I’ve tried three alternative cocoa varieties after being disappointed by the offerings from both Cadbury and Nestle in the supermarket. Left to right:
Trade Aid Fair Trade (available from Trade Aid shops)
Blooker
Valrhona (available online from Sabato) – by far the best colour, taste and texture.
I discovered afterwards that ‘dutched’ cocoa has a different pH to other cocoa and consequently you need to adjust the raising agent in your cakes. Next on the list to try is Equagold (available online from Zealand Foods), although apparently Homebrand cocoa from Woolworths is very good for the price.
Now Cadbury is messing about with the formula for its chocolate to reduce costs and stealthily reducing the size of its blocks. You knew you should have been buying Whittaker’s instead. In a blind tasting of 70% cocoa solid chocolate by three experts (me and two friends), Whittaker’s came second in front of seven other chocolates, including premium and International brands. It was just beaten by another delectable Kiwi chocolate, Bennetts of Mangawhai.
Have you tried Scarborough Fair chocolate? I’m interested to know how you think it compares with Whittakers.
Hi Judi, Whittaker’s came out ahead of Scarborough Fair for our tasting panel. All the chocolates tasted surprisingly different (even though all were around the 70% cocoa solids mark) and as taste is an extremely personal thing it’s well worth doing your own comparison. I saw one called ‘Donovan’s yesterday which is another Kiwi chocolate I haven’t tried.
Which cocoa did you think tasted best please? Thanks.
I thought the Valrhona was best for flavour and colour, although it is a ‘Dutched cocoa‘. Trade Aid cocoa is a more cost effective solution and still much better than the Nestle and Cadbury alternatives for colour at least – I haven’t done a direct taste comparison. Taste is a very personal thing so I suggest you enjoy your own tasting.