Chocolate of the Day: Zotter Chocolates US LLC
Labooko - Vegan Dark Chocolate Nicaragua 70% bar
Good ++
Weight: 1.23 oz. (35 g.) / 2.46 oz. (70 g.) in total package of two bars
Calories: 200 calories in 1 bar
Cost: $9.00 for 1 package of 2 bars
Purchased from: Chocolate Covered, San Francisco, CA
Welcome to Day #10 of Chocolate and Nicaragua Theme Week.
Today's Labooko Vegan Dark Chocolate Nicaragua 70% Sail Shipped Cocoa bar was made by Zotter in Austria and distributed by Zotter Chocolate US LLC (Cape Coral, FL). Josef Zotter started his family chocolate business in Austria in 1987 and he's been an innovative and creative maker in the chocolate world.
And he reminds us (with a printed enclosed card) to stop and smell and savor the chocolate rather than gobbling it up in one go.
This Nicaragua bar had a fruity aroma, creamy melt and light, almost whipped cream (whipped cocoa butter?) texture. Its light dried fruit flavor was more fruit and less heavy acidity (thank you)—a uniformity that was brightened by a small frisson of fruit and very faint roasted nut or roasted coffee complexity. It was sweet without being too much so (thank you).Zotter's maker's notes read as follows:
Fragrance notes: dried fruit with accents of fermentation, notes of caramel and nuts with hints of malt.
Taste notes: an intense aroma of roasted nuts with malt, caramel and subtle hints of whipped cream and fruit (jammy dried fruit, in particular berries and raisins), nutty and malty finish with echoes of fruit.A Sustainable Transportation Twist
In case you were curious about the images sailing ships printed on the packaging...
A few bean-to-bar chocolate makers have experimented with cleaner maritime shipping alternatives. The cocoa used to make this bar was "transported from Nicaragua to Hamburg on a sailing vessel," instead of large (fossil-fueled) cargo container ship. (The cocoa's last leg from Germany to Austria was by train.)
Ingredients: Cocoa mass, raw cane sugar, cocoa butter. All three ingredients were "fair traded" and "from controlled organic cultivation." Certified Organic by LACON GmbH.
