This is an exciting and delicious chocolate with a surprisingly complex flavour. There is a lot going on, and it immediately made me curious about how the different ingredients work together. This is an innovative made chocolate bar by MayHawk, where you have to try to unpack what they have done. Which is typical of MayHawk, who seem to want to look at chocolate making differently.
The lacto-fermented, semi-dried cherries are particularly interesting. When you bite into one, the juice comes out so generously that at first I thought the filling was overflowing. They are incredibly juicy and delicious, whilst both sweet and salty, but they are unusually well balanced using these stark contrasts.
The soft chocolate melts beautifully in the mouth, while the aromatic notes of lemongrass, ginger and cardamom bring a fresh, refreshing character to the chocolate. I had to look up how they did it, and it seems they use an oil (the absolute in the name) to carry the natural flavours into the chocolate.
It is an unusual combination, but it works remarkably well. The whole experience feels like a new approach to flavour in chocolate — experimental, contemporary and genuinely delicious. Overall, this is a bar that exceeds expectations and recommended.
Overall Rating: 9 out of 10