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I raided my chocolate stash today and discovered buried deep under the mountain of mass-produced chocolate this sleek envelope of heaven.
I received a bar of Pump Street's 60% Ecuadorian milk chocolate studded with rye breadcrumbs and sea salt for my birthday, and I quickly stashed it away for safe keeping. Only I forgot about it, until now.
This bar ticks off one of just three bars left for me to track down in the Pump Street Bakery series, and after the surprising joy and excitement of the Brown Bread bar, I was eager to see what a difference milk chocolate and rye crumbs in this bar presents over the white chocolate and brown crumbs in that bar.
Packaging
Clearly, this bar draws lots of parallels to the Brown Bread bar, given it uses chocolate made with beans from the same location (albeit milk chocolate instead of white chocolate) and it uses breadcrumbs again (rye bread instead of brown bread).
It features a large Pump Street Chocolate logo on the front, with printed information about the product. It uses a 60% milk chocolate as its base, made from beans from Hacienda Limon, a 120 hectare plantation in the Cotopaxi region of Ecuador. Rye bread crumbs come courtesy of Pump Street Bakery, and there's a touch of sea salt in there for good measure.
The reverse contains tasting notes for this bar, with creamy caramel notes riffing against nutty and acidic rye grain.
A couple of paragraphs sit below this, followed by the ingredients and nutritional information in English, German and French, suggesting a strong European fan base for this bar.
Pump Street 60% Ecuador Milk Chocolate, Rye Crumb & Sea Salt Bar ingredients:
Cocoa beans, cane sugar, organic cocoa butter, milk powder, rye wheat breadcrumbs, sea salt. Cocoa solids: 60% minimum.
This bar contains 24.3% sugars and contains dairy, wheat, and rye ingredients. It's produced in a kitchen that handles dairy, gluten, nut and seed ingredients.
Unlike with previous Pump Street bars, there's no stickers here (aside from a paper based best before / batch number seal). The packaging in its entirety is 100% compostable.
Pump Street 60% Ecuador Milk Chocolate, Rye Crumb & Sea Salt Bar Review
The surface of the 4 x 4 grid of chocolate is glossy, with speckles of the rye breadcrumbs peeking through just below the surface. A deliciously rich chocolatey smell full of notes of malt, caramel, and creamy fudge is released as soon as you pop open the resealable pouch.
On tasting, it follows a very similar path to the Brown Bread bar, albeit more rich and creamy this time around. The flavour is mellow, with gentle notes of honey coming through at the start, together with a wave of creamy, buttery vibes.
The liberal handfuls of crunchy rye crumbs add a nuttier aspect with savoury hints of malt and hops. A touch of salt rounds off the finish.
The aftertaste is buttery, with a mild nutty flavour from the rye bread.
Don't be fooled by the high cocoa content of the dark milk chocolate. This adds richness and depth, but there's plenty of creaminess to make this still feel like a milk chocolate bar.
This bar is more intense, and perhaps more serious, than the Brown Bread bar, but equally just as tasty. It's rich and creamy, with a more intense flavour from the rye crumbs.
Pump Street 60% Ecuador Milk Chocolate, Rye Crumb & Sea Salt Bar Review
RRP: £6.75 | Pump Street | Shop now
An unusual combination but one that works very well together and is delicious. It's another successful duo of Pump Street chocolate and Pump Street baked goods. The malty rye bread crumbs work well with the creamy Ecuadorian milk chocolate, and a touch of salt at the end lifts this bar. One to savour and enjoy alongside a cup of freshly ground coffee.
Where to Buy Online
You can find this bar on the Pump Street Chocolate website here (£6.75).
It's also available at Cocoa Runners (£6.75), Green Tulip (£7) and Halen Môn (£6.95).
Be sure to check out the other bars in the Bakery series, including Pump Street's Sourdough & Sea Salt Chocolate, Gingerbread Dark Chocolate, Panettone Dark Chocolate, and Hot Cross Bun Dark Chocolate bars.
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Which is your favourite bar from Pump Street's Bakery range? Let me know in a comment below.
