The International Chocolate Awards is pleased to announce the Winners of our fourth Eastern European Competition, which was judged from 21 – 22 September, 2018 in Budapest, Hungary. The competition encompasses Eastern, Central and North Eastern Europe and is the first international competition to support the growing interest in fine cacao and fine chocolate making in these regions.
Judges
The judging panel was made up of member of our Grand Jury and international judges who traveled to Budapest, joined by local chefs, journalists, bloggers and chocolate specialists.
- Winners
- Finalists
- Judges
- Grand Jury
Prizes
The categories judged included flavoured bars, filled chocolates and spreads and are based on yearly feedback from our entrants and in consultation with the fine chocolate industry. Plain/origin and plain milk or white bars were judged at the 2018 European Bean-to-bar Competition, which was judged May 10 – June 11, in Amsterdam. All judging is anonymised, including at the Grand Jury final session, where Golds, Silver and Bronze prizes are awarded by private voting according to the Grand Jury rules.
Awards are awarded only to entries that meet the required standard for each prize.
(Prizes are shown in alphabetical order for each medal)
Flavoured bars
Dark chocolate bars with inclusions or pieces
Silver: Maya Chocolate (Hungary) - Santo Domingo 70% dark chocolate with Cognac figs & Caramelized walnuts
Milk chocolate bars with inclusions or pieces
Bronze: Gingalló Csokoládé (Hungary) - Dominican milk chocolate with roasted malt (46%)
White chocolate bars with an infusion or flavouring
Silver: Gingalló Csokoládé (Hungary) - White chocolate with lemon & elderflower
White chocolate bars with inclusions or pieces
Silver: Réel Chocolate (Serbia and Montenegro) - Salted caramel chocolate
Bronze: Passion Hand made chocolate (Czech Republic) - Cinnamon &Tonka bean
Ganaches, palets, ganache pralines and truffles
Flavoured dark chocolate ganaches or truffles
Bronze: Harrer Chocolat (Hungary) - Kaffir lime levél-madagaszkári vadbors (leaves of kaffir lime-wildpepper from Madagascar) (**)
Bronze: Harrer Chocolat (Hungary) - kakukkfű-citromnád (thymian-lemongrass) (**)
Flavoured milk chocolate ganaches or truffles
Gold: chocoMe (Hungary) - chocoMe Petit 21 - Bite-sized milk chocolate squares with Piemonte hazelnut praline and Ethiopean Harrar coffee filling
Silver: Harrer Chocolat (Hungary) - fügefalevél (leaves of fig) (**)
Flavoured ganaches or truffles with combination coating or filling
Gold: CsoKiss Manufaktura (Hungary) - Gyulai Vadbodza bonbon / Gyulai's Wild Elderberry bonbon
Bronze: CsoKiss Manufaktura (Hungary) - Sós Datolya bonbon/ Salted Dates bonbon
Nuts
Dark chocolate dragées, enrobed whole nuts
Bronze: Chocomaze (Slovakia) - CrunCHÉ oat, chia and quinoa
Bronze: Chocomaze (Slovakia) - CrunCHÉ pecan, coconut, chia and white quinoa enrobed in 60,1% dark chocolate
White chocolate dragées, enrobed whole nuts
Bronze: chocoMe (Hungary) - chocoMe Raffinée - Sicilian almond enrobed with chocolate made of Ruby
Caramels
Dark chocolate enrobed caramels
Gold: Chocokoo (Estonia) - Chanterelle Bonbon
Silver: Chocolala (Estonia) - Sea-salt caramel in dark chocolate
Silver: chocoMe (Hungary) - chocoMe Petit 21 - Bite-sized dark chocolate squares with caramel and yuzu filling
Bronze: Bonbonier Chocolate (Hungary) - Apple pie caramell
Others - fruit/sugar/butter/cream/misc
Dark chocolate enrobed fruit pastes, jellies/gelée
Bronze: Chocolala (Estonia) - Local black currant dark chocolate bonbon
Dark chocolate enrobed whole fruit
Gold: Réel Chocolate (Serbia and Montenegro) - Candied orange peel coated with dark chocolate
Silver: chocoMe (Hungary) - chocoMe Voilé - Mango slices coated with dark chocolate
Silver: Harrer Chocolat (Hungary) - fekete berkenye drazsé (aronia dragee) (**)
Milk chocolate enrobed whole fruit
Gold: chocoMe (Hungary) - chocoMe Raffinée - Freeze-dried blackcurrant coated with blueberry yogurt and white chocolate
Silver: Harrer Chocolat (Hungary) - kakakóbabtöret-mangó passiógyümölcs drazsé (cacaonibs-mango passionsfruit dragee)
Spreads
Spreads with milk chocolate
Gold: Lyra (Slovakia) - Spread praline
Silver: Chocolala (Estonia) - Birch juice caramel spread
Bronze: Lyra (Slovakia) - Spread walnut
(*) Declared chocolate maker for private label bars.
(**) Winner has declared the product is made with their own bean-to-bar chocolate or couverture.