Haigh's Chocolates

A couple of weeks ago, a dear friend of mine gifted me a box of Haigh's chocolates because I was feeling down in the dumps. He reassured me that he personally made every choice of chocolate rather than leaving me to the shop assistance's mercy.

So I thought, what better way to repay my friend's generosity than to judge him on his choice of chocolates?

Lemon Myrtle Cream

I'm going to start with my favourite. The lemon myrtle cream is a stand out - the soothing, lemon-balm-like flavour of the lemon myrtle is perfectly captured in this chocolate, and the choice of dark chocolate casing ensures that the flavours are well balanced and not overly sweet.

Cherry Liquer 

Anything alcoholic is hard to beat, but I particularly enjoyed this complex chocolate that boasts of multiple textures. I like the way it explodes like a bomb (a boozy bomb, which is the only good kind of bombs) when you bite into it; and I like the almost-jelly-like texture in the centre.

Another alcoholic delight, the champagne truffle is quite a simple chocolate, but very satisfying. It is rich and velvety as one would expect of a truffle; with a boozy kick - though I can't hand on heart say it tastes anything like champagne.

Turkish Delight (milk)

Rosewater, another favorite flavour of mine. The Haigh's Turkish delight is merciful in that it is not overwhelmingly sweet, and the rosewater fragrance is kept quite subtle. Nothing worse than saccharine perfume in one's mouth, so this is a chocolate well done.

Creme de Cafe (dark)

Despite looking like soft caramel, this chocolate is satisfyingly rich in coffee flavour. The choice of dark chocoalte makes it taste like a punchy mocha.

Salted Caramel 

Caramel usually comes in one of the following three forms: hard, runny, or chewy. This is none of these. Haigh's salted caramel is truffle-like, so perhaps a more accurate description would be salted-caramel-flavoured truffle. This is not the best salted caramel out in the market - you can tell it is salted caramel, but the salt is just a touch too light.

Raspberry Cream (milk)

The only one of the bunch that's geniunely awful - it's overly sweet, tastes like cough medicine, and the cream part is not creamy, but grimy due to the sugar crystals.

Vanilla Almond Cream

Almond is a difficult flavour to nail, not least because it reminds one of cyanide.

That's all.