ZOMG, Candy!

Chef Eric Clayton, the executive pastry chef and chocolatier for Derry Church Artisan Chocolates, emailed me about sending me some free samples of his chocolates. After checking out the gorgeous photos and sumptuous descriptions on their website, how could I resist? [Note: All text in quotes is taken from the website descriptions]

Their chocolates are named after different cities. I got an all dark assortment: the Cairo, London, New Orleans, Paris, Plymouth, Savannah, Tangier, and Veracruz. I’ll do the first four today, and the next four will be reviewed tomorrow.

The Cairo contains “a sweet date paste made from plump, succulent Medjool dates and a touch of expensive, thick, syruppy, aged balsamic vinegar.” That circle on top is “a small disk of jaggery cake (brown sugar & molasses) [that] adorns the triangle.”

I found the jaggery cake to bring a brown sugar overload. The chocolate ganache itself has a sour tinge to it from the balsamic vinegar. I found the date paste to be throat-burningly sweet. I respect the creative and interesting flavor combo, but it’s too sweet for me.

The London is a butter toffee sandwiched between “a deep, dark, brooding 70% European bittersweet chocolate” and then coated in “roasted crushed almond.” I had saved a piece of this to photograph for a cross section, but someone at work ate it before I could. I still haven’t tracked down the candy thief…

The toffee layer cleaves cleanly. It’s lovely and smooth, but sadly, there’s not much toffee/burnt sugar/butter flavor to it. Instead, the piece mostly tastes of the roasted almonds that it’s coated in.

The New Orleans is a bananas foster flavored truffle. Bananas foster is traditionally “made with sliced ripe bananas and a brown sugar/rum sauce.” In the truffle, “this entire delicious concoction is pureed smooth and blended into a smooth, creamy fine European milk chocolate ganache and then enrobed in a 70% bittersweet couverture.”

It seems sweet and tastes strongly of toffee and rum notes. The flavor of bitter cocoa run throughout, but it also carries a sweet finish. I didn’t get any banana notes, but that’s probably for the better, as I’m not a huge fan of banana-flavored candy.

Paris is a lovely, large, round, and bumpy dark chocolate rose-looking truffle. It’s homemade strawberry jam and a French white buttercream.

It’s a sticky soft cream that’s super fruity. The strawberry jam is extremely sweet, but it’s tasty and genuine! It’s a great flavor that goes well with the caramel note to the chocolate’s finish.

Derry Church’s chocolates are well made and lovely, with interesting flavor combinations. So far, the Cairo, London, and New Orleans get Os, while the Paris gets an OM. Stay tuned for Wednesday – I liked the latter half of the alphabet even more!