Green & Black’s is giving a personal gift this Christmas

Posted on December 12, 2016 by Frostie

2016 has been an amazing year for Green & Black’s: the brand has celebrated its 25th anniversary, visited another 7 local towns reviving historic recipes with a chocolate twist, and even released the delicious Dark Sea Salt THIN bar.
This year for Christmas, Green & Black’s are giving a personal gift: a delicious bar of Green & Black’s tailored to the recipient. The Green & Black’s Personalised Bar allows you to avoid the chaos of Christmas shopping, but also give a loved one a bespoke version of their favourite chocolate bar.

Here at Green & Black’s we are excited to be gearing up for the festive season, at the end of what has been a truly special year for the brand. In our 25th year, we have released a new THIN bar, visited foodie hotspots all over the country and now want to celebrate Christmas with something truly bespoke for our customers.

This Christmas, Green & Black’s have made the gift of chocolate more personal with Green & Black’s Personalised Bars. The online personalisation service allows you to make a unique gift with the name of your loved one written across the top of the bar. So that you can really express your special Christmas message, there is also space to write on the back of the bar, meaning the bar can also double up as a Christmas card! With this unique service available for eight of the most popular Green & Black’s flavours, such as Sea Salt, Butterscotch or Ginger, this personalised touch is the perfect small gift for friends and family alike.

For those who want to give a slightly larger present to a true connoisseur of chocolate, the Green and Black’s Connoisseur Collection is another fantastic gift. Perfect for chocolate lovers of all tastes, The Connoisseur Collection is the ultimate chocolate gift to share with friends and family as it contains not only a refined selection of our favourite Green & Black’s chocolate bars, but also its own ‘Tasting Wheel’ and ‘cheat sheet’ for pairing different flavours with complementing Christmas tipples.

Brandt Maybury, Green & Black’s Taste Specialist commented: “After a wonderful year here at Green & Black’s, we are excited for Christmas to finally arrive! A time perfect for spending with family and friends, our Connoisseur Collection is a lovely shared experience whilst the Personalised Bar lets you show that little extra care for your loved ones. Enjoy pushing your taste boundaries, and giving a truly intimate gift to your nearest and dearest with Green and Black’s this Christmas!”

The Green & Black’s gifting range is available from stores nationwide, however for the personalised option, please visit our online store at www.greenandblacksdirect.com and have it delivered direct to your door.

Green & Black’s Personalised Bars: RRP £5.00 + delivery

Personalised covers can be bought to wrap Almond, Burnt Toffee, Butterscotch, Dark 70%, Ginger, Milk, Sea Salt and White. They are able to order online at: www.greenandblacksdirect.com

The Connoisseur Collection: RRP £17.99
The Connoisseur Collection is the perfect gift for any food and wine connoisseur. It contains a selection of our favourite chocolate bars presented alongside tasting notes outlining which dessert wine, port, sherry or spirit compliments each bar.

Frost is a fan.

Frost Loves: The Cadbury Christmas Chocolate Range

Posted on November 8, 2016 by Frostie

At Frost it is known that we love chocolate, and you cannot beat Cadbury when it comes to chocolate. We reviewed the new range for our readers. Hard job, we know.

There are much-loved favourites and new and exciting products this Christmas. These novel and fun products are sure to be a winner with the family.

NEW FOR 2016

Cadbury Dairy Milk Snow Balls

As Christmas approaches, this brand new product is sure to get families across the country in the mood for the festive season. These Cadbury Dairy Milk Snow Balls are the ideal treat to share and come in a pack of four. Simply crack open the top of the Snow Ball and use the spoon provided to scoop out and enjoy the fluffy mousse centre. Yum! RRP £2.99

This is novel, tasty and fun. You eat the middle out with the spoon enclosed. Very festive.

Cadbury Dairy Milk Santa Gift Box

Another new product for 2016, this Santa gift box – filled with delicious chunks of Cadbury Dairy Milk – is the perfect stocking filler. To spread the excitement and magic this Christmas, why not treat a loved one to this cheeky chappy and tuck into the delicious delights from Santa’s sack. RRP £2.99.

Gorgeous Dairy Milk chunks in a fun santa.

