Ritter Sport White Whole Hazelnuts

Product name: Ritter Sport White Whole Hazelnuts
Calories: 571 per 100g bar
Country of origin: Germany

For some reason, I’ve turned down the opportunity to purchase a bar of Ritter Sport White Whole Hazelnuts time and time again – I wrongly thought that I’d tried it before and that it was a less exciting flavour offering. Thankfully, all has not been lost, as I was sent this bar to sample from an online survey panel.

I thought the bar’s wrapper looked divine since it was designed to look like the creamy white chocolate full of ‘crunchy roasted whole hazelnuts’ within. Apparently, 23% of the product was these nuts, whilst a further 3% was taken up by ‘crispy rice’. Whilst not provided on the wrapper, I was also able to obtain the nutritional information from Ritter Sport's website.

On unwrapping the 16-square bar, it was immediately obvious that the nuts really were whole and scattered throughout the chocolate. Along with the rice, they were visible on both sides of the bar, giving the overall appearance of a chunkier Weisse Cocos. The hazelnuts also took centre stage in terms of the scent, although there was a slightly milky aroma too.

The chocolate’s sweet taste also had a milkiness to it which worked fantastically with the quite juicy and liquidy melt. This texture seemed to be thinner than normal due to how packed full the chocolate was of other stuff which, presumably, meant there was actually less of it! I also found that the white chocolate flavour wasn’t as strong as I’d have liked but, on the plus side, it wasn’t too sweet or sickly.

Due to my passion for white chocolate, I thought I might find this product too busy with the nuts and rice, and it was certainly lumpy when melting and not really worth it for the chocolate itself. However, the chewing texture was fabulous. Whether eating with the chocolate or after it had melted, the brilliantly combined crunchy and crispy mouthful was really tasted and I absolutely loved the toasted aspect of the hazelnuts.

I felt nothing but love for this combination of white chocolate and hazelnuts and, having eaten a lot of nut-filled chocolates in my time, I was particularly impressed by the quality of the hazelnuts that left no funny aftertaste. I definitely should have tried this variety sooner and I’ll certainly be buying it in future.

Appearance: 8.5/10
Aroma: 7.5/10
Taste: 8/10
Texture: 9/10
Overall score: 8.25/10