I received this chocolate at the end of May. I took these pictures before Christmas. I’m slooooooow with working on pictures, and apparently also with eating chocolate.
That second part is not entirely true… I just ate too much chocolate and sweets over the holidays that I did not take pictures of, so that I didn’t get to actually eat the chocolate bar I’ve already taken the pictures of.
But see, the before Christmas fact manifests itself by the wooden stars that I used to photograph the chocolate on. I saw them in a flower shop a few days before Christmas, and I liked them so much that they came home with me.
But now, let’s talk about the chocolate bar. It was a gift from a friend who went on holidays to South Africa. Chocolates by Tomes is, as I read from their homepage, a small South African chocolate company which was founded in 2005. They source all the ingredients from Africa. They produce chocolate bars, drinking chocolate, cakes, truffles… whatever you can make with chocolate. You find many mouth watering pictures on their homepage.
The bar I have here, is a plain 72% chocolate bar. It weights 35g and comes in square form. The ingredients are printed on the back: cocoa mass, cocoa butter, sugar, soy lecithin, natural vanilla (from Madagascar). Short and simple, the way it should be.
Inside the paper, the chocolate bar is wrapped in golden aluminium foil. The chocolate has a beautiful colour, it’s a warm dark brown. And to be true, I did not hope that this chocolate looks that good. After all, it was bought in South Africa, travelled around with my friend, stayed during summer in my kitchen closet. And looks stunning in January, after more than one temperature change the bar had to endure.
The aroma of the bar is warm, I think I can smell the vanilla. The snap is good, a clear sound when I bite of a piece. The taste is warm, reminds me of cake (think a very dense brownie). Add this to a good melt, and so the cake like chocolate turns itself into chocolate cream quite fast after I bite of a piece. I’m still not able to distinguish the flavours of a chocolate bar, but I can say that the composition of all of them work for me.
Actually, on the day I took the pictures, I tried a piece as well. And I did not like the taste of the chocolate. I could recognise that this is well made chocolate, but something in the taste put me off. The bar reminded me a lot of the Arriba bars I tried last year and could not get friendly to. So, it’s really interesting that I do not always like the same chocolate. I can learn from this to always give chocolate bars second chances (and not only chocolate bars…).
So, whenever you get the chance to try any Chocolates by Tomes chocolate, I say go for it. I don’t think I will have the opportunity again soon.
Sounds good!
I love the dimensions of this bar, a perfect little one to pop into your pocket. Very nicely photographed on the wooden stars too.
It looks really nice. An interesting note on the wooden decoration and the second chance.