Choc parade: Top eight Easter eggs put to the taste test
LET’S not be curmudgeonly about Easter eggs. Yes, they are less good value than a chocolate bar, and yes, they often have excessive packaging. But most of the plastic and cardboard can be recycled or reused, and as a once-a-year treat, we could do worse.
Generally, better value can be found in bigger eggs, and at the other end of the scale, there is good value in solid, delicious, small animal and poultry figures. We particularly liked the giraffe at Cinnamon Cottage, Rochestown, Cork, hazelnut chicks in Brown Thomas and ducks in The Chocolate Shop, English Market, Cork. We avoided many of the big brands of eggs this year.
There are plenty of poplar brands with accompanying bars, but they thrilled us less when we sought out higher quality eggs that were new to us.
Chocolate will keep well in a cool place, so there is no need to eat excessively to get it out of the way. Keep it to melt and pour over ice-cream, and to drizzle on flapjacks, lemon meringues or triangles of flaky pastry for an easy dessert. Chocolate and dried prunes are delicious added to a yeast dough before baking.
Melt chocolate egg slowly and only until it has barely liquidised as it is easy to dry it out.
An Easter egg hunt in or outdoors is fun for everyone. Choose big and small eggs well and enjoy every bite.
From an extensive range, this marbled milk chocolate egg, made in Belgium, has 32.5% cocoa solids. Opulent, without being too rich, not oversweet, the balance here worked best for all tasters, including the six-year-old.
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In several sizes costing up to €70, a member of staff will stick names or any legend onto the egg in solid letters coated in gold. Attractive and contemporary. However, the chocolate quality was not as good as it looked. A slightly dry taste was not luxurious enough to be a favourite of tasters.
5
With accompanying bar, this egg is free from dairy, egg, gluten and nuts. What it does have is 55% min cocoa solids and the result is a dark richness that is not bitter. Good for those who don’t like very dark chocolate. While a little oversweet for one taster, the six year old came back for more.
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This half egg made in Belgium has 64% minimum chocolate solids and is attractively printed with a parrot in a jungle setting. The price we pay for colour is titanium dioxide, iron oxides and hydroxides, as well as more natural colouring including curcumin and beetroot red. The vanilla flavouring, sugar and cocoa are all Fairtrade which is commendable. A lively, clean taste and silky mouthfeel added to the score.
7.25
Made in Ballinskelligs, Co Kerry, this company continues to innovate. This dark chocolate egg, the largest of the sizes available, has a decent 70% cocoa solids and flavoured with vanilla, juniper berries, lime powder and oil. All the flavours come through here to combine well with the dark chocolate. The juniper is flecked throughout to add an interesting gritty texture. One taster’s favourite, especially the generous thickness, and all were happy to have more.
7.5
Made in Switzerland, this milk chocolate egg has an oval white panel decorated with nibbed hazelnuts and 10 milk chocolate praline mini eggs surrounding it. Tasters loved the toasted hazelnut flavour and liked the creamy, hazelnut- filled eggs too. Two found the flavour slightly too sweet.
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A milk chocolate egg with two large bars of butterscotch and sea salt make this a good value package. 37% cocoa solids not loved by the six year old, but the adults, tasting blind, recognised and liked the brand’s taste which they said was exactly the same as its bars. No sweet aftertaste.
7.25
Also in larger sizes, names can be printed on the cellophane wrapping for €3 if pre-ordered. Milk chocolate has 33.6% cocoa solids, and a vanilla flavour dominates which tasters liked. They also liked the decent thickness of the shell and the four chocolate coated honeycomb pieces inside. Good value. In English market stall.
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