There will probably come a time when friends will refrain from telling me of their travel plans (I DREAD that day!!) Until then, when you tell me about your upcoming trip, especially if it is to New Zealand, Australia or Europe, there will be a gleam in my eye while I scan through a mental rolodex…be prepared for a kindly request to acquire some “wish list” chocolates for me! 🙂
Right around the letter “G” (early July), I came to a startling realization that my coveted “N” chocolate was actually a “C” – more on that story later in the week. In a panic, I started combing through resources to find alternate “N” chocolates and became fixated on NOMNOM Chocolate from Wales based on the endearing tales of silliness and mischief by the norty (aka naughty) weasels on their Instagram feed.
Shipping from Wales was going to be cost prohibitive, so I sent out several inquiries to friends who a) live in the UK, b) were going to be visiting the UK soon or c) knew someone who knew someone with any connection to the UK. All this effort resulted in dead ends 🙁 But, then, my boyfriend mentioned that one of his work colleagues would be traveling back to England soon for a visit (cue the choir of angels singing!) Imagine my delight! I wasn’t sure what flavors were available, so I couldn’t make specific bar requests. After several weeks of not hearing updates, I was told not to get my hopes up since this might not pan out either. After moments of distress and disappointment, I began searching for other Ns that might be acquired more locally. Then in the middle of a humdrum day, I received a text message with a picture attachment, but no actual verbiage. Ta da…a stack of SIX NOMNOM Chocolate bars. Good thing my boyfriend wasn’t around to take a video of my “happy dance” 😉
With so many delicious options to now choose from, I decided to feature the only dark chocolate bar of the bunch (follow me on Instagram to hear about the milk chocolate ones later).
Lemon Curd (72% Ecuadorian Chocolate + Welsh Lady’s Lemon Curd)
Before each thick bar receives a fairly plain brown paper outer sleeve, the bars are hand wrapped in a different colored rectangle of shiny thin aluminum foil. During the recent Olympics, NOMNOM had a friendly wrapping competition among their employees. First place was a record of 12 bars in 1 minute and 17 seconds! The wooly lamb that is part of their logo reminds me of the mischievous “Shaun the Sheep” cartoon.
Upon unwrapping the foil, there was the unmistakable scent of citrusy lemon & it was then that I noticed some small cracks on the back of the bar due to its transit from England to California. Since there is a bit of heft to the bar, the crack didn’t go all the way through and the top side of the dark brown bar was intact.
Using the existing fissure as my “breaking point,” I was so surprised to see that the chocolate bar was filled with creamy, tart lemon curd.
(my penguin alter ego above, was VERY curious about the curd 🙂 )
According to Amazon.com, Welsh Lady Preserves was voted in the Top 50 Foods by the Guild of Fine Foods, with judges describing it as “The creamiest, most lemoniest spoonful of deliciousness ever offered to man or woman.” The recipe had been perfected over 50 years, each batch lovingly prepared from the finest ingredients and cooked slowly just like you would at home. This is in keeping with NOMNOM’s philosophies which are explained on the back of the outer sleeve:
Honestly, I wasn’t expecting a messy photo shoot today, so I had to suppress giggles during this process: “stage” the chocolate pieces so that they were ready for their close ups, lick fingers, take photo & repeat.
What a great way to start the week!
It was a little difficult to taste the 72% Ecuadorian chocolate separately from the lemon curd, so I don’t have much to say about that other than it was tasty and worked well with the citrus notes. Based on this initial taste of NOMNOM, I can’t wait to dig into the other 5 flavors that I acquired: welsh cake, peanut butter, waffle, orange marmalade & Halen Môn (Anglesey Sea Salt).
Here’s a thought for the day from the nutritional info on the back of their wrapper: “Never eat more chocolate than you can lift.” – I think that’s a motto we could all live with 😉
When you visit their website (http://www.nomnom.cymru/), one of the first things you will see is this greeting: “hello we’re NOMNOM and we haven’t a proper website” + these notes:
Since flavors change weekly, my recommendation is to send them an email since the super friendly “Keeper of Deliciousness” (Lili Woollacott) will be happy to assist you! (P.S. wish her a belated 21st birthday too!)