Chocolate of the Day
Latitude Trade Company Ltd.
Dark Milk Uganda (bar)
Good
Weight: 1.235 oz. (35 g.) / 2.47 oz. (70 g.) in total bar
Calories: 220 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $8.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order
Welcome to Day #5 of Chocolate and Uganda Theme Week.
Today's Dark Milk Uganda (bar) was from Latitude Craft Chocolate (Latitude Trade Company Ltd.) (Kampala, Uganda).
Aroma notes for this made-at-the-source, organic Dark Milk bar included slightly bittersweet chocolate with very faint, diffuse fruit and nut notes. The melt and texture were smooth and uniform.
The taste was very uniform and fairly sweet. (Admittedly, too sweet for me. But fans of sweet milk chocolate may enjoy its relative mildness.) As with many milk chocolates, it had a muted flavor profile due to the sugar and milk. (Organic cane sugar was the number one ingredient.) There were no "off" flavors in this bar. However, it was lower in flavor depth and complexity.*
The bean-to-bar makers may have been playing it safe and homogenizing flavors across a wide spread of cacao sources to ensure consistency. Which they have every right to do; and arriving at a consistent flavor profile is not as easy as it sounds, especially if one is making chocolate in-country, or in an area that may still be developing a uniformly sophisticated utility, temperature-controlled manufacturing and transportation infrastructure.**
This small-batch milk chocolate is still more fragrant, and will be more interesting to try, than most commercial, high-volume chocolates sold around the globe.
And it has a good story behind it. (See inside of wrapper for details.) The company signs long-term contracts with cacao farmers to grow organic cacao; and in turn pays them a "premium price." Over 50 percent of their contracted farmers are women. (Farmers typically have 1-3 acre farms.) Latitude's supplier program also offers access to training, "insurance and microfinance to support farm households."
Maker's notes: "A warm brownie paired with a cold glass of milk."
Ingredients: Cane sugar, organic cocoa beans, cocoa butter, whole milk
Allergen-related information: "Made in a facility that handles tree nuts, wheat, dairy, eggs, peanuts and soy.
* I could not find a cacao percentage for this chocolate on the label. I'm guessing it may have been in the 40-50% cacao solids range.
**Note: Kampala, the headquarters for Latitude Trade Company, is Uganda's capital, and largest city, with over 1 million residents, and a modern skyline. Outside the larger cities, many people in rural areas are feeding themselves and making a living by being subsistence farmers.
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