Review: Carniola Cokolada: Dark Chocolate with Prosciutto and Figs

I was going to write fewer chocolate reviews from now on, but people actually seem to read them, and this chocolate is something I simply had to review.

My father and his wife brought me this chocolate from their trip to Slovenia. That was very thoughtful of them, so thank you! :) It’s dark chocolate with figs and prosciutto, dry-cured ham – typical products of the region, says the wrapping. That's an interesting idea! Now, I don’t eat red meat, but I do love chocolate, so I was conflicted! To eat or not to eat? Well. I can be very curious, especially when it comes to books and chocolate, so... of course I was going to at least have a bite!

I’ll have to say that I found this chocolate absolutely beautiful. The white wrapping has a pretty, fresh style, but when you look at the chocolate itself... wow! Unfortunately, the thin disc had broken into pieces during its journey to Finland, but I did try to take a picture of the lovely pattern on one side:

And, let me indulge in some more chocolate porn... here’s the other side! With thin slices of prosciutto, crumbled figs and a bay leaf, it doesn't immediately say "chocolate" (at least not to me) but it is gorgeous, isn’t it?

Now that we've feasted our eyes, let's move on to other senses. I expected this chocolate to have a somewhat smoky, perhaps even spicy scent, but, though dark and earthy, the scent is actually rather mellow.

The chocolate has the cocoa content of 72 % which makes it rather dark – it is full-bodied, smooth, intense... very lovely chocolate! The figs are dried pieces drenched in rice flour, they’re a bit sticky and sweet (naturally) but don’t have a particularly distinctive flavour. The prosciutto comes in thin slices that are crumbly and mostly just taste salty. I love the chocolate and salt combination, so I have to say I did enjoy that, even though I am not a meat eater. During our tasting session, I picked the piece with the smallest slice of prosciutto – I had thought of simply picking it out and handing it either to my DH or DD, but then, the experience would have been incomplete that way, so I just went ahead and ate it.

This was definitely an interesting experience – probably the first time I ever tasted Slovenian chocolate, and I have to say that the combination of chocolate, fig and prosciutto was also something I’ve never tried before. I prefer my chocolate without meat, but I’d still say that the chocolate & prosciutto union was succesful. And the chocolate itself was delicious!