Camille Bloch Torino / Torino Noir

Note: For another opinion, you can find Ashleigh’s review of the milk chocolate Torino here.

Apparently in the 1940s there was a new development in the world of confectionery machinery that allowed creamier, softer fillings to be inserted inside chocolate blocks. This new method brought forth the truffle filled block Torino, named after an Italian town famed for hazelnuts. Torino was the second product released by Camille Bloch in 1948 after their classic Ragusa bar in 1942.

The original milk chocolate block is revered by the majority of the Swiss folk, plus the Germans, Austrians, Italians and French that live close enough to get their own stash of Torino. Rainer and Oliver from Premier Food and Beverages tell me that any homesick European worth their salt pines for Torino when they’re far away from home and without a regular supply.

Firstly, the original Torino. Classic Swiss Milk chocolate with a hazelnut truffle centre. This is delectably creamy and the hazelnut filling sings like a nightingale to the milky, smooth chocolate that generously envelops it as they both dissolve seductively in the mouth, lingering like lovers putting off having to go their separate ways.

On a more mundane and less romantic level, enjoying Torino with a nice and hot cup of freshly ground coffee makes the experience even better as the heat enhances the flavours even more and made me reach for another square, then another, then how about a whole row, and a second row… whoops it’s all gone. Deliciously dangerously easy to eat in one sitting.

The Torino Noir is a much newer product and one that shows some respect for the increasingly large band of Dark Side Devotees who also like some interest inside the chocolate. Anything is better when encased in dark chocolate is my general belief.

Again, the chocolate – whose percentage of cocoa solids is not listed in the ingredients panel – is sensuously creamy and instantly melts in the mouth. It is strong and sweet, so I’m guessing it’s around fifty or sixty percent cocoa content. Surprisingly it totally dominates the truffle centre so that only a hint of hazelnut flavour emerges, and even so, only every now and then before disappearing into the darkness. Yep, the key flavour is uber-velvety dark chocolate with what – if clueless and blindfolded – I’d assume was a lindor ball-like filling inside. This is not necessarily a bad thing – faint detections and hints are sometimes what drives serious chocaholics on and gets them up in the mornings. Either way, Torino Noir tastes decadently divine.

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