When I grow up I want to be an international jet setter. I love hearing about my grandparent’s holidays, which in recent years have involved trips to the Caribbean (Nan and Grandad Newman) and India (Grandad Mudie). This year my Nan and Grandad went on a cruise around the Baltic’s, visiting a whole host of countries such as Russia and Poland. I asked them if they would be kind enough to pick me up a sweet treat on their journey which I believe proved quite difficult as everything they came across seemed to be made elsewhere. They even found chocolate at a “Russian Fair” on board the ship which was made in Leicester, UK! After much searching they found a bar of Estonian chocolate from the capital of Estonia, Tallinn. The shop they visited was called ‘Haaeestitoit’ which translates to ‘Good Estonian Food’. They sell all sorts of delicacies from Estonia including jams, pickles and crackers. My treat was a large bar of dark hazelnut chocolate. This was priced at 2,30 euros, which indicates that this was quality chocolate and not your standard bar of Daily Milk picked up from the local supermarket.
I took this chocolate to Brazil with me and shared it on a boat with backpackers heading to the same cake-loving island as myself – this bar of chocolate certainly clocked up some miles! The 22 hour flight and 35c Rio heat must have taken it’s tool on the poor chocolate as it was a little off colour when I opened it. It had the slightly white coating that you get when chocolate is past its sell by date. Waste not want not, hungry backpackers gobbled down the lot.
The chocolate was rich and bitter, just like a dark chocolate should be. It tasted as if it contained at least 70% cocoa and was very satisfying indeed. Unlike other hazelnut chocolate I’ve previous tried like Valor from Spain, the pieces of hazelnut were very small which lessened the crunch. However, the flavour was spared and the chocolate tasted very nice indeed. I’m not too sure I would purchase this chocolate regularly if I lived in Tallinn but I certainly wouldn’t give it a miss if someone were to offer me a piece. Judging by this bar alone, I’m not convinced chocolate is Estonia’s speciality when it comes to food. I’d be interested to try ‘Kohuke’, a traditional Estonian curd snack, popular across the Baltic. Have you ever tried a Baltic treat? If so, we’d love to hear what you thought!
Living life, loving cake,
H x