La Luscious Rocky Road

So, I've been eating more chocolate. Hurrah! Once again this counts towards goal #64: to try 50 new chocolates. This includes chocolate bars, and individual chocolates. This post covers chocolate 17-19...I wonder what will be next?

La Bruja Turrón de Chocolate

'Crispy Chocolate Turron'

When I bought this chocolate bar (another treasure picked up at the 99p store!) I didn't quite know what to expect, only that it would be crispy, as the gold and green packaging told me so ;)

Google informs me that 'turron' is nougat, but this doesn't look or taste like any nougat I've had before--possibly because of the little pieces of crispy rice. This bar also contains hazelnut paste and almonds; the hazelnut flavour is especially prominent.

At 21% cocoa solids the 'chocolaty' taste isn't overly strong, but combined with the texture of the rice and nutty flavouring, this bar makes a pretty nice treat! I've been snacking on this on and off for the past week, though considering the bar isn't formed into bite-sized chunks, I could have quite easily eaten the lot in one go ;)

Willie's Cacao Luscious Orange

'Delicate Orange with Honey Notes'

This bar has been lurking in my cupboard amongst other chocolaty delights, though I don't know why it took me so long to try it. Like other bars, this one has a double wrapping: the gold inner wrapping, and an outer box in orange, bearing the brown and gold 'Willie's Cacao' logo.

When you peel back these wrappings, you can smell the high cocoa content. This bar has minimum 65% cocoa solids and is made with Baracoa beans from Cuba. The quality is evident in the firmness of the single 50g square and evident in the pleasing snapping sound when breaking a piece off.

I opted for this bar because I like orange chocolate, and was curious about the 'honey notes' advertised on the front of the packet. I wasn't disappointed!

This bar is by no means overly sweet; whilst sugar certainly plays a part in the recipe, sweetness takes a back seat to enable the flavours of the other ingredients to shine through. The orange flavouring is fragrant and raw; the cocoa rich, though the 'honey notes' provided by the cocoa beans seem more like an aftertaste--a memory of honey. The flavours are subtle, allowing the bar to be enjoyed and each individual flavour to be discovered at it's own pace, much like the different notes of a good perfume.

Definitely a where each piece of chocolate deserves to be melted slowly in the mouth.

(Well, I waxed lyrically about this one, didn't I? By the way, it's made in the UK and the orange flavouring comes from orange essential oil.)

National Trust Rocky Road Bar

This is a chocolate bar sent to me by Lilia, who runs the blog Paracosm of Lilies, along with a neat postcard from A La Ronde.

This bar is made from smooth, very 'more-ish' milk chocolate, topped with mini marshmallows, caramel wafer and malt balls. The malt balls are basically the same as Malteasers, but their flavour is a little maltier than the honeycomb-like filling found in those. The caramel wafer pieces add more dimension to the flavour and the mini marshmallows of course create a change in texture, giving you something to chew on a little longer!

The rocky road bar is actually a delightful thing to eat (and not just because it's chocolate!) A big bite of it, catching the caramel wafer, malt balls and mini marshmallows, is utter heaven on the tongue!

It's all I can do not to gobble up the whole lot. Thanks for the chocolate, Lilia!

P.S. There are pink mini marshmallows too, but they're hidden behind the label in the picture.