Thorntons Square Bars

As I’ve mentioned before, Thorntons have a beautiful looking range of bars … all packed in colourful square boxes. And it seems Himself will not rest until we’ve tried them all. So to that end, he bought another 2 to try out.

Thorntons Extra Dark Chocolate

Notes from Thorntons: Cocoa beans from West Africa ‘intensely smooth, super-dark chocolate’. It is called ‘french 85% cocoa’ but I am not sure where the ‘french’ part comes in. Maybe it is a style?
Look: shiny finish, nicely decorated and presented but the thickness of the bar meant it was difficult to break off a square.
Feel: Snap was blunt partly because it was impossible to break … maybe it should come with its own little hammer.
Smell: the aroma is chocolatey/coffee, not giving away too much.
Taste: not too overpowering to begin with but something was masking the flavor, maybe sugar. It was astringent though (like sucking on a banana skin … OK maybe this is a slight exaggeration!). As the chocolate developed, the aftertaste was bitter verging on unpleasant.
Texture: waxy texture that was not particularly nice.
Overall: This bar is what is says on the pack, extra dark, but for me it lacks the kick I get from Lindt 85% and is nowhere as complex as Valrhonas Albinao.

Would I buy this again? No

The next bar was a Thorntons Chilli with 66% Mexican chocolate. I have no stamina when it comes to chilli and I am sure I am missing out on a whole food experience. I had all of two squares, it started sweet, like Bournville, then kicked my taste buds with burning heat. It did not fair much better with Himself so the remainder of this bar is off to a good chilli-lovin’ home.

Hold your Nose

A weekend away for Himself to go to the rugby match in Limerick meant that he made his usual trip to Thorntons on Cruises Street.

The hand picked selection consisted of (clockwise from top left) an alpini, caramel nut cup, caramel swirl and a chocolate mousse.

I remember seeing Heston Blumental doing some experiment where he tried to guess what he was tasting while his nose was blocked (so he could not smell). Himself thought it would be a good experiment … with me as guinea pig.

We both agreed that the caramel truffles were the best, the favourite being the caramel swirl. It was only when my nose was unpinched that I got the caramel flavour!!! The pretty caramel cup was second with all its textures playing well: gooey thick caramel, chocolate and crunchy nut. The chocolate mousse is commendable because it really has a light mousse centre but not one I would like again. In last place was the white powdered alpini which tasted too much of icing sugar.

But it is truly amazing how much the sense of smell contributes to food.

unwrap me – eat me – love me

Courtesy of Himself, I (we) sampled and enjoyed some Thorntons chocolate bars. They were colourfully boxed with nothing spared on marketing here.

In the red box is Tanzania 75% with Balsamic, and in the yellow box is Togo 61% with Ginger. And they’re off …

The Balsamic bar is basically their Tanzania bar (the green box!) spiced up with flavouring. Again I was not keen on this bar, it had a high melt point (taking too much time to melt in the mouth), waxy and bitter. Interesting to me was that ‘Natural flavouring’ was listed as an ingredient. What is a natural flavouring? Normally, its vanilla but this is different to natural flavouring.

The Ginger bar contains crystallised ginger pieces combined with 61% chocolate made from Togo cacao beans. It was my favourite but I would have loved it to be based on a bitter chocolate so the sugar coated ginger would add a sweetness and zing to the bitter chocolate. This is making me interested in making my own truffles with fresh ginger … Dede Wilson’s Truffle recipe book comes to mind. Stay tuned for results!

Thorntons Tanzania 75%

Himself was ever so kind and picked up a bar from the new Thorntons range. It was a Tanzania 75% which promised ‘herbal and floral notes plus natural hints of fine vanilla’. And apparently ‘Tanzania cocoa beans produce some of the darkest coloured chocolate in the world , yet have a mildly intense, exotic flavour.’ I’ve no masters in the English language but that to me sounds a little flowery.

Applying the 5 senses test to it ….

Smell: not particularly strong but attractive cocoa smell, earthy and sweet.

See: attractive packaging, mind you the logo on the inner wrapper ‘unwrap me – eat me – love me’ is a bit over-the-top. The bar is very dark in color (as promised) with clean matte finish and chunky squares.

Touch: hard.

Hear: because of the thickness of the chocolate portion the snap sounded a little blunt.

Taste: tasted grand, a little grainy, with a mild cocoa flavor, a hint of roasted nuts towards the end. Much more pleasant than their 70% bar but the taste was short lived, now you taste it now you don’t. Maybe that is what ‘mild and intense’ means?

Overall: Not one I’d be buying myself (but it’s nice to get a pressie). Best stick to the Thornton’s toffee and Turin truffles mister.