Woodshade Organics

You can't bribe me... except with food! And that's just what my sister did. She's working for an organic confectionary in Denmark called Woodshade Organics. They produce filled chocolates, raw marzipan, soft nougat and lots of other sweets and candy related products - all 100% organic. And every now and again she sends me some samples of their products to taste. So why not share my thoughts with the readers of this blog and do a bit of shameless promotion for their amazing products. Hopefully, that way she'll keep sending me stuff (But don't think I'm only praising them for personal reasons. They have actually won several prizes for their product).

I'll start out with a few products I received some time back and which are long gone. The first was a small box of mixed filled confectionery. Each handmade piece was a treat. In fact, they were so delicious that they had disappeared before it even occurred to me to write down my opinion about them (Sister, if you read this, you'd better send me a bigger box next time so I can give you a more detailed opinion... he he).

Also, she sent me a small bag called RAW Cacao Nibs containing 75g of raw, dried cocoa beans, crushed into small bits. The first taste of the raw bean was quite strange as I expected it to taste more like chocolate. Instead it was quite bitter and earthy at first, almost like coffee beans. But then a taste of a fruity cocoa too over the more I chewed it, and left a strange desire to have some more. I'm sure it's an acquired taste, but most people I offered to try it all agreed it was quite unusual at first but then all asked me for more. I read up on it and it turns out that raw cocoa beans are very healthy and good for you, and it should be mentioned that it's also a stimulant like coffee. Just a few nibbles are enough to give you a boost. My final verdict: It's a keeper!

Here are some of the other products she sent. I haven't opened the cocoa powder on the left yet, so I can't really comment. The box on the right contains (or at least what's left of it) 'nougat', a praline mix of chocolate and hazelnuts. I'm not really a big fan of nougat, or at least until I tried this. I usually associated the nougat I had in Denmark with a inferior kind of overly sweet and fatty chocolate which was used as a cheap filler in cheap chocolate pralines. But this nougat seems to have stricken a fine balance of sweetness and the nuttiness of the hazelnuts. The almost empty box speaks for itself.

And then their marzipan. Marzipan is a big thing in Denmark. We love it and put it in pies, cakes, ice cream and the traditional Scandinavian birthday/wedding/funeral cake, Kransekage, is made of baked marzipan rings stacked on top of each other to make a tall cone. And come Christmas and the Danes just go wild in marzipan, making small eatable figures with their children of the raw marzipan. And I'm a big fan of marzipan, so my expectations were high when I received Woodshade's award-winning organic marzipan. And I wasn't disappointed. Again, top products are all about getting a very fine balance right. And I think that's what Woodshade's Raw Marcipan manages just that. It's not too sweet like some marzipan I've tried but has a very full well-rounded flavour of almonds (65%). Perhaps because they use a mixture of cane sugar and honey to sweeten the Italian almonds. The result is a less synthetic and sharp sweetness which you find in some cheaper brands, but a more complete experience which carries, but doesn't dominate, the flavour of almonds. The taste seems to be wider and lingers more pleasantly in the mouth. They have also got the consistency just right. It's soft and moist like playdough but when you bite in to it you feel the crunch from the almond flour. I can't really speak highly enough of this product. Not just because I got it for free. But this product really is worth the money you spend.

Now, just this morning I received a new product: Their licorice marzipan. I've noticed that licorice is now popping up in all kinds of products from ice cream to chocolate. Some times with great success, other times not so much. I was a bit worried that licorice marzipan would fall in the latter category. In my mind the two flavours just don't seem to mix. But now that I've tried it I might have to rethink it. Admitted, the first bit was rather confusing. When you have certain preconceptions about how some food is suppose to taste you sometimes need a bit of convincing before you see the point. And this was perhaps such a case. Cutting a small bit off, it had an almost smokey smell to it. Then you bit into it and the first impression is one of reassurance as your brain tells you that it's just normal marzipan. The texture and the first hit of sweetness is very similar to Woodshade's regular raw marzipan. But then it transforms into something quite unfamiliar. More than licorice I'd describe the second wave of taste closer to that of walnuts, perhaps with an undertone of pepper. Then finally you get the licorice coming through. It's quite a ride and hard to explain. I guess you'll just have to try for yourself. It's very good, but if I should have one tiny objection it's perhaps that I don't yet see it's application for other than just eating it raw as it is. Perhaps it's just because I'm used to marzipan being quite versatile, because there's absolutely nothing wrong in eating it just as it is.

If you want to know more about Woodshade Organics, I recommend you visit their homepage http://www.woodshade.dk/ . It's in English, Danish and German.