I first cemented the allure of the “chew” aged 14, working illegally as a chambermaid (I lied about my age) and finding a guest’s Gummy Bears laid open – a breach I heavily exploited. Recently this chew need has been sated by dates and their use in chocolate as a healthy caramel. Dates do have nutritional benefits over mere sugar: fibre, minerals, antioxidants and make a great pre-workout boost. My favourite, and how it all started, was with Solkiki’s excellent date bonbons : almond ganache in a date, surrounded by 66% Bolivian chocolate. When I’m eating chocolate dates for personal pleasure, the cocoa content needs to be high to counterbalance the tooth-jarring sweetness of dates, so these really did it for me. Another great contender was Sam Joseph’s 70% covered peanut butter medjool dates . My young testers are obsessed with Forest Feast’s chocolate-covered fruit, so its date offerings are an easy segue.…