Elizabeth Shaw Chocolates – A Review & Giveaway

Elizabeth Shaw, that well known purveyor of chocolate mint crisps has recently launched a new range of flavours. As a confirmed chocoholic (in case you didn’t know), I was happy to accept a hamper of goodies to try out – get your fix where you can, I say!

A large box duly arrived in the post and I was excited to see a variety of goodies in it. Pretty much anything wrapped in pretty coloured tissue paper pleases me and the hamper was packed with a generous amount of maroon coloured paper – lovely.

Although I have been known to say on many an occasion that I don’t like my chocolate too sweet, I do have a weakness for caramel, butterscotch, toffee and honeycomb flavours. So despite knowing these were likely to be very sweet, I was not deterred. And I was right, I did find them very sweet, but also very hard to stop eating once I’d started. CT thought that although they were sweet, they didn’t hit his palate in the way that many other sweet chocolates do. Each flavour is denoted by a different coloured foil wrapper in the type of autumnal colours I appreciate. CT and I both did our taste testing without knowing what the flavours were.

Dark Brown – This dark chocolate (45%) containing cocoa nibs smelt predominately of chocolate and CT thought it tasted more like a straight piece of dark chocolate than any of the other varieties. We both really liked the presence of cocoa nibs which helped counteract the general sweetness and gave an and extended presence in the mouth. I like cocoa nibs and use them regularly, but some may find the crunch of these a little too dry and bitter.

Orange – Milk chocolate with pieces of honeycomb which had the enticing aroma of toffee and condensed milk. I found this the sweetest of the four, but CT thought it wasn’t as sweet as he was expecting and certainly not as sweet as the gold. I thought the crunch pieces had a delicious butterscotch / toffee flavour, but apparently I was wrong as this is the honeycomb.

Maroon – I found it harder to identify the flavour of this one, but it smelt more chocolatey than the orange or gold. It was certainly my favourite, being less sweet than the two previously mentioned, but with that “burnt” sugar flavour that I like so much. CT thought it had a nice fruity note to it. As it happened, I got this one right – caramel flavour.

Gold – milk chocolate containing what I thought were honeycomb pieces – turns out I was wrong again. This one was butterscotch, or at least that’s what it said on the label. Identity notwithstanding, it had a lovely crunch and flavour, although it was quite sweet. CT detected a certain drying quality in the mouth after eating this, which once pointed out, I also noticed.

The mint crisps are a classic. Dark chocolate (57%) with mint honeycomb crisp, these are crunchy, minty and rich. We tried the 100g chocolate bar which is divided into eight large squares. Two squares were plenty and although they were good, the richness of the chocolate and the intensity of the mint stopped me indulging further. CT, likewise, thought this chocolate was just the right side of being too strong.

Four packs of flutes were included:

• Latte – white chocolate batons with a coffee chocolate centre.
• Amaretto – milk chocolate (30%) batons with amaretto.
• Orange – dark chocolate (50%) batons with an orange milk chocolate (30%) centre.
• Mint – dark chocolate (50%) batons with a mint fondant centre

We tried the Amaretto ones. As soon as I opened the packet a powerful smell of almonds was released – no surprise there. And not also not surprisingly they tasted of Amaretto too. I was slightly concerned that they would taste like the product of a chemistry set, but they were actually rather good. CT thought the flavour was reminiscent of a Bakewell tart – he likes Bakewell tarts.

These chocolates may not be top notch artisanal products but they are real chocolate with no nasty additions and they are also reasonably priced. A 175g box of chocolate crisps costs around £3.50.

If you don’t mind signing up to their newsletter, Elizabeth Shaw are giving away a hamper with even more in it than the one I received. To be in with a chance of winning you will need to go to their website.

Disclaimer: I was sent a variety of Elizabeth Shaw products for review purposes and as always all opinions expressed are my own.