Blonde is the most expensive new chocolate variety.
Also called gold chocolate or ‘the fourth flavour’, it is made by heating white chocolate to higher temperatures than usual and cooking it for longer, until it undergoes what’s known as the Maillard reaction, giving it a warm beige shade and rich, toasted caramel flavour.
The idea was born out of a mistake by Valrhona, a chocolatier who forgot to leave a bowl full of white chocolate in the oven for hours. On his return, he found he’d created a new flavour.
That was almost a decade ago, but it is only recently that big brands have cottoned on to blonde chocolate’s existence, with its popularity soaring by 597 per cent over the past year, according to Mars Wrigley.
Libby Galvin gives verdict on a few of the best blonde chocolates available to buy in the UK – including Rococo Chocolates Blonde Chocolate Artisan Bar (pictured)
A new Galaxy bar made of sea salt and chocolate Galaxy was just released by the brand. Hot on its heels have come releases from M&S and a host of high-end chocolatiers, too. Blonde chocolate has been hailed the new salted caramel.
The best chocolates will be at least 20% and more often than 30% cocoa solids.
‘The sugar and milk solids caramelise, which offsets the sweetness a little,’ says expert Jennifer Earle, of Chocolate Ecstasy Tours, adding that because of this, it may appeal to people who wouldn’t normally like white chocolate.
True blonde bars must be toast, and not just have flavorings added. Words such as ‘caramelised’ are a good sign, but ‘caramel white chocolate’ should raise suspicion.
What blonde does you prefer? LIBBY GALVIN tasted some. . .
BUTTERSCOTCH HIT
Rococo Chocolates Blonde Chocolate Artisan Bar, £6.95 for 70g, rococochocolates.com
I choose to try this bar first because opening it is like unwrapping a gift — I love the embossed packaging. This bar has a medium-beige color with hints of butterscotch. The bar melts in your mouth, and it tastes rich and warm with salted caramel notes. It’s very moreish. 8/10
Pure Delight
chocoMe Entrée Blonde Chocolate with Maldon Sea Salt, Black Sesame Seeds and Creamy Sicilian Almonds, £8.79 for 110g, amazon.co.uk
Libby said chocoMe Entrée Blonde Chocolate with Maldon Sea Salt, Black Sesame Seeds and Creamy Sicilian Almonds (pictured) tastes like eating caramel straight from the Nestle tin
I tried to buy Valrhona’s original ‘Dulcey’ blonde chocolate, but it was sold out everywhere. This is instead, and it’s made with Valrhona Dulcey.
I don’t love the packaging, but within, it’s a lovely, high-quality blonde chocolate — and combines beautifully with the sesame and almonds added on top.
It tastes just like eating caramel from a Nestle tin. But, strangely enough it clumps on your tongue and becomes cloying lumps. 7/10
SWEET AND SYNTHETIC
M&S Swiss Blond Chocolate Bar, £1.75 for 100g, ocado.com
Libby said M&S Swiss Blond Chocolate Bar (pictured) has a slightly sharp, synthetic aftertaste and is sweet
In the familiar M&S Swiss chocolate packaging, this smells like shortbread, and matches it in colour — the lightest block so far.
It tastes more like a Caramac bar (which is caramel-flavoured but has no cocoa solids at all) than a toasted white chocolate, and in fact, from the ingredients list, it’s not clear how much — if any — cocoa solids it contains.
The taste is slightly synthetic and has an aftertaste. It’s sweet with the comforting aroma of milk. 4/10
GOLDEN SHOT
Explore Chocolate Pure Gold Single Origin Blond Chocolate, £5.50 for 100g, yumbles.com
Libby said Explore Chocolate Pure Gold Single Origin Blond Chocolate (pictured) has a slightly bitter taste reminiscent of scorched caramel from the pan
The branding on this bar looks exotic with its brown, greaseproof wrapper wrapped in cardboard.
The chocolate itself has a warm, orangey-brown hue and is shiny (as it should be — a sign it has been tempered properly, so the crystals in the chocolate have set correctly).
It has a brittle snap as you bite into it and a burnt, slightly bitter taste reminiscent of scorched caramel from the pan, with not a lot of cocoa flavour coming through — although it has 38 per cent cocoa solids. It is a taste that can be acquired. 6/10
CARAMEL LET DOWN
Galaxy Fusions Blonde Chocolate with Sea Salt, £2 for 100g, sainsburys.co.uk
Libby said Galaxy Fusions Blonde Chocolate with Sea Salt (pictured) doesn’t have an awful lot to distinguish it from a simple, low-cocoa-content supermarket white chocolate
From the description of this — ‘white chocolate with caramel and sea salt’ — it is not clear whether it has been made using the Maillard process, so perhaps it’s not a ‘natural’ blonde.
It is lovely and smooth and shiny to look at, but doesn’t have much of an aroma and you can’t taste the salt. There isn’t an awful lot to distinguish it from a simple, low-cocoa-content supermarket white chocolate. 4/10
COCOA LOWLIGHTS
Chocolate Moments The Gold Bar Blonde chocolate with cocoa nibs, £5.59 for 100g, yumbles.com
Libby said Chocolate Moments The Gold Bar Blonde chocolate with cocoa nibs (pictured) is buttery and seductive
This comes in a resealable brown paper packet with a window so you can see the tetrahedrons (triangular pyramids) of chocolate which form the sections of the bar — a little like a posh Toblerone.
This blonde is milky and toffee in colour with brunette highlights from the cocoa nibs embedded through the chocolate. Although it has an almost malty, delicate aroma, the texture is rough.
While the chocolate’s blonde color is rich and attractive, the bitter taste from the nibs dominates. It’s a sophisticated offering.6/10