Lindt Hot Papaya
Thanks to my mates Ashleigh and Marie – also new chocablog contributors – for bringing this little 150g treasure back to me after their overseas odyssey, the wonderful Lindt Hot Papaya.
It is another of those tantalizing examples of what Lindt offers its lucky European chocoholics, but denies us Down Under Dwellers. Sure, we have their 70% Creations in chocolate mousse, cherry/chili and caramel, but Ashleigh and Marie were dazzling me with their lists of all kinds of other flavours they saw that are also commonly available in a land perhaps better known for leiderhosen and sauerkraut. Besides, we used to have a Papaya (known as ‘Paw Paw’ in Australia) tree in our back yard when we lived in Darwin, but had no idea that it would one day find itself as a key ingredient in some of the finest dark chocolate known to mankind.
After looking at it longingly for about a month – a personal record of self control, dear readers – and having a week I can only describe as a ‘Weekus Horribilus’, it was time to crack it open and, perhaps most importantly, eat it by myself and not share.
Ahhhh, the beautiful, familiar and yet still appealing aroma of Lindt’s 70% was evident the moment the foil was ripped open. Plus, there was also an inviting whiff of something fruity and spicy.
Inside the chocolate is a fine layer of mousse which I’ve raved about and enjoyed before and could quite happily do a bellyflop into. On top of this mousse is a thin, orange marmalade-like layer of liquid papaya syrup infused with fiery chili. Not unbearably painful sweat-under-your-eye-balls fiery, but enough to add an extra ‘Wow’ to the zesty zing of papaya and have the imbiber automatically reach out for more.
This is absolutely terrific chocolate and I hope – please, Matt, lovey puss, sweetie darling sweetie – that it becomes available in Australia and all other places it’s currently not available in – very soon.
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- Filed under chilli, dark chocolate, germany, lindt, papaya.
Evidently the papaya based sister of the Lindt Cherry Chilli bar I sampled a while back.
I’ve been eating a fair amount of papaya recently (it’s on the brekkie buffet here in Doha) but I have yet to come across any in chocolate. Sounds fab!
Papaya or Paw-Paw is pretty readily available almost anywhere in Australia, but the best is found in the tropical north. Elsewhere it must be picked a bit early or something, so that it can last the travel. I’d imagine that in Europe it should also be fairly readily available. Generally, its a pretty subtle flavour, but a nice change to the other fruit you get all the time.