Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Manoa - Ghost Pepper bar - June 30, 2015

Chocolate of the Day: 

Manoa Chocolate
Ghost Pepper 60% bar
Good - Good +
Weight: .66 oz. (18.9 g.) / 2 oz. (56.7 g.) in total bar
Calories: 99 calories (estimate) in 1/3 bar
Cost: $10.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: The Chocolate Garage, Palo Alto, CA

Today was Day #7 of Chocolate and Botanicals Theme Week.

Chili was an early plant-based addition to cacao, dating back to days when beans were first roasted over a fire and stone-ground by hand in Central and Latin America.

Today's Ghost Pepper 60% dark milk chocolate bar from Manoa Chocolate (Kailua, Oahu) was a hand-crafted (bean-to-bar), Hawaiian-made chocolate with some chili pepper heat.

The first few bites of this bar yielded smooth, chocolatey, dark milk chocolate flavor. Then a slight burn warmed things up in my mouth, but never to the point of being unpleasant. The chili heat hovered at a low sizzle, and then gently faded away.

Manoa chocolate maker, Dylan B., uses local ingredients when he can. Cocoa beans often come from Hawaiian cacao growers; the cane sugar is from Maui.

Ghost peppers (Naga Bhut Jolokia) are from northern India I'm told, and are rumored to be the hottest chili peppers in the world, with a Scoville rating that's hovers around 1 million Scoville Heat Units (SHUs), under ideal growing conditions. It's possible these hotter-than-hot peppers could have been Hawaiian-grown as well, but you'd have to check with Manoa. Good news, just a few small peppers could probably liven up a whole batch of bars.

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