White Chocolate World

I’m actually a big fan of Hotel Chocolat’s white chocolate, it has a lovely creamy and not overly sweet texture, which is probably why they think they have the right to make this cacophony of flavours in their Eton Mess.

Containing Strawberry White Chocolate, Vanilla White Chocolate, cocoa biscuits, freeze-dried strawberries and meringue it’s like there is a party in your mouth but someone wasn’t invited. They really dropped the bomb on the flavour front but something is slightly off. The Strawberry and Vanilla White Chocolate are not to blame and I suspect the meringue is innocent too which only leaves the freeze-dried strawberries or the cocoa biscuits. Either way, it leaves a slightly bitter aftertaste, making the entire bar more complex but in a Jared Leto kind of way. It’s a pass for me.

cocoa butter, sugar, full cream MILK powder, cocoa biscuits (10%) (WHEAT flour, cocoa powder, sugar, butter (from MILK), sunflower oil, salt, raising agent (ammonium bicarbonate), flavouring), skimmed MILK powder, freeze dried strawberry powder (2.5%), meringue granules (2%) (sugar, cocoa butter, WHEAT starch, EGG white), emulsifier (SOYA lecithin), flavouring, vanilla seeds, acidity regulator (citric acid).

I have to say I am confused about Tony’s Chocolonely, from the irreverent packaging and colours contrasting against the very admirable anti-slavery message, the delivery prices on the website (it doubles the price of a bar sold in the shops, although this might be Brexit) to the name its self, are their bars lonely? I don’t know.

So step forward Tony’s Chocolonely White Chocolate Raspberry Popping Candy bar. Firstly and foremost this is a very sweet bar of white chocolate. Seriously sweet. I don’t know whether the Raspberry and popping candy tip it over the edge or whether this is sweet from the get-go. I’d like to taste it without because apart from the sweetness it’s actually a very lovely bar of white chocolate. 

Containing: Sugar, Cocoa butter, dried whole milk, 2.7% raspberry, 2% popping candy, emulsifier.

What! Wait and minute three pieces of silver? (That’s 30 pence for Sterling fans and 41 cents for dolla lovas) That is a very cheap price for 100g of white chocolate, how on earth can it be even edible? Well, I’m happy to announce it certainly is. This is no artisan handcrafted on the thighs of virgins stuff but this is perfectly good basic white chocolate. It’s not too sweet, has no ugly aftertaste and is not at all gritty. This would go wonderfully in some white chocolate cookies maybe even paired with Raspberries, this is absolutely on pare or even better than cooking chocolate. Contains Sugar, Cacao Butter, Whole Milk Powder, Whey Powder, Emulsifiers: Soya Lecithins, Polyglycerol, Polyricinoleate; Flavouring

What is this sorcery! Has white chocolate got the hipster brewing bug? Well, it appears not. I had never heard of Blond chocolate before but with some deft use of The Google, it seems that Blond Chocolate was invented in 2006 by chocolate makers at Valrhona. By roasting white chocolate chips to caramelise the sugar and brings out a ‘smoky’ style flavour. It’s not unlike Caramac which UK white choc chippers will know is made by using sweetened condensed milk, butter, various flavourings, and sugar. However, this is a more subtle flavour and pairs excellently with coffee with its roasted taste. This particular Blond from M&S is described as White Chocolate with caramelised sugar and contains: Cocoa Butter, Sugar, Dried whole milk, Caramelised Sugar, Dried whey, Emulsifiers, Soya Lethin & Flavourings. I will be picking up the Valrhona version to compare.

