Charbonnel et Walker - Whisky Truffles - June 1, 2023

Chocolate of the Day

Charbonnel et Walker 
Whisky Truffles
Good ++
Weight: 1.2 oz. (34 g.) / 4.58 oz. (130 g.) in total bar
Calories: 190 calories in 2 chocolates/truffles
Cost: $29.95 for 1 box of 8 truffles
Purchased from: Charbonnel et Walker, online order

Welcome to Day #3 of Chocolate, Spirits and Savory Snacks Theme Week.

Today's Whisky Truffles were from Charbonnel et Walker (London). The company was originally established in 1875, and has supplied chocolates to British royalty ("By Appointment to Her Majesty The Queen").

Aroma and flavor notes included: dark chocolate, whisky and butter. All three harmonized quite nicely.

These dark chocolate whisky truffles had a buttery smooth and creamy texture, particularly the spirit-infused ganache (filling) centers.

Today's Whisky Truffles were enjoyed with savory snacks (chicken chips and salted nuts).

Maker's description: "Dark chocolate truffles with a dark chocolate, butter and Scotch whisky centre, lightly dusted in cocoa powder."

Ingredients: Bittersweet chocolate (unsweetened chocolate, sugar, cocoa fat, soy lecithin), salted butter (milk), blended Scotch Whisky, cocoa powder alkalised, natural flavoring, soy lecithin. Bittersweet chocolate contains cocoa solids 70% minimum.

Allergen-related information: Contains Milk and soy. May contain tree nuts and wheat.

 

Charbonnel et Walker - Blackwell Jamaican Rum Truffles - May 31, 2023

Chocolate of the Day

Charbonnel et Walker 
Blackwell Fine Jamaican Rum - Rum Truffles
Good ++
Weight: 1.38 oz. (39 g.) / 4.05 oz. (115 g.) in total bar
Calories: 220 calories in 3 chocolates/truffles
Cost: $28.00 for 1 box of 9 truffles
Purchased from: Charbonnel et Walker, online order

Welcome to Day #2 of Chocolate, Spirits and Savory Snacks Theme Week.

Today's Blackwell Fine Jamaican Rum - Rum Truffles were from Charbonnel et Walker (London). The company was established in 1875.

Aroma notes included: warm rum, brown sugar/honey, and chocolate.

The Rum Truffle centers had a buttery texture and melt, and were surrounded by a firmer, relatively thick dark chocolate shell. 

The smooth dark chocolate and rum flavors were harmonious and balanced, and had a slight natural, brown sugar/honey sweetness and booziness that extended into the finish. 

These Rum Truffles were enjoyed with salted nuts and blood orange (fresh fruit).

Maker's description: "...smooth Blackwell (tm) Rum Truffles in Fine Dark Chocolate. Blackwell (tm) Black Gold Fine Jamaican Rum..."

Ingredients: Dark chocolate (unsweetened chocolate, sugar, cocoa fat, soy lecithin), milk chocolate (sugar, cocoa fat, whole milk powder, unsweetened chocolate, soy lecithin, natural vanilla flavoring), butter (salt, milk), Blackwell (tm) Rum (4.6%), sugar, unsweetened chocolate, natural flavorings, soy lecithin, milk fat, fat reduced cocoa powder, dry whole milk. 

Allergen-related information: Contains milk and soy. May contain Tree nuts, Egg and Wheat.

Fruition Chocolate Works - Spiced Rum Dark Oko-Caribe 66% (bar) - May 30, 2023

Chocolate of the Day

Fruition Chocolate Works
Spiced Rum Oko-Caribe 66% (bar)

Good ++

Weight: 1.06 oz. (30 g.) / 2.12 oz. (60 g.) in total bar
Calories: 164 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $14.50 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

Welcome to Day #7 of Chocolate and Dominican Republic Theme Week, and Day #1 of Chocolate, Spirits and Savory Snacks Theme Week.

Today's Spiced Rum Oko-Caribe 66% (bar) was created by Fruition Chocolate Works (Shokan, NY) at their workshop in the Catskill Mountains.

