Back when I was doing the Great Chocolate Experiments, I tried a few unusual combinations of chocolate and fruits like sun-dried tomato and dried mango. But chocolate and kiwi is a new one on me, so I was intrigued when I received this Whittaker’s Kiwi Fruit chocolate bar from a friend (the same friend who was my Research Assistant for the Great Chocolate Experiments, if anyone’s keeping score). My friend’s brother left her with a few too many edible souvenirs from his trip to New Zealand, so I was happy to take this one off her hands – for the good of this website, of course.
Described on the package as “A New Zealand Favourite,†this paperback-sized block of milk chocolate (a whole 250 grams, or around half a pound) is divided into tiny bite-sized squares. Break one off, and you’ll find it’s studded with little green chunks. Dried kiwi? Not according to the ingredients, which contain only kiwi fruit and apple purees, making it more likely that the green bits are a jelly formed from dried fruit puree – fruit leather, in other words. (Chocolate-covered fruit leather – why didn’t I think of that?)
The milk chocolate is nice – not overly sweet or milky. The kiwi bits are quite sour, even if they do remind me more of a sour apple flavor than kiwi, and their tartness cuts through the sweetness of the milk chocolate, keeping it from being cloying. The chocolate also cuts down in the acidity and sourness of the kiwi pieces, making this an excellent pairing, though I can see that the combination of acid and chocolate might not be everybody’s thing.
So if you ever get a chance to visit the land of Hobbits, tropical fruit and fuzzy flightless birds, why not give this bar a try? This New Zealand favorite might just wind up as one of yours as well. (At the very least, it will make an interesting souvenir for your siblings to foist off on their friends.)
nzer here.. whittakers chocolate is the best! but i can’t say that kiwifruit chocolate is actually a favourite with the locals.. more like an interesting concoction for the tourists!
August 26th, 2009 at 2:37 amI have always wanted to visit New Zealand, and now I have another reason!
August 27th, 2009 at 11:37 am