Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Cacao de Origen - Agua Fria 75% bar - March 24, 2015

Chocolate of the Day: 

Cacao de Origen
Agua Fria 75% bar
Good ++ - Very Good
Weight: 1.85 oz. (52.3 g.) in total package (2 thin bars)
Calories: 278 calories (estimate) in 1 package
Cost: $ missing info
Purchased from: The Chocolate Garage, Palo Alto, CA

Today was Day #3 of Chocolate and Venezuela Theme Week.

Cacao de Origin is as much co-op project and heart, as it is company or business. The organization seeks to create awareness around the fine traditions of Venezuelan cacao, formulate bars, and create better lives for others involved in cacao growing and making. Each bar has an origin story.

Venezuela is known for half a dozen famous cacao-growing regions, such as Chuao, Sur de Lago or Rio Caribe. The Agua Fria area is in the State of Sucre, east of Caracas, where the Caribbean Sea starts to mingle with the Atlantic ocean.

Today's Limited Edition Cacao de Origin Agua Fria 75% cacao bar (from Hacienda La Trinidad, Caracas, Venezuela), had some of the same dark, brooding, slightly bitter yet smooth notes as the two Venezuelan chocolates featured earlier this week. However, this was a bit less dense and uniform, with a few more sparkles of fruit/acid and other flavor notes.

This dark bar seemed less dense in part due to the thinness of the chocolate (two thin bars were packaged in a single, sealed silver pouch). Thin (greater surface to mass ratio and all that) enables ready access to flavor notes. No need to be patient and wait for a thicker piece to yield its secrets to your palette. The melt is already underway from the first nibble.

Not only was this a single origin bar, but the beans could be traced to one name/plantation. The semillas (seeds), what we call cacao beans, were from cacao producer Calixto Lopez.

I was fortunate to be able to pick up a few different Cacao de Origen bars (made bean-to-bar in Venezuela) from the company representatives while they were making a stop at The Chocolate Garage in Palo Alto, CA as part of a trip in the U.S.

After 3,000+ chocolates, I've enjoyed several bars made from 100% Venezuelan cacao. However, this was my first chocolate made from scratch in Venezuela by a Venezuelan company/organization. Something to celebrate. And I did. I savored both bars.




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