Demarquette Great British Orchard

We’ve not heard a lot from Demarquette since they closed their London shop last year, but they’re still going strong, creating exciting new chocolates and selling online. They’re currently in the process of redesigning their packaging, and sent me these as a sneak preview. The orchard fruit caramels inside aren’t new, but I thought I’d review them anyway!

Currently, if you buy these chocolates, you’ll get them in a nice red box, but this sleek black and silver number will be making an appearance later this year. With a big map of the British Isles on the front, there’s clearly an emphasis on the Britishness of the flavours inside. Indeed, all the fruits in the box are sourced from small producers across the UK.

There are six flavours in the box; Devon Strawberry, Oxfordshire Plum, Yorkshire Rhubard, Somerset Apricot, Scottish Raspberry and Cornish Sea Salt. Each is a small, glossy dome of milk or dark chocolate, hand painted with coloured cocoa butter. The effect looks great, especially seeing all the chocolates together in the box.

After trying a few different chocolates, one of the most most noticeable aspects turned out to be the subtle differences in texture between the fruits. I would imagine that each of the fruits requires a slightly different method to get the best flavour out, and the result is some of the caramels are thick and have texture, while others are more runny and perfectly smooth.

The smoothest of them all is the Cornish Sea Salt, which arguably is a bit of a strange selection for a ‘fruit caramels’ box, but this base salted caramel is so nice that it makes a perfect addition. It’s quite sweet, but the small size of the chocolates means it’s never too sweet.

I spent some time trying to pin down a favourite in this box, and found it next to impossible. The raspberry and strawberry flavours are deliciously jammy, while the apricot is more subtle and the rhubarb is delightfully tangy. I think the only way I’m going to be able to pick one is to get another box. This one seems to be empty for some reason…

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