New product from Unilever

As world culinary trends adventure with savoury-sweet combinations, Unilever Sri Lanka joined chocolatier Gerard Mendis to wed the saltiness of Marmite with the sweetness of chocolate. The result is an interesting gastronomic experience - Chocolate-Mite.

Brand Manager Marmite, Unilever Sri Lanka, Bianca de Silva said, "We are happy to partner with Mendis and create Chocolate-Mite. We really wanted the consumers to taste Marmite not limiting it to sandwich and hot drinks, but to taste it with pizza and burgers and now with chocolate."

Marmite, made from the yeast, which is commonly used as a spread on toast or sandwiches and as a hot drink, has been in Sri Lanka for over four decades a nd became part of the Unilever Sri Lanka family in 2001.

Mendis was approached in March and it was a six-month process. There were many trials, lots of chocolates and lots of samples before the final production.

He said, "This was a challenging yet fun experience. With international chocolate trends venturing with 'Salted Caramel' and 'Chilli Chocolate', I was delighted to partner with Unilever and marry Marmite with chocolate. The flavour is novel and different and even avant-garde at times. It allures you and grows on your taste buds and then there's no turning back."

Mendis said that when the promoters came with the idea he was surprised.

"We had to make a couple of samples initially to make sure the exact percentage of Marmite is in whatever the mixture or filling. Today we have mixed white chocolate, dark chocolate, milk chocolate with Marmite filling," Mendis said.

Preservatives, flavours or essences are not used to make the chocolate, he said.