While it is traditional to send bunches of freshly cut flowers and boxes of chocolates on Mother’s Day, you’ve probably never thought to combine the two.
Yet trendy chocolatiers are making sweet treats that taste like a whole range of pretty blossoms.
Among the weird and wonderful flavours are geranium, gorse and meadowsweet, made from wild flowers picked on the banks of a Scottish loch.
These are very different from the rose and violet creams that have been around for decades — Waitrose’s latest offering is cherry blossom essence blended with milk chocolate.
So how do they taste? Waitrose describes cherry blossom and chocolate as the ‘perfect pairing’ but Nick Crean, director of luxury British chocolate brand Prestat, isn’t so sure.
FEMAIL gives verdict on a selection of Mother’s Day treats. Pictured: Cherry Blossom Milk Chocolate, part of Waitrose No 1 Easter Chocolate Edition, £12 at waitrose.com
‘It’s a real challenge to produce floral chocolates that work,’ he says.
‘It’s dependent on getting the right balance between the floral flavour and the quality of the chocolate.
‘On the whole, dark chocolate works best. It’s got that nice bitterness, and from the flower springs sweetness and perfume and a lovely aftertaste.’
So which flowers taste blooming delicious in chocolate — and which are better off in a bouquet?
BLOSSOM BITES
Cherry Blossom Milk Chocolate, part of Waitrose No 1 Easter Chocolate Edition, £12 at waitrose.com
FLORAL FLAVOUR: Cherry blossom, made from extracts of the blush- coloured flowers that sprout in the spring. This is infused in milk chocolate ganache and wrapped in white chocolate casing, dyed pale pink.
TASTE TEST: ‘It isn’t as divisive or as strong as classic floral flavours,’ promises Will Torrent, Waitrose’s innovation and development chef. ‘You’ll taste soft, sweet hints of fresh cherry, followed by sweetness, creaminess and cocoa, before finishing with light floral notes.’
He’s right. The overarching flavour is of plump, juicy cherries, not flowers, which quickly gives way to velvety chocolate. So far, so good. Then the perfume hits and I feel like I’ve got a mouthful of petals. It’s not unpleasant — but doesn’t belong in chocolate.
VERDICT: Some will love the floral flavour but not for me.2/5
GOURMET GORSE
Wild Gorse Flower 50 per cent Milk Chocolate, Chocolarder, £5 at chocolarder.com
Wild Gorse Flower 50 per cent Milk Chocolate, Chocolarder, £5 at chocolarder.com
FLORAL FLAVOUR: Wild gorse, picked from the hedgerows that line the coastal paths near this chocolatier’s factory in Falmouth, Cornwall. The prickly plants yield small yellow flowers, which are soaked in cocoa butter for a ‘heady coconut scent’.
TASTE TEST: Gorse sounds far from appetising but its flowers have been pressed into wines and cordials for centuries. ‘I used to work as a pastry chef and we used gorse flower to make panna cotta,’ explains Chocolarder founder Mike Longman.
It smells earthy but the taste is sweet and exotic with hints of vanilla and hazelnuts, and a strong flavour of toasted coconut. It is scrumptious.
VERDICT: Fragrant and tropical-tasting, a floral feast. 5/5
LOVELY LAVENDER
Milk Chocolate Lavender Truffles, Cotswold Trading, £6.95 at cotswoldtrading.com
Milk Chocolate Lavender Truffles, Cotswold Trading, £6.95 at cotswoldtrading.com
FLORAL FLAVOUR: Lavender oil, pressed from wild lavender grown on a family farm in the Cotswolds countryside. The farm features 500,000 plants, spread over 140 miles.
TASTE TEST: Lavender is such a strong flavour that I’m worried these will taste like bath bombs. Happily, they don’t. There’s a subtle floral scent when you open the box but they are not over- perfumed. The flavour is quite nice: smooth, sweet truffle with an understated, almost-herbal undertone.
