Review: Beech's Raspberry Creams

I've reviewed quite a few products from the Beech's range of traditional British chocolates, including four flavours of their Chocolate Creams. Raspberry is a flavour I haven't really paid much attention to in the past but for some reason it's growing in my affections. I couldn't resist picking up the Beech's Raspberry Creams when I spotted them in TK Maxx for just £1.79 a box.

Beech's have been making traditional chocolates since 1920 and all their products are made using natural flavourings and colours. This fondant filled dark chocolate range is also suitable for vegetarians and vegans. Inside the box, there are ten disc shaped raspberry fondant creams that are covered in dark chocolate. The inner fondant is very sweet and the raspberry adds a subtle fruity flavour. 

I've now reviewed 5 of the flavours in the Beech's Creams range (there are 8 different ones in total). I just need to find the Coffee, Lime and Strawberry flavours to complete the whole range!

Grocery Gems Verdict: Beech's Raspberry Creams

RATING: 8 out of 10.
Buy It again?: Yes.
Purchased: TK Maxx.
Price: £1.79 (usually £2.99p each). 

Review & Discount Code! Beech's Dark Chocolate Mint Creams & Mint Crisps

Thinking about Christmas food always brings to mind mint chocolates, they make a refreshing end to a big meal! The lovely people at Beech's kindly sent me through boxes of their After Dinner Dark Chocolate Mint Creams and Mint Crisps (both suitable for vegans) to review. Once again, Beech's have matched high quality ingredients to classic chocolates, and I was delighted to give them a try.

10% Discount Code:

Beech's have kindly offered my readers a 10% off all purchases for the next three weeks. It's time to stock up for Christmas! Simply enter this promotional code at checkout - BFC04061410

They offer a full range of chocolates on their website, delivery is free on purchases over £12.00. 

www.beechsfinechocolates.com

Beech's After Dinner Mint Creams are rich mint fondant centres covered in dark chocolate. I love how Beech's uses all-natural British ingredients in their flavourings, and that is the case with the mint used here - English Mitcham Mint oil, grown in Hampshire. 

The result is a delicious after dinner mint. The cream fondant centre and dark chocolate centre have the same quality as the rest of the Beech's creams range (see my review HERE), it's a very smooth combination. The addition of the refreshing mint is just delicious, it works perfectly here. The overall flavour is a zingy and fresh peppermint that is softened by the sugary fondant to a lovely smooth finish. 

The Mint Crisps are thin dark chocolate rectangles filled with crunchy little sugar crystals. The mint used here is also English Mitcham Mint oil which gives it a lovely fresh and natural flavour.

These rectangular chocolate are quite large and are speckled on top with lots of the crunchy bits. The Beech's dark chocolate used here is just delicious, with it's 55% minimum cocoa solids. It has a smooth creamy flavour that is sweet rather than bitter. The texture has a light crunch that bursts with refreshing peppermint flavour. These are less sugary than the Mint Creams and have more of a chocolately edge to them - perfect for a more indulgent minty treat.

Grocery Gems Verdict: Beech's Mint Cream and Mint Crisps

Rating: 9 out of 10.
Buy it again: Yes.

Nutrition (per choc): 39 calories (Mint Creams), 32 calories (Mint Crisps).

Vegetarian: Suitable for vegetarians.

Purchased: Available online www.beechsfinechocolates.com

Price (150g box): Mint Creams - £3.99, Mint Crisps - £3.75p.

Products sent for an honest review.

Beech's Dark Chocolate Marzipan

I've been lucky enough to review some really gorgeous chocolates from the Beech's Fine Chocolate range in the past, and this month I was delighted to try out their classic Original Dark Chocolate Marzipan box. Made using own traditional recipe dating back to the 1930's, these Marzipan chocolates also contain the finest almonds, with only natural colours and flavourings. 

10% Discount Code:

Beech's have kindly offered my readers a 10% discount on all purchases until the end of July. Simply enter this promotional code at checkout - BFC24061410

www.beechsfinechocolates.com

The packaging is simple and sleek, but as with the rest of the Beech's chocolate box range, features a patterned background that gives it a classic yet distinctive appearance. Each box contains 150g, equating to 14 chocolates.

