Chocolate of the Day: Raaka Virgin Chocolate
Yacon Root Dominican Republic bar
Good
Weight: .9 oz. (25.4 g.) / 1.8 oz. (50.9 g.) in 1 bar
Calories: 146 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $7.95 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Raaka Virgin Chocolate, online order
Welcome to Day #7 of Chocolate and STUVWXYZ Theme Week. Today the focus is on the letter "y," as in yacon root.
What is yacon? It's a South American/Peruvian root that's naturally sweet and can serve as a refined sugar replacement. (It's available in powdered or syrup form if you're interested in experimenting with it in your own chocolate kitchen or lab.)Today's Yacon Root Dominican Republic bar was crafted by Raaka Virgin Chocolate (Brooklyn, NY). I'd previously enjoyed another, similar Yacon Root bar from the same company; however, that 79 percent bar was made from cacao grown in Belize, and today's bar was made of cacao from the Dominican Republic.*
The team at Raaka makes bean-to-bar, mostly single origin and organic, chocolates from un-roasted cacao. The company offers a variety of bars with interesting flavor inclusions, such as today's featured yacon root. (I recently featured another Raaka bar with ghost chili pepper.)
This bar had even flavor throughout the bar, with some tart, sour cherry fruit, and slight bitter notes. The tasting notes on the package suggested: "beet, oat, raisin."
It was refreshing to try a bar with a touch of natural plant-based sweetness, rather than an avalanche of sugar.
*I consider these two different chocolate bars, just as one might consider wines made from merlot and cabernet grapes to be different wines.
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