This Whittaker’s Artisan Collection Nelson Pear and Manuka Honey in Milk Chocolate was a second flavour in Whittaker’s Artisan Collection. To ensure top-quality products, Whittaker’s is a ‘bean-to-bar’ manufacturer. This bar uses their ‘5 roll refined creamy milk chocolate’, mixing it with ‘pieces of Nelson grown pears and a hint of naturally harvested Manuka honey from Mossop’s Honey of Tauranga’. Pears grown in Nelson, a city on the South Island of New Zealand are known for their succulent qualities, while Manuka honey is touted as having anti-bacterial properties.
The chocolate had a sweet fruity aroma. Upon tasting, the initial taste revealed creamy milk chocolate that rapidly melted away, revealing ample chewy pieces of Nelson pear infused with Manuka honey. These pear morsels contributed a delightful chewiness, akin to dried pear, which harmonized beautifully with the incredibly smooth and velvety texture of the milk chocolate. The introduction of honey deepened the sweetness with a floral undertone. While the use of pear as the fruit was not immediately discernible without the packaging, it offered an intriguing textural contrast to the chocolate’s creaminess. Overall, this fruity-flavored chocolate was a pleasant treat, with the pear bits lingering even after the chocolate had dissolved, providing an enjoyable element to chew on. However, the combination of honey’s intense sweetness with the natural sweetness of pears, along with the relatively low cocoa content (33%) in the chocolate, created a sweet-on-sweet-on-sweet sensation, lacking the bitter undertones typically found in darker chocolates.
This bar of Whittaker’s Artisan Collection Nelson Pear and Manuka Honey in Milk Chocolate was 100 g. It was produced in New Zealand and gifted by family visiting from Auckland, New Zealand in 2016.