March saw the return of The Chocolate Challenge - and I loved the different clauses available. When I first saw the clauses I went through thinking about which I would manage to achieve, and to start with I thought that I had little chance of visiting a chocolate factory or chocolate-themed attraction. However, at the start of March, we took a trip up to the Midlands to see mother-in-law and six of our eight grandchildren. On the drive up, I thought that it would be great idea to take the grandchildren to take the grandchildren to Cadbury World. The plan was made, the tickets bought, and we kept it a secret from the grandchildren! The visit was on the whole a success - there was a good mix of interactive activities at the start to educate you on the origins of chocolate, and then a sit down story about the Cadbury family. I think most of us would have liked more chocolate to eat as we went around, but we were given 3 bars at the start. The final stop of the day was the 3D ride - which was very good.
We played the AFter Egiht (face) game - that was quite entertaining, - I did manage it in the end, but no photo evidence of the feat - not even the chocolate over my face! I watched my husband do it first, and I couldn’t help laughing most of the time - both whilst watching him, and when doing it myself, thinking of the faces we were making to try to achieve our goal.
I donated a large egg to a local Foodbank, and I read The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier. The book was quite gripping, and also quite disturbing. I would have liked to have an epilogue - to find out what happened to the teachers, whether the corruption was exposed, and what happened to the protagonists; that can be the making of a good book though - that it leaves you wanting more. It is quite something to think that this is a book recommended for young adults - the sort of book I would have read in my early teens (being a voracious reader at the time).
During the journey up to the Midlands, I researched the differences between Fair Trade and Direct trade, which was most illuminating. One of the most interesting differences was that Fair Trade does not guarantee cocoa is free from child labour, and does not guarantee living standards for farmers. Chocolate that is labelled Fair Trade can be made with only 1 Fair Trade certified ingredient - it will be marked as such. Fair Trade requires a portion of the ingredients to be grown on a farm certified by FLOCERT - the producers seeking Fair Trade certification must pay for FLOCERET to come and inspect their practices both initially and annually - which puts a financial burden on the farmer, which they can’t afford. The farmers are paid more for their certified products - some of that income is earmarked for community development so only a portion of it goes back to the farmer. By comparison, Direct Trade is where the chocolate makers want to see for themselves how farmers process cacao and how they treat their workers. Direct Trade chocolate makers choose which farms they want to work with, they establish a relationship with the farmers and they buy the cacao direct, cutting out the middlemen and certifying fees. Direct Trade is more common amongst smaller craft chocolate companies. Fair Trade is about certification systems, Direct Trade is about sourcing practices. The Fair Trade label is a registered mark of Fair Trade International, whereas the term “direct trade” can be used by anyone.
Test and rate at least three chocolate bars from overseas - well this is a clause I couldn’t very well pass up. We have the shop So Sweet in our village, which stocks American chocolate bars, so I bought some from there - Baby Ruth and Anthony Berg Dark Chocolate Creamy Caramel and Jim Beam - which is made in Denmark. I also used the website
CandyMail to buy other chocolate bars - as I had seen some interesting chocolate bars that I wanted to try. Here are my results:
Cherry Ripe (Australia) - 3/5 - mild-ish cherry flavour, little to no taste of coconut, but coconut texture. Pleasant enough, but wouldn’t go out of my way to try it again.
Cadbury Dairy Milk Tiffin (Ireland) - 4/5 - Cadbury flavour and texture, it seemed thicken than other Cadbury chocolate - richer, more cloying, it was very smooth. It didn’t taste quite the same as English Dairy Milk, states milk solids 20% minimum, actual 23% - so that might account for the difference in tastes. Very nice - quite happy to eat more of it!
Hershey’s Mr Goodbar (America) - 2/3 veering to 3/5 - the chocolate felt quite grainy and gritty in my mouth, and not such a nice flavour, so it was rather disappointing - the chocolate was a lot like the chocolate around Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups (who make Reese’s).
Cadbury Dairy Milk with Cashew and Coconut (South Africa) - 3/5 to 4/5 - it was creamy, smooth, definite taste of coconut - not so much of the Dairy Milk flavour - it states that it uses full cream milk powder. Quite acceptable - interesting that it is different again from the taste of English Dairy Milk and Irish - and not simply due to the different flavours.
Cadbury Dairy Milk Nutty Kulfi (India) - 1/5 (and that is being generous) - not sure that I was expecting, it tastes a bit like lime or lemon disinfectant smell. It has some artificial flavours in it as well as natural and nature identical. Milk solids approximately 19% - it did not improve on further tastings.
Lindt Weihnachtschocolade Classic (Switzerland) - 3/5 - cinnamon ginger spice, creamy, smooth, like you expect from Lindt. Acceptable, but wouldn’t go out of my way for it in future.
Cadbury Twirl Iced Latte (Australia) - 5/5 - OMG!!! I need these everyday - they are just a delight! They are just like the milky coffee that my grandma used to make, drunk through a Spira tube. They smell fantastic too - will definitely be getting more of these!
Snickers Mousse de Limao (Brazil) - 5/5 - it doesn’t sound like it should work, but it really really really does. So delicious, a lovely lime flavour, and it doesn’t taste false or artificial. Will definitely have this again as long as I can find it, as it is a limited edition.
Baby Ruth (America) - 3/5 - I was expecting something like a Snickers, but this is not like it. The Caramel and nougat don’t seem to be so clearly defined. Quite acceptable.
Lemon Crisp Kit Kat (America) - 3/5 - the chocolate was quite creamy, with some little lemon flavour. Acceptable, but not enough lemon flavour for me.
Butterscotch Snickers (Australia) - 3/5 to 4/5 - I had high hopes for this one as I love butterscotch flavour.. It smells just like an ordinary Snickers bar. There was some slight butterscotch flavour coming through, but not enough for my liking.
Snickers Kesar Pista (India) - 0/5 - this had the same sort of disinfectant flavour as the Nutty Kulfi - but worse. I had maybe 2 bites, then gave the rest to my husband.
I did have fun trying the different chocolate - although I do have quite a bit left still. Most interesting was how different the Cadbury’s Dairy Milk from other countries was.
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