If you're looking for a sophisticated box of chocolates as a special Valentine's Day gift, the Bella Gianduja box that we received to review from Bellucci could be just what you're looking for.
Now, I have to be honest, I didn't know what Gianduja was so I went to investigate. The Bellucci website explains : "Praline is traditionally a blend of crushed or milled nuts, often almonds, with cocoa to produce a chocolate nutty paste. Gianduja was traditionally made with only hazelnuts. Now 'gianduja' products can extend into other nut pralines. Pralines can be smooth or with crunchy pieces. Gianduja are usually very smooth." OK, that's cleared that up and I love praline-type chocolates so things are looking good.
When I emptied the box, I discovered that the chocolates are very pretty, many of them having metallic or pastel coloured shimmery foil wrappers that look very classy and special.
The enclosed leaflet gives you an in depth guide to what you will discover beneath the wrappers. I took a moment to read it before sampling them and couldn't decide which one to try first ! You have the choice of Chicchi Di Caffé - "a small round Colombian coffee bean encased in rich dark 70% chocolate. A perfect pick me up" or Chocolate Squares - "a pure dark 70% cocoa foiled chocolate square, with a depth of flavour and lingering after taste that every chocolate lover will enjoy".
The exotically named Cio Cri in its jaunty red wrapper is "a single hazelnut coated in rich dark chocolate with a crisp dark chocolate outer shell".
The Chocolate Covered Crumbly Nougat needs no explanation and sounds delicious. The sleek and striking pyramid-shaped Ginaduiotti are like smooth pralines and come in several flavours : Classic, Bitter, Hazelnut and Coffee.
The pretty triple-layered Cremini (with coffee and classic variants) offer a layer of gianduja sanwiched between two squares of smooth chocolate cream (white for the coffee one and milk for the classic). Delice is described as "a whole hazelnut coated in creamy gianduja and coated in crisp milk chocolate. A delight in taste, flavour and texture."
Gemme are rich chocolate gianduja with Coffee, Cococa or Hazelnut fillings and, last but not least, the chocolate with the biggest visual wow-factor, Cri Cri - "a single hazelnut enrobed in rich chocolate and then coated in tiny crisp sugar balls".
These are definitely grown-up chocolates to be savoured when the kids are in bed or at the end of a special meal. I loved all of the chocolates that I tasted - they are smooth and creamy with subtle flavourings and crispy nuts - but there was one definite black mark for me - there are an awful lot of chocolates in the box that are flavoured with coffee, which I don't like. I'm used to having a couple to avoid but I had to donate almost half of the box to Madhouse Daddy before we even started sharing out what was left. Great news for my waistline but not for my inner chocaholic ! It would be nice to have a coffee-free selection box for those of us who don't like coffee, as the others are really very nice indeed.
star rating : 4/5 (I docked a point due to the high number of coffee-flavoured chocolates !)
RRP : £21.99 for the Bella Box Classic (220g), £23.99 for the Bella Box Gianduja (220g), £34.99 for the Bella Box Grande (375g)
for more information : http://belluccichocolate.com/
Disclosure : I received the product in order to write an honest review.
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I love pralines and these look so pretty in their own little coloured wrapper. Thank you for the review - popping over to the Bellucci website now for a look... :)
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of the cremini. I'd never heard of this company either but will deffinitely be making a visit to their website in the near future.
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