Click HERE for free chocolate (Lindt Chocolate in general)

Member Name: zoe_page_1

Product:	Lindt Chocolate in general
Date:	03/05/02 (2661 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: the taste, smell, texture and just about everything else :-)

Disadvantages: the price and the fact that the best stuff's not available in the uk :-(

American chocolate sucks. It is really, really disgusting. Even Kitkats and Mars bars taste different over there. Most Americans arriving in the UK think they’re in heaven, chocolate-wise, but we know better. Sure, Cadbury’s Dairy Milk, and Mars’ Galaxy are nice, but they don’t quite top the chocolate stakes. For that you need to go further, deeper into continental Europe to Belgium for truffles and to, ta da da, Switzerland for the pure, solid stuff.. Lindt comes from the latter of these, and mmmmm, can you tell.


~~ History ~~

Back in the 1840s, two men with very silly names (David Sprüngli-Schwarz and Rudolf Sprüngli-Ammann), owned a chain of, well, 2 chocolate shops in Zurich.
Some time later after Rudolf’s retirement, one of his sons got his hands on a small but famous chocolate factory of belonging to a Mr Lindt in Berne.

Many years later, in 1994 the HQ of "Lindt & Sprüngli” was founded in Salzburg but later that year relocated to Vienna. Today the Group is has factories in Switzerland, Germany, France, Italy, Austria and the USA and sales and distribution companies in England, Poland, Spain, and Canada, plus sales offices in Buenos Aires, Hong Kong, and Dubai. Their products are now available virtually worldwide, and - wait for it - taste the same wherever you go - and I’ve had the pleasure of sampling them in a good many different countries.


~~ The Products ~~

These vary from country to country, but include:

Easter Specials – eggs, bunnies and chicks all come out to play from February onwards. They’re available in some department stores and the odd supermarket and independent retailer, so you might have a search ahead of you to find them, but they are worth it.

Bars – available especially in mainland Europe, and duty free air port shops, Lindt “gold tablets” are 100 - 300g bars of silky goodness
. They come in milk, plain and white varieties, either alone of filled with nuts, fruit and marzipan. They taste very much like milka, but have nicer packaging and are jus t a smidge more on the silky side of creamy. They also have the “Lindt Excellence” range here in the UK and the rest of Europe, which features 100g bars of chocolate for about £1. They often have them in special multi-buy packs two. My favourites are the milk chocolate (I’m boring) and the Straciatella one I had from Billa in Vienna last year – white chocolate scattered with little crumb-sized pieces of plain chocolate. Other varieties include Irish Coffee, Macadamia nut, White Chocolate With Coconut, and Orange flavours.

Lindt Lindor Chocolates - milk chocolate truffles with a soft melting centre – boxed chocolates for those who like life uncomplicated (and not full of nasty flavours you don’t like), these cost about £2.25 for 150 g, and come in clear and red cellophane wrappers. Around Valentine’s day you can also get them in huge heart shaped boxes for the romantics out there.

Fioretto – this range includes small-ish (unless I’m just greedy) boxes of wrapped chocolates. Each box features only one flavour, but several varieties are available, including marzipan, chocolate mousse and nougat. Each one is covered in milk chocolate containing crisped rice pieces.

Nouvelle Confiserie – this selection comes in two sizes (snack size and possibly-sharable size) and contains a selection of white, milk and dark chocolate cube shaped truffles which are a nice change from the standard round formation – when you eat as much chocolate as I do, you need variety now and then ;-) These are perfect because the truffles are lovely and small (although of course you can eat more than one) and they’re made in a way that just melts in your mouth.

As well as these, I have a thing for the milk churns. These are s
ilver or gold coloured and full of individually wrapped pieced of Lindt in assorted flavours - the alpine milk is yummy, and much better than the plain old milk one (just like pale blue Ritter sport is nicer than middle blue Ritter sport…). These churns aren’t readily available here, but have a look in the duty free shops when you’re flying, and you can usually get your hands on one. Alternatively, lots of dedicated European chocolate shops stock them. And while we’re on the subject, why don’t they have those here too? I mean shops that sell all the best chocolates in the world, not just one brand. I’m feeling quite deprived just thinking about it.

The general perception is that Lindt is a quality brand, and so they can charge a premium price, but if you’ve ever tasted their products I’m sure you’ll agree it’s worth it. It’s not everyday chocolate, or even every week chocolate, but when someone gives you them as a present, or you just feel like treating yourself, there’s nothing better.


~~ Chocolate Aficionados ~~

Believe it or not, the Lindt website (lindt.com) has a section on professional chocolate connoisseurs. What a job! Here are some of their tips for determining the quality:

 When you break it, look at whether it crumbles and splinters, or breaks cleanly, this indicating the highest quality

 With pralines, do they begin the melt if you hold them in your hands for a few seconds? They should - if they don’t it means they contain too much vegetable fat

 When you put it in your mouth, does it melt away cleanly, or leave a “floury” or gritty feeling in your mouth? This could indicate too much sugar.

 Does it melt at a reasonable speed in your mouth? Too fast is just as bad as too slow.

 What’s the advertised cocoa content? The higher the better (and mos
t Lindt products clearly state it on the packaging) but you also need to take note of the beans used, as even high amounts of low quality beans won’t give you the best taste.


~~ The Extras ~~

Berlin’s’ famous department store KaDeWe had a Lindt sponsored Easter display last year, complete with a school room for the soft toy bunnies, and a mountainous pile of the chocolatey ones for, well, me. At some museums in Salzburg, instead of giving out sticky lollipops to children, they hand over miniature Lindt umbrellas.

Not as much in England, but certainly in the rest of the Lindt supplied world, you can find sugar free chocolates, suitable for diabetics. They also have a limited range of Lindt chocolate covered biscuits, but these aren’t a favourite of mine – much more expensive than, say, McVities, but not much nicer.

As for the free chocolate, you didn’t think I’d forgotten did you? It’s quite simple, just get yourself a flight to New York, and head to their 5th Avenue shop where the everso lovely ladies will happily load you up with everso lovely free samples, all in an effort to get you to buy some posh boxed ones for the folks back home. I went. I saw. I ate. And ate. And ate some more. And I didn’t even get asked to leave. See, told you they were everso nice.

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