COUNTDOWN TO CHRISTMAS

Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without the Cadbury Dairy Milk Advent Calendar, the best way to count down to the most magical day of the year. If you can’t get enough of the delicious Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate, this advent calendar will keep the festive excitement growing this holiday season. Complete with a tantalising assortment of milk chocolates, and milk chocolates with vanilla flavour fillings, everyone will want a piece. 200g RRP £4.99

If you can’t get enough of the delicious CadburyDairy Milk chocolate, this advent calendar will really keep you wishing away the days to Christmas. Open a door to reveal a delicious piece of Cadbury Dairy Milk every day until the big day. RRP £2.19

A must for the Christmas season. A tasty chocolate for each day.

STOCKING FILLERS

If you are looking for a sweet stocking filler for the kids, the Cadbury Dairy Milk Hollow Santas are just the perfect reminder that Santa will be on his way soon. A quirky twist on the classic Christmas traditional icon, these Santa’s are made from delicious Cadbury Dairy Milk, a supremely scrumptious Santa if we ever saw one! 50g RRP £1.49, 100g RRP £2.99

These hollow Santas are perfect for Christmas.

For a jolly way to treat family and friends during the festive season, Cadbury Dairy Milk Jolly Santas are perfect as they come in packs containing five pocket sized Santas, each presented in fun wrapping. Santa has had a makeover and there are now seven cheerful looks to be discovered. Kids will surely love them! RRP £2.99

These are so jolly and awesome. We love them.

There is no better feeling than opening your stocking on Christmas morning. Here to put a smile on the faces of every chocolate lover, the Cadbury Dairy Milk Freddo Faces Tube is bound to be the kids’ favourite. The festive tube is packed full of cheeky choccy pieces, with Freddo pulling a range of playful faces to entertain the little ones. RRP £1.42

These were a huge hit. Our new favourite. So tasty.

For a timeless treat that will be well received by kids and grandparents alike, slip a tube of Cadbury Dairy Milk Button in the stockings. The classic bite-size button shapes of solid Cadbury Dairy Milk come packaged in an exciting festive tube that will bring joy to everyone. RRP £1.42

A classic chocolate in great packaging. We love the owl.

If you know someone who really cannot get enough of the delicious Cadbury Wispa we have the perfect gift for them, the Cadbury Endless Wispa. The classic and much loved Bitsa Wispa now comes in a giant Christmas stick, so why not impress your friends with the gift that keeps on giving. RRP £2.49

How much Wispa is enough Wispa? This almost gets there, but not quite. Perfect for Christmas.

DECK THE HALLS

Add a touch of Cadbury Christmas purple to your tree, or surprise your relatives by gifting them with the new Cadbury Dairy Milk Baubles. These spectacular supersized baubles are available in two different varieties. Cadbury Dairy Milk Oreo Baubles are filled with Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolates complete with a vanilla flavour filling and Oreo biscuit pieces. Cadbury Dairy Milk Snow Bites Baubles includes 4x34g bags of Snow Bites; Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate balls encased in crisp sugar shells and dusted with delicious icing sugar. RRP £4.99

These are just the most perfect thing ever. A great invention and so tasty.

Make your tree even sweeter with Cadbury Dairy Milk Tree Decorations. There are different designs and shapes for everyone in the family to leave their sparkly mark on this year’s decorations. Available in both 84g (RRP £2.13) and 144g (RRP £3.46) packs.

Yummy and look perfect on the tree. Just keep them away from the lights.

FAMILY FAVOURITES…

Everybody loves classics at Christmas and there is nothing more classic than Cadbury chocolate during the festive season…

Cadbury Dairy Milk Winter Edition is made up of mini white and milk chocolate tree-shaped chunks, perfect for also decorating your Christmas cake. You can break them apart and share with the family for an instant taste of Christmas joy. RRP £1.42

So festive and is both white and milk chocolate. What more could you want?

The irresistible Cadbury Dairy Milk Snowman will bring you the joy of a snowy Christmas day regardless of the weather. Available with chocolate mousse or vanilla mousse, the Snowmen are encased in a Cadbury Dairy Milk shell, with a light and fluffy mousse centre that tantalises the taste buds. Whether you choose a vanilla or chocolate mousse is up to you! RRP £0.65

Very yummy. The mousse is great. We loved these.