As always the dark chocolate coating used by Beech's is lovely, it has a rich cocoa flavour without being too strong or bitter. The inner marzipan filling has a gorgeous texture, slightly moist and dense, rather than crumbly or dry. It's absolutely delicious too, with the sweet almond flavour perfectly complimenting the dark chocolate covering. All my taste testers loved these chocolates, one of them said it reminded them of cake, which I thought was brilliant! I especially wanted my brother to give these a try as he loves dark chocolate covered marzipans, and he absolutely loved the combination here. 

Grocery Gems Verdict: Beech's Dark Chocolate Marzipan

Rating: 9 out of 10.
Buy it again: Yes.

Nutrition: 455 calories per 100g.

Vegetarian: Suitable for vegetarians.

Purchased: Available HERE

Price: £4.99.

Product sent for an honest review.

Beech's "Thank You" Continental Assortment Gift Pack

Beech's Fine Chocolates have a wide range of Gift chocolate assortment boxes printed with different messages; from Congratulations to Happy Birthday and there's even an I Love You. The Beech's "Thank You" Gift Box has been recently re-launched with a new range of assortments, just in time for the end of the school year, it makes a sweet little gift for a favourite teacher.   

10% Discount Code:

Beech's have kindly offered my readers a 10% off all purchases for the next three weeks. Simply enter this promotional code at checkout - BFC02061410

Delivery is free on purchases over £12.00. 

www.beechsfinechocolates.com

Each 90g box contains an assortment of 7 different milk, dark and white chocolates. The selection includes; Dark Coffee Cream & Walnut, Dark Orange Truffle, Milk Vanilla Triangle Mousse, Milk Caramel Delight, Milk Strawberry Parfait, Milk Hazelnut Swirl, and White Hazelnut Supreme. It's a lovely mix of chocolates and flavours with something for all taste buds. My husband especially loved the Caramel Delight and Hazelnut Swirl chocolates. My personal favourites were the following:

Coffee Cream & Walnut: Described as "the fine flavour of roasted coffee beans in a creme covered in smooth dark chocolate, finished by hand with a sprinkle of walnut sugar crocant". For me this was more of a coffee flavoured fudge than a creme, but it was delicious nonetheless. The sweetness of the fudgey filling goes perfectly with the creamy coffee flavour and dark chocolate coating.

White Hazelnut Supreme: A rich hazelnut praline truffle centre covered in white chocolate. I don't think there are many white chocolate and hazelnut combinations out there so this one was a real treat. To be honest I could have eaten a whole box of just these! The sweet vanilla of the white chocolate and the rich nutty filling is a delightful combination.

Milk Vanilla Triangle Mousse: Even though vanilla is seen as a boring flavour I don't think it's very common in mainstream selection boxes (from the likes of Cadbury et al), so I was really pleased to see this flavour included here. As with all Beech's products it contains only natural flavours, in this case it's flavoured with Madagascan vanilla. The result is extremely sweet, especially as the vanilla mousse is paired with a creamy and very sweet milk chocolate. 

Overall this is a lovely box of chocolates that would certainly make a nice gift. It's not too big or too small, it would be perfect to give alongside a bunch of flowers for example, or just as a little treat. I also really like the outer packaging here, it's quite neutral so will suit any type of gift recipient, and looks expensive (even though they are great value at £3.49!). The selection of chocolates included is excellent and there is plenty here to appeal to most tastes. It's also going to be repackaged as a Christmas gift assortment later in 2014, it will have the same contents but comes in a gorgeous green and red holly design box.

Grocery Gems Verdict: Beech's Continental Assortment Gift Pack

Rating: 8 out of 10.
Buy it again: Yes.

Nutrition: 510 calories per 100g.

Vegetarian: Suitable for vegetarians.

Purchased: Available HERE

Price: £3.49 each.

Competition Time! Win 4 x boxes of Beech's Chocolate Creams

It's competition time again! The lovely people at Beech's Fine Chocolates recently sent me a very generous parcel of chocolates so I decided to share the love and offer my readers the chance to win! The prize is FOUR boxes of Beech's Chocolate Creams. (See my review here - they're delicious!).

