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With Easter approaching, my thoughts turn to chocolate. The price of cocoa has more than doubled over the last year.
Ghana and the Côte d’Ivoire, which jointly account for two thirds of the world’s cocoa bean production, had extreme rainfall at the end of 2023, which caused the plants to rot with black pod disease, followed by a drought in 2024. Our Easter bunnies are going to be a lot more expensive this year.
As far as I´m concerned chocolate is like pets. It´s a purchase that you should enjoy forever, not just at Christmas …let alone exclusively at Easter. Just like with pedigree dogs, some people prefer exclusive cocoa beans to confectionery.
My personal preference runs across the full chocolate gamut from a crumbly Cadbury´s Flake to a creamy Lindor bauble. I cannot get enough. My family finds great joy in this long-standing family trait.
I have childhood memories of Granny barging through our door, on the occasional visit, rummaging through the cupboard in our kitchen for a square of Dairy Milk before she´d even said hello to us. When I was 2, I managed to escape my cot while I napped during lunchtime. I was found later, covered in brown sludge and unwilling to give up an Easter egg larger than my head. My booty stolen from an Easter tea table.
Hector is my nephew. My sister also has this cocoa-affliction. It seemed to be affecting the men of our family, until Hector came along. His beguiling blonde curls and cherubic-cheeked cheeks hide his single-track mind.
He sneaks into the kitchen cabinets when you are not looking, and he rummages through empty tins to find that bar of icing for your birthday cake.
The more expensive the chocolate box, the less cocoa it contains. However, one particular Spanish brand is an exception. Confitería Rialto’s chocolate-coated almond biscuits or “Moscovitas” come in eyecatching boxes that prove an equal match to their flavour.
These crispy, wafer thin Moscovitas can be made one at a time from Marcona almonds, an Eastern Spanish almond, cream, a bit of sugar and flour to create a paste that is then slathered with dark, milk or white chocolate by hand. This crunchy, delicious treat is so addicting that I have eaten a whole bag of 150g biscuits (about 15 biscuits), during an episode of White Lotus. Last year Rialto made 15 million Moscovitas which isn´t bad for a hand-made artisanal product.
Originally from Asturias, the reason behind their so-called Russian connection has been lost over the years but fortunately, we don´t have to travel as far as Moscow to enjoy them as they are sold at over 400 shops all over the Iberian Peninsula as well as at outlets in the UK, US and the Philippines.
From El Corte Inglés to small pastelerías up and down the Mediterranean coast, Malaga and Alicante boast the highest sales in the area with Valencia and Almería running close behind. While flagship stores are located in Madrid, and their hometown of Oviedo, where they started out 99 years ago.
Francisco Gayoso is the fourth generation owner and current Managing director of the family business. He laughs at my question about exports. “Moscovitas has made its way into suitcases from people around the world.” We met Cambodian children in our Oviedo patisserie after a Spanish Priest introduced them the chocolate delicacies of Phnom Penh.
Whilst I applaud their efforts to export, I find their exclusivity rather refreshing as it´s fun to discover original national and regional specialities. The high streets in Barcelona now look just like Oxford Street in London, or in any major city of China or the US.
Some of us remember the Ferrero Rocher Ambassador Party TV ads in which life-size pyramids of golden balls of praline chocolate were displayed in opulent soirées. British comedians have dined out on the parody of these corny advertisements for decades and they are a prime example of how a blend of satire and admiration can still manage to embed a brand in the public´s consciousness for many years. Either you love them or hate them. Marmite.
Another seasonal favourite of mine are those moreish speckled Mini Eggs now available for Easter and on a recent trip to Gatwick I was pleased to see that Cadbury´s have launched a new jumbo bar version. The bright canary-yellow packaging will make it easy for the little ones to spot on any Easter Egg Hunt. This will reduce the likelihood of us finding vintage chocolates from previous Easters, which tend to appear in nooks and crevices in the garden. Or, at least, they did before Hector’s birth.
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