Himalayan Rock Salt and Wakame Dark Chocolate 70% (bar)
In 2006, my daughter bet I couldn't eat a different chocolate each day for a year. I enjoyed that year so much that, after 18+ years, I'm still eating a different chocolate every day. Happily, even after 6,600+ chocolates, there are still many more to try. Thank you to all who continue to be part of this global adventure.
Tuesday, December 29, 2020
Jasper + Myrtle - Himalayan Rock Salt and Wakame Dark Chocolate 70% (bar) - Dec. 29, 2020
Himalayan Rock Salt and Wakame Dark Chocolate 70% (bar)
Metiisto Chocolate - Patovaki 72% Dark (bar) - Dec. 28, 2021
Chocolate of the Day
Metiisto Chocolate
Patovaki 72% Dark (bar)
Good - Good +
Weight: 1.325 oz. (37.5 g.) / 2.65? oz. (75 g.) in total bar
Calories: 204 calories (estimate per label) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $10.00 + shipping for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order
Welcome to Day #3 of Chocolate and South Pacific Islands Theme Week.
Today's Patovaki 72% Dark (bar) was made with cacao grown, fermented and sun-dried by Kenny Patovaki on the small island of Paspaskato (Solomon Islands), and made into chocolate by Metiisto Artisan Chocolate (Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia).
Metiisto ("craftsman" in English) got its start in Sweden in 2011-2012, and the small operation relocated to Australia in 2018. (Chief chocolate maker, Trevor Smith, grew up in Alice Springs in Central Australia and his background included being a panel beater.*) The company is applying "old world" chocolate making techniques and "new world ideas" to craft chocolate.
This chocolate had a relatively mild chocolate aroma with paper/malty cereal box (oxidized) and very faint fruit (citrus) and green notes.
The bar broke with a well-tempered snap and had a smooth, almost creamy melt and mouthfeel.
The chocolate had a notable, but nicely harnessed tart fruit acidity (pink grapefruit) and relatively mellow true chocolate notes. The "oxidized" (paper/cereal box) note re-appeared very briefly in the finish.
The choice of a 72% cacao blend worked. There was still quite a bit of natural, tart-sweetness. Adding even 2 percent more sugar (i.e. choosing to make this a 70% version) might have resulted in a bar that was too sugary sweet.
Ingredients: Cocoa beans, sugar, cocoa butter.
*A panel beater is someone who repairs cars. (Think about how you might go about fixing dents and dings in crumpled sheets of metal.)