The Chocolate Empire - Scrumptious New Collection

Chocolatier, Anthony Heurtier, has a flair with flavours. He’s the creator of The Chocolate Empire, and has introduced some new combinations to the realm of chocolate with this new collection.

The handmade organic chocolates are available in six flavours, including ‘Rosemary Caramel’. The bite-sized cubes of cocoa dusted hazelnut pralines, have a distinct rosemary aroma when you open the packet - a flavour our tasters are more accustomed to with savoury dishes - so we had to keep diving back in the box to decide if it works, and the unanimous conclusion was that it does!

The more traditional ‘Caramelised Hazelnut’ encases whole hazelnuts in dark chocolate, and it’s just as well you get a lot in one box as they’re extremely moreish.

The ‘Apricot’ box went down the best with the kids among the taste specialists. The chunky irregular shapes disguise a whole apricot, under a swathe of milk chocolate. Another surprise, as apricot isn’t a flavour that would have made it into my basket before testing it out, and now it most definitely would.

The company has built the Empire up on ethical foundations. The cocoa beans are grown by small cooperatives in Peru. The beans are grown organically, meaning that farmers are not exposed to harmful pesticides and also helps support a more sustainable way of farming.

The nifty boxes are made using card from sustainably managed forests, and the printing inks are vegetable inks, making the chocs a really thoughtful gift for any occassion, or just an excuse for a treat.

The Soil Association certified boxes are available in shops now.

Cost: £3.75 for 100g