White by Cadbury sits in a very strange place in the world of white chocolate. Clearly not Milkybar and obviously trying to elevate itself above supermarket white chocolate it tastes somewhat generic. Not as sweet and sickly as Milkybar (and without the aftertaste) but nowhere near as refined as Green and Blacks. In short, it has no personality, which isn’t always a bad thing but if they want to charge more than Co-Op white chocolate then it needs something more. Containing Sugar, Cocoa Powder, Skimmed Milk Powder, Whey Powder (from Milk), Milk Fat, Emulsifier (Soya Lecithins), Flavouring

In these crazy days (and when aren’t they?) you need simple pleasures, nothing fancy. The world might be going to shit but there is nothing stopping you from going to your local friendly corner shop and buying cocoa biscuits covered in white chocolate. Bahlsen is a company who apparently have been creating and crafting gold since 1889 and on the basis of this one product, I tip my hat! The combination of cocoa biscuit and white chocolate is very good, naturally, the white chocolate is pretty standard stuff but it’s about the whole package that I’m such a big fan. I regularly buy these and so should you. Ingredients: Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Palm Oil, Whole Milk Powder, Glucose Syrup, Clarified Butter, Fat Reduced Cocoa Powder, Emulsifier: Lecithins (Soya), Salt, Raising Agents: Sodium Carbonates, Diphosphates, Skimmed Milk Powder, Flavourings, Acid: Citric Acid, Starch (Wheat), Hen’s Egg Yolk Powder

OK, it’s time to address the elephant in the room. The titan of white chocolate, the daddy, the childhood memories, the adverts and the legend that is Milkybar. Most likely the first experience anyone had with White chocolate if they were born before the ’90s BG&B (Before Green & Black’s). For me, it was Milkybar and also the white chocolate mice that my mum used to buy for our dog Tara. So if you think that Milkybar is the worst quality white chocolate you are very wrong. Tasting Milkybar after quite some time of eating far superior quality chocolate is like slipping back into a pair of trousers you used to wear 20 years ago. They don’t quite fit, they are horribly out of style but you can’t help looking at yourself in the mirror and enjoying it. Milkybar is the same as it ever has been. Horrifically sweet, super creamy and with an aftertaste that is purely it’s own. I can’t even place what the aftertaste is, somewhere between super creamy sugar and acrid chemical. Pitting it against other white chocolate is somewhat ridiculous, it’s not really even comparable, it’s Milkybar and I ate the entire 100g bar and loved every bit of it.

If there is something that you wouldn’t have thought you could make Vegan it would be white chocolate with its milk powder and general creamy goodness but it appears nothing is immune these days. So in the spirit of these times, I thought I should try and seek out a Vegan White Chocolate and the results are quite good. White Vanilla Vegan from iChoc is a bar I sourced off Amazon and when I first tried it before Christmas my initial thoughts were lacklustre but then a friend messaged me about how good she thought it was, so I tried again. On further inspection it does, in fact, do a good job in replicating the creaminess of a good White Chocolate bar. It’s slightly dryer, less creamy and has a snap that you generally don’t get in white chocolate but if you are Vegan and miss your dose of White Chocolate, it’s worth checking out. Made with Organic coco butter (37%), raw cane sugar, rice powder, tiger nuts, salt, bourbon vanilla extract and ground vanilla pods.

You know something is good when you have to stop yourself eating the whole thing in one go! The Valrhona bar is just that situation, I’m sitting here only minutes after receiving it and it’s already nearly gone. Put simply this is best White Chocolate I’ve ever tasted, sweet but not too sweet, really really creamy and utterly satisfying on the tongue, it’s supreme. Their description is ‘Pure White in colour chocolate, with a creamy texture and delicately sugared, Opalys reveals harmonious aromas or fresh milk and natural vanilla’ and I can confirm they are not wrong.

Made from 33% cacao, whole milk powder, sugar, soya lecithin and natural vanilla the taste indicates the finest ingredients and the mixture of sweet and vanilla is perfectly balanced. By now you most probably won’t have any doubt, I highly recommend this bar, buy one now, actually buy three as the first two will be gone in no time.

Inspired by Tehran gardens this Organic White Chocolate bar has 30% organic cocoa solids. Flavoured with Cardamom it’s heavy and deep flavoured with the spice giving it texture and helping control the sweetness. The grittiness really works well with the Organic beans from Grenada and in addition with the flowering tones this is a top quality bar of White Chocolate.

Rococo Chocolates
321 Kings Road
London SW3 5EP
T: +44 (0)20 7352 5857
http://www.rococochocolates.com/