Apple chocolate tasty treat

The range introduces new flavours. Photo / Duncan Brown

Crisp Hawke's Bay apples are attractive enough - add white chocolate, a dash of vanilla and you have a winner.

One bite of Whittaker's new Artisan Collection chocolate featuring local Braeburn apples releases a surprising marriage of flavours, sweet and smooth, a little tart - most definitely delicious.

The melt-in-your-mouth flavour is subtle as are the apple pieces grown locally and freeze-dried by Auckland-based company Fresh As.

Vanilla from Tauranga and 28 per cent cocoa white chocolate round out the palette. The collection features six 100g blocks for those seeking a "little bit of luxury" in every bite.

Every combination blends local ingredients sourced from equally passionate artisan producers throughout New Zealand and the Pacific.

Whittaker's marketing manager Holly Whittaker said it seemed a "natural step" to combine their chocolate with the finest local ingredients.

"We have a lot in common with the artisan producers involved - many are family-owned and operated, and all are dedicated to creating the finest quality produce, from start to finish."

Heilala Vanilla chief executive Jennifer Boggiss said there was a "real synergy" between Heilala and Whittaker's as family-owned Kiwi businesses.

"[Our] Vanilla products are made from organically grown, bourbon variety vanilla beans from Tonga, and we're excited for Kiwis to taste Heilala Vanilla's first foray into Whittaker's chocolate," she said.

Their brand is the first in the world to produce, grow, manufacture and market the vanilla itself.

Those with a passion for hot sauce will burn up over the Kaitaia Fire Chili Pepper Spice in Dark Chocolate. Pacific sea salt from Marlborough's Lake Grassmere is matched with delicate caramel brittle and tossed through milk chocolate; Waikato grown organic Oolong tea is infused with Whittaker's rich 50 per cent dark chocolate.

Nelson pears and Mossop's Manuka honey from Tauranga make for a sweet milk chocolate combo and there's a new Single Origin Samoan Cocoa block made with Trinitario cocoa from the Vaai Family Plantation in Samoa.

Whittaker's Artisan Collection range hit shelves nationwide yesterday. Additional reporting, NZME.