Pierre Herme Truffles

The truffles from the Pierre Herme concession at Selfridges were somewhat different from ones I would usually try myself.  I didn’t enjoy all the macaron chocolates and so these ones were somewhat worrying.  I am not universally in love with pistachio and yet it seems in vogue with chocolate makers.

Truffe au praline – praline ganache enrobed in dark chocolate and cocoa powder.  The lack lustre chocolate covering the smooth, almost liquid praline ganache was not a favourite of mine.  The chocolate itself was most of the disappointment with a dark bitter flavour common in over roasted bean chocolate and not the Amedei I love.  The flavour then went slightly sweet as though the ganache or chocolate had some added sugar which has not blended.  Yuck.

Truffe au Chocolat au Lait and The Vert Matcha – milk chocolate and matcha green tea ganache, roasted pistachios, covered in milk chocolate and pistachio powder.  I like matcha green tea – I learned about it when I was visiting Japan and learned about the tea ceremony and was honoured to be able to take part in one as the tea mixer (that’s the only part I was trusted to do).  The pistachio was a mistake.  It made the outside too powdery and unpleasant.  It masked the chocolate itself which was yummy.  I would suggest scraping the exterior off and eating the chocolate like that but really – why bother when other suppliers have a more pleasant chocolate.

Truffe Intense – bitter chocolate ganache enrobed in dark chocolate and cocoa powder.  The saving grace of the lot, it was not fantastic with a slightly sour taste and an odd aftertaste, it was at least edible and I did eat the whole thing.  I think it is lovely to create something unique and different but when creating it, I believe it is necessary to create it with good chocolate and the harsh bitter flavour with strange sweet aftertaste tells me that this chocolate is not best.