VERDICT: Unexpectedly pleasant — lavender at its loveliest. 3/5
Orange Geranium
Happy Hippy Orange & Geranium Dark Chocolate, Montezuma’s, £2.59 at montezumas.co.uk
Happy Hippy Orange & Geranium Dark Chocolate, Montezuma’s, £2.59 at montezumas.co.uk
FLORAL FLAVOUR: One of the British chocolate maker’s best-selling bars, this 74 per cent cocoa solids dark chocolate combines orange zest with geranium oil from the garden plant.
Co-founder Helen Pattinson says: ‘Successfully blending and balancing both a citrus and floral flavour into our powerful organic dark chocolate was a challenge but if you try only one bar from our range, I recommend this.’
TASTE TEST: I’m expecting a subtle, almost-imperceptible hint of geranium. But it’s like being punched with a perfume bottle: flowery, bitter and overpowering.
VERDICT: One flower that doesn’t belong in a bar. 0/5
ROYAL CLASSICS
Rose and Violet Crèmes, Prestat, £14.50 at prestat.co.uk
Rose and Violet Crèmes, Prestat, £14.50 at prestat.co.uk
FLORAL FLAVOUR: Classic and nostalgic, these dark chocolate shells are filled with floral fondant flavoured with essences distilled from fresh petals. A 135g box contains four rose and five violet-infused creams.
TASTE TEST: The Queen is said to be a fan, so they must be pretty impressive. Neither smells particularly floral but the dainty chocolates are lovely to look at.The violet cream tastes sugary, while the rose oozes with pungent cream. Both are moreish.
VERDICT: Retro flavours that are still royally delicious. 4/5
JASMINE SQUARES
Rococo Jasmine Organic Dark Chocolate, part of a set of three chocolate bars, £7.99, at selfridges.com
Rococo Jasmine Organic Dark Chocolate, part of a set of three chocolate bars, £7.99, at selfridges.com
FLORAL FLAVOUR: A double whammy of jasmine flower oil and Chinese green tea, which give this bar, made from 65 per cent organic dark chocolate, a pungent smell and taste. Rococo founder Chantal Coady says: ‘Jasmine is the hardest of all the bars to find the right dose for. Some will find this too strong but that’s just a measure of how heady and powerful it is.’
TASTE TEST: The jasmine is so intense it makes my whole mouth pucker, like I’ve sucked a slice of lemon. While the flower works well in tea, it’s just too potent in a chocolate bar.
VERDICT: Even dark chocolate lovers will find this too bitter. 1/5
MELT-IN-YOUR-MOUTH MEADOWSWEET
Meadowsweet White Chocolate, Charlotte Flower Chocs, £6 at charlotteflower chocolates.com
Meadowsweet White Chocolate, Charlotte Flower Chocs, £6 at charlotteflower chocolates.com
FLORAL FLAVOUR: Meadowsweet is a wild, herb-like plant native to the UK, which artisan chocolatier Charlotte Flower forages from the shores of Loch Tay, Scotland. The flowers can be infused into drinks and desserts but should be used sparingly, as they have mild aspirin-like compounds.
TASTE TEST: Charlotte says: ‘Meadowsweet has a range of flavours from bitter almond to a delicate liquorice.’ Combined with creamy, super-sweet white chocolate, I taste vanilla and honey, and the bar smells and looks like a posh bar of soap. The floral flavour isn’t dissimilar to elderflower with less of a kick.
VERDICT: Mild and mellow, marries well with white chocolate. 4/5
BOX OF BLOOMS
Floral Collection, Davenport’s Chocolates, £10 at davenports chocolates.co.uk
Floral Collection, Davenport’s Chocolates, £10 at davenports chocolates.co.uk
FLORAL FLAVOUR: There’s a whole English country garden in this box by Newcastle-based chocolatier Davenport’s. The fondant-filled dark chocs come in six varieties (lavender, rosemary and lemon flower, bergamot, parma violet, rose and geranium, and fennel blossom) made with natural floral oils.
TASTE TEST: Each chocolate smells strongly of the flower inside so you know which is which.
The bergamot one is a lovely surprise, with hints of citrus and tea, while rosemary and lemon flower is fresh.
But the fennel blossom chocolate, described as having a ‘magnificent earthy aroma’, is not appealing at all, and tastes like a piece of muddy liquorice.
VERDICT: Something for everyone. Some tastier than others. 3/5