The winner will receive all the chocolate in the photo above! 4 x 90g boxes of Beech's Chocolate Creams in the following flavours: 

Orange Creams
Rose Creams
Mint Creams
Violet Creams

How to enter:

Retweet one of my competition tweets on twitter & follow @grocerygems.

Or Like Grocery Gems on Facebook.

Winner will be chosen at random and competition closes at 5pm on Monday 9th June.

Good luck everyone!!

Beech's Chocolate Creams Range - Orange, Rose, Mint & Violet

A few months ago I reviewed the wonderful new range of fine chocolate bars from Beech's (see review here). This month I have a selection of their best selling, and more traditional, chocolate creams to review. Beech's have been making traditional chocolates since 1920 and all their products are made using natural flavourings and colours. This fondant filled dark chocolate range is also suitable for vegetarians and vegans. They're all packaged in really pretty pastel coloured boxes. 

10% Discount Code:

Beech's have kindly offered my readers a 10% off all purchases for the next three weeks. Simply enter this promotional code at checkout - BFC11041410

Delivery is free on purchases over £12.00. 

www.beechsfinechocolates.com

There are eight different flavoured creams in the range; Coffee, Lime, Raspberry, Strawberry, Violet, Orange, Mint and Rose. I was sent boxes of the last four to review. Each box has 10 disc shaped dark chocolates and costs £2.99.

Violet Creams - The violet creams had the firmest centre of all the four varieties I tried. The centre is slightly crumbly and a little drier than the others. The natural violet comes through as a sweetly floral flavouring. These will appeal to anyone who liked violet flavoured sweets as a child! It's not really my type of chocolate, but my Mum absolutely adored the delicate flavours here. 

Orange Creams - The sweet fondant filling is ideally paired with a fresh orange flavour. I really enjoyed the orange and dark chocolate combination here. They're very sweet but the zesty orange makes them very moreish.

Mint Creams - These are a real classic combination of dark chocolate with a mint fondant. The texture of the centre was slightly softer compared to the others. The mint flavour is lovely and strong with a really refreshing edge. 

Rose Creams - Surprisingly enough these were my favourites of all the chocolates. As a fan of Turkish delight chocolates, I loved the familiar flavours in this sweet fondant format. The sweetness of the fondant cream really suits the rose flavour and created a creamier version of a Turkish delight.

This whole range of chocolate creams is undoubtedly high quality and full of fresh natural flavours. Each chocolate is so easy to eat and completely delicious too. They would make a great gift for fans of more traditional chocolates - the only difficulty is which flavour to choose!

Products sent for an honest review.

Grocery Gems Verdict: Beech's Fine Chocolate Creams Range

Rating: 9 out of 10 - an excellent quality range.
Buy it again: I would love to try the Lime Creams and the berry varieties!

Nutrition: 39 calories per chocolate.

Vegetarian: Suitable for vegetarians.

Purchased: Available online www.beechsfinechocolates.com

Price: £2.99 each.

New Beech's Fine Chocolate Bars (and a Discount Code!)

Beech's Fine Chocolates have released a lovely new chocolate bar range for 2014. There are six varieties; Lime & Chilli Dark Chocolate, Natural Ginger Dark Chocolate, Milk Chocolate, White Chocolate, Dark Chocolate, and Anglesey Sea Salt Milk Chocolate. The whole range is made with 100% natural ingredients, gluten free and suitable for vegetarians. All the dark chocolate varieties are suitable for vegans. Each bar is 60g, perfect for sharing or for two individual servings, and costs £1.50.  

15% Discount Code:

Enter this promotional code at checkout - BFC18031410

Beech's Fine Chocolates have kindly offered my readers 15% discount on all purchases until the end of April. Delivery is free on purchases over £12.00. There are some gorgeous ideas for Mother's Day or Easter gifts. Take a look at their online shop:

www.beechsfinechocolates.com

Isn't the packaging gorgeous? I love the colors used, and the intricate design patterns looks both contemporary and traditional at the same time. My favourite is the Lime & Chilli Dark Chocolate bar (top left corner) which has a gorgeous red and green colour scheme and bold paisley print.

