Dark Chocolate Hand-Dipped Orange Slices
with Roast Kurrajong Spice & Pyramid Salt Flakes
Nine slices of chocolate-dipped perfection.
Lee has always had a weakness for dark chocolate & orange. The trouble is, finding the perfect combination of these two vices is surprisingly difficult. Too dry/crystallised, no flavour, not enough chocolate, too sweet, poor quality chocolate... something was always disappointing...
So, faced with an abundance of oranges on our farm at Kurrajong Heights (we use the zest for our gin, but what about the rest?), he decided to make his own.
And, as is often the case around here, a quest for perfection had begun.
We slice our oranges to precisely 6 mm thick, & gently cook them for 3 hours in a rich sugar syrup, then leave them to mature in that syrup for three months. Yes, months! It's all about developing that wonderfully soft, luscious texture Lee calls gooeyness.
Once they've reached peak goo & are translucent, these little slices of sunshine are rinsed (to avoid that nasty crystalised texture) & lightly dusted with roast Wattleseed. They are then treated to a slow overnight baking to concentrate the flavour and aroma.
Next comes the fun bit! We perfectly temper Belgian dark chocolate (Callebaut 811 with 54.5% cocoa solids to be precise) a process we take great care over and then hand dip each slice and place it on its own little round paper base so they don't stick together.
But we're not quite finished!
As the chocolate is setting they receive a scattering of delicate pyramid salt flakes, produced on a farm in the Victorian outback, followed by a dusting of dark-roasted Kurrajong seed spice, grown and roasted right here on our farm.
The result? Well let's just say Lee will never be buying anything chocolate orange ever again - "Nothing else compares" - and he reports his addiction to Terry's chocolate orange has also vanished...
Exquisite. Indulgent. Unapologetic. Yes please.
Nine perfect slices, beautifully presented in our Botanical Collection gift box.
We don't do things by halves. Especially with chocolate!
9 slices | ~175 g net
Ingredients: Orange, Belgian Dark Chocolate (Cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter, emulsifier (soy lecithin), vanilla), Cane Sugar, Roast Kurrajong Seed, Roast Wattleseed, Salt.
