Mirzam Chocolate - 52% Dark Milk Chocolate with Coconut (bar) - Feb. 4, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Mirzam Chocolate 
52% Dark Milk Chocolate with Coconut (bar)
Good +
Weight: 2.47 oz. (70 g.) in total bar
Calories: 352.8 calories in 1 bar
Cost: $11.25 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

Welcome to Day #6 of Chocolate and Coconut Theme Week.

Today's Mirzam Chocolate Makers* 52% Dark Milk Chocolate with Coconut (bar) was made in Dubai (United Arab Emirates), produced by Kakaw Manufacturing, LLC.

The aroma of this chocolate was redolent with cocoa and coconut. The texture was uniformly laced with a tiny, quiet riot of coconut bits, providing a satisfying chewy, crunchy texture--in the same way that certain sesame and coconut candies satisfy a craving for something sweet and crunchy.

Many of the artisan chocolate and coconut bars featured this week were a very finely ground mind meld of these two flavors, resulting in bars with silken, creamy coconut milk texture, often using coconut milk as a vegan replacement for dairy milk. 

Today's 52% cacao bar differed in at least two significant ways: 1.) the "milk" in the "dark milk" name was dairy milk powder; and 2.) the more intact coconut bits yielded a stone-ground-like melt, with layers of flavor and texture. 

This week's line-up has shown that multiple approaches to blending cacao and coconut can, and do, result in successful, high-end, flavorful chocolate bars. 

While I initially felt that today's bar might be too sweet (it was a bit harder to detect any subtle flavor nuances in the cacao), I managed to consume the entire bar with no trouble whatsoever.

Ingredients: Cocoa beans, skim milk powder, sugar, cocoa butter, coconut, organic coconut extract.

*Mirzam is the name of a bright star (in the southern constellation of Canis Major) that helped Arab traders navigate to far-away lands as they searched for/traded in exotic spices and other goods. Mirzam Chocolate Makers honors this history, and specializes in high-end bean-to-bar chocolates, confections and desserts that feature dates, coffee, cardamom, sesame seeds and other flavor blends from the Arab world.

Equal Exchange Chocolates - Organic Chocolate with Coconut Milk 55% (bar) - Feb. 3, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Equal Exchange Chocolates
Organic, Fairly Traded Chocolate with Coconut Milk 55% Cacao (bar)
Good +
Weight: 1.4 oz. (40 g.) / 2.8 oz. (80 g.) in total bar
Calories: 225 calories (per label) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $3.99 for 1 bar
Purchased from: FarmFresh CSA box inclusion, online order

Welcome to Day #5 of Chocolate and Coconut Theme Week.

Today's Organic, Fairly Traded Chocolate with Coconut Milk and Coconut Palm Sugar 55% (bar) was from Equal Exchange Chocolates (West Bridgewater, MA).* 

This bar had a sweet, rich milk chocolate aroma with a subtle coconut note. Like many of the best coconut chocolate bars, the melt was rich and creamy, and the texture was smooth.

The chocolate flavor was similar to drinking a warm cup of velvety, rich milk chocolate (drinking chocolate) melded with authentic, real coconut. The 55% cacao blend was a bit too sweet for me; but the drinking chocolate-like experience was a good match for a winter day.

The hot chocolate richness lingered and was accompanied by a faint, tangy/tart-sweet, fermented milk with raw coconut note.

Ingredients: Organic coconut palm sugar, organic chocolate liquor, organic cocoa butter, organic coconut flakes, organic coconut milk powder (organic coconut milk, organic tapioca maltodextrin)

*Equal Exchange, founded in 1986, is one of the largest democratic worker co-ops in the U.S. The organization, involved early on in fair trade efforts, began working with coffee and tea farmers in the 1980s, and in 2001 cocoa and chocolate relationships were forged.

This alternative for-profit organization structure mirrors the approximately 40 farmer organizations (co-ops) that Equal Exchange works with--in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the U.S.--that produce cacao, coffee, tea, sugar and other crops. And one hopes that this shared organizational trait facilitates understanding of co-op operations and needs as a result. Equal Exchange has been offering bean-to-bar chocolate bars for many years.