Self-imposed isolation, day 19

What was it I said in my previous post about not much happening to one in isolation? I’ll take that back.

When you live like a hermit, you look like a hermit. I haven’t much looked in the mirror in nearly three weeks. Nor should I, for one glance was quite horrifying. Mostly I’ve grown hairier. No moustache or beard yet, which is too bad – stroking your beard while looking all mysterious/devious/contemplative looks like so much fun, at least judging from how much my DH likes to engage in such behaviour. I am on my way to an impressive unibrow though! And while I never brush or comb my hair – simply running my fingers through it is sufficient – maybe I should do something about it before next I venture out, or the birds will mistake it for their nest.

I will not post pictures. Well, maybe something much cuter and even somewhat furrier.

 

Review: Lindt Excellence Caramel with a Touch of Sea Salt

Something I may have mentioned before is my quest for a new favourite among chocolates, something that would replace one of my old loves, Marabou’s Premium Filled (Winter) Caramel. So far, I haven’t been successful: I’ve tasted many delicious chocolates, but none of them has been quite there.

So it was with high hopes that I grabbed Lindt’s Excellence Caramel with a Touch of Sea Salt from the grocery store. Is this the one?

The wrapping is loyal to the Excellence brand: nice gold lettering on a white background, with some black and, in this case, hues of caramel. I find this fairly simple design attractive. The tablet itself is rather thin but divided into squares that are of a nice size (i.e. not too small).

When you tear open the wrapping, the aromas that waft out are enchanting. There’s the dark chocolate with the sweet, warm scent of burnt sugar. I am not only intrigued, I want this scent in a bottle! (Not to wear, just to sniff at occasionally.)

The wrapping says “dark”, which in this case means that the cocoa content is 47 %. So not the darkest of dark chocolates – this might be a good place to start if you don’t have much experience of dark chocolates. The caramel comes as hard little pieces scattered everywhere in the tablet. The salt granules work in much the same way, so this chocolate definitely has a crunch and gives your teeth something to work on while the chocolate melts in your mouth. The caramel pieces are sweet, as expected, but they also have a deep, burnt sugar flavour which makes a beautiful liaison with the mellow chocolate. The salt is rather unevenly distributed in the tablet, so that some bites contain no noticeable amounts of it while others come with several large salt crystals. While this makes the experience somewhat uneven (some bites very sweet, others even too salty), it is a small problem and the salt does intensify the flavours and provides a nice counterpoint to the sweetness of chocolate and caramel. There’s something warm and comforting and yet dark and exciting about how these flavours combine and work together. This is the kind of chocolate I’d imagine to be perfect for autumn (and winter) evenings. If only we had a fireplace and I could eat this chocolate by a fire on dark and stormy nights...

And did I find what I was looking for? Well, yes, I think I did! This lacks the thick softness of my old favourite since the tablet is thinner and the caramel pieces bigger and harder, but never mind, it’s delicious and definitely a new favourite. In fact, once I’d bought the first bar for tasting purposes, I had to buy two new ones for... erm, well... for emergencies? ;)

Review: Lindt Excellence Strawberry Intense

Ever since I tasted Lindt's Strawberry Intense, the white chocolate version, I've wanted to sample their other Strawberry Intense product, this one a dark chocolate. And as it happened, I received some as Mother's Day gift!

The wrapping is the white and gold package typical of this particular brand (like in Coconut Intense), with a picture of chocolate and strawberry. The chocolate squares are fairly thin but rather large, which, of course, is a good thing.

When I opened the wrapping, the scent of strawberry wafted into my nose. It is quite intense... and very, very inviting!

The chocolate has the cocoa content of 47 %, so not the darkest of dark chocolates. It is intense enough, however – anything stronger and it might overpower the strawberry, and then the whole thing would be rather pointless, wouldn't it? The strawberry comes as bits of dried strawberries scattered in the chocolate. There is a generous amount of them, they're not at all dry but soft and chewy and taste wonderful! Being tart and lively, they provide a lovely contrast to the rich darkness of the chocolate. It is neither bitter nor too sweet – and, well, the combination of chocolate and strawberry is rather sensual, isn't it?

If I had to choose between this one and the white chocolate version, I'd choose this. That is probably explained by the fact that I generally prefer dark and milk chocolates for white chocolate. However, it also seemed to me as if the strawberry flavour had been more intense in this one. I don't know if that is possible... Still, I found this both refreshing and a bit luxurious at the same time.

Review: Lindt Excellence Strawberry Intense

Before we start devouring chocolate Easter eggs, I thought I'd post another chocolate review... nah, who am I kidding, of course I haven't been able to keep my paws off those chocolate eggs!

Anyway, this is another product in Lindt's Intense line, where I've already sampled the coconut version. This time, however, we have white chocolate and strawberries.

