A limited edition white chocolate bar favoured with coconut and lime from the Thorntons Chocolate Blocks range.

I have to admit, after reading the label, that I wasn’t particularly looking forward to trying this limited edition chocolate block, I have had other chocolate with coconut and was rather underwhelmed and some chocolate with lime tend to be too sweet and have a syrup like aftertaste.

But I must say I was quite surprised and impressed with Thorntons Coconut & Lime White chocolate block.

The chocolate bar comes in a lime green and brown box, a design matching the rest of the collection, with a limited edition “badge” in the top right hand corner. Inside the box the bar is wrapped in a silver coloured plastic foil.

Un-wrapping the bar releases a buttery aroma, with an underlying fresh citrus note from the natural lime. A rather surprising element are the brownish pink flecks of colour in the bar, at first I wasn’t too sure what these were, but it turns out they are coconut pieces that have been toasted and the colour has blended with the white chocolate.

The toasted coconut gives the chocolate bar a wonderful crunch, which I was not expecting. The lime is noticeable now and then, but gives more aroma than flavour.

The combination of the crunch with the smooth white chocolate and the odd hint of lime make this chocolate block pleasantly different, interesting and really worth trying, even for white chocolate haters.

£1.79, 80g.

Labelled: Vegetarian and Gluten Free.

Thorntons salted pistachio and milk chocolate bar, made with 32% cocoa from Madagascar, a one star gold winner at the Great Taste Awards 2009.

The chocolate block is presented in a pistachio coloured box, in the same bold and colourful design as the rest of the Thorntons Chocolate Block range, proudly displaying the bar’s award in the right top right corner.

Inside the box the milk chocolate bar is wrapped in a special “award winning” gold wrapper – both the award logo on the box and the wrapper set this bar up to be something special.

Divided into small breaking squares and two rectangle sections at the top and bottom, the block has a floral motif impressed into it and the Thorntons logo in the lower rectangle.

Thorntons Lightly Salted Pistachio Milk Chocolate Block is milk chocolate made with 32% cocoa from Madagascar, with pistachio halves running throughout the bar. The chocolate is sweet, smooth and creamy with the soft crunch of nuts, the sweetness of the chocolate is neutralised with the savoury of the pistachios and you can’t really taste any salt – but I wasn’t expecting to, as salt is added to chocolate to enhance the flavour not to make it taste salty.

The flavours are not too strong and I think without the nuts, this would be an average milk chocolate bar. I was expecting more flavours or a wow factor based on the awards, but overall it is just “nice”. Enjoyable, but nothing special.

£1.79, 80g.

Labelled: Vegetarian and Gluten Free.

A selection of milk chocolate bars from Thorntons, the Milk Chocolate Block Bundle. Seven bars, all milk chocolate, each with a different flavour, tied together in a bundle with a ribbon.

The perfect way to explore the variety of chocolate available from Thorntons, each chocolate block has a different flavour, varying percentages of cocoa content and cocoa from different countries.

The chocolate bars in the Thorntons Milk Chocolate Block Bundle are:

• Belgian Milk – 29% cocoa, full-flavoured Belgian chocolate.
• Ecuador Milk – 40% cocoa milk chocolate.
• Fairtrade Organic Milk – 36% cocoa.
• Fudge in Milk – 35% cocoa from Papua New Guinea
• Orange & Cardamom – 40%, Ecuadorian cocoa beans.
• Tonka Milk – 38% cocoa, Venezuelan cocoa beans.
• Special Toffee in Milk – Mexican cocoa beans, 40% cocoa.

Each chocolate blocks are also available separately, from the Thorntons site or in Thorntons stores, or in other bundles which make great gifts.

£12.00, 620g approximatly.

Labelled: Vegetarian and Gluten Free.