Chocolate
Someone will try and tell you chocolate isn’t a valid gift. They are incorrect. The problem is that often chocolate marketed as a gift experiences does the job required of it and no more. A selection box from motorway services. Something wrapped in shiny foil that looks good for about four seconds before you realise it tastes of absolutely nothing. When it’s good chocolate can be one of the best gifts you can give. As long as it’s actually good.
That’s our benchmark. Everything we’ve picked here has to taste amazing. Literally amazing. Not nice, not interesting, but amazing. The sort of thing that makes someone stop mid conversation and go ‘what was that’. We’ve sampled enough chocolate to know we wouldn’t recommend something we weren’t excited about ourselves.
Flavour is the most important thing but it also helps if the people making it know what they are talking about. Are they able to explain where their cacao is from? How does it change the flavour of the bar? Single origin is fantastic but only if that’s the aim, not just a buzz word they’ve thrown on the packet. Textures matter. How a good ganache melts on your tongue. How high cocoa % dark chocolate shouldn’t make your face make an involuntary noise. We want makers pushing themselves to do something no one else is.
We also considered who this gift is for. Chocolate is so versatile. I know that sounds like an advert but it’s true. You can buy chocolate for thank you gifts and birthdays and sorry presents and celebratory gifts and for those ‘I didn’t want to but I know you’ll like it’ type situations. When done right chocolate says ‘I actually spent a lot of time thinking about what you would like.’ Don’t get us wrong, we love a bunch of flowers as much as the next person but a beautifully selected bar or handcrafted box of chocolates will always land differently than something that’ll be dead in two days.
You will not find vast selections of sweets at the end of any aisles from any of our picks. These are the makers whose products we keep going back to time and time again. There is no better recommendation than that.