PERFECT FOR SHARING

Everybody loves a selection box at Christmas time.Cadbury selection packs comes in two sizes, small and medium. The smaller selection pack enables chocolate fans to enjoy all their favourite Cadburyclassics as they count down the days until Santa arrives! There is a bar for each day with CadburyChomp, Cadbury Curly Wurly, Cadbury Fudge and Cadbury Dairy Milk Freddo. The Cadbury Medium Selection box contains a mix of favourites, such as the Cadbury Double Decker, Cadbury Crunchie and Cadbury Dairy Milk Buttons. 81g RRP £1.09, 180g RRP £2.99

The Cadbury Dairy Milk Freddo selection box is a fun sharing box with a sweat treat for everyone in the family. For extra fun, each pack contains a voucher for free child entry to Cadbury World. Classics include Cadbury Crunchie, Cadbury Chomp, Cadbury Curly Wurly and Cadbury Fudge. RRP £2.99

Christmas is not Christmas without a selection box. This Fredo one is full of the classics.

Luxury Irish Chocolatier Lily O’Brien’s Christmas Range Review

Posted on November 18, 2015 by Frostie

We reviewed some amazing chocolate from Lily O’Brien’s. The Milk Chocolate Truffles were utterly divine and so chocolatey we were in heaven. The Creamy Caramels were delicious and perfect, the Creamy Caramels with Sea Salt are unique, with a perfect dash of sea salt that really works. The Ultimate Chocolate Collection already looked like a present and was exciting to unwrap, but not as exciting as what was inside: an amazing collection of chocolates that were the encapsulation of luxury. We can’t think of a better present for a loved one. Give in bulk to those you love and remain popular for the rest of the year.

Spread some luxurious festive cheer with the brand new Christmas collection from Lily O’Brien’s – the premium Irish chocolatier.

With deliciously decadent chocolates that create that “wow” factor for dinner party guests, and gorgeous gifting solutions for that special someone, there’s a Lily O’Brien’s product for every Christmas occasion.

Lily O’Brien’s chocolates are crafted with care and passion, to ensure that each and every chocolate is of the finest quality.

Especially for the festive season, Lily O’Brien’s has created some extra special gifts in stunning seasonal packaging. Customers will love the Petit Indulgence Keepsake Star – a beautiful selection of milk, dark and white classic Lily O’Brien’s favourites, presented in a star-shaped keepsake box.

Dinner party hosts can add a touch of seasonal sparkle to the table with Lily O’Brien’s Milk Chocolate Truffle Cracker. A fabulous cracker-shaped box crammed full of luxurious milk chocolate truffles.

And, the Ultimate Chocolate Collection has been given a fantastic festive twist, with several gifting sizes available in Christmas packaging. This scrumptiously amazing assortment contains eight unique Lily O’Brien’s recipes including Le Crunch Chocolat, Lemon Meringue Pie, Zesty Orange Chocolate, Sticky Toffee, Praline Perfection, Double Chocolate Truffle, Simply Chocolate and Great Taste Award winner Death by Chocolate.

Lily O’Brien’s chocolates are available in major supermarkets including Waitrose.com, Asda.com, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and online at www.lilyobriens.com. The Christmas range will be available to purchase from the end of Autumn.

Lily O’Brien’s Christmas Collection:

Lily O’Brien’s Petit Indulgence Keepsake Star 96g
Lily O’Brien’s Creamy Caramels Christmas Gift Pouch 110g Lily O’Brien’s Milk Chocolate Truffles Christmas Cracker 195g Lily O’Brien’s Chocolate Indulgence Collection 250g Lily O’Brien’s Chocolate Treasures Collection 240g
Lily O’Brien’s Ultimate Chocolate Collection 190g
Lily O’Brien’s Ultimate Chocolate Collection 160g

www.lilyobriens.com

Christmas Gift List Special: Cadbury Christmas Chocolate

Posted on November 5, 2015 by Frostie

As far as Christmas memories go, an advent calendar or selection box from Cadbury is one that lingers. The excitement of a chocolate a day, and the naughtiness of opening another door and then closing it again, just so no one could tell you have taken another chocolate was lots of fun. At Frost HQ, the day a preview of Cadbury Christmas chocolate range came, was one were we all loved our job. Innovation is the name of the game at Cadbury. From their Marvellous Mix Ups to their Marvellous Creations, they are constantly raising the bar. Here is what you should be popping into your local shop for:

The Cadbury Christmas countdown is on! Christmas really is the most wonderful time of the year, and this festive season the Cadbury Christmas sleigh will be full to the brim of joyful treats. As well as the favourite classics that everyone loves, Cadbury has brought out new and exciting products which are sure to spread the festive joy throughout the UK this festive season.

