i have just come back from the supermarket with a most surprising discovery...an irish handmade dark couverture chocolate bar! i'm sure most of you are probably wondering why this would be surprising...well, i do the rounds of dublin supermarkets looking for interesting ingredients to enhance and explore in my cupcakes and i have never seen this before in any of them. furthermore, in this day and age when most reputable chocolate comes from ghirardelli and valrhona, it was most encouraging to find a bar of couverture chocolate that was 'home' made here in Ireland (it's only available in Superquinn).first and foremost let me say how impressed i am with the initial once over...the wrapping is absolutely lovely...a beige paper wrapper with brown writing that has an almost faded look and underneath this a gold foil wrapper covering the chocolate. it reminds me of what a bar of chocolate might have looked like 50 or 60 years ago. a real old-school feel to it. the bar itself is huge. very chunky and substantial so that you feel like 'hey, i'm gonna get a good few creations out of this!'
the company that make it, O'Conaill, are based in Co. Cork. no website that i could track down which again makes me feel like these guys like to kick it old-school style! brilliant, i love that concept...especially in this day and age where chocolate is all shiny-wrapped and comercialised to attract the customer by the way it looks on the outside with its fancy packaging. this bar definitely appeals to the traditional me.
nope, i'm not getting paid by them to blatantly promote their product - i'd never subject you all to that kind of treatment. i'm just so excited to be able to find irish chocolate that i just had to share it with you. and of course, i'm even more excited to start creating with it. hmmm, what shall i do first? maybe some good ol' fashioned chocolate cupcakes to really discover what irish chocolate tastes like.
stay tuned for taste-test, appearance-test and ultimately baking-test!
5 comments:
Irish handmade dark couverture chocolate bar, wow! you must be kidding, this is very very interesting, any good?
Looking forward to seeing what you come up with!
hey big boys oven..i shall let you know what it's like when i bake with it tomorrow and give it the real test!
hi stef...yup, got my thinking cap on. definitely think though it's better to keep it simple so i can taste that chocolate!
Hi
O Connails chocolate also have a shop in cork where they do a variety of chocolates and sweets. dark from 64% to 100%, milk, white, boiled sweets, chocolates etc If you like that 70% chocolate they produce they do it in a 200g easy cook bar and if doing a lot of baking they do it in a 1kg or 2kg, which is better value for money. They also have quality hot chocolate and mocha, the best mocha ive ever tasted. If youre ever in cork you should pop in, its on french church st, just off patrick st.
Happy Baking!!!!!
Hi.
This chocolate brand have a store in cork on French church st. They make a wide range of items. Dark chocolate from 100% to 64%. milk, white, chocolates, boiled sweets etc. They have a new 200g cooking 70% cooking chocolate but they also do a 1kg or 2kg in it too if you make lots of cupcakes. They also make the best mocha and hot chocolate if youre ever in cork try it.
Happy Baking!!!
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