Right – this is it folks. We are at the day before Valentine’s Day and you NEED to make sure you have some chocolate and flowers and jewellery and cards or some combination of the aforementioned traditional Valentines treats.  Now, most of what I have covered off is actually already unavailable but the popular high-street names of Godiva and Thorntons.

Thorntons is very popular as a high street chocolate brand. Even as the years have gone by, the popularity of Thorntons seems undaunted. The competitions I have run with Thorntons chocolate have always been the most popular. So it is unsurprising that Thorntons have come out with what will probably be some of the most popular chocolates for Valentine’s Day.  And you still have time to rush down to a Thorntons right now and pick some up. Just go and find some and you’ll find these ADORABLE little boxes of love.

These three small boxes are just perfect with three chocolates each inside. Get one of each for a perfect suite of cute chocolaty numminess. The three options I got were the classic champagne truffle, the strawberry and champagne truffle and the continental viennese truffle.  These were all traditional Thorntons flavours (slightly sweet but still lovely) and because they are Thorntons you know what to expect flavour-wise.  You also know you can trust Thorntons and that most shops will have all three of these boxes today (and likely tomorrow too) so that you can grab three last minute miniatures with that bunch of non-roses. It’ll sex up any bunch of flowers and since it is a variety you can make a little basket out of them by adding something she loves or a bit of jewellery in a small gift bag or open basket.

There is also the option of spelling out how much your love means to you with one of their boxes of message truffles.  Not only will your love had a very special card with your personal message, it’ll be shaped like lots of little chocolates The message chocolates are wonderfully delightful and while they are all the same flavour, who cares? What is going to matter is that you cared enough to spell out a special message of love to the one you love. Mine were sweet but still nummy.

Godiva has long been looked to as a more posh version of the high street chocolate. Godiva are constantly innovating and coming up with new types of chocolates in new styles and new flavours and they’ve come up with these new Mont D’amour flavours that are available either in a cool clear plastic branded sleeve or in this cute little box and they are nummy! They are slightly sweet but I tried the ones I was sent with coffee and WOW. I certainly appreciated the fact the shells were not too think! The Cassis Marron was way better than I expected as it includes chestnut and yet it was delightful with the cassis. The Green Tea was actually a bit sweet but I think someone just trying out a green tea chocolate will find it strongly flavoured and so perhaps more flavourful and less challenging. The Fraises des bois was sharp and tangy and the real gold made it a super winner. The Fraise was delicious and *extremely* strawberry to the point I swear I got seeds stuck in my teeth – WOW! And the noisette citron was fun and really different for a lemon mousse. So you know this is going to be both appreciated because it is Godiva and delicious because they have done some great things with these chocolates.

So hurry – take your lunch hour as a rush trip to your local Thorntons or Godiva and grab some of these chocolates and make a splash tomorrow!

You probably will have read a lot about “Love Notes” from Hotel Chocolat of late as so many of us got a box from the Hotel Chocolat Roast & Conch opening which is a new concept store where they roast, crack, winnow, and refine & conch the chocolate in store.  In fact, you can watch the whole process from start to finish in the shop.  I’ve tried that chocolate but regrettably these chocolates aren’t made with that freshly made coverture.

So what can I possibly add? You’ll have already read about how you get two of each flavour, that the tray is wraped in cellophane but the top is removable so you can see what alcohol-free flavours they have and also fill out the card.  You’ll have read how the box itself has actual love notes beneath the paired chocolates in the box, that these chocolates cost £14 at Hotel Chocolat shops and that today is the last day to order online but you can buy them in shops still.  So I’ll just give my thoughts on the actual chocolates and hopefully you’ll find something new in here…

Strawberry & Black Pepper – This says that it is a truffle but the way the centre looks it could be a caramel it seems but really it is a lovely ganache. The strawberry is sharp and tangy with an edge of acidity and the black pepper is a bit strong. I might have gone with a softer pink peppercorn but it is a lovely combination that I think you’ll enjoy. The dark chocolate is slightly sweet and cuts the ganache slightly, enhancing the black pepper for me.