The wrapping with its mellow yellow and strawberry picture is cute. The chocolate squares are the typical size and shape for many Lindt bars: thinnish, but fairly large.

The scent is certainly intense, but the first word that comes to mind is sweet. There's that sweetness characteristic of white chocolate and it's rather overwhelming: I try to find the scent of strawberries in there somewhere, but not with any great results.

There are small pieces of dried strawberry scattered in the white chocolate. They are soft and chewy and there is a fairly generous amount of them. They have that lovely fresh tartness of dried berries and as such are a lovely accompaniment to the white chocolate. And, most importantly, they taste real, that is, there is no artificial strawberry aroma. The white chocolate, in turn, is very sweet (as white chocolate tends to be) and creamy. I will confess that I don't love white chocolate as much as milk or dark chocolate, but here it's really tasty and, together with the strawberries, not sickly sweet. And the white-and-red chocolate is very pretty; I'd imagine it would make lovely decorations for cakes and other desserts as chocolate shavings or as roughly chopped bits and pieces.

Review: Lindt Creation Fresh Lemon Milk

It's been a while since I wrestled with some wrappings, so let's take a look at this: Lindt's milk chocolate with lemon filling.

The wrapping with its lively yellow puts me in the mood for spring. How appropriate!

Opening the package reveals large squares of chocolate. And, since this chocolate comes with a filling, the squares are also rather thick. Mmm, nice! The only bad thing is that there aren't very many pieces per tablet because they're so large! ;)

The scent is intriguing: the mellow chocolate aroma and a hint of crispy freshness from the lemon!

Moving on to the taste (because I can't wait!). The milk chocolate is – as far as I can tell – much like the milk chocolate in certain other Lindt products, such as Creation Chocolate Fondant and Crème Brûlée. It's silky and smooth, fairly sweet but something I definitely like. And then there's the filling. It's a sort of lemon cream, with a clear, fresh lemony flavour. The cream is, well, creamy, and the good thing is, it's not runny so you can take your time, savoring the piece of chocolate without any fear of the filling escaping (I hate when that happens! You have to shove the entire piece of chocolate into your mouth in a hurry, and, really, that is not the right way to enjoy chocolate!) And wait, there's more! The best part is the combination of that rich, sweet chocolate and the tart, refreshing lemon. To say that it's a match made in heaven is such a cliché, but I'm seriously tempted to use it here. Yes, all right, I tend to find all sorts of contrasts interesting, and what we have here definitely is a contrast of flavours. But it just works. It works so beautifully!

The wrapping says that this chocolate is particularly tasty when chilled. I must admit that I haven't tried that – I am intrigued but I always forget to place the chocolate in the fridge! Now there are only two pieces left... And anyway, it's delicious as it is! This is one of my new favourites, and I find that it particularly suits these first sunny days of spring. The price range, however, makes it one of those chocolates that are best saved for special occasions. I might buy this for Easter, it would be perfect!

Lindt Excellence Caramelized Pistachio with a Touch of Salt

I expected much from this chocolate: dark chocolate with caramelized pistachios and salt! I may have mentioned before that one of my all-time favourites was Marabou's caramelized almond & sea salt that, sadly, doesn't seem to exist anymore. I hoped that this one, although a darker chocolate, might be a suitable substitute.

The wrapping is pretty, although not extraordinary. The chocolate squares, as in the other Lindt Excellence bars I've tasted, are rather thin but of a nice, generous size.

The scent is rich and chocolaty but lacks any particular characteristics, or at least I seem to be unable to distinguish them.

The cocoa content here is only 47 % which isn't very much, considering that the wrapping claims to contain dark chocolate. Whether that's a bad thing is up to everyone's personal taste – I happen to like both dark and milk chocolate and enjoy this sort of “middle ground” just as well, so I won't complain. The chocolate is rich and smooth, with something that crunches in my teeth. These additions have a great texture – they're crispy but not so hard that you fear for your teeth (in some chocolates, additions, and especially caramelized ones, tend to be terrifyingly hard). However, I can't quite define their flavour. I would probably have guessed that they were some sort of nuts, had I not known them to be pistachios. Neither the caramel nor the salt is easily detectable. They are there, but one has to concentrate to find the flavours. This is probably good if you don't like the sweet and salty combination, but that was the very thing I was hoping to find here.

In short, this did not live up to my expectations, but I'll admit those expectations were rather high. It's still a very nice chocolate, though!

Lindt Excellence Coconut Intense

I was somewhat skeptical about this one. When I was younger, I wasn't a big fan of coconut and just about loathed coconut chocolate. Over the years, however, I've developed a liking for coconut, especially in Thai food, curries and so on. But the combination of coconut and chocolate still makes me a little wary – because of my suspicions, I might never have given this a try, but my dear husband had bought it for “tasting purposes”.

