Having spotted this by the checkout at M&S I knew I had to buy some to greedily devour taste test and blog about as a purely scientific exercise. Any sweet food which contains a salty or savoury element immediately fires my imagination and taste buds, so I was already enthusiastic about this before I even tried some. Being M&S too, I was expecting it to be not just any caramel chocolate, but an M&S caramel chocolate. It didn't disappoint in this respect, being far removed from what is probably it's nearest mass market relation, Cadbury's Caramel.
The bar was 100g, or 12 generous squares (large squares are probably required for a flattish bar with a liquid filling to work). The chocolate itself was excellent. It broke with an agreeably crisp snap and melted very smoothly in my mouth. It reminded me of swiss chocolate though I am sure if it was it would have been blazoned on the pack. I will return to the flavour of the chocolate later.
The caramel was quite runny, although again this may be a practical requirement given the dimensions of the bar. I feel that a chewier caramel adds more textural interest, and a cube or sphere of caramel is my ideal as it is easier for the caramel to shine and the chocolate to play a supporting role rather than the other way around, which was the case here. I am aware, however, that my mental archetype of a salted caramel is from Galler (http://www.galler.com/index.php). That was a definite 10/10 when I tasted it- alas, in pre-blogging days- and has inevitably suffered from mental exaggeration of its awesomeness so I try to remind myself not to compare others to it, but I just can't help it.
Back now to the UK in 2010. The caramel in the M&S version has a perceptible but subtle amount of salt which works well in highlighting the buttery element of the flavour, and by some kind of synaesthetic trick also enhances the smooth mouth feel of the caramel. Despite this I can't help but feel that if you're going for a salted caramel it's worth really nailing your colours to the mast and going for a more prominence with the salt. I think I'd have to try an salted caramel that overdid it with the salt before I could specify what the happy medium would be.
The chocolate was sweet, and I wondered if it could do with being a bit darker, before realising that the chocolate does need to be sweet to be able to stand up to all the sugar in the caramel.
This bar has a beautiful, lingering aftertaste of caramel which I absolutely loved, and thus had to chase by eating another square. Health warning: the huge sweetness of this bar creeps up slowly but after about 6 squares, wow you are aware of it. Verdict: a solid 7/10.
Thinking about both this bar and about lime-tequila-salt shots, I wonder whether salt a) makes things feel smoother in the mouth and b) prolongs a smooth aftertaste.
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