Tirol Chocolate – Madame Gelée

This is a returning seasonal flavour that I missed the first time I found out about them. It makes its regular debut around Halloween, so this may be early or late depending on what your perspective is. What intrigues me more than the packaging is the idea of a syrup filled piece. Generally execution of those types of chocolates is lacking, but I can’t help but stay optimistic that someone will do it well. If it’s successful enough for them to bring back, it has to be at least somewhat decent, right?

Something to note, this pouch felt a bit heavier to me because it turns out it had 9 pieces instead of the standard 7, sometimes 6. A refreshing change to say the least. It’s not a huge deal breaker or deal maker, but anything that helps me feel like I’m getting more value for my dollar is good in my books.

These are filled with quite a bit of raspberry jelly. It’s practically dripping out, which is both good and bad. Be careful not to get this on your clothes or hair. It sort of reminds me of when I was a kid and there were those snacks that looked like a tube of toothpaste, and was essentially just corn syrup that kids would squeeze out or lick out of the tube. Except this one is way easier to share, less messy and likely also not as bad for your teeth.

This has a very tasty, but strong raspberry flavour. Not that I’m complaining, it’s just a bit different from strawberry which tends to be used way more often. The big difference here is the raspberry has a tart component to it that is more pronounced than the floral notes of a similar strawberry jelly. It also feels less sweet, but it could be due to the sour or tartness in the flavour. It sort of feels like I’m licking up a nice, syrupy raspberry compote.

The texture of the jelly centre is ooey, gooey and thick. I’m actually surprised it’s as gooey and thick as it is, it really does have an almost jam like quality to it, but more flowy. Granted it’s also super messy, it’s good a smooth, thick syrupy texture that seems to work really well with the flavour to coat your tongue and taste buds, and really tell them who the boss is. In this case it’s raspberries. The chocolate shell is standard affair, and it’s job here is mostly to provide a protective barrier – both to protect the delicate liquidy center from the outside world, and vice versa.

So where does all this leave us? Simple, it’s a great flavour that is delightfully refreshing and I would do this again. This will give me one more thing to look forward to once Halloween season comes around.