DeMet's Turtles: Original

Product name: DeMet’s Turtles: Original
Purchase details: £1.50 for a 33g bar (A Quarter of Sweets)
Calories: 170 per bar
Country of origin: USA

For some reason I’d convinced myself that I’d tried these DeMet’s Turtles before but, since I had no clear memory of this, I decided it was about time I bought them again.

These ‘caramel nut clusters’ specifically contained pecans and were covered in chocolate. The gold and red wrapper contained a bar that was split into two pieces that were intended to look like turtles (hence the name and the cartoon turtle wearing a top hat on the packaging!).

Now, let’s be honest...the reality of these chocolates looked absolutely nothing like turtles! Instead, I was greeted with a couple of randomly-shaped pieces that featured a relatively thick chocolate shell that was half-filled with a thick-looking and deep-coloured caramel that sat on top of a base of chunky nuts. There was a slightly sweet chocolate smell on offer but this wasn’t particularly strong or interesting.

The Turtles turned out to be nothing like how I expected so it turns out I’d not had them before! It took me a few seconds to adjust to the pecan flavour as I found it a bit unusual in this type of product, but it did work, and I was actually a little disappointed that the nuts weren’t more of a feature.

The caramel was by far the main feature and had a toffee taste that the milky but sugary chocolate mixed well with. Whilst the combination of ingredients didn’t taste quite how I’d expected, it was the texture that surprised me most, since the caramel turned out to be chewy rather than the  runny type suggested by the image on the wrapper. This took further attention away from the nuts since their crunch was partly disguised. Out of personal preference, I would have liked a runnier centre, but I was pleased that the caramel wasn’t at an unpleasant or jaw-breaking level of chewiness.

I’m struggling to think of any pecan-containing mainstream products on the UK market so it was nice to try something a bit different on this occasion. However, these DeMet’s Turtles: Original, whilst nice enough, didn’t do anything to make me want to make them a regular purchase. I’ll keep my eye out for the Cashew variety though!

Appearance: 7/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 7/10
Texture: 7/10
Overall score: 7/10

Goo Goo Cluster: Peanut butter

Product name: Goo Goo Cluster: Peanut butter
Purchase details: £1.79 for a 43g Cluster (cybercandy.co.uk)
Calories: 230 per Cluster
Country of origin: USA

Before placing my order on Cybercandy's website, I’d never heard of Goo Goo Clusters, let alone this peanut butter variety. Ever willing to sample peanut butter delights, though, I had no problem in adding one to my basket.

This product came in a pretty plain and old-fashioned looking wrapper, with the pale brown background reflecting its peanut buttery contents. I didn’t actually know what to expect from what was inside since, aside from the picture and the ingredients list, the only descriptive information given on the packet was ‘made with real milk chocolate’ – this, at least, pleased me since I knew I wasn’t about to be greeted with another artificial coating.

The wrapper’s illustration suggested that the milk chocolate was a very dark shade of brown but, on opening it, I was relieved to see that it was far paler and, therefore, more in line with what I would expect from a milk chocolate. The cluster itself was by no means perfectly circular, and it was clear from the lumps and bumps that it contained a lot of nuts under the chocolate’s surface.

Through the sweet-smelling cocoa, my nose could detect the peanut butter and so I was keen to cut open the product to see exactly what was inside. In short, this Goo Goo Cluster: Peanut butter consisted of a generous helping of peanut butter, surrounded with peanuts and covered in milk chocolate. I should also add that, although it looks like there was an air-filled gap between the peanut butter and the chocolate, this wasn’t actually the case – the chocolate itself was quite thick but some of the peanuts dislodged themselves in the dissecting process which is why my picture shows gaps.

As pleased as I was that this product contained real milk chocolate, I can’t say it was the type I’m used to. It felt greasy between my fingers and it was also really sugary and not very creamy. However, it certainly provided a contrast for the peanut butter which was particularly salty.

Texturally, the quantity of peanut butter was lovely and, despite its stickiness, easily melted in the mouth. Surprisingly for the thickness of the chocolate, it was really soft, but the peanuts beneath its surface gave a nice crunch to the cluster.

I’ve made no secret of the fact that I love the combination of chocolate and peanut butter, and this product was no exception. However, as good an effort as this Goo Goo Cluster was, the balance wasn’t perfect. For me, the peanut butter was overly salty and the chocolate was overly sweet. Whilst I would have expected these factors to cancel each other out, they were just a little too strong and could really be felt in the back of the throat. However, the presence of the real peanuts did provide a distraction from this, and my tastebuds still loved the flavours this product provided.

Appearance: 7.5/10
Aroma: 7.5/10
Taste: 7/10
Texture: 7.5/10
Overall score: 7.38/10