Occasionally, you come across chocolate which seems to appeal to everyone. Thus it was with Be Chocolat by Michel Clement’s selection box. Warning: it’s not cheap at £34.99/420g, but everyone I offered it to loved the box and the chocolates therein. I can’t promise world peace with this box, but it might unify a small gathering, at least for five minutes.
The packaging is unassuming. The chocolates are loose-packed, in rows. It’s fairly rustic-looking. If you were hoping for frills and foils within the chocolate box (or if you are Italian, because Italian chocolate boxes are massive and you open them to reveal half a square metre between each chocolate) you will be disappointed, only the walnut pralines come in a little paper case. The rest are unadorned.
The chocolate is all 60% cocoa from Ghana and it is exquisite. It manages to taste indulgent enough to feel treaty, but dark enough to allow for restraint. The pralines were my favourite, but there were also strips and slices of citrus peel, some with chilli (mercifully not too many as I don’t like chocolate and chilli), ginger and mini slabs with coffee beans and toasted almonds imbedded.
It was only later I discovered the whole box is vegan. All dark chocolate is naturally vegan if it hasn’t had milk or cream added to it. (Don’t be confused by cocoa butter which is not a dairy product, but part of the cocoa bean.) It went on sale last month, exclusively at Selfridges and if you don’t want to spend that much, you can also buy Be Chocolat chocolates loose for £8.50/100g.
