The only chocolates that can withstand hot hands in August heat for any length of time are peanut M&Ms (I ignore all the other types). Their melting seems to start, in wholly unscientific testing, at 40.6C. The red ones resist the heat the longest. No one knows why.
Chocolate melts because of the cocoa butter in it, the melting point of which is, conveniently, around body temperature. What gives chocolate that delicious surrender on the tongue is its undoing.
Thus chocolate becomes an ephemeral beast at this time of year, when temperatures start to hit the late 20s (the point at which chocolate starts to melt).
You can tell a chocolate bar that has been made to feel uncomfortable but not enough for it to lose its shape, by the white ‘fat’ bloom it has.
So I was going to relegate all my chocolate to the (cool) cupboard until autumn time, when we can start talking about hot chocolate and which chocolate bars to reward yourself with after taking a crisp walk. But then I came across Original Beans 55% cocoa Femmes de Virunga (£4.95 for 70g).
I’m not sure that I have ever tasted a darker milk chocolate that is this creamy. I grudgingly gave it to others to test for a second opinion and while their tongues were still glued to their palettes, the ‘Mmm… mmmms’ gushing forth told me that there was only one way to keep this chocolate safe, from them and from the heat. And that was to eat it.
