Kacao Chocolaterie, Richmond

People love chocolate, right?

Well, most people do anyway...I certainly know that I do that's for sure.

Some days I can't get enough of the blooming stuff.

So when I was very kindly invited along to Harrogate's Foodies Festival I was secretly hoping - OK I'll admit it - I was actually praying that I would find some fabulous sweet-treaty goodness all waiting to tantalise my taste buds amongst those many fabulous stalls.

And I was not disappointed in the slightest.

It was here, situated slap bang in the centre of the event that I made the all important discovery that was local chocolaterie Kacao and their amazingly talented (and very friendly) founder Kelsey.

Now Kelsey began her chocolate-filled journey with an overwhelming love for the stuff (which I can very much relate to) and after spending time in Central and South America (lucky thing!) she discovered the cacao bean, the plantations in which it is grown and the communities which source it.

As well as wanting top notch quality chocolate, Kelsey understood a need to help such communities through Fair Trade and so, after spending time securing a degree and then gaining retail experience, Kacao was eventually born.

And I for one am very pleased about this.

The Foodie's Festival display I stumbled across showcased a great deal of Kelsey's handiwork and everything was just mouthwateringly pretty...

Myself and the kiddies I was with just didn't know where to look first.

Kelsey then very kindly picked out a few of the lovely items for me to take away from the festival - what an amazing lady she is - and I must admit, I did really enjoy them...

...Every.  Last.  One...

The beautiful, ribbon adorned box was filled with an assortment of luxuriously rich truffles and between myself and my son we devoured the lot...

I'm not totally sure if I can even pin-point a favourite - there were certainly a few amazing ones tucked away in there - but I think if I did have to choose, the one I would say that just pipped the others to the post had to be the yummy white chocolate, lemon and passion fruit truffles.

I really didn't want to share those with anyone.

~ Amazing ~

Another part of my fab little goody-bag which I almost very nearly didn't even manage to sample (my son loved them that much) were these, again very beautifully presented, bags of chocolate thins.

We were given a white chocolate and strawberry combination and they totally won over the taste buds of my nine year old...well, of all of us really...they were simply amazing and he very much adored them.

They were (obviously) a very thin chocolate treat, but were still really creamy and packed full of amazing flavour and didn't fail to give that all important chocolate hit, but they did so without being too much...

...and that naturally meant that we practically munched our way through the entire bag in one sitting...

~ Oops ~

They really are that fantastic though.

Now, something that I actually did manage to keep the majority of all to myself was this chunky bar of salted caramel milk chocolate....

...which was again presented so beautifully.

The chocolate followed the rest and was amazing quality and so beautiful and creamy tasting - it was crammed with small, chunky, chewy caramel pieces too.

~ Yum ~

But what I loved the most was that the salted element of this came not from the flavour being incorporated within the caramel itself, the salt was actually distributed onto the chocolate bar - I could physically see it, dusted across the chocolate.

This was a really unique find for me and it made the saltiness initially very intense and prominent before the sweetness took over - and I blooming loved it.

It really helped set the chocolate apart from the rest I've tried that's for sure.

And I very much intend to treat myself to more...perhaps once Baby Baker is here...

(I mean, why not eh!)

Kacao chocolate - I'm more than overjoyed to have discovered you.

High quality, amazing taste, lovely founder and a local business to boot - what is not to love!?!

Make sure you give Kacao a try and let me know which flavour was your favourite

*chocolate treats gifted in exchange for an honest review. Words, thoughts, images all my own