Friday, August 7, 2015

Chocolat Stella - Baobab Fruit bar - Aug. 7, 2015

Chocolate of the Day:

Chocolat Stella
Noir 60% cacao Dark Baobab Fruit (bar)
Good +
Weight: 1.75 oz. (50 g.) / 3.5 oz. (100 g.) in total bar
Calories: 280 calories (estimate per label)
Cost: $7.75 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Chocolate Maya, Santa Barbara, CA

Today was Day #3 of Chocolate, Fruits and Nuts Theme Week.

Baobab trees (genus Adansonia) can be found in Africa, Madagascar, as well as the Arabian peninsula and Australia. Their oddly thick trunks seem to bulge out and up, piercing the tropical sky with their clump of root-like foliage at the top. (Their unique build earned them the nickname the "upside down" tree.)

I was intrigued when I saw this Organic and Fair, Baobab Fruit bar from Chocolat Stella (Switzerland), at a shop in Santa Barbara, CA, recently. It is one of a half dozen Organic bars made by this company (part of Chocolate Bernrain). (The bar label stated: "All ingredients are from organic farming.")

The green-skinned, oval-shaped fruits from the Baobab tree are filled with seeds and light-colored fruit (that looks a bit like the ivory-colored pulp/fruit surrounding the seeds or beans in cacao fruit). Baobab fruit is reputed to be very nutritious (another "super" food). I'd never tried Baobab fruit before -- by itself or embedded in chocolate. So this bar was a great opportunity to try something new.

The bar had a light cocoa + fruit aroma. The texture and flavor were smooth and uniform. There was a bright tart fruitiness throughout, but no discernible fruit pieces in the bar. (Baobab fruit powder was used to achieve the uniformity of fruit flavor.)

There was also a bit of vanilla in this bar. Since I don't know what this fruit tastes like when it's freshly harvested, I can't tell you what influence the vanilla might have had on the fruit flavor, but I couldn't taste any vanilla. This led me to think that the fruit must have a relatively bold sweet and tart flavor.



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