Beech's Fine Chocolates - Giveaway

60g bar selection 

Taste testing chocolate, oh its a tough job but someones got to do it !

Our friends at Beechs' Chocolates in Preston sent us a selection of their delicious chocolates for taste testing recently and what fun we have had.

Beechs' are some what of a Lancashire Legend, formed in 1920 this Lancashire Chocolate company have been supplying the fine people of Lancashire and  the world with delightful chocolate treats for nigh on a hundred years. Their factory is in Preston so pretty local to us and still in its original location.

60g Bar various

So onto our taste testing, we tried the dark chocolate selection first, the Dark Chocolate is 54 - 55% cocoa solids so its not a dark dark chocolate, personally I prefer a higher percentage but that a question of personal taste and we still really enjoyed the selection, the ginger  and mint crisp deserve particular mention , the ginger warming and aromatic and the mint cooling and smooth. The Lime and Chilli starts like a chocolate lime and progresses to a warm heat to finish. All in all a good range of flavours.

Dark chocolate / Dark Chocolate with Ginger / Dark Chocolate Lime and Chilli / Dark Chocolate Mint Crisp.

White Chocolate

Rich smooth and creamy, classic white chocolate with a distinct vanilla hit, melts well.

Selection of 60g bars

Milk Chocolate / Milk Chocolate Anglesey Sea Salt / Milk Chocolate Popping Candy / Milk Chocolate Salted Caramel / Milk Chocolate Crunchy Honeycomb

The milk chocolate is 30% cocoa solids and is noticeably richer in taste than the average high street bar, all the milk bars were creamy and we loved all the flavours, particularly the Anglesey Sea Salt and Salted Caramel as the salting was very well handled and just subtly added to the bars flavours. The popping candy bar is novel and lots of fun and was the favourite of Mr Lancashire Food, plenty of pop !

Gift Boxes

Luxury Chocolate Hearts - Decadent rich chocolate hearts with a thick praline centre in a lovely presentation box

I Love You - fine selection of white, dark and milk chocolate creams, pralines and truffles 

Milk Chocolate Coconut Macaroons - 9 square pieces of rich and very coconutty macaroon in a presentation box

Milk Chocolate Fudge - rich decadent dairy fudge thickly coated in milk chocolate.

We are loving the packaging, its colourful and bright and is traditional showing Beechs' roots yet modern at the same time, inside the 60g bar pack you will find a clear cellophane wrapper containing the chocolate bar, a bit of a surprise if you aren't expecting it, but you can clearly see what you are getting. The boxes are dinky proper little boxes of chocolates with a tray and corrugated topper and of course the lovely contents, the boxes make a great gift and are really pretty too.

Beechs' chocolate are available in many fine retailers including Booths Supermarkets, at various fine food fairs, QVC UK and also on line via their e store 

NOW FOR THE GREAT NEWS ! 

Would you like to win a Beechs Fine Chocolate Tasting Pack, just like ours ?

Well you can, we have one Prize of 10 of the 60g bars of chocolate (various flavours) and also the four gift boxes, just like in our taste test, delivered to UK addresses only.

Entering is easy, just use the rafflecopter widget to enter

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Terms and Conditions

1. Complete the Rafflecopter widget below to verify your entries

2. Entries are by blog comment, Twitter, Facebook etc

3. Closing Date: 14th February 2016

(For more information on how to enter blog giveaways using Rafflecopter please see this short video


You can win more bonus entries by tweeting on a daily basis. Good Luck ! 

mini nibs - where do you nibble yours ?

I know this sounds sacreligious but this week we have mostly been nibbling something thats made in Yorkshire !

