This bar is made with cocoa butter from Peru blended with toasted milk powder. Once harvested the cocoa butter is used in Stoke on Trent where James Walter turns them into one of Seed’s chocolate bars.
I’ve tried a number of white chocolate bars now and my experience so far, is that they can be a bit limited in flavour, lacking the complexity of a single origin dark, although those with higher percentages of cocoa butter tend to represent a more honest flavour, especially those that haven’t been deodorised. The best ones I’ve tried for the most part, have had elements of toasted qualities, or some form of browning process. The toasted whites or those that have been through some browning have more development in the sugar tones of the bar, turning white flavours into richer more roasted browns, which gives extra depth and dimension to the flavour. Here we have single origin cocoa butter blended with toasted milk powder. I’d expect this to add plenty of caramel tones to the white chocolate, but my hope is that in having both single origin cacao butter and toasted ingredients that this bar will offer depth of flavour in both areas. My hope is that these can be married well together. Opening the packaging I’m presented with a crazy paving cocoa pod slab in a glossy matte finish. Breaking off a piece reveals aromas of rich cream, caramelised biscuit with notes of demerara sugar inthe finish. Placing a piece in my mouth the chocolate is firm, slow to melt with a syrupy texture that gives way to swathes of creaminess. To taste this bar opens with butterscotch and shortbread biscuit before some buttery marzipan and toffee coming through in the more caramelised notes of the bar. These flavours move through caramelised biscuit notes onto the creamier notes of cream fudge and Jersey cream in the back end of the bar. There’s a touch of salt in the back end of the bar, which gives the bar a very moreish feel, but encourages the line between sweet and savoury. This is a slow bar, with slow transitions between nuanced flavours, that opens with caramel and biscuit notes and finishes with rich creamy textures. This is one for those who enjoy rich sweet and creamy flavours that are well balanced as opposed to being overly indulgent, fans of caramel patisserie or those that enjoy full fat dairy. Best enjoyed with chai tea, bananas, baked apples or rich aged brandy.
Ingredients: Cacao butter, milk powder, unrefined cane sugar
Appearance 8.5/10
Colour: Caramel, brown
Texture: Smooth, buttery flake
Mould: Cocoa pod crazy paving
Snap: Crisp
Temp/Shine: Glossy matte
Aroma 9/10
Intensity(0-10): 8
Notes: Cream, caramelised biscuit, demerara sugar
Quality: Smooth, caramelised, biscuity
Melt/Mouthfeel 9/10
Length: Long
Evenness: Even
Texture: Firm, syrupy, creamy
Quality: Firm, hard, creamy
Acidity 9/10
Intensity(0-10): 3
Notes: Raw milk, jersey cream
Quality: Lactic, hard, creamy, firm
Sweetness 9/10
Intensity(0-10): 9
Notes: Butterscotch, toffee, cream fudge
Quality: Caramelised, biscuity, creamy
Flavour 9/10
Intensity(0-10): 9
Type: Sweet, salt
Notes: Butterscotch, shortbread, marzipan, toffee, cream fudge, caramelised biscuit, salt, jersey cream
Quality: Caramelised, creamy, biscuity, reduced sugars, hard
Length 9.5/10
Flavours are fully present and long from the outset, making smooth transitions from one to the next, making rounds on peaks of hard lactic acidity
Finish 9/10
Notes: Jersey cream, cream fudge
Quality: Caramelised flavours move into creamier realms for the finish giving rich jersey cream notes with the sweetness of cream fudge, leaving a lingering creamy warmth
Balance 9.5/10
Bar has a firm structured balance, with complementary flavours combining harmoniously, firm structure provides good anchoring and lots of stability
Overall 9.5/10
Bar has good depth, good dimension and good nuance, complexities are well balanced and structure is consistent, expression feels honest and clear, with processing encouraging firm structure and steady development of flavour
Seed Chocolate’s Tasting Notes: Shortbread biscuit, gentle butter, caramel, hint of biscoff
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