The wrapping is pretty, although nothing extraordinary. The picture and the text are clear (no need to wonder what's inside). I particularly like how the word “intense” seems to be emphasised by the use of the, well, intense blue. The chocolate squares are the typical size and shape for many Lindt Excellence bars: thinnish, but fairly large.

Now, the wrapping says “Coconut intense”. They're not kidding.

The scent of coconut is overwhelming. It's very strong and you have to try hard to find the chocolate in there somewhere. If you like coconut, you'll probably enjoy the aroma that almost fills the whole room when you tear open the wrapping. I wasn't sure how I felt about that – while I don't consider the scent of coconut unpleasant, I was afraid the chocolate would taste of nothing but coconut.

But then I sampled the chocolate and was pleasantly surprised! All right, the cocoa content is 47 %, so although the wrapping does say dark, it's arguable whether it actually qualifies as dark chocolate. But that is not a problem for me. The chocolate is delicious, but rather sweet, and the coconut is – as promised – intense and contributes to the sweetness. The coconut chips are crispy and crunchy but not tooth-damagingly hard. They're an interesting addition when it comes to the texture and taste. The texture, especially, is much nicer than I expected – some coconut chocolates include those tiny little coconut flakes that are sort of dry and taste like sawdust and, when there's plenty of them, they make the experience rather unpleasant. Not so here. The chips are not only toasted but also caramelised, which might explain why I liked the taste so much (oohh, caramel!).

In short, I enjoyed this much more than I expected and would recommend it to anyone who likes the chocolate and coconut combination. I'd say that of the coconut chocolates that I've tasted, this is the one where the combination is the most successful.

Review: Lindt Creation Chocolate Fondant

This is what I found in the grocery bag the other day... Chocolate fondant! Doesn't that sound luxurious? I was very eager to wrestle with this particular wrapping...

...which is a really nice wrapping with a picture of a delicious looking chocolate fondant. A combination of white, gold and purple makes it look rather decadent. It says “Chocolate Fondant with a Melting Heart” and if that doesn't peak your interest then I don't know what does!

The pieces are nice, big squares with logos and the text “Lindt” on them. They break apart somewhat haphazardly, sometimes separating the different layers. A milk chocolate “shell” contains a “molten” chocolate heart or a filling that is made of a darker, more runny chocolate.

The milk chocolate is the typical Lindt chocolate, or at least to me it tastes like some other products from the same company. This is not a problem, since the milk chocolate is very creamy and smooth. However, it is the filling that is of a real interest here – this is, after all, the melting heart of a chocolate fondant that has inspired the entire creation! (Of this particular chocolate, anyway.) And it is good. It is a sort of almost liquid chocolate centre that, darker than the milk chocolate that envelopes it, has a very intense chocolate flavour. The only not-so-good a thing is that the filling is kind of runny, which means that you either have to devour the piece rather quickly or, in order to properly savour it, you have to be very careful lest the filling drips out (and we would not want that to happen!). But for one with a bit of patience and dextrous fingers that is no obstacle.

Together the filling and the casing make the chocolate very sweet – and as it happens, I had a similar experience with the Crème Brûlée of the same line that I sampled earlier. Still, for a chocoholic like myself, it is definitely satisfying. This chocolate with a melting heart really did melt my heart. :) It is just the perfect thing to indulge in during these dark, dreary autumn days.

A double review

Lindt Creation Crème Brûlée chocolate
The milk chocolate in this is very smooth, very sweet. The filling is creamy and silky, almost like custard. It has tiny bits of crispy caramelised sugar in it. The chocolate pieces are fairly large, which is, naturally, a good thing. This is so tasty it's very hard to say anything not so good about it... if I absolutely had to, I might say that the combination of sweet chocolate, sweet filling and sweet caramelised sugar is almost (but only almost!) overwhelming in its sweetness. But no, I won't say that it's so sweet one piece is enough to satisfy a craving. If you can say such a thing, you've never had a true craving. ;)

Magnum Silver Marc de Champagne ice-cream bar
I don't often eat Magnum ice-cream bars, but this sounded so special/strange that it just had to be tested! The ice-cream has a shiny silver coating, which looks very interesting but doesn't have any particular taste. Underneath is a thick milk chocolate cover that cracks irregularly as you bite into it. The ice-cream itself is pale and very creamy with thin streaks of champagne sauce. The champagne flavour is noticeable (I don't think I could have named it, though, had I not known what it was) yet subtle. The flavours are well balanced so that none of them is overbearing, and it's a very pleasant combination. Overall, very delicious, but not so special I would have to buy it again.