New for 2015

Add a touch of Cadbury Christmas purple to your tree, or surprise your relatives by gifting them with the new Cadbury Dairy Milk Baubles. These spectacular supersized baubles are available in two different varieties. Cadbury Dairy Milk Oreo Baubles are filled with Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolates complete with a vanilla flavour filling and Oreo biscuit pieces. Cadbury Dairy Milk Snow Bites Baubles includes 4x34g bags of Snow Bites; Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate balls encased in crisp sugar shells and dusted with delicious icing sugar. These Baubles are perfect for a fun gift for any member of the family. RRP £4.99. These are brilliant. They can hang on the tree and are as festive as they are delicious.

Our new Cadbury Dairy Milk Hollow Santas will guarantee to put a ‘ho ho ho’ in your stocking. These hollow Santas put a quirky twist on the classic Christmas traditional icon, and are made from delicious Cadbury Dairy Milk, a supremely scrumptious Santa if we ever saw one! 60g RRP £1.49, 130g RRP £2.99. Perfect for getting into the Christmas spirit.

If you are looking for a sweet stocking filler for the kids, or a new, jolly way to treat family and friends during the festive season, Cadbury Dairy Milk 5 Jolly Santas are perfect as they come in packs containing five pocket sized Santas, each presented in fun wrapping. Kids will be sure to love them as Santa has had a makeover and there are now seven jolly looks to be discovered! RRP £2.99

Another exciting addition to the Cadbury Dairy Milk family is the magical Cadbury Dairy Milk Marvellous Creations Novelty Gift perfect to put the smile on your little elves’ faces. Marvellous by name and marvellous by nature, this gift is bursting with delicious treats including a bag of Cadbury Dairy Milk Marvellous Mix Ups with Oreo and two bars of Cadbury Dairy Milk Marvellous Creations Jelly Popping Candy. The taste is simply…marvellous! RRP £3.99

Our favourite frog gets a festive makeover this season with Cadbury Dairy Milk Freddo Faces Novelty Gift. Pop open Freddo’s mouth, and five of the incredibly delicious cheeky Cadbury Dairy Milk Freddo faces bags will leap out. Ribbit! RRP £3.99. Fredo is a classic and he comes in lots of different varieties now, including popping candy.

Everybody loves a selection box at Christmas time. This year we have the Cadbury Dairy Milk Freddo selection box, a fun sharing box with a sweat treat for everyone in the family. For extra fun, each pack contains a voucher for a free child entry to Cadbury World. Classics include Cadbury Crunchie, Cadbury Chomp, Cadbury Curly Wurly and Cadbury Fudge. RRP £2.99
If you can’t get enough of the delicious Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate, this year we have a brand new bigger advent calendar to really keep you topped up on joy this festive season. Complete with a tantalising assortment of milk chocolates, and milk chocolates with vanilla flavour fillings, everyone will want a piece. 200g RRP £4.99

Stocking fillers

There is no better feeling then opening your stocking on Christmas morning to reveal jaw-droppingly good Cadbury chocolate, and back again to put a smile on the faces of every chocolate lover is the Cadbury Dairy Milk Freddo Faces Tube. The kids’ favourite, Freddo, becomes even more fun as this festive tube is packed full of cheeky chocolate pieces in a range of playful facial expressions. RRP £1.42

Cadbury Dairy Milk Button Tubes – A timeless treat for all ages and perfect for any stocking. Our classic little button shapes of solid Cadbury Dairy Milk come packaged in an exciting festive tube this Christmas. RRP £1.42

If Wispa is one of your favourites, then Cadbury Bitsa Wispa Tube is the perfect stocking filler for you. This festive tube comes packed full of chocolate pieces from loved brand Bitsa Wispa. RRP £1.42

And if you know someone who really cannot get enough of the delicious Cadbury Wispa we have the perfect gift for them, the Cadbury Endless Wispa. The classic and much loved Bitsa Wispa now comes in a giant Christmas stick, so why not impress your friends with the gift that keeps on giving! RRP £2.49

Family Favourites…

Everybody loves classics at Christmas and there is nothing more classic then Cadbury chocolate during the festive season…