Maker's description: "This riff on our signature Dominican Republic Oko-Caribe dark chocolate is spiked with local Berkshire Mountain Distillers Ragged Mountain Rum and blended spices." (Cacao origin: Duarte, Dominican Republic; sourcing partner: Uncommon Cacao.)

Aroma notes for this spirited, 66% cacao dark bar included: sweet dark chocolate, caramel, sweet candy wax, warm spices, brown sugar and very faint rum.

This well-tempered chocolate broke with a hard snap. The melt and texture were smooth.

The overall taste was a softly undulating bouquet of balanced sweet, spiced rum punch and dark chocolate flavors that lingered into the finish.

The rum provided a naturally sweet, mellow, aged backdrop, without being boozy; and the subtle but intriguing spice blend infused the 66% chocolate with a warm, spiced rum flavor.

Today's chocolate was enjoyed with a savory snack plate that included: red grapes, Smokey Pepper Fontal Cheese, and savory, roasted almonds

Ingredients: Cocoa beans*, cane sugar*, cocoa butter*, rum, cinnamon, vanilla bean, cardamom, nutmeg, star anise, ginger, black pepper, pineapple essential oil. (* Organic)

Allergen-related information: "May contain traces of milk, peanuts, tree nuts, wheat, eggs, soy, sesame."

Nibble Chocolate - Dominican Republic 85% (bar) - May 29, 2023

Chocolate of the Day

Nibble Chocolate
Dominican Republic 85% Cocoa bar
Good + - Good ++
Weight: .575 oz. (16.25 g.) / 2.3 oz. (65 g.) ttl bar
Calories: 100 calories in 1/4 bar
Cost: $7.29 for 1 bar
Purchased from: The Market at Edgewood, 

Welcome to Day #6 of Chocolate and Dominican Republic Theme Week.

Today's Dominican Republic 85% Cocoa Dark Chocolate Single Origin Trinitario* (bar) was made by Nibble Chocolate, LLC (San Diego, CA).

Aroma and flavor notes for this well-tempered, ultra-dark 85% chocolate included: dark roast cocoa/espresso, diffuse red and dried fruit, faint spice (molasses, black licorice); faint, fleeting wood/nut; and faint earth (loam).

Instead of making a 70% cacao bar (with more sugar to sweeten the bold, roasted single origin Trinitario cacao), Nibble Chocolate maker(s) chose (to their credit) to make an 85% cacao ultra-dark chocolate, with well-managed (potentially frisky) fruit acidity and bitterness. 

If "nibbled" (savored slowly) as the maker suggests, tasting this bar will unfold like a journey through a deep, dark complex rainforest with occasional shafts of beautiful sunlight and opportunities to taste rare, hidden dark/dried fruits.

Ingredients: Organic cocoa beans, organic whole unrefined cane sugar

Allergen-related information: "Processed in shared equipment with products containing nuts."

*Trinitario (thought to originate in Trinidad, and to be a cross between Criollo and Forastero cacaos) is a variety of cacao that is bolder than delicate heritage (Criollo) variety/ies, and often has (slightly acidic) fruit and light spice and earth notes. However, it is generally less "dark" and dense than Forastero cacao varieties. 

There are many varieties (and hybrids) of cacao, but the three varieties mentioned here tend to be featured often. 

Firetree Chocolate - Hispaniola Dominican Republic 72% Cocoa (bar) - May 28, 2023

Chocolate of the Day

Firetree Chocolate
Hispaniola Dominican Republic 72% Cocoa (bar)
Good ++
Weight: 1.145 oz. (32.5 g.) / 2.29 oz. (65 g.) in total bar
Calories: 180.5 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $9.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online, online order 

Welcome to Day #5 of Chocolate and Dominican Republic Theme Week.

Today's Hispaniola Dominican Republic 72% Cocoa (bar) was from Firetree Chocolate (Peterborough, United Kingdom).

Aroma notes included: smooth dark chocolate, roasted cocoa, diffuse fruit (red berry), and very faint floral spice.

