Susannah Grant
WITH Easter fast approaching my thoughts are turning to chocolate. Apparently, the price of cocoa beans has more than doubled in the past year.
Ghana and the Côte d’Ivoire, which jointly account for two thirds of the world’s cocoa bean production, had extreme rainfall at the end of 2023, which caused the plants to rot with black pod disease, followed by a drought in 2024. This will mean that our Easter bunnies will cost quite a bit more this year.
As far as I´m concerned chocolate is like pets. It´s a purchase that you should enjoy forever, not just at Christmas …let alone exclusively at Easter. Some people favour exclusive cocoa beans over confectionery, just like pedigree breeds.
My personal preference runs across the full chocolate gamut from a crumbly Cadbury´s Flake to a creamy Lindor bauble. I can never get enough of the stuff. This long-running family trait is a source of great amusement in my family.
I have childhood memories of Granny barging through our door, on the occasional visit, rummaging through the cupboard in our kitchen for a square of Dairy Milk before she´d even said hello to us. When I was two, I escaped the confines of my cot during my lunchtime nap and was later found, smeared in brown sludge, unwilling to part with an easter egg bigger than my head. My booty, stolen from the decorated Easter tea table.
My sister has also inherited this cocoa affliction that seemed to have side-lined the men in our family until my nephew, Hector, came along. His beguiling blond curls and cherubic cheeks mask his one-track mind.
As soon as your back is turned, he plants his chubby three-year old legs in front of the kitchen cupboards as he stealthily rifles through empty tins for that elusive bar you were saving for birthday cake icing.
Over the years, I’ve found that the fancier the box of chocolates the lower the percentage of cocoa they have. One particular Spanish brand, however, does constitute an exception to this rule. Confitería Rialto’s chocolate-coated almond biscuits or “Moscovitas” come in eyecatching boxes that prove an equal match to their flavour.
These wafer-thin crispy Moscovitas are crafted one by one from Marcona almonds from Eastern Spain, some cream, a smattering of flour and sugar to make a paste which, when hardened is slathered, by hand, with milk, dark or white chocolate. The result is an exquisite crunchy explosion that is so addictive I have been known to devour a full bag of 150 g (about 15 biscuits) during one episode of White Lotus. Last year Rialto made 15 million Moscovitas which isn´t bad for a hand-made artisanal product.
Originally from Asturias, the reason behind their so-called Russian connection has been lost over the years but fortunately, we don´t have to travel as far as Moscow to enjoy them as they are sold at over 400 shops all over the Iberian Peninsula as well as at outlets in the UK, US and the Philippines.
From El Corte Inglés to small pastelerías up and down the Mediterranean coast, Malaga and Alicante boast the highest sales in the area with Valencia and Almería running close behind. Whilst flagship stores can be found in Madrid and in their home town of Oviedo where they first started 99 years ago.
Francisco Gayoso, the current Managing Director and fourth-generation owner of the family enterprise laughs when I ask him about exports. “Moscovitas have worked their way into the suitcases of people from all over the world. We met some Cambodian children at our patisserie in Oviedo after a Spanish priest introduced them to the chocolate delicacies in Phnom Penh.”
Whilst I applaud their efforts to export, I find their exclusivity rather refreshing as it´s fun to discover original national and regional specialities. All the more so nowadays as the high streets in Barcelona look like replicas of Oxford Street in London or any major city in China or the US.
Some of us remember the Ferrero Rocher Ambassador Party TV ads in which life-size pyramids of golden balls of praline chocolate were displayed in opulent soirées. British comedians have dined out on the parody of these corny advertisements for decades and they are a prime example of how a blend of satire and admiration can still manage to embed a brand in the public´s consciousness for many years. You either love them or you hate them. Just like Marmite.
Another seasonal favourite of mine are those moreish speckled Mini Eggs now available for Easter and on a recent trip to Gatwick I was pleased to see that Cadbury´s have launched a new jumbo bar version. The striking canary yellow packaging should be easy to find for even the youngest participants of any Easter Egg Hunt. This will certainly reduce the chances of us coming across those vintage chocolates that have escaped eagle eyes from previous years and that tend re-emerge in nooks and crannies of the garden in many Easter Sundays to come. Or at least they did before Hector was born.
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