Mini nibs are handy  resealable snack pots of crunchy munchy dinky cheese straws, which come in three flavours

•  Exceptional cheddar cheese 
• Exceptional cheedar and spicy chilli
• Exceptional cheddar and cheeky onion

Apparently all the cheddar cheese used in nib nibs hails from Garstang in Lancashire

The mini nibs range also includes some very moreish roasted salt and pepper jumbo peanuts (my personal favourites from the range) 

The total range is great to serve as a snack with drinks with friends and the pots are also great for popping in your rucksack whilst out on a walk. The nibnibs range is avaliable  through many quality outlets including Booths Supermarkets, nibnibs have a handy stockist finder on their website. They are also on Facebook and twitter too. 

                               

Now here's the great news we have some nibnibs to giveaway in an easy Rafflecopter giveaway, so if you'd love to try some nibnibs why not join in the fun do you own taste test.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

The giveaway will run from 12pm on 15th October to 12th November.
The prize is a selection of nibnibs which will be sent direct to the winner.

Clarks Maple syrups and Honeys - taste testing !

I love maple syrup, so was pleased when Clarks Maple syrups and honey's sent me some of their lovely products for taste testing and recipe development and what's more you can win some of their lovely products too in an easy to enter rafflecopter competition (please see below).

Clarks are based in Newport in Wales were they blend the finest quality pure and blended maple syrups, honeys and fruit syrups. Their maple syrup is collected in the beautiful province of Quebec in Canada between February and April. Maple syrup is graded according to its light transmission the more it transmits the lower the number. Maple Syrup is now classed as a superfood being a good source of manganese and also rich in antioxidants.

Clarks Pure Canadian Maple Syrup (Medium no 1) - this is traditional maple syrup, light with a good maple taste , mild and sweet and ideal for using drizzled on pancakes, waffles and in cooking.

Clarks Pure Canadian Maple Syrup (Amber no 2) Darker in colour than the above syrup with a stronger more pronounced maple taste which may be a little strong for drizzling purposes for some. Ideal for using in cooking and baking where the  maple flavour is to be combined with other ingredients.

Clarks Original Maple (blended with pure carob fruit syrup) - with a  great maple taste this is ideal for using as a sweetner for porridge or cereals or drizzled on yoghurt and fruit. Ideal for using in when baking  Parsnip, apple and syrup cake.

Clarks Original Vanilla Maple (blended with pure carob fruit syrup),a great syrup with a good vanilla hit , you could use this drizzled over fruit or in coffee or chai as a sweetner.

Clarks Clear blossom honey - blended from blossom to produce a versatile honey which is great on toast and as a general honey for the kitchen cupboard. Its a handy sugar substitute.

Clarks Orange blossom honey - is blended from honey from orange groves across the world, with a slight citrussy note, this versatile honey is delicious in recipes which are enhanced by the orangey flavour. Golden and bright in colour.

Clarks Acacia honey - a mild and delicate honey with a very slight vanilla note, this honey is a delicious substitute in any recipe which calls for honey.

Clarks Lavender Honey - a gorgeous honey with a lovely lavender note, collected from Spanish lavender groves this is a delicious addition to desserts and cake recipes or drizzled over scones and cream.

Our Clarks prize giveaway consists of 2 prizes, a maple syrup selection pack and a honey selection pack  which will be sent to the lucky prize winners addresses by those nice people at Clarks.(Sorry UK only)

How do I enter the Giveaway?

• Simply follow the instructions on the Rafflecopter widget below. 
• To be in with a chance of winning you must complete ALL the required fields. 
• All entries will be checked and verified before a winner is announced.
• You can increase your chances of winning by Tweeting on a daily basis.
• Rafflecopter will pick a random winner.
• The competition runs from 15/05/13 to 31/5/13 .
• If you win, you MUST send me your delivery details before 12pm on 02/06/13, or the prize will be passed to the next person.
• The first prize drawn will be the maple syrup pack
• The second prize drawn will the honey pack
• Please see the Terms and Conditions on the Rafflecopter widget for the rules and more information.

Maple Syrup Prize Pack

Honey Prize pack

a Rafflecopter giveaway


We have our winners - Jen Price @BlueKitchenbake & Pat O'Brien via Facebook