Chocolate(s) of the Day:Pacari Chocolate
1.) Raw 100% bar
Very Good
Weight: .35 oz. (10 g.) in 1/5 bar/ 1.76 oz. (50 g.) total bar
Calories: 53 calories for 1/5 bar
Cost: $6.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: The Chocolate Garage, Palo Alto, CA
2.) Raw 70% bar
Good +
Weight: .35 oz. (10 g.) in 1/5 bar / 1.76 oz. (50 g.) total bar
Calories: 53 calories (estimate) for 1/5 bar
Cost: $6.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: The Chocolate Garage, Palo Alto, CA
What is raw chocolate? Most definitions involve minimizing heating the chocolate during roasting and conching (typically to a range below 112 - 120 degrees Farenheit) in order to preserve antioxidants and nutritional value. The challenge has been to create a finished bar or product that doesn't taste any different than a fine bar that has been traditionally processed. I'm happy to report that today's raw bars from Pacari Chocolate (Ecuador) were nicely tempered, with a perfect snap, flavorful, smooth and rich. Nothing about them yanked me out of the tasting experience in taste or texture that said "raw." The 100% cacao bar had a nice floral note to begin with and followed up with a sustained robust current of rich, slight bitter flavor.
We tasted the Raw 70% bar second. The added sugar masked a bit of the floral note at the beginning, created a bright spot in the middle, and mimimized the bitter flavor. When we re-tasted the Raw 100% bar after this one, some of the floral note was also gone, and it tasted a bit more bitter/sour than it had initially.
While it was interesting to compare these two raw bars from the same maker (and it's not unusual to re-taste a bar at the end of a chocolate tasting to find that flavors shifted), based on this experience, I would advise eating the 100% bar separately to enjoy the unique, unadulterated flavors of pure cacao.
Thank you to Lawton for tasting input.
Today was Day #6 of Chocolate and Ecuador Theme Week.
Note: Due to travel this week, posts and photos will be delayed.
