Friday 18 March 2016

As it's nearly Easter, Honeycomb Easter Eggs

I hadn't realised just how near Easter is, and so I better get cracking. Having received two different easter eggs, and both coincidentally being honeycomb, I thought what a great opportunity to compare! Although, I use the word compare loosely, as comparison is the thief of joy, as they say

The first honeycomb egg is one by Gorvett & Stone. Gorvett & Stone are chocolatiers who use the very best ingredients. The chocolate they use is quality French couverture (Valrhona); their handmade truffles and chocolates are made with local fresh cream; their cinder toffee is made with honey from a local bee farm - an array of impressively sourced ingredients.


Gorvett & Stone's cinder toffee easter egg sells for £22.95, and with it comes a bag of chocolate-coated honeycomb! - a wonderful touch, an addition much appreciated

The egg had a soft break and soft bite. It was so smooth textured, with a sweet chocolatey flavour. Now, that honey. The honeycomb texture was a bit chaotic, but that's expected. What was great about the honeycomb though, was that honey. The taste of PURE honey wasn't always there, but would come and go, and it would steal all attention. Seriously, the honey was so lovely, and it would gently remind me that it was traceable honey, from bees' hives in Oxfordshire and Berkshire

With the bag of extra honeycomb pieces, the chocolate coating had an odd flavour, almost like wild water, which was unfortunate. However the honeycomb itself was still wonderful
The next honeycomb egg is ASDA's Extra Special. Some may not think the former chocolatiers (Gorvett & Stone) should be compared to one of the biggest supermarket retailers! But, how I would justify such comparison is: for science! The two eggs are very different, for example their price points, their appearance, etc. and so, I would like to know which creates the greater value to me, the consumer. And actually, ASDA would have sought out a chocolatier especially to find the best Easter egg for their 'Extra Special' premium range
ASDA's honeycomb egg is made with Belgian milk chocolate. Already I have sensed some tension, the former French Valrhona vs. this Belgian couverture (most likely Callebaut). The surface, as you can see, is attention-grabbing. It resembles the beehive, and that is genius. However, it didn't feel like chocolate when holding, which was slightly unusual
Honeycomb was crushed all throughout the chocolate, so every bite had crunches. Unlike Gorvett & Stone's egg, where the honeycomb was in large chunks. When it came down to the taste, ASDA's egg was so sweet, incredibly sweet, too sweet! It lacked a chocolate flavour. The chocolate did have 10% less cocoa than Gorvett & Stone's. It would have benefitted greatly with more cocoa. This would have made it richer, less sweet, and simply more sophisticated and indulgent

The texture of the honeycomb was easier than the first egg's, although it didn't actually add much to the flavour; I could barely taste it in fact. Unfortunately, there was no actual honey in this beehive. Apologies for repeating myself, although I feel a classical music composer once said if it's important it will be repeated: ASDA's egg should have been a richer chocolate

Overall, each egg had their superiorities and inferiorities. Judging on the 'honeycomb' aspect, Gorvett & Stone was superior in terms of flavour, appearance and distribution too. The chocolate used by Gorvett & Stone was also superior, it was more pleasing to the tastebuds. For the actual egg-appearance and price-wise, well, ASDA's egg retails at £6 AND it's a beehive!

Please enjoy these Easter eggs, you can buy Gorvett & Stone's online and ASDA's instore

1 comment:

  1. I wanted to thank you for this great read!! I definitely enjoying every little bit of it I have you bookmarked to check out new stuff you post. Raw Honey

    ReplyDelete