Montezuma’s Chocolates
Last night I had the three most important food groups for dinner: dark, milk and white. Yes, as an adult I ate chocolate for dinner thanks to a tasting event with Montezuma’s Chocolates.
Walking into Brityard, where Montezuma’s currently has a display, I saw a chocolate library. The bright, bold colours of the packaging as well as some being placed on their sides really gave a feeling of a library. In fact, I messaged my boss saying we need a chocolate library in our office! I loved the names Montezuma’s has chosen- from Sea Dog to Great White to Space Hopper. Given my usual preference for chocolate I felt I’d love the Happiccino (coffee and coca nibs), Splotch (butterscotch) and Happiness (salted caramelised hazelnut). Although I haven’t had Happicino I fell in love with the other two.
The first food group was dark chocolate. Montezuma’s best selling product, Absolute Black, is 100% cocoa so is technically not a chocolate. Due to no additional ingredients and no sugar, this bar is favoured by people with diabetes or on a Keto diet. We were a little stunned at hearing how Absolute Black can be used in a chilli con carne or with venison, to give a rich taste. I’d never thought of using chocolate in that way. Most of us at the table were grimacing when we tried this as it was too bitter. I will say that Absolute Black would definitely help me in reducing my chocolate intake as one square was enough. I did take the Absolute Black with Orange to try at a later date, to se if the fruit adds a touch of sweetness.
It’s no surprise that Montezuma’s second best seller is Black Forest. This is a classic combination of chocolate and cherries. It uses natural cherry oil and freeze dried cherries to give a fruity flavour and is perfect for fruity chocolate lovers. Its bright pink packaging also means it’s a good seller for celebrations like Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day.
We moved onto even sweeter chocolate now with Scotch. At 51% cocoa this just maintains the limit for milk chocolate. Did you know that 52% cocoa is the boundary and above that it is considered dark? With added butterscotch it is a sophisticated caramel bar. Speaking of Carmel, you’ll need to try Happiness, a milk chocolate bar with caramelised hazelnut. With only 35% cocoa it looks a lot lighter than the previous chocolates. It’s salty and sweet but with a bit of a crunch. Given the name and taste it’s no surprise this is one of the most crowd pleasing bars of the night, and in the market. I couldn’t resist taking a bar of this with me too. Moving even sweeter we now tried Great White, which as the name suggests is a white chocolate. It’s really speckled, so you can see the vanilla. This one was very moreish.
We thought that was the end of the tasting but Montezuma’s generously allowed us almost complete reign to open their various other flavours. Having had two bites of the Chilli Bonkers (dark chocolate with chilli) we were commenting we couldn’t taste the chilli, another bite or two and we couldn’t definitely feel it in the back of our throats. The lime in the Hot Pickle (a milk chocolate with chilli and lime) really gave it a punch. The description of The Space Hopper as a ‘grown up Terry Chocolate orange’ was spot on.
It’s so hard to choose but one of my favourites was the Blondie Chocolate Buttons. Sharing some with my Aussie friend later that night, we commented that they reminded us of Caramilk, due to the white chocolate and caramel notes. The new Salted caramel eggs were delicious. A standout were the peanut butter mini eggs (£4.99). Due to demand, this year Montezuma’s has increased their range to offer these in dark, milk and white chocolate form. The dark is brilliant combination of rich and salty with the peanut butter becoming stronger the more you eat. Be warned: once you start you won’t want to stop. I had half a pack I took with me from the event, and 40min later I’d eatery them all on the train home.
This year Montezuma’s have partnered with The Bumblebee Conservation Trust. We were told how our bumblebees are dying and their favourite flower is a sunflower. As such, in each Easter Egg pack there is a grow your own sunflower seed. Why not try the Beehive Yourself honeycomb dark chocolate, Bees Knees honeycomb milk chocolate, Smooth Operator milk or Black Forest eggs (all £15).
Montezuma’s was founded 25 years ago by lawyers from West Sussex who wanted to bring the fun and flavours of their chocolate experiences in South America to the UK. The name has Aztec origins and we were told how the Aztecs drank cocoa and would add chilli or cinnamon. They would use cocoa as a currency so chocolate really did rule the world in the past! Montezuma’s uses sustainable sourced products and the packaging is recyclable. They do not use single origin cocoa and create a blend, which ensures a consistent flavour.
For the full range of chocolate bars, Easter eggs, truffles and gift boxes, please see Montezuma’s website, or head to Brityard. If you simply can’t choose between milk to dark, you could try the Mixed Bar Library.
Website: https://www.montezumas.co.uk
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/montezumaschocs
Written by Caitlin Neal
