Chocolate of the Day
Domori
Trinitario Peru 70% Dark Chocolate (bar)
Good +++ - Very Good
Weight: 1.76 oz. (50 g.) in total bar
Calories: 279 calories in 1 bar
Cost: $8.00 (sale) for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order
Welcome to Day #11 of Chocolate and Peru Theme Weeks.
Today's Trinitario Peru 70% Dark Chocolate (bar) was made by Domori srl (based in None (Torino), Italy).
This well-executed chocolate was wrapped in packaging that contained the image of a muscular yet agile spotted jaguar in a tree. The bar had a satisfying, thick, firm creamy/fudgey texture. (Note: it was eaten in a cool room.)
The aroma offered beautiful and seductive hints fruit, light floral (vanilla rum-soaked raisin), green (earthy, lush grasses) and nut. The sleek bar delivered with similar/complementary flavor notes (which are not always the same as the aroma notes in a chocolate).
Tasting it revealed concentrated fruit (with bright red raspberry highlights), nut butter (almond), faint green floral flavor notes and an very faint earthiness.
The finish* was purr-fect, and lingered until it stealthily disappeared, presumably back to the jungle. I don't know where departing chocolate or jaguar** spirits go. I was too focused on enjoying this chocolate, from start to finish, to notice.
So much flavor was coaxed out of just two ingredients.* And of course, much of that was due to the choice of the Trinitario variety of cacao that was chosen.
The cacao beans were grown in "the Apurimac river area in southern Peru. A recently created hybrid (Trinitario Cocoa) with notes of flowers, caramel and cream. Very delicate, with a discreet acidity and a fresh taste that makes it a protagonist in high level patisserie production and in cocktails."
Why do you stick around and pay close attention to the "finish" that an artisan dark chocolate bar or a fine wine might have? The same reason why you stay as the sun is setting, for the potential to see/experience that last bright flourish of light and color parfait. Don't miss the green flash :-).
*Ingredients: cocoa mass, cane sugar.
** Jaguars used to be found in the U.S. Sadly, they were hunted to extinction. These beautiful animals might occasionally be sighted as far north as Mexico but are primarily found further south in the Americas. Their stronghold is in the Amazon Basin, not far from where cacao is grown. They can live in forests and transitional areas between canopied regions and grasslands.