Raspberry Rapture – apparently a white chocolate ganache which could be why it is pink. This ganache is extremely sharply sour and acidic which makes the milk chocolate almost vital to cut through it. I could actually eat that ganache as a pudding without the sweet milk chocolate which, for me, didn’t balance as well in my mouth as I had hoped however this is going to appeal to a lot of folk.

Vanilla Truffle – this is a bit like Wall’s vanilla ice cream. The vanilla is strongly pronounced so vanilla lovers are going to have a bit of an orgasm in their mouths. Not a favourite as that vanilla ganache really smacks you in the mouth with an extremely strong flavour and I’m not a huge vanilla fan. But if you like your vanilla ice cream, you’ll like these!

Chocolate Brownie – this is actually a praline with a seriously chocolaty edge and hopefully you all know from reading the reviews that I’m not the world’s biggest praline fan. Well, this is OK but I got one with what felt raw sugar crystals in the ganache but it could have been caramelised nuts in small pieces which made it a bit more interesting. It was OK but I wasn’t clear why it was called a brownie.

Smooth praline – this is a very smooth praline and as you likely know, I’m OK with the HC smooth praline. I will always choose others over it but I will also eat it as I did with the pearls and oysters (also a good idea for a romantic Valentine’s Day treat from HC). So nothing earth shattering here but a good old fashioned standard HC chocolate in a heart shape with a pretty design on the heart.

Soft chilli caramel – now this I left for last as the chilli will always ruin your palette and HOLY COW IS THIS A CHILLI CHOCOLATE! Usually I ass sugar to calm the heat when I add too much chilli to my chilli con carne but WOW this is rather strong. The dark chocolate does help calm it a bit but it is still a bit too much for me. I think this is something to have with a glass of something that will take the edge off the heat. *phew*

All in all, a lovely box of choccies but there are so many delicious Hotel Chocolat chocolates that you really can’t go wrong gifting them for the holidays!

I’m trying to achieve a top 20 position in the Shorties awards and I need your help! You don’t need to vote through the site though and give it access and whatnot.  All you have to do is tweet what it asks you to at http://shortyawards.com/MostlyAboutChoc

I know I won’t win because the person in the lead right now has more votes than I have followers so really I have to be realistic and just shoot for a top 20 position.  Could you help me get into the top 20 please?

You can go to the site here http://shortyawards.com/MostlyAboutChoc or just copy the tweet and paste to your own account and add any reason to it and tweet away!

I’m not going to win – clearly – but it would be awesome to be in the top 20!

I know what you’re thinking – you’re thinking you have plenty of time and you can put it off a bit longer.  You’re thinking that you have plenty of time.  YOU DON’T. I know you think you can pop out to somewhere and it’ll be fine. IT WON’T.  Believe me and be ready RIGHT NOW and if you choose this selection, any lateness can be blamed on international couriers and not your forgetfulness but with next day delivery you’ll be safe.

Valentine’s Day is a special day. On this day as much as your anniversary, if not more so, it is the day to demonstrate your love and affection for your partner. Ignore everything else you do the rest of the year – Valentine’s Day is all about bragging rights and you’ll want your valentine to have these bragging rights!

This is possibly the most beautiful box of chocolates I have received.  Securely secreted away within a fabric bag with a wooden heart toggle is a box of delight but before you even get in to it, your message is in the perfectly created pocket with the glossy book of chocolates.  This message and book are within the expensively created bag that she (or he) will want to keep.  I am.

The next thing you notice after opening the bag is that this is a solid mahogany box, finished to perfection without a single splinter out of place.  The wood toggle comes from the cut out heart which is inset with a gold-coloured insert covered in gloss to make it look metallic.  This can be added to I found out by also adding an engraved brass plaque as well for a small additional charge.  The lock is in a beautiful high polish brass and flips open.  One option is for a lock on the bag itself which your valentine has to guess the combination to – very cool! Though I recommend against the lavender pillow – it could scent the chocolates. The USB is cooler or go for a cuddly toy!

