Top 8 Valentine’s Day treats
Big established brands are perfectly satisfying for many and we have featured them in the past. Some have specific Valentine’s offerings, and can be easily picked up in supermarkets.
This year, I set out on a more adventurous journey, seeking out new products (or those I haven’t already featured on this page) which were exciting and interesting, as well as delicious, and which would make an attractive gift for different budgets.
I found plenty of options for those who favour sweet instead of heavy chocolate flavours. There is plenty for those who appreciate what the difference the various higher cocoa content brings to a piece of chocolate, and how chocolate from beans made in different countries affects the product. Then there are the producers who get flavours just right.
Mindful that not everyone likes chocolate, I looked for an alternative to sweet products and found delicious heart-shaped cheeses.
This red velvet box is hard to beat for style and texture and can be filled with chocolates of customers’ choice. Try including some of the dark chocolate-covered cherries. In three sizes, at €1 per chocolate and no charge for the box, good value for decent chocolates, and an attractive box in which to conceal a surprise gift.
Individually wrapped, and in a milk churn-style tin, these toffees have a delicious burnished toffee taste, with just the right amount of salt and chocolate. Available in speciality shops.
This one caught my eye with its milk chocolate base. Topped with chocolate brownie biscuit, Malteser-like halves and milk and white chocolate curls, it comes in a typical pizza delivery cardboard box. The chocolate is not the best quality though, so it can be grated or melted and poured over ice-cream or into hot chocolate later.
With tasting notes and instructions that would do a Master of Wine proud, we are advised on which order and how to taste each of the four grand crus bars in order to enjoy each one it at its best. For dark chocolate lovers only, the bars take us on a gourmet trip to the Caribbean, Madagascar, Ecuador and the Dominican republic.
I suggest tasting just a square of each at a time, as with at least 64% cocoa solids there should be a lot of caffeine in there. From Harvey Nicholls Dundrum, Brown Thomas Cork and Dublin.
Large hazelnuts are smothered in gianduja, the Italian nut chocolate paste, then rolled in cocoa to make a superb product for lovers of chocolate and nuts together. A personal favourite.
Two hollow dark chocolate hearts are sprinkled with sugar pearls and freeze dried raspberry pieces. The 60% dark chocolate isn’t too intense and is nicely relieved by the raspberry flavour.
Available in any quantity in various boxes and bags, this brand is a favourite of many who love the deliciously creamy fillings. Fair value.
Two versions of this cheese from Normandy in France make a delicious cheese or starter course with toast or wholemeal biscuits. Coeur Normand Neufchatel cheese, 220g €4.80, is the most acidic of the two with a typical tang that will appeal to lovers of this style. From On the Pig’s Back, English Market, Cork and Douglas Woollen Mills. Iago Neufchatel cheese, 200g €3.15, has a softer flavour, veering towards a brie flavour and texture. From Iago's new shop on Prince's Street, Cork.
