Grandessa Irish Chocolate
April 26, 2011
I didn’t know that there were “Irish style” chocolates until I saw a box of chocolates from Grandessa. This box claimed an Irish assortment of filled milk, white, and dark chocolate. To satisfy my curiosity, I bought a box.
The chocolates are uniquely shaped in a square “cup” that holds caramel, lemon meringue, and strawberry truffle. The molded piece is open at the top. The Caramel Sensation is a smooth caramel inside a milk chocolate cup sprinkled with dark mini chocolate chips on the top. The Lemon Supreme is also inside a milk chocolate cup sprinkled with crystalline sugar on the top. And the Sumptuous Strawberry is dusted with a sweet red powder and tucked inside a white chocolate cup.
I thoroughly enjoyed the caramel, but the strawberry was way too sweet. I liked the lemon, and had forgotten how delicious citrus and chocolate combinations are together. I would have preferred a dark chocolate cup with the lemon, but the milk chocolate was mild and slightly fruity and blended very well as a whole.
The caramel in the caramel cup was smooth and butter. The dark chocolate chips added a more intense chocolate note to the mix without bringing any bitterness or aftertaste in the finish.
I don’t really believe that these chocolates represent some sort of Irish tradition of chocolate making. I think the marketing of these chocolates (suspiciously on sale in the States for St. Patrick’s Day) was to give it an Irish spin.
At least they were good, in spite of the marketing fluff!
- BarkThins Dark Chocolate Coconut with Almonds - May 22, 2020
- Endangered Species Cacao Nibs + Dark Chocolate Review - May 15, 2020
- Mr. Dot Bar Review - May 7, 2020
The packaging advertises “Irish Handcrafted” chocolates rather than ‘Irish style’ chocolates, so I think they were just trying to promote that these chocolates were authentically made in Ireland.
Personally, I would go out of my way to purchase more of the Lemon Supreme if they were sold separately. It was the only one to offer unique texture and I liked the flavor.
This assortment wasn’t bad, but it definitely falls into the category of cheap chocolate, characteristic of what I would expect from a generic foods store.