Inside the box are these two amazing layers of beautifully delicious chocolates.  These chocolates are both a layer of hearts and a ton of numbered chocolates which correspond to that glossy book in the front pocket of the bag.  There were a *lot* of chocolates so I thought that, since I was sick and couldn’t taste anything I’d simply have to get you to imagine but I did get to go to the ZChocolat tasting event where I could sort-of taste some of the chocolates and I definitely loved the vanilla caramel heart and Z numbered chocolate.

The chocolates were nice – good quality – and are something that someone looking to send someone something so fancy they will be pass-out impressed, this is the box. They are expensive and anyone who receives them will know that without a doubt. So for chocolate that impresses and comes in a box that will be kept for years, this is the gift! Go to the ZChocolat site and buy your Valentine some posh chocolates now.

I got sent this heart of 625g of Thorntons Valentine’s chocolates specifically to give away and so I shall.  But here was the problem – how do I give it away in a fair way without automated entries getting in the way of genuine people who genuinely read the blog and the Facebook page getting a fair chance so here is what I’ll do:

Post a poem in the comments to enter. It has to be a unique poem and as such I will not approve any comments until the competition is over. I will accept any form of poetry but I will be judging on originality so I will be checking to see if it is original. It should be about love since these are Valentine’s Day chocolates.

What about the chocolates? Well, the Thorntons site says: “Say ‘I love you’ with this beautiful chocolate gift. Hand-selected by our Master Chocolatier, this pretty chocolate gift box features only the finest luxury chocolates from our favourite Continental, Milan and Paris chocolate ranges. This stunning gift box is filled with 50 of the most popular Thorntons Continental chocolates, including scrumptious pralines, yummy chocolate truffles and delicious mousses covered in milk, white and dark chocolate.” YUM.

But since it is Valentine’s Day I will also give away some lovely Green & Blacks bars as a second prize!

To enter:
1)    Leave an original poem in the comments for me to judge
2)    Share this post on Facebook by clicking “share” on the wall post about this blog post on the MostlyAboutChocolate Facebook page (I’m not asking for “likes” as I understand that is frowned upon by Facebook – just share this specific blog post)

The rules:
1.Random.org will be used to determine if Facebook (1) or blog comments (2) will be chosen from to win the Thorntons chocolates. Once the Thorntons chocolates have been awarded, the Green & Blacks bars will be.
2.The competition will finish at noon GMT on Monday 13th February 2012.
3.The selection of winner will be based on originality of poem for blog comments, and by using random.org for Facebook shares.
4.Only available to UK mainland addresses.
5.No cash alternative available.
6.I reserve the right to exclude entries that I feel are inappropriate or not in the spirit of the competition. No pornographic poems please.
7.Your details won’t be passed onto anyone else and will not be kept in any way.
8.I reserve the right to remove entries that I believe aren’t human created or are an attempt to gain an unfair advantage such as automated entries.
Thanks to Loquax for the guidance on competitions!

Dark chocolate with a white chocolate ganache filling laced with Sloe Gin is how these are described. Sloe Seduction is the brain child of Katherine at KJC Marketing who combined her love of sloe berries, gin and chocolate together to come up with this extremely specialist product.

Did you know that sloe gin is a red liqueur flavoured with sloe (blackthorn) berries, which are a small fruit relative of the plum. To make sloe gin, a wide-necked jar is filled half way with the pricked berries. The jar is sealed and turned several times to mix, then stored in a cool, dark place. It is turned every day for the first two weeks, then each week, until at least three months have passed.  Folklore has it that when making sloe gin, one should not prick the berries with a metal fork, unless it is made of silver. The established traditional method is to prick the berries with a thorn taken from the blackthorn bush on which they grow. That seems loo much like hard work to me.

But to the chocolates… These unassuming little chocolate hearts actually hire a bit of a surprise. The lightly pink filling is delicious and the sloe gin is slow to kick in but you suddenly get hit with a punch of alcohol that is distinctly the sloe gin. With a full 6% of the chocolates being sloe gin, it isn’t surprising that these have a significant alcohol punch!

