One of the hallmarks of good chocolate is usually its snap, but Puchero’s 55% Guatemala Butter, £7.95/70g, has no snap, it seems barely solid and it’s so creamy it breaks off with a mere whimper.
Puchero is relatively new on the scene. It’s a Spanish-based craft chocolate run by a husband-and-wife team who originally started making speciality coffee. This bar contains fermented cow’s butter (so you know, fermented foods = good), and has an ‘edge’ to it to elevate it from ‘mere’ creamy milk chocolate. It’s definitely worth a taste.
Born from Manchester has produced some of the most interesting and inventive chocolate I’ve tasted this year. I mentioned its fabulous Blueberry and Almond a few weeks ago, another one to try is its slightly bonkers Cardamom and Cranberry Swirl, £5.50/60g. This is a melange of 59% dark, white chocolate (hence the swirl) with cardamom, star anise and dried cranberries (note it contains soy). I honestly didn’t know what was happening in my mouth. Born is one of those brands where I plan to slowly work my way through the whole (fairly small) collection just to see what happens next.
Finally, a wonderful dark milk: Naive’s Papua New Guinea 65% made with grass-fed cow-milk (it’s high in omega 3, so more health benefits). Like all dark milks that go above 65% cocoa (at least I have found it to be so), it starts with a darker edge than you expect, but with a lovely soft, mellow finish. It’s wonderfully easy to eat.
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