Friday, February 19, 2016

Amano Artisan Chocolate - Madagascar Sambirano 70% bar - Feb. 19, 2016

Chocolate of the Day: 

Amano Artisan Chocolate
Madagascar Sambirano Valley 70% Cocoa bar
Very Good
Weight: 1 oz. (28.3 g.) / 3 oz. (85 g.) in 1 bar
Calories: 150 calories (estimate) in 1/3 bar
Cost: $8.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Amano table at Fall Chocolate Salon, San Francisco, CA

Welcome to Day #6 of Chocolate and Madagascar Theme Week.

Today's Madagascar Sambirano Valley Dark Chocolate bar was made by Amano Artisan Chocolate (Orem, UT).

"It is for good reason that this (Madagascar bar) is the very first chocolate we released. It tastes incredible and has won numerous awards..." stated notes from Amano founder and chocolate maker, Art Pollard." He's right. Today's bar (labeled: Lot No.: 3/5002) was like picking and eating your first berries as a child. Delicious.

This highly edible 70% dark bar was made with cacao from the Sambirano River Valley area of Madagascar; and it had the most wonderful raspberry fruit aroma and flavor that I've experienced in a very long while. This is the kind of bar that people will taste and then ask what fruit was added. No fruit added. Just four ingredients were listed: "Cocoa Beans, Pure Cane Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Whole Vanilla Beans."

To make a flavorful bar like this, one needs to start with great cacao beans, and then be very skilled at preserving and enhancing the flavor profile. Ask any chocolate maker, it's easy to mess up even great beans if you're not very precise and very careful.

My own tasting notes: homemade raspberry jam, honey, chocolate brownies, with a kiss of sweet orange.

Amano tasting notes read as follows: "This chocolate has a gentle chocolate flavor with notes of raspberries, cherry, raisin and citrus."

This would be a good bar for someone who doesn't like dark chocolate bars that are overly strong or harsh, and enjoys great flavors.

The content and images in this post belong to ChocolateBanquet.com.




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