Monday, May 31, 2021

Mission Chocolate - Pao de Mel - Gingerbread Milk Chocolate (bar) - May 31, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Mission Chocolate
Pao de Mel - Gingerbread Milk Chocolate (bar)
Good + - Good ++
Weight: 2.12 oz. (60 g.) in total bar
Calories: 330 calories in 1 bar
Cost: $10.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Chocolate Covered, San Francisco, CA 

Welcome to Day #4 of Chocolate and Brazil Theme Week.

Today's Pao de Mel - Gingerbread Milk Chocolate (bar) was made by Arcelia Gallardo of Mission Chocolate (Sao Paolo, Brazil). 

Aroma notes included warm milk chocolate, fleeting red clay, freshly baked bread/cake, and spices (five spice blend with star anise).

This milk chocolate bar had a creamy melt and texture.

The flavor was a blend of smooth, rich, sweet milk chocolate suffused with warm spices (five spice blend; cinnamon, ginger, star anise and possibly allspice).

Ingredients: Organic sugar, cocoa butter, milk powder, cacao, spices, honey.

Allergen-related information: Does not