Fresh Chocolate?

We’ve been very impressed with chocolates from Friars of Keswick. Whole cherry liqueur chocolates, and their chocolate nut platter are two we’ve found excellent. Pricey, but worth it.

I advocate Russell and attwell chocolates too . They are fresh, and more expensive but I feel well worth it. Depends on your budget I suppose.

I've gone right off chocolate over the last couple of years. Perhaps it's because the quality is so poor now.

Original Beans - organic chocolate, no nasties, no soya lecithin, no palm oil. A tree planted for every bar sold. Excellent product. Not cheap but why would it be? Cacao has to be properly grown, harvested and processed and that costs money. Many of the other chocolate brands out there are not actually chocolate, they're confections, sugar products.

We are fortunate to have an award winning Chocolatier in our family!
His chocolates are amazing ,all hand made with a wonderful array of unusual flavours .. no long date on them but they don’t last long enough in our house !

I buy Russell and Atwell chocolates on a regular basis, my indulgence. They’re a bit cheaper that way too. They did a niche batch of coffee chocolates recently and they were exquisite, an explosion of freshly ground coffee in the mouth. I love there really dark chocolates.
For less expense, have you tried Wonky? They sell surplus Swiss chocolate from top makers at about half price. Still not cheap but excellent quality. Warning—- it’s sold by the kilo!!

Chocolatelovinggran

As if chocolate would last a month in my house...

Hotel Chocolat is owned by Mars. No artisan chocolates there!

Chocolatiers produce fresh chocolates with a limited shelf life - very different to chocolate makers who produce for the mass market.

We’ve got a lovely handmade chocolate shop in town, which supplies very expensive hotels and corporate events too. Not cheap, but they do special occasion chocolates for Mothers Day, St David’s Day etc., they are worth every penny, they use fresh local fruit to make their own fillings too.

I should not have read this thread. Now all I want is chocolate - proper chocolate, preferably dark. I do sometimes give into temptation and buy some, but I have to hide it from my OH. He's happy with any old chocolate, so I keep the 'good' stuff for someone who will appreciate it - ie, me!

You can keep Cadburys these days, horrible greasy muck. Last week in Cornwall we treated ourselves to some hand made chocolates. Absolutely delicious .

Chocolate used to be nice. Now we have to have sugar and palm oil coloured brown, then they try to reinvent chocolate. Also the faster you eat it the sooner you buy more 😏

I tried Russell and Atwell fresh chocolates and didn’t think they were anything special. I do usually eat 100% cocoa chocolate though, so I am used to less sweet chocolate. However I still like Lindt milk chocolate.

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Just buy Russell & Atwell fresh chocolates. They are beyond amazing. I only eat dark chocolate and their selection is fabulous. The rest of the family adore the milk range.

(I came across them on Dragon's Den when they accepted a joint offer from Peter Jones and Stephen Bartlett. All the Dragon's said that they were the best chocolates they'd ever tasted - and they haven't looked back since).

Expensive, maybe, but I consider chocolate to be a luxury not a necessity and so I expect to pay more.
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I bought some exquisite looking handmade chocolates recently and they were awful, with oversweet fillings and really insanely expensive. I've also bought from Hotel Chocolat and don't find the varieties very interesting, though if you buy from their shops you can at least choose the ones you like - at a very high price!
However M&S do a lovely selection of Milk, dark and white chocolates (large and small boxes) which I bought at Christmas and they were delicious, something for everyone. My daughter and daughter in law have asked if they can have them for every birthday and Christmas present, though M&S may discontinue them!

There are a number of small specialist chocolate shops near here. They also do delicious hot chocolate. They give you a free chocolate of your choice if you buy a hot drink.

I got an advert for Lindt chocolate truffles around Mother's Day. My kids live abroad, so I decided to treat myself. I got to select about 50 from a range of flavours. I must say, I am extremely disciplined with chocolate, and looked forward to my one truffle after dinner each day. I thought the quality was wonderful. Other than that, I don't get adverts for chocolate (or Wype, which I had to Google! )

Yes. That's what I've seen too.

The fresh chocolates that I have seen advertised have got perishable ingredients in them such as cream or fresh fruit.

Last a month, they wouldn't last a few days in our home!!!

I quite like Hotel Chocolat. They've certainly ruined. Cheaper chocolate for me. The snap as I bite into one of the cherry ones ( my favourites) is wonderful.

Chocolatelovinggran

As if chocolate would last a month in my house...

I'm with you on that 😊

It was my birthday last week and one gift was a box of Hotel Chocolat chocs.
It was my second gift from them and they certainly are not worth the hype or the cost.
Quite tasteless and ordinary.
A friend brings me a box from Bruges twice a year.
They are delicious.

I've already bought the Wype. Maybe the algorithm that sends adverts to me thinks I'm a likely candidate for fresh chocolate. Actually it's a fair bet!

Sorry. The chocolate sounds a wonderful idea!