Friday, October 15, 2021

Enna Chocolate - La Mosquitia, Wampusirpi Honduras 75% Dark Chocolate (bar) - Oct. 15, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Enna Chocolate
La Mosquitia, Wampusirpi Honduras 75% Dark Chocolate (bar)
Good ++
Weight: 1 oz. (28.3 g.) / 2 oz. (57 g.) in total bar
Calories: 162 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $11.00 (estimate) for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

Welcome to Day #12 of Chocolate and Central America Theme Week, featuring chocolates made with cacao from Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.

Today's La Mosquitia, Wampusirpi Honduras 75% Dark Chocolate (bar) was made by Enna Chocolate (Exeter, New Hampshire).* La Mosquitia is along the "mosquito coast," in eastern Honduras. The closest town might be Wampusirpi in a relatively remote, agricultural area in northeastern Honduras in the department of Gracias a Dios ("Thanks to God").

Aroma notes for today's bar included: dark chocolate, subtle savory (smoked salt) and faint brown sugar/molasses with very faint, diffuse concentrated fruit (faint plum/prune).

The texture had a satisfying hearty, smoothness with a very faint (barely there) mineral quality.

Flavor notes included deep, chocolate-y (lightly smoked sea salt, dark fudge brownies); with fleeting balanced bitter and earth. and a clean mineral chocolate finish--a balanced, malty, almost calcium-like mineral quality that cushioned sweetness (vs. an acidic, sugary finish) and other flavors, and allowed for a soft close.

I found this a relatively bold, balanced and enjoyable chocolate. The boldness was less dense and more flavorful than most Forastero cacao varieties, and more like a Trinitario variety grown in rich and interesting soil. And the choice of a 75% cacao (vs. 70% cacao) bar helped boost the rich cacao flavors. Regardless of the cacao variety, it was handled/managed well by the chocolate maker.

Ingredients: "roasted cacao, cane sugar, cocoa butter"

Allergen-related information: "Made in a facility that processes tree nuts, peanuts, and milk."

*Chocolate maker Enna Grazier makes small batch, bean-to-bar chocolate in a small factory and retail space in Exeter, New Hampshire. Like many craft chocolate makers she switched to chocolate making from another profession--in this case wedding and food photography. While I've never met Enna, I am guessing her desire to make high-quality products, share stories and create community were there all along her journey.

Exeter is a coastal town in the northeast United States lies about 8 miles inland from the Atlantic Coast/beach. Enna Chocolate's logo includes a Maya glyph of an oyster. 

I live on the other (Pacific) side of the U.S. near San Francisco Bay, that also has its own oyster stories. But, I'll save those for another time. Suffice to say that both oysters and chocolate, from an edible, cultural and sustainability standpoint, are of interest to me as well.

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