You do get those unique chocolates that work differently on your palate the second time you try them!

In all fairness though, Paul Wayne Gregory’s gourmet chocolates come in quite a few different flavours, they are all very yummy and I could talk about it all day. Get the box and try all the flavours yourself. Job done!

PS: Their new pink and grey boxes are very hotttt!

We have also included Paul Gregory Wayne’s balls in our Chocolate for Fun list! …Golf balls that is!

Niko B Organic Chocolates – you’re in for a quirky treat!

Taboo - a fig soaked in cognac filled with creamy cognac flavoured dark chocolate ganache and dipped in dark chocolate. This is the desert of all deserts, and our favourite from Niko B Organic Chocolates. The crunchiness of the seeds of the fig works well as part of the texture of Taboo and the fig’s flavour comes through nicely and is greatly complimented by the chocolate. It had just the right amount of cognac without being too overpowering and the size of the desert is more generous than most of the chocolate sweets seen at The Chocolate Festival. With the different textures and rich flavours bursting one after the other it is easy to mark Taboo as one of the favourite delights of the day. Niko B Organic Chocolates sells them for £5.60 a pair – that’s on the Niko B Organic Chocolates’ website and Niko B Organic Chocolates appear in these chocolate dues on a regular basis. Before catching Niko B Chocolates at The Chocolate Festival we had also caught up with Niko B at the Chocolate Unwrapped event during the Chocolate Week in October.

Another noticeable chocolate from Niko B Organic Chocolates was the Eclipse. Classic Italian Hazelnut Gianduja made with roasted hazelnut paste, dark chocolate and sugar over a layer of spiced hazelnut krokant. This is great as the burst of flavours is spaced out. You first get hit with the flavours of chocolate and hazelnut, a few seconds after, when you least expect it, a mild chase of chilli kicks in. What a monstrous tease!

Spice and Fog are more of an acquired taste with the tea infused flavours seemingly being too quirky for some palates. However, Mystic – the Sesame Gianduja made with toasted sesame seed paste, milk chocolate and sugar over a layer of crispy sesame krokant was unexpectedly brilliant!

The thing with Niko B Organic Chocolates is that it would be a shame not to try different flavours. Each chocolate is so unique that not only it would make a great conversation at a party table but it would also massage and stimulate all the senses of the palate.

"Simply Handmade Chocolates"

Just as the name "Simply Handmade Chocolates" suggests, these are simple handmade chocolates, beautifully hand wrapped and presented. It comes in eight different flavours with our favourite being Cardamon Café – the black square chocolate reminiscent of the cardemon flavoured Arabic coffee. The balance of the flavours is superb. In Cardamon Café chocolate, the cardamon flavour comes out beautifully. The old-school style of wrapping gives a warm homey feeling and it is always pleasant to see such personal touches added.

You cannot get these chocolates online or at Harrods or Selfridges and this is what we admire the most. You simply have to pop down to Partridges Food Market on Kings Road where Simply Handmade Chocolates have a stall every Saturday between 10am-4pm and pick up your Simply Handmade Chocolates Christmas supply there. As simple as that.

Rococo Chocolates – nuts about nuts!

See those green balls in the packet? Well, some of those balls were in our hands! The packet contains toasted hazelnuts enrobed in milk and white chocolate. The unique chocolate recipe and stylish packaging makes it a great gift idea for lovers of white and milk chocolates as well as hazelnuts. As the Rococo Chocolates website puts it, so more-ish they should be illegal! …Agreed.

However, before we get arrested for consuming 'illegal' Rococo Chocolate balls we’d like to introduce you to Baruzzo.

Baruzzo – beautiful chocolates!

The few samples we got to taste worked well for our palates. However, one of the ladies behind the chocolate stand was very reluctant to let us take photographs. She explained how petrified she was that we are going to steal Baruzzo’s packaging ideas. The packaging was great, but there are better packaging ideas to steal, lady! Paul Wayne Gregory Chocolates (a few stands to the right) had much more attractive packaging, in our opinion. And so on this note we present our readers with a wooden slicing board and some cut up chocolate samples to look at. Lets face it; we don’t want our readers stealing Baruzzo’s packaging ideas either! :p

See also Retox Magazine’s article on Chocolate for Fun

Chocolate Unwrapped

On the third weekend of October Retox Magazine had visited the London Vinopolis for Chocolate Unwrapped – a highlight event of the Chocolate Week where visitors could immerse themselves in a decadent feast of chocolatemany as top chocolatiers in the UK displayed samples of their their lip-smacking gourmet chocolates and scrumptious cocoa works.

For many, Christmas means chocolate, and so it is for this reason that Retox Magazine had decided not to share the Chocolate Week experience until Santa makes his seasonal Christmas shopping enquiries.

Here are some of the chocolates and their stories we recon Santa would love to know about this Christmas.

Santa’s favourite Gourmet Chocolate Gifts

Chocolate Christmas with Bojesen - Bitter Black and Best

This is not a chocolate for the palate trained on Cadbury’s but rather for the palate valuing the presence of the dark strong bitter Bolivian cocoa bean and the long lasting acidity-free aftertaste. This refined and carefully balanced gourmet chocolate recipe makes this 80grams of silver wrapped choco-slate a great present for the lovers of the true dark side of chocolate. Bojesen will make a fabulous gourmet chocolate gift, assuming you can get your hands on it. Last we have checked Chocolate and Love had a few samples for sale, so your Santa might just get lucky this Christmas!

Chocolate Christmas with Patchi - Creamy Nutty Tasty

Creamy, nutty, tasty and classy - Patchi's vegetarian egg-free chocolates are handmade, hand-decorated and delivered all the way from Lebanon to London Harrods. The nuts hiding inside the creamy individually wrapped chocolates were what attracted us. However, a wide choice of over 30 fillings means that there is a flavour for every taste.

Don’t be fooled by the sweetness of it that lies hidden within the creamy and crunchy layers for the sweetness is not that of sugar. Indeed, Patchi even has a range of sugar-free chocolates, so not only that these chocolates will make terribly tasty gourmet chocolate gifts, but it will also be a guilty chocolate pleasure with less guilt and more pleasure.

Patchi launches seasonal collections reflecting the colours and the trends of the season, making it easier on your Santa. Patchi also offers beautifully wrapped chocolates for baby showers, weddings and other special occasions, making Patchi a perfect gourmet chocolatier for those who’s Christmas is combined with other celebrations.

For Patchi gourmet chocolate gifts send your Santa to Harrods!

Chocolate Christmas with Go*Do Organic Chocolate

If you are a Santa Claus looking to stock up on casual and rustic Organic Chocolate gifts, then this one is for you. Go*Do naturally organic Italian chocolate comes in 6 different flavours: 60% Dark Chocolate; 60% Espresso Coffee; White Chocolate With Vanilla; Organic Milk Chocolate; Milk Chocolate With Hazelnut and Dark Chocolate With Sicilian Almond, making it a perfect varied addition to the hanging line of Christmas stockings. Santa Clauses looking to stock up on Go*Do’s organic chocolates should check out Planet Organic.

See photos from Chocolate Unwrapped event.