Cadbury Dairy Milk Winter Edition makes a return, combining classic Cadbury Dairy Milk with a delicious festive twist. The bar is made up of mini white and milk chocolate tree-shaped chunks, ideal for breaking apart and sharing, or even decorating the top of your Christmas cake. RRP £1.42

The irresistible Cadbury Dairy Milk Snowman also makes a return and is available with chocolate mousse or vanilla mousse. These adorable treats really give you the feeling of a snowy Christmas day regardless of the weather. The Snowmen are encased in a Cadbury Dairy Milk shell, with a light and fluffy mousse centre that tantalises the taste buds, whether you choose a vanilla or chocolate mousse is up to you! RRP £0.65. We loved these. Yummy.

For many, decorating the Christmas tree is a truly joyous occasion for all the family and signals the start of the festive period. Now with Cadbury Dairy Milk Tree Decorations your tree is set to be sweeter than ever with different designs and shapes that appeal to all ages! Available in both 84g (RRP £2.19) and 144g (RRP £3.46) packs.

Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without the Cadbury Dairy Milk Advent Calendar, the best way to count down to the most magical day of the year. Open a door to reveal a delicious piece of Cadbury Dairy Milk every day until the big day! 90g RRP £2.19

Perfect for sharing

Not everybody loves those pesky Brussel sprouts… but the entire family is sure to love a Cadbury sharing pack and the classics make their return to a living room near you this Christmas.

Cadbury Heroes Tub gives everybody the option to eat what they wish this Christmas. Pick out your favourite, and pass the tub around as there are plenty to share; these small and mighty miniatures are the perfect treat for the family. RRP £9.19

Next up is a favourite Christmas staple since 1938, the Cadbury Roses Tub. These individually-wrapped treats offer something for everyone and now also come in a unique flower shaped Roses tub. RRP £9.19

Cadbury selection packs comes in two sizes, small and medium. The smaller selection pack is the best way for kids to have all their favourite Cadbury classics as they count down the days until Santa arrives! There is a bar for each day with Cadbury Chomp, Cadbury Curly Wurly, Cadbury Fudge and Cadbury Dairy Milk Freddo. The Cadbury Medium Selection box contains a brand new mix of favourites this year, such as the Cadbury Double Decker, Cadbury Crunchie and Cadbury Dairy Milk Buttons. 81g RRP £1.09, 180g RRP £2.99

This year Cadbury are putting the ultimate Cadbury Dairy Milk Selection Stocking box under your Christmas tree. A perfect selection of all-time favourite Cadbury bars (Cadbury Dairy Milk, Cadbury Dairy Milk Caramel, Cadbury Dairy Milk Marvellous Creations Jelly Popping Candy, Cadbury Wispa, Cadbury Fudge and Cadbury Crunchie). This is the perfect selection box for any Cadbury lover! RRP £3.99

Cadbury Dairy Milk Snow Bites are back again this year. These delicious milk chocolate balls are encased in crisp sugar shells dusted with icing sugar; an exciting treat to tuck into ahead of Christmas. Perfect for creating a snowy scene on top of the Christmas cake, these Cadbury Dairy Milk Snow Bites will ensure that your cake is a season showstopper. RRP £1.15

Win a £35 Hamper That’s oh so Divine

Posted on September 11, 2015 by Frostie

When the sun comes out, we Brits love making the most out of outdoor summer indulgences, whether it’s baking up treats ready for picnics or laying on a spread for celebratory street parties. And as a chocolate-loving nation, combining the heat with the sweet is always going to be a winner.

Divine is the perfect ingredient to any chocolate recipe, with a smooth texture and excellent flavour. This is because all Divine chocolate is made with the finest quality Fairtrade cocoa beans from Kuapa Kokoo, a cooperative of smallholder farmers in Ghana. The cocoa is grown in the shade of the tropical rainforest, and slowly fermented and dried in the sun by the farmers, who take great pride in the chocolate company they co-own.

If you’re looking for Divine chocolate recipes to try, then visit www.divinechocolate.com/uk/recipes for inspiration.

Now it is your chance to win one of their Divine baking hampers worth £35 filled with five of their finest 100g chocolate bars: seriously smooth milk chocolate, gloriously creamy white chocolate, milk chocolate with toffee and sea salt, rich 70% dark chocolate and 70% dark chocolate with raspberry, plus tubs of Divine cocoa powder and drinking chocolate.

