Camille Bloch Kirsch
Apart from the marriage of ginger and chocolate, one of the great pairings has to be chocolate and alcohol. Preferably the alcoholic thingy should have a bit of flavour. I don’t know that vodka quite cuts the mustard.
Be all that as it may, it’s time for another sampling of the euro-stash we brought back (via trains, planes, yada, yada). We found the Camille Bloch Kirsch in the a shop alongside a train station in Switzerland, the sort of place that sells newspapers, magazines, and in this case quite a nice selection of chocolate. The price sticker is still in the back of the pack: 3.20 Swiss Francs. In Australian dollars, that’s about 3 bucks for the 100 grams, which is not doing too badly.
Kirsch, of course, makes me immediately think of Black Forest Cake, especially the one we make about once a decade that includes a liberal dose of both Kirsch and Cherry Brandy through the cream filling… Oops… drifting away. Back to the task at hand. Besides, my arteries were hardening just thinking about it.
The packaging describes its contents in both French and German: “Swiss Milk Chocolate with liquid Kirsch filling”, and also highlights “without sugar crust” (a method of making a liquor filling stay inside the chocolate). So, it follows that if this is made without using the Sugar Crust process, it would be reasonable to expect the liquor filling to be less sweet than some other products. Because Kirsch is a distilled spirit with no sweetening, this is probably a good thing. The less sugar in our Kirsch the better! On checking the ingredients list, the Kirsch content is 11% of the total! No wonder it also warns (in 4 languages): “Contains Alcohol”. No kidding!
In spite of the vast distance being thumped and bumped in suitcases, the contents survived their journey pretty well. The milk chocolate is very soft and delicate. The cocoa content seems to be pretty low, it’s a long way down the ingredients list below sugar, cocoa butter, milk powder, glucose syrup (!) and kirsch. Still nice though.
The way to eat a piece is to let it slowly melt in your mouth. Suddenly, there comes a burst and you are flooded with the sharp Kirsch… Mmmmm. That no sugar crust thing really pays off. This is goooooooood!
Can we have this exported to Australia, please?
Information
- Filed under camille bloch, kirsch, switzerland.
Good news Ashleigh! Camille Bloch is available throughout Australia at various outlets. The importer into Australia is Premier Food and Beverages Pty Ltd in Glen Waverley, VIC. Their contact number is: 03 8562 1600, they will be able to direct you to your nearest Camille Bloch hit!
A long time ago, I used to get dark chocolate kirsch batons without the sugar crust at the airport in Zurich. They came in plain white boxes with no brand label on the individual wrappers and were unbelievably incredible. Does anybody know if they are still made and by whom?
I forgot to mention, they were not Lindt and they were smooth, perfect cylinders without cocoa.