Szántó Tibor Maya Heritage

On a recent clear-out of my chocolate stash boxes, I found this bar lurking at the bottom. I think I picked it up at Salon du Chocolat in Paris last year, but I can’t be entirely sure. The one thing I noticed was that it was about to hit the ‘Best Before’ date, so it had to be consumed pronto!

Szántó Tibor is a Hungarian company, and this particular bar is made from 65.5% Mexican chocolate with whole almonds and Hungarian sun-dried hot paprika. As you can see, it looks amazing, with uniformly arranged almonds and bright red paprika scattered over the top.

But the underside is just as interesting too…

It’s almost a shame to eat it. Almost.

The flavour of the chocolate surprised me. Even with the instant heat of the paprika, it came through wonderfully. It’s sweet and fruity and really quite delicious. The paprika gives it a nice kick, but it’s not overpoweringly strong and doesn’t linger after the chocolate has melted. That little kick, combined with the warm and fruity chocolate notes is enough to keep you coming back for more… and more…

I’m less convinced by the almonds though. I’m not a big fan of nuts and chocolate, especially whole ones, and although these do give an interesting look to the bar, I’m not sure they add much to the flavour. Sure, they add a bit of extra texture, but I think I would have preferred the chocolate without them.

That said, this is still a delicious single origin chocolate bar, and I’m glad to have found it in my stash before it expired. I don’t know that this bar is easy to get hold of outside of Hungary, but I’ll certainly be looking out for more from Szántó Tibor.

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