A unique chocolate bar featuring a filling of fibrous Turkish dessert, known as `Angel Hair` or `pismaniye`, has recently hit shelves in Russian stores like Vkusvill and Samokat. The question arises whether this new exotic treat will achieve the same popularity as the sensationally successful Dubai chocolate.
`Angel Hair`, or `volosy angela`, is considered a promising new product in the Russian confectionery market. It typically consists of a bar of white, dark, or pink chocolate filled with thin strands known as `pismaniye`. Pismaniye is a traditional Turkish sweet, similar in texture to cotton candy, but made not only with sugar but also flour and other ingredients.
Back in spring, the `Angel Hair` chocolate generated significant buzz on social media platforms. Its visual appeal, especially when broken, revealing the fine, hair-like strands of filling, made it ideal content for short videos, quickly capturing attention.
Ekaterina Abramova, a pastry chef and founder of the Abramova Cake School, shared her thoughts on the prospects of this new dessert:
I was intrigued by this idea. As a blogger and pastry chef, I naturally tried making it myself last winter because it looks so interesting and unusual. The hair-like filling is Turkish halvah (pismaniye), which is very tasty on its own, but combined with chocolate, it becomes excessively sweet – almost inedible.
If you try to add other fillings, the pismaniye melts instantly. I experimented with just halvah and also added raspberry confiture for acidity, but the filling still melted very quickly, turning into mush when the bar was broken. This chocolate doesn`t store well for long.
In contrast, Dubai chocolate can be mixed with almost anything and remains appealing. It`s crunchy, contains pistachio that everyone loves, plus chocolate – a fantastic combination.
Here, I believe this trend won`t last. People will discover it, try it, and realize it`s far too sweet. While the interesting, unusual break might be impressive initially, I don`t think its popularity will endure.
Ekaterina Abramova, Pastry Chef and Founder of Abramova Cake School
Beyond taste, the name itself might be a problem for `Angel Hair`. A small test conducted by Business FM journalists with the Vkusvill chocolate revealed that some colleagues were hesitant to try the dessert, put off by the idea of `hair in their mouth`, even if described as angelic. Widespread jokes, such as referring to it as `Cupid`s fur` or `seraphim`s pelt`, haven`t helped its public image either. Ekaterina Ermilova, founder of the company `Strawberries in Chocolate` in Russia, added:
`Angel Hair` is indeed an off-putting name. A product name should be appealing, something that makes you want to taste it and evokes positive emotion, not an odd association with food texture.
Dubai chocolate, essentially just chocolate with butter and pistachio paste, sounds exclusive and desirable just by being called `Dubai`. It`s something everyone wants to try. Nowadays, the product`s taste is often secondary; what matters are marketing, advertising volume, and hype.
It`s similar to the `Labubu` phenomenon. How long were `Labubu` on the hype train? Now it`s considered passé.
Ekaterina Ermilova, Founder of `Strawberries in Chocolate`
Retailers carrying the `Angel Hair` chocolate seem to implicitly recognize the potential issue with the name. Samokat, for instance, sells it under the more descriptive title `Chocolate with pismaniye filling` for 1,500 rubles, while Vkusvill chose the English name `Angel Hair`, priced at 1,000 rubles. Unlike the Dubai chocolate, famously created in 2021 by British-Egyptian entrepreneur Sara Hamouda, the originator of the `Angel Hair` chocolate remains unknown online.