I have to say, everyone who tried one loved it and I really enjoyed it.  The thin chocolate shell with the unique and different filling really made for a deliciously different experience and I actually am very partial to the thinner shelled chocolates on the market.

If you’re tired of the same old stuff and want to give your valentine something a bit different, why not try these on for size? You don’t need to love sloe gin to love them

I have not been well of late.  I have had a terrible, lingering cold and I have been working quite long hours at the office (yes, I have a full time job as the head of search at an agency. This requires mostly 60 – 80h weeks including 15h of commuting). During one particularly low point when I had left late, rushed home to make brownies and used every scrap of unflavoured chocolate in the house only to have them fail dramatically and so I had to go without dinner, I got a lovely uplifting email with the most beautiful image on chocolate. That email perked me up, gave me something to look forward to and so I went to bed without any dinner but with the promise of beautiful Valentine’s chocolate from Rococo.

I have to admit when I first saw the box I thought it was wood. This chocolate box from Rococo for Valentine’s day is a beautiful example of art and chocolate. Painted on a solid chocolate heart (well, the mould anyway) is the most perfect Valentines image of love – two white doves on a branch with hearts all around them. The background is red, the birds are creamy white and the whole effect will make you reluctant to eat the chocolate itself!

Not only is this the most stunningly beautiful example of chocolate art that you can buy at an affordable price but there are three perfect chocolates nestled inside the beauty of the box.  Yes, that’s right, not only is the box itself solid chocolate but there are 3 ganaches inside

The reason for the symbolism of the birds for Rococo is that they symbolise loyalty, fidelity and love – something most Valentines wish to express on this special of days.  They say that in ancient folklore that birds chose their mates on this day. Judging by the birds in the bushes outside my bedroom window, they tire out from arguing on that date and settle down for once. All they’re doing right now is being loud… every… morning… at 5am… but to the chocolates…

Rose (maybe) – lightly flavoured and so hard to taste through my cold I’m pretty sure I caught a hint of rose (though that could have been something else) so I’ll go with that. Delicate flavours for those with a cold but a lovely ganache.

Plain ganache – I think – maybe – well it was delightful but my stopped up nose didn’t let me sense any subtleties.

Irish coffee white choc ganache – this I’m sure of as I could actually taste this – yay! Thank goodness too it was very nice, smooth and obviously was strong enough for even someone with a cold to taste!

If you’re looking for something special, pop on over to Rococo chocolates & buy your Valentine something that is sure to be shared! These hearts are available from Rococo direct and cost £22.50

What is Valentines Day without some foil wrapped chocolate hearts? Mind you, I miss those little cinnamon candies of my youth but they just aren’t popular here. Well, perhaps we can change that but until then, chocolate and strawberries is always going to take the prize for the ultimate Valentine treat and now you have give your sweetheart a whole box of chocolate covered strawberry (crisp).

Joining the packs of dark chocolate and milk chocolate hearts are the new strawberry white chocolate hearts. This sweetly interesting extension to the range is inspired by Divine’s bestselling strawberry white chocolate flavoured bar which I didn’t remember reviewing but HERE IT IS …. Each silver foiled heart combines creamy white chocolate with pieces of strawberry crisp made with real strawberries. All ingredients are entirely natural and they are suitable for vegetarians. The 125g packs are priced at £4.50 (rrp) and will be available at Waitrose and Oxfam nationwide and from Divine’s online shop from January 2012. For the online shop visit www.divinechocolate.com/shop

There were 21 hearts in my box meaning 3 people could have 7 or 7 people could have 3 or one person could have LOTS… however you split them up – individually taped to a valentine card or as a gift of a while box – these are a sweet treat that’ll be fun to eat. The strawberry crisp (which is made from a variety of things I will have trouble spelling) is slightly tart and so I think nicely balances off the sweet white chocolate. I’m more of a fan of those little eggs in the crisp candy shell myself but these are going to be the perfect sweet treat for a lot of ethical Valentines this year!

