BottleGreen Elderflower Cordial

The normal elderflower drink I go to often, and enjoy very much, it's for sale at a lot of supermarkets, is by BottleGreen in the UK. We normally drink the Pressé form; this is the Cordial, or concentrated, form. Add sparkling or still water to the cordial, and you get the Pressé. This 500 mL bottle makes 6.5 L of elderflower drink. I find the Pressé version better tasting, perhaps it's the water I have diluted it; too, I found I like it sparkling, rather than still (which tastes to me like just sugar in water; somehow the bubbles add flavour). This is definitely cheaper than the Belvoir one. BottleGreen has a wide range of flavours, only some of which are available here in Canada (for example, they have a Russet Apple and Blackberry Cordial that I definitely would like to try, being a fan of russets - they also have two more in that range, Cox's apple and Plum and William's Pear and Elderflower, both of which also sound interesting). Tasting the cordial straight, it is a more intense elderflower flavour, quite good.

Belvoir Fruit Farms Elderflower Pressé

As I have said before, I like the taste of elderflower, and was excited to see this for sale, it's normally about $7 per bottle at health food stores. Pressé is a gentle carbonated slightly sweetened beverage, similar in concept to pop, but better (no added colours, flavours, artificial sweeteners or preservatives) - which is why they assert that this is 100% good; they also sell a cordial form, which is a concentrated version, which you then dilute with your own still or sparkling water. Belvoir Fruit Farms is a British Farm that grows most of their own raw materials; they use their own spring water in this. Belvoir has a number of different flavours available with different fruit and flower combinations. How did this taste? Well, good, refreshing, with great elderflower flavour. I'd drink something like this on a regular basis, certainly I'm interested in the cordial version of elderflower, if it was more easily available and less expensive. It also tugs at the idea in the back of my mind, that I'd like to make my own.

Divine Mint Dark Chocolate

The UK chocolatier Divine Chocolate Ltd. uses Fair Trade chocolate from a cooperative of cacao farmers in Ghana, called Kuapa Kokoo. Unlike the straight chocolate bar, this one is flavoured with mint, both as a peppermint crisp (mint-sugar) and as a peppermint oil. The cacao content is at 70% and the ingredient listing looks good, cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter, peppermint crisp (5% - sugar and peppermint oil) soya lecithin, peppermint oil and vanilla (all but the peppermint oil Fair Trade).

How did it taste? The mint flavour is definitely there, and it pairs well with the dark chocolate, and I liked the pairing of the two flavours, but I found the peppermint crisp disconcerting (it felt like I was eating crunchy sugar bits - which is what it is, but I don't think it's really needed - just the peppermint oil is good enough). This was bought at a health food store for about $3. I don't know if I would buy this bar again.

Divine Dark Chocolate

The UK chocolatier Divine Chocolate Ltd. uses Fair Trade chocolate from a cooperative of cacao farmers in Ghana, called Kuapa Kokoo. These are as well shade-grown cacao beans from small individually run farms. This is a UK company, but it also says it is produced in Germany. The cacao content is at 70% and the ingredient listing looks good, cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter, soya lecithin and vanilla (all Fair Trade).

How did it taste? Pretty good, a fair indicator of how good their chocolate is and tastes (I always have said that the signature bar for any chocolatier, showcasing their chocolate, is their no-extra-flavours-added bar). I would say that this is the best bar made from Ghana cacao beans I have tasted. This was bought at a health food store for about $3.

Very large Cadbury Dairy Milk

One of the Christmas presents I received this year, is this one kilogram in size, very large Cadbury Dairy Milk candy bar, imported from the UK. I think, with this one, I'm going to have to share, it's so big (I couldn't even fit it in the picture).