Firstly a review of the milk and white chocolate selections, all made with the finest natural ingredients.

The Milk Chocolate and Anglesey Sea Salt Milk Chocolate bars are both made with 30% cocoa solids, which has a wonderfully smooth and creamy flavour. The addition of the Anglesey sea salt in the second bar provides a salty edge which really highlights the sweet flavour of the chocolate. It can be an acquired taste but personally I love the combination of sweet and salty flavours in chocolate, and it's been wonderfully executed here by Beech's. Even my husband, who doesn't usually like this type of flavour, very much enjoyed this bar.

Milk Chocolate: 109 calories per 20g. Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Anglesey Sea Salt: 109 calories per 20g. Rating: 10 out of 10.

The White Chocolate is a supremely creamy and sweet bar with a delicious vanilla flavour. It's a great choice for anyone who is a fan of white chocolate, the all natural ingredients used really elevate this into the highest quality white chocolate. Even though it's the sweetest bar of the bunch, it's not overly sweet or too sugary, emphasizing the natural vanilla flavour within.

White Chocolate: 112 calories per 20g. Rating: 9 out of 10.

Next up, the gorgeous trio of vegan approved dark chocolates.

Like the two milk chocolate bars, these dark chocolates bars all have the same outer appearance, very glossy and inviting. The flavours however, all provide quite different experiences. The dark chocolate used in each bar has a 55% minimum cocoa solids base. I've always enjoyed Beech's dark chocolates, they have a rich depth of flavour and a sweet edge without any bitterness at all, and I was pleased to see that this continues in their Dark Chocolate. The Natural Ginger bar builds on this delicious dark chocolate base with a warming spicy flavour that fans of ginger will love. The Lime & Chilli bar might sound like a flavour too far but it actually one of my overall favourites from the range, mainly because of the gorgeous sweet lime flavour which comes through from the outset. The chilli flavour comes through as a secondary flavour with an initially mild heat that builds slightly in intensity, but perfectly compliments the dark chocolate. 

Dark Chocolate: 110 calories per 20g. Rating: 9 out of 10.

Natural Ginger Dark Chocolate: 110 calories per 20g. Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Lime & Chilli Dark Chocolate: 110 calories per 20g. Rating: 9.5 out of 10.

Overall we were all impressed by this new chocolate bar range from Beech's Fine Chocolates. I've always enjoyed the high quality of the chocolate they use in all their confections, so I'm pleased to see this extended into this gorgeous range of chocolate bars.

Products sent for an honest review.

Beech's Turkish Delight Review & Discount Code!

I was delighted to be sent a few boxes of the gorgeous Beech's Turkish Delight to review. These are rose flavoured Turkish Delight covered in smooth milk chocolate. As with the rest of the Beech's range this is beautifully packaged with a Middle Eastern inspired pattern and vivid pink and purple design.  

Beech's is a fabulous British company that has been making chocolates since 1920. Take a look at their full range online and take advantage of the discount code that they have kindly provided to my readers, offering 10% off all purchases until 28th February - www.beechsfinechocolates.com. There is plenty to choose from and they even have a vegan selection, perfect for gift ideas! 10% off Discount Code: BFC21J1410

These just look gorgeous! Turkish Delight is one of those products that people seem to either love or hate, but luckily for me I absolutely adore it. Beech's Turkish Delight is made with all natural colours and flavours, and the milk chocolate contains 30% minimum cocoa solids. 

The Turksih Delight inside is a beautiful dark pink, with a firm but soft jelly like texture. The flavour here is exactly what I love in a Turkish Delight, sweet and delicately flavoured with rose. I love the slightly squidgey texture juxtaposed with the super smooth milk chocolate coating, it's such a delicious combination. The whole thing is completely divine and miles ahead of any of the other widely available chocolate covered Turkish Delights. Anyone who's a fan of Turkish Delight must try these!

Grocery Gems Verdict: Beech's Turkish Delight

RATING: 10 out of 10.
Buy them again?: Yes! 
Nutrition (per 20g): 82 calories.
Vegetarian: Suitable for vegetarians.
Price: £4.49p (150g box).

Product sent for an honest review.