The last in my free gift from ChocolatesDirect (I told you they sent me a lot!) is this box of dark chocolate peppermint creams, made with pure English mint. They describe it on the website as “…mint as your grandparents and great grandparents knew it – cool, lingering and unique.”

This is true in a couple of ways, one in the way they describe, and the second in the way these things look. They look like something you’d expect to see sitting in your grandparent’s cupboard, covered in dust and having gone out of date many months ago. Something she’d give you for Christmas that you too leave in your cupboard. They don’t look bad, they just don’t look that great, or exciting in anyway. The box is a sort of 70s-ish ugly green/blue, and there’s nothing there that catches the eye.

Opening the box reveals 12 peppermint creams in one of those plastic holder things you get in selection boxes (anyone got the technical term for these?). The chocolates themselves are pretty big, the complete antithesis of an After Eight. There’s a thin layer of 55% cocoa solids dark chocolate surrounding an extremely thick glob of peppermint fondant. Being fondant, that makes it sweet and sugary, but that’s hardly noticed because of how powerful the mint flavour is. It’s exactly as they describe, being full in flavour yet cool at the same time, there’s no pepper effect, it’s the taste of peppermint but with the effects of a smooth, cool mint.

It’s a pleasant surprise, I saw these as something that would be hugely underwhelming, but in fact they’re quite the opposite. I do recommend these over After Eights for sure, it’s just a shame they’re not in any of the major supermarkets, otherwise more people would be clued into these.