Like a lot of people, I’m rather fatigued by anything salted caramel. Even when faced with offerings from the very best (Paul A Young) I avoid them these days in favour of something else.
So when I was sent some goodies by a new venture called Russell & Atwell and in among the package was a bag of salted caramel chocolates, I sighed and put them aside for ‘someone else’.
Russell & Atwell’s ‘thing’ is fresh chocolates, by post. The idea is that you buy their glass jars (but you don’t have to) and then you can reorder their chocolates in refill pouches and keep them in the fridge. All of them are of the fresh cream truffle variety. The smooth dark were really nice, but what got me were the salted caramels.
With all R&A chocolates they recommend taking the chocolates out of the fridge for about 20 minutes before eating. But the salted caramel were wonderful fridge-cold. The caramel was neither liquid nor chewy, but with the softest of resistance. And the flavour was subtle and not at all trying too hard. I ate them all.
My other favourite was the Seville Orange, which launches next month. I have a chequered history with orange chocolate – it’s difficult to get the balance right and not descend into something too sweet and passé. But here, the orange is quite bitter, almost marmaladey, and works beautifully. There are all sorts of other flavours in between and prices start at £6.75 for a 160g refill pouch.
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