Castronovo Chocolate
Honduras Lost City 72% Wild Trinitario Dark Chocolate bar
Good +++
Weight: 1.1 oz. (31 g.) / 2.2 oz. (62 g.) in total bar
Calories: 150 calories (per label) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $11.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Chocolate Covered, San Francisco, CA
Welcome to Day #3 of Chocolate and Honduras Theme Week.
Today's Honduras Lost City 72% Wild Trinitario Dark Chocolate bar was from Castronovo Chocolate (Stuart, FL).*
Chocolate maker Denise Castronovo has been making chocolate and coaxing fine flavors out of heritage cacao beans grown in Central and South America in Florida, north of Miami,* for many years.
This bar is a tribute to a lost city discovered in a biological preserve in Honduras that is threatened by potential deforestation. (Many ancient structures and villages in Central America have become covered with vines and reclaimed by tropical and temperate forests over time, sometimes centuries, and some are occasionally are re-discovered.)
This Lost City area in Honduras is being protected by the Miskito indigenous people, who harvest and ferment wild cacao. Today's bar was made using cacao from this area.
This Honduran chocolate* had a rich, chocolatey aroma with hints of nuts (roasted almonds), subtle fermented fruit (berries), and a very light salt-savory malt and leather saddle note. The resulting blend was delicious. It was balanced, complex and flavorful as well as enjoyable and approachable.
*Stuart, Florida is located on the Atlantic "Treasure Coast" area of Florida, and is also known as the "Sailfish Capital of the World." Technically one could grow cacao in southern Florida, but few do (so far at least). The nearest cacao farms might be in Cuba, Central America, and other, more distant Caribbean island nations (Haiti and the Dominican Republic). That said, Stuart, FL, is "closer" to cacao-growing regions than most areas of the U.S.
**This Honduras Lost City bar was labeled as Batch No. 858.
