I hunted high and low for the award-winning chocolate made in Greater Manchester and it was worth it

When I heard about an award-winning chocolate from Greater Manchester, it made me curious how much better it would make me feel than a bar of Cadbury’s Dairy Milk for £2.

Benona Chocolates, founded by Ben and Fiona from Stockport in 2021, won the 2024 Great Taste three-star award for their raspberry chocolate bonbon, a two-star award for their banoffee bonbon, and one-star awards for their hazelnut praline and amaretto cherry bonbons. Since only 1.9% of all entries received a three-star award, I knew this chocolate must be something special.

After a long and hard search, I finally found a box of these handcrafted chocolates for £17.50 at Dutsons in Marple Bridge. Most of the time it's hard to believe a premade item that says handmade, however, I was mesmerised by the rainbow array of chocolates inside the boxes on the shelves and how no two arrangements were the same. I took my time to pick out the most picture perfect box of chocolates to try. 

My mouth was already watering when I opened the box to reveal the colourful dozen of chocolate bonbons. I tried the three-star raspberry first and it was exactly like biting into a fresh chilled raspberry, then the dark chocolate coating began to melt into the flavours.

The two-star banoffee flavour was delicate and creamy, normally I’m not a huge fan of banoffee as they never get that balance of toffee and banana flavours right – but this did. The one-star hazelnut praline was buttery while the cherry amaretto was rich and intense with tart cherry followed by the smooth amaretto. 

These chocolates would make the perfect gift as the attention to detail and balance of sweet and chocolatey flavours is unmatched. And sharing it with a loved one - I chose my mum - is so much more fun – until you start fighting over the last one in the box.