Saturday, January 21, 2017

Raaka - Yacon Belize 79% Cacao bar - Jan. 21, 2017

Chocolate of the Day: 

Raaka Chocolate
Yacon Belize 79% Cacao bar
Good +
Weight: .88 oz. (25 g.) / 1.8 oz. (50.9 g.) in total bar
Calories: 146 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $7.95 (estimate) for 1 bar
Purchased from: missing information

Welcome to Day #6 of Chocolate and Alternative Sweetener Theme Week.

Another company creating alternatives to conventional chocolate bars made with cane sugar is bean-to-bar maker Raaka Chocolate (Brooklyn, NY).

Today's cane sugar free Yacon Belize 79% Cacao bar from Raaka was a slightly bitter, creamy, and well-tempered (broke with a hard snap) bar with very smooth and even, dark and slightly earthy flavor. The tasting notes: "beet, oat, raisin" may not attract everyone, but I liked it and would buy this bar again.

Sometimes you just don't want a sugar bomb. And the organic yacon* in this dark bar added a hint of sweetness.

Raaka makes their "virgin" bean-to-bar (kosher, vegan, Non GMO, gluten free) chocolate with un-roasted cacao beans and adds a bit of extra cocoa butter for extra smoothness.

Like many successful chocolate makers, they've also developed close relationships with suppliers in cacao-growing countries. Cacao from this bar came from Belize (likely from Maya Mountain Cacao).

Note: The latest (Jan. 2017) version of the Raaka Yacon 79% Cacao bar (available on the Raaka website) is made with cacao from a different source—from the Oko Caribe Cooperative in the Dominican Republic—so the flavor notes are slightly different: "oats, raisin, honey."

*Yacon is a tuberous root (from Peru and other countries) in South America, that is related to the very large sunflower family of plants.


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