Chocolate treats on a world tour | Chocolate | The Guardian — theguardian.com

This week I’ve been to Istanbul, New York, Guangzhou, Turin, Bangkok and the Arctic, among other places. And that was just by Thursday.I want to say ‘sadly this was via a box of chocolates’, but I’m actually not sad at all, because they were absolutely terrific. Fifth Dimension chocolates marry super luxe handmade chocolates with tastes from around the world.Every day I sat down and read my menu which told me about the ingredients and their global inspiration. Biepu, for example, is from when the makers (Albert and Russell) travelled to Taiwan and made Hakka tea using sesame seeds and peanuts – thus both ingredients appear in the chocolate. (Biepu was a favourite. I sighed after eating it.) Siem Reap (Cambodian curry) is white chocolate with lemongrass, galangal, coconut and chilli. Hong Kong is milk chocolate with a soy sauce caramel. You get the idea.It may sound sad, but every day I looked forward to my little chocolate (I had a box of 12 – some days I did travel to more than one place, truth be told). January was a particularly anhedonic month for me, as it nearly always is. I usually try to go away in January, but travel isn’t easy at the moment is it? I found myself often looking up the city/town the chocolate was named after and finding out a bit more about its ingredients.Prices start at £22.60 for a box of 12. Much cheaper, and less stressful, than air travel. 5dchocolates.comFollow Annalisa on Twitter @AnnalisaB

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