Seatonfire - Wild Chilli Chocolate - 57%

Price: $15 for 100g

Comparative Price: $15 per 100g 

Rating: 3 out of 5

Buy again: No, despite stunning packaging

An interesting experience as far as chocolate goes... 

A colleague had tried it and kindly procured me a bar.  She's much more of a chilli fan than I, but in spite of this when deciding whether to get the milder milk chilli chocolate or the appropriately named ‘wild’ dark chilli chocolate, dark won out even though I knew this was going to be one hell of a chilli hit.  (Their website advises a heat intensity of 8/10, compared to 4/10 for the mild.)

Sight

So, one Monday a block arrived on my desk and the first thing that struck me was the stunning packaging, which continued as you opened the chocolate. You can clearly see co-owner Jason O’Connor’s background in the luxury goods business shining through.

The chocolate looks great, a nice glossy darkness. Individual blocks were smaller than other brands which strangely pleases me—somehow this convinces me I am getting better value for money compared to blocks with larger and therefore fewer individual pieces!

Sound

A good snap although slightly tinny - if that doesn't sound ridiculous.

Aroma

I wasn’t sure what to expect with the chilli content, but nothing was discernable—at least not yet.  Instead it had a good, reasonably rich chocolate smell. 

Taste & Texture

So where do I start...

I like chilli chocolate, as I like chilli in my food. I’m certainly not a wuss when it comes to the fiery red stuff, but I don’t actively seek to sweat from eating. Let’s therefore define me a moderate chilli eater. And as earlier stated, I was knowingly wading into ‘wild’ chilli territory, however...

And this is the crux (actually one of two) of my problem with this chocolate. My colleague, who is a big chilli fan was curious to find out what I, self-proclaimed chocolate enthusiast, thought of the chocolate quality—but to be honest I couldn’t tell!

The first piece I had was intensely hot, I wasn’t gulping for water but my mouth was consumed by chilli heat. After the second piece the hotness settled down a little and I tried to pay attention to the flavours coming through in the chocolate, however I could only establish it was pretty good—as I started to look for complexities of flavour to determine if it transcends into the really good, or elusive great category, my taste buds were assaulted by the chilli, to the exclusion of any other flavour.

Summary

The whole experience reminds me of year 12 psychology when you look at the optical illusion where there is a picture in which you either see the young woman or the old woman. Once you can see both you’re eyes will flick between the two, never able to rest on one. And so it was with me, my tastebuds flicked from chilli intensity to trying to focus on the chocolate, however the chilli invariably won out.

So my ability to pass comment on the chocolate experience is limited as I never fully tasted it. I would say it is good, reasonably smooth but certainly not great.

This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it’s a pretty good product (assuming you like chilli) but I have an issue with the cost. And this is my second crux. This retailed at $15 for 100g which to be is up there with Valrhona and Michael Cluizel and the experience didn’t warrant this. Not least when you consider the likes of Valrhona directly source their own cocoa beans, roast them, conch them etc. Of course Seatonfire, like most small manufacturers, are unlikely to do this but the cost differential is still there. The other brands mentioned are also imported, I would expect a local brand to possibly be cheaper as it hasn’t had to travel half way around the world (although it does score points for food, or chocolate, miles as only had to make the trip down from South East Queensland).

Undoubtable the packaging is amazing, which makes the whole aesthetic experience very enjoyable, and this is all part of the experience and I loved this aspect. However for the cost of  chocolate against the taste experience, it doesn’t work for me, I find it difficult to justify the cost compared to other brands out there. As my colleague said, perhaps if it was $10 rather than $15 she would buy it again. However whilst it wasn’t a great chocolate experience for me, I would have to say it was an interesting one, and if you love chilli and a strong hit of it, this may be a chocolate for you.

So, overall an interesting experience, stunning packaging, but best left to those who actively pursue the heat of those fiery red beasts.  I give this a rating of 3 out of 5.

Note: Seatonfire also offer new chilli flavours of mild chai and wild orange, however these weren’t available from the place of purchase.

http://www.seatonfire.com/Pages/home/

2 August 2009
Reviewer: Shari

Update on Friday, November 20, 2009 at 11:02PM by Shari

Fellow reviewer Michael loves chilli chooclate and given that this wasn't really working for me I palmed the remainder off on to him.  Initially he commented there wasn't that much of a chilli hit, but given a moment he soon changed his mind.  He too found this intensely chilli in flavour but loved it - so much so he scoffed a considerable amount with great enjoyment.

Interestingly we also shared some with a contact in the chocolate industry, whom I feel has great integrity in their tastes.  They like a bit of chilli but like me err on the side of caution.  Their comments were the chocolate was too sweet and the chilli too strong.

So if that is anything to go by, I guess my original surmise stands - one hell of a chilli kick so you have to be into the fiery beasts to really enjoy this.