Beacon Caramel Biscotti
Guest Chocablogger Natasha Faria from South Africa looks at a local offering…
Beacon has never really been top of my list when trawling the chocolate aisle, but my lover brought this home for me because of this very blog. How can a girl say no? His reasoning was that it says along the bottom of the wrapper (precisely where the light makes print impossible to read) – “Now unlocking the mystique of the cocoa bean”. Sweet.
Which is exactly what this chocolate is. Achingly, headache-inducingly sweet. Not too surprising when sugar is the first ingredient on the list and cocoa is sixth. Upon slicing it open, it becomes clear that the picture on the wrapper is either an intoxicated artist’s representation of what chocolate should be, or it is photoshopped to create the impression of a rich, decadent chocolate simply bursting with yummy fillings.
The truth is a little different. The filling makes up very little of the chocolate and there are not even biscuits in every square. The chocolate shell is almost grainy, and the vegetable fats and vegetable oil tend to leave a slightly bitter taste in the back of one’s mouth. Bleh. The fact that milk solids are a significant ingredient doesn’t tend to help it too much. In fact, this makes me think of the Easter Bunnies we used to make at school to raise funds for whatever – in other words, cooking chocolate. It even has that reminiscent hint of peanut butter, which is probably just the vegetable oil talking. Honestly, I was looking forward to this as I though the filling was quite inventive.
Trying the filling on its own provided a pleasant surprise, however. The very scientifically named “biscuit bits” (according to the wrapper) are nice and crunchy, although calling them biscotti may be a bit optimistic. The caramel filling is more along the lines of a caramel flavoured cream, and together with the biscuits, it’s not bad at all.
I think it’s safe to conclude that, at R10.75 (compared to Cadbury’s ~R15), you’re getting what you pay for.
Information
- Contains milk chocolate.
- Filed under beacon, biscuit, caramel, milk chocolate, south africa.
By a strange coincidence, I happened to have a bar of this in my stash. I just opened it… it really is incredibly sweet and there’s some, well, interesting after tastes going on.
At last, someone who can write in such a beautiful, descriptive way that I don’t even have to buy the chocolate to taste it. Lindt makes 90% cocoa chocolate (divine)- this is a 95% blog. Keep it up!
Mmmmmm. Just reading this I can taste it in my mouth.
So with a cheap-tasting chocolate outer and delicious filling, is it safe to say, ‘it’s what’s on the inside that counts?’ 🙂
Excellent first blogging!
Good article. I was almost curling up in horror – you might say its reminiscent of cooking chocolate, but actually it sounds to me like cooking chocolate might be better. (Makes note to self… time to review some cooking chocolates!)
Just like Dom I also have 2 bars of this in my suitcase—I buy it almost everyday for lunch and today I decided to have it with breakfast…I’m crazy about it! I guess the filling was what hooked me at first and you are right the perfect exaggerated wrapper is so attractive!