Old Jamaica: Worth its weight in Gold

I was meant to go to the cinema one evening this week, but it fell through. I’d therefore already mentally spent $10 (bargain Tuesday) so thought I could treat myself to something else.

What did my mind jump to? Food, naturally.

My landlord owns a little convenience store across the road from us, and I felt it was about time I paid it a visit. Now, those of you who know me well understand that I’m really bad at making decisions about food. I’m awful to go to lunch with because I will easily spend five minutes deciding over a sandwich filling. These things are important to me. There’s nothing worse than making a snap decision and then wishing you had what someone else ordered.

The plus, therefore, of food shopping on my own is that I can ponder as much as I like. I think I rather amused the girl behind the counter as I wandered up and down the aisles. As with most small food shops, the entire front section was taken up with confectionary, and mainly chocolate, so my decision was inevitable really.

With chocolate decided upon I then had to narrow it down to a particular bar. Mars bars and other really sweet creations don’t often appeal to me anymore, and especially not here when they are strangely expensive. My eye was caught momentarily by the famous American ‘Hersheys’ bar, but then I realised it was extremely thin and also costly.

The real treasure trove was in the Cadburys section. In the UK we manage such variations as ‘fruit and nut.’ Here they have Black Forest, Tiramisu, Crème Brule, Rocky Road…and then I saw it. The flavour I’ve always dreamed would be a chocolate bar: Rum and Raisin. Decision made.

When I got it home I found myself sitting on my bed simply admiring the package. It’s bigger than the average chocolate bar at 250g, and therefore has a heavy old fashioned chunkiness about it. I feel as if it should have been carried home in a brown paper bag by a little girl in a duffle coat and buckle shoes. The paper wrapping gives it a nostalgic feel, the dark gold shine promising something exotic inside.

I broke off six small squares, and how did it taste? Yummy. It’s rather like fruit and nut without the nut, with a hint of alcoholic flavouring, and the chocolate is gloriously dark. A real taste of ‘Old Jamaica.’

I find I enjoy chocolate the most when I savour every bite. Therefore I am going to slowly devour the whole bar over the next week, piece by piece, one indulgent chunk at a time…