I know most of my readers have a real sweet tooth.  They like a sweet chocolate that isn’t too bitter and quite a few are absolute fans of white chocolate.  Well, this is white chocolate with a heart. Divine Chocolate Ltd is the only Fairtrade chocolate company that is also co-owned by cocoa farmers. Kuapa Kokoo, a co-operative of 45,000 cocoa farmers in Ghana, benefit not only  from the Fairtrade premium on the sale of their beans, but also receive a 45% share of Divine’s distributable profits giving the farmers more economic stability, as well as the increased influence in the cocoa industry company-ownership brings.

So there you go – if buying a sweet treat with a lovely balance of flavours isn’t enough then just think about the good you are doing for the farmers. You’re being generously selfless when you buy a box of these hearts so that’s also the perfect reason to indulge in a bar at the same time That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it!

With hearts bearing messages of “Be Mine”, “Love” and “With Love”, this is a sweet Valentines treat in more than one way.  This delicious handmade milk chocolate cocoa pod, made with 44% milk chocolate from Grenada, comes decorated with dark chocolate swirls and edible pink lustre. It’s packed full of mini dark chocolate cocoa pods, a selection of Chococo’s award winning truffles, cute Love heart-shaped chocolates and delicious Smoked Sea Salt Caramels.

Of course, all chocolates come in pairs and so, I suppose, you could (theoretically) share the chocolates… but oh look I got three salt sweet smoke so if I eat one fast *munches* there’s only two of each chocolate (except the hearts). So there you go – there are TWO of each chocolate and three white chocolate hearts and I didn’t just scoff one of the caramels…

White Chocolate Heart – each unique message set into a sweet white chocolate is cute. This is a typical white chocolate which is great for lovers of white chocolate.

Salt Sweet Smoke – Cornish smoked sea salt muscovado caramel in a dark chocolate shell. Absolutely yummy and you’ll be grabbing the extra one for yourself as well. I suggest trying one first then as the pattern of 2 of each chocolate emerges you’ll get an extra one

Perfect Passion – handmade pure passion-fruit jelly layered with milk chocolate ganache dipped in milk chocolate and decorated with an edible floral pattern. This chocolate has a yummy layer of passion fruit jelly and a ganache layer.

Raspberry Riot – 70% Grenadian dark chocolate, raspberries & framboise liqueur in fresh Dorset cream rolled in crushed dried raspberries. Absolutely delish and you’ll love the sharp sour with the sweet chocolate.

Melting Milk – Milk chocolate fresh cream truffle infused with Madagascan vanilla seeds & rolled in milk chocolate flakes (Gold Great Taste Award 2010). Even husband loved this truffle! It was a bit sweet for me but I did try it after I’d just had the raspberry one which I had after the caramel so it might not be sweet to others. It is a really nice truffle though and while you only get two you can savour the one you get

Tate Heart- smooth hazelnut praline-filled milk chocolate heart decorated with pink drizzle. This is actually a really nice praline and while I’m not a praline lover (nor is husband) I didn’t mind this one and ate the whole choc

This is one of the cutest and sweetest gifts. Adorable cocoa pod from Chococo made of chocolate, yummy chocolates and sweet white chocolate hearts. I can imagine that it would be the kind of Valentines gift that would be appreciated for being a gift of love that wasn’t typical.

What could be better than a message of love from someone? A message of love in CHOCOLATE! That’s right – you can get your own message in chocolate from House of Dorchester! It can get a bit addictive… it’s kind of like tweeting in chocolate (only a little more expensive) but you create the message you want in chocolate.

The lovely House of Dorchester folk sent me my Twitter name in chocolate and it was such fun I thought just when you’re looking for something a little more interesting to send someone for Valentine’s day this would just be a ton of fun! And look what I made!

It is literally this easy and for ten quid you’ve got yourself a card *and* a gift of chocolate all at once! There ya go – so if you’d like a gift like the one I got, get yourself over to the House of Dorchester and have a play creating the message you want!