But that’s not all. The hamper also includes their recipe book containing over 100 delectable recipes, exclusively created by chocolate expert Linda Collister.

To be in with the chance of winning this fantastic prize, follow @Frostmag on Twitter or Instagram, or like us on Facebook. Alternatively, sign up to our newsletter. Or subscribe to Frost Magazine TV on YouTube here: http://t.co/9etf8j0kkz.Then comment below saying what you did. Competition finishes on Monday.

Gourmet Chocolate Pizza Review

Posted on August 28, 2015 by Frostie

The best way to let someone know just how much they mean to you is with chocolate. Well, that is what we think anyway. This gourmet chocolate pizza is not only unique, but it also tastes great and can be personalised. There are a few different ones to choose from and it comes in a cool pizza box. Made with Belgium chocolate and topped with other delicious ingredients…Frost loves.

Chocolate choppers assemble and indulge in a devilish delight you will adore. This all new range of Gourmet Chocolate Pizzas are every food fanatics dream.

Snack on a scrumptious slice, these pizzas can be used for every occasion. So say it in style with Birthday Pizzas, Congratulations Pizzas, and even Personalised Pizzas – give the gift with a difference this year.

These beautiful and delicious pizzas are the tasty treat for every chocolate lover. The novelty pizza takeaway box, keeps your mouth-watering dish fresh and fun looking!

Made with gorgeous Belgium chocolate and topped with a number of ingredients from white chocolate curls, to handmade chocolate hearts, and sweet treats you can virtually have any combination you choose.

This flavoursome food is for everyone! Ranging in Heavenly honeycomb, Crunchy Munchy, Jelly Bean Jumble, Yummy Scrummy, Must-have Marshmallow and Delighfully Dark – we’ve all the fantastic flavours you can imagine.

With up to 24 characters to personalise your pizza, you can create a message like never before, with the unique, handmade plaques your gift will not only be distinctive but delicious.

Delivered straight to your door by www.prezzybox.com only for great prices from £11.95 to £16.95

Hans Sloane Drinking Chocolate Review

Posted on November 13, 2014 by Catherine Balavage

We got quite excited when a box of Hans Sloane Drinking Chocolate come to Frost HQ. It looks amazing first of all. It is very unique as the drinking chocolate is in the form of beads and, just in time for Christmas, a bauble filled with chocolate beads. You just put the beads into hot water or milk and stir. They come in award-winning 70% Ecuador, 67% Madagascan and Honey flavour, as well as Smooth Milk and Rich Dark. It is hard to pick a favourite. They all taste so delicious. I hope to get some of these in my Christmas stocking as this lot will definitely be finished by then. Amazing drinking chocolate.

Hans Sloane Drinking Chocolate is the only hot chocolate product to be made from pure chocolate beads. Their company mission is to bring the taste of chocolate back to drinking chocolate and their beads melt perfectly in hot milk or water to create a richer chocolate drink. Named after the man who pioneered drinking chocolate in Europe in the seventeenth century, Hans Sloane continue to innovate the hot chocolate market.

Sir Hans Sloane was a chocolate pioneer. In the late 17th century, after tasting drinking chocolate in Jamaica he came up with the idea of combining it with milk to make it more palatable. He brought his recipe back to England, initially as a medicine, but it soon became the way people consumed hot chocolate in Europe.

Four centuries later, the name Hans Sloane continues to be synonymous with innovation. Hans Sloane Drinking Chocolate is the only hot chocolate product to be made from pure chocolate beads. Their company mission is to bring the taste of chocolate back to drinking chocolate and their beads melt perfectly in hot milk or water to create a richer chocolate drink.
Available in 270g packs, Hans Sloane Drinking Chocolate comes in five varieties, including the Great Taste Award-winning Smooth Milk, Rich Dark, Madagascar 67% and Ecuador 70%, as well as their unique Natural Honey. 1 kg catering packs for baristas and cafes are also available in Smooth Milk and Rich Dark.

This autumn sees the launch of the perfect stocking filler for Christmas – Hans Sloane’s handmade single-serve Christmas Bauble and Cocoa Pod, each filled with chocolate beads. Simply shake to hear the chocolate beads inside before popping the bauble/pod into a cup and adding hot milk or water.