This well-tempered chocolate had a smooth melt and texture with a barely there fruit astringency.

Flavor notes included: dark chocolate (roasted cocoa), diffuse fruit (red berry, dried nectarine and fig), spice, and faint sweet green (floral, light banana).

Maker's tasting notes: "...intense chocolate with brown fruit flavours, with spicy and red fruit notes, and a hint of green banana."

Ingredients: Cocoa mass, unrefined sugar, cocoa butter, emulsifier: sunflower lecithin.

Allergen-related information: This chocolate is made in a no nut factory. Dairy free. Halal. Kosher. Suitable for Vegans. 

 

Svenska Kakao - Dominican Republic, Oko Caribe 2021 70% Harvest (bar) - May 27, 2023

Chocolate of the Day

Svenska Kakao

Dominican Republic, Oko Caribe, 2021 70% Cacao (bar)

Good ++ - Good +++
Weight: .88 oz. (25 g.) / 1.76 oz. (50 g.) in total bar
Calories: 137 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $12.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Chocolate Covered, San Francisco, CA

Welcome to Day #4 of Chocolate and Dominican Republic Theme Week.

Today's Dominican Republic, Oko Caribe (2021 Harvest) 70% Cacao (bar) was from Svenska Kakao (Osterlen, Sweden). 

Svenska Kakao (Swedish Cacao) is small, family owned chocolate maker located in a red brick building (former school house) built in 1893 near the Baltic Sea. Their goal is to highlight the flavors found in cacao worldwide. They "roast their cacao beans at low temperatures, process minimally and add no unnecessary ingredients."

Aroma notes for today's bar--made with cacao produced by Oko Caribe in the Dominican Republic--included: dark chocolate (iron-rich dried fruits (raisin, plum, berry); faint molasses; faint, fleeting licorice; light green botanical; and barely there graham cracker). Within a five-minute smelling and tasting span other interesting (appealing) dark chocolate and very faint (not-undesirable) light fermentation notes flickered by as well.

The melt was nice; the texture had a very faint fruit astringency/dryness to it.

Flavor notes included nuanced dark chocolate with dried fruit (pear, berry, raisin), honey, sweet green and true chocolate (dark chocolate torte, pudding), notes.

Today's 70% DR dark chocolate was a well-crafted, shape-shifter, with interesting, well-balanced complexity and aroma and flavor notes. (One of my favorite kinds of chocolate to taste.) All the more impressive when one remembers all these nuances were from just two ingredients: cacao beans and sugar. 

Maker's tasting notes: "Dark chocolate with balanced notes of honey, red berries and nuts."

Ingredients: Cacao beans, cane sugar. Cacao: 70% 

Allergen-related information: "May contain traces of nuts and milk."

Ethereal Chocolate - Organic 80% Dominican Republic (bar) - May 26, 2023

Chocolate of the Day

Ethereal Chocolate 
Organic 80% Dominican Republic (bar)
Good + - Good ++
Weight: 1.13 oz. (32 g.) / 2.25 oz. (64 g.) in total bar
Calories: 167.6 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $11.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Ethereal Chocolate, online order

Welcome to Day #3 of Chocolate and Dominican Republic Theme Week.

Today's Organic 80% Dominican Republic (bar) was from Ethereal Chocolate (Woodstock, IL).

Aroma and flavor notes for this 80% cacao bar were almost the same and included: dark chocolate, red fruit (berry, cherry, red apple), wood (cedar) and faint nut.

The single origin, two-ingredient chocolate had an enjoyable aroma and flavor, and a relatively granular texture/astringency over the last two-thirds of each bite.

This ultra-dark chocolate was well-balanced, with relatively low bitterness and a sophisticated, natural fruit sweetness/brightness for an 80%er. The fruit acidity was not too strong, and the sweetness level was good (not too sweet, not too bitter).

Maker's tasting notes: ..."cherry, fig, and citrus"

Ingredients: Cocoa beans*, cane sugar* (* Organic)

Allergen-related information: "Made on shared equipment with peanuts and tree nuts."