Kennedy’s World Chocolate Forum 2014

Posted on November 5, 2014 by Paola Berta

I was lucky to be invited to attend the Kennedy’s World Chocolate Forum on Oct 2nd 2014 at the London British Library. Running for the past three years, it is the only Summit in the world that has been created to discuss chocolate. 300 producers attend the event and some are from the biggest companies in the world.

It was a truly extraordinary experience trying different type of chocolates and finding out about choices regarding their production.

Angus Kennedy, founder of the event, born into a publishing family that was already dealing with confectionary, is a very spiritually driven intellectual; he believes the soul will always lead you to what you are meant to do in the end. His major passion, beside chocolate of course, lies in writing and he has already written lots of books. He admits: “The best jobs are always the ones you create for yourself and not certainly the ones, you get offered!” A lot of people contributing to the production of chocolate are indeed entrepreneurs involved in creative stuff. Angus Kennedy, honestly admitted, despite every exams he took he failed, he became a prolific writer. He loves children and is aware of many issues that are often not addressed to make things better for them. He is currently writing a children’s book and, if he would ever become famous as a children writer, it would be quite ironic for children to get inspiration from.

Mr Kennedy is aware it is always extremely hard when you set up a new business but he remarks: ”Success is the ability to fail continuously and be happy every time because one day you will succeed”. He was very close to achieve his biggest dream, having a TV programme about chocolate, but it did not work out in the end. Life is made of many knock backs but it is important to have the ability to be happy with failure and proceed even when keeping on failing. His motto: “You can succeed all the times but one day you will fail and you can fail all the times but one day you will succeed”.

His latest published book: ‘Good Reasons for Bad Things’ [reviewed here on Frost] is made of 222 maxims such as: “I don’t buy chocolate to stay healthy but I stay healthy so that I can eat chocolate”. Mr Kennedy, which is into tarots, numerologist, universalism, etc. He started writing maxims as he kept on waking up in the middle of the night at 2:22am; he looked into the meaning behind it and this is how he has 222 maxims in the book. As it happened to him waking up at the same time every night, he realised to have been chosen to write about things as if inspired by external forces. He loves writing to make people laugh.

As I randomly open his latest book, I read a maxim: “One must not be too friendly to the English, they are not used to it and the shock can be highly damaging to our health.” And he admits: “Rude!” I have a good laugh at it and certainly do not let that bother my interview proceedings!

He remarks, there has got to be a TV programme about chocolate one day because chocolate is a product that is the expression of freedom and represents a moment of pleasure. Moments of freedoms are very rare nowadays in the society we live in where we are more and more concerned about time and making money when, at least over the weekend, we should definitely be taking time away to relax and let go the week past behind. And this is where came the idea of his blog Friday Light, which quickly raised from 50 readers to 13.000 ones! Really I could not say Mr Kennedy does not come up with the most interesting ideas!

Without denying chocolate is the second most fattening product in the world together with butter it has yet to be understood the more cocoa butter you take out during the chocolate making process, the less it becomes chocolate, so there is no point even conceiving a healthy chocolate… it will be like making wine without grapes!

The most heated argument at the forum was regarding the global transit which is going to happen within the next 5-10 years; China, South Africa, Brazil, India and Russia markets
will be all doubling in size, which means there is not going to be much cocoa left for Europe. According to this trend for 2020 it will be needed to increase the supply of cocoa for Europe and the producers are discussing where it is possible to invest some money to increment some farming in Ivory Coast ideally accordingly to fair trade standards. It has been argumented the only problem with fair trade production is often the increased costs attached to it since the majority of consumers tend to go for cheaper products rather than the fair trade ones but of course the issue has yet to be raised to support, for what it is possible, the importance and fairness of acting within the fair trade production standards.

Written by Paola Berta

Frost Magazine

Books and Lifestyle

Tag Archives: chocolate

Green & Black’s is giving a personal gift this Christmas

Frost Loves: The Cadbury Christmas Chocolate Range

Luxury Irish Chocolatier Lily O’Brien’s Christmas Range Review

Christmas Gift List Special: Cadbury Christmas Chocolate

Win a £35 Hamper That’s oh so Divine

Gourmet Chocolate Pizza Review

Hans Sloane Drinking Chocolate Review

Kennedy’s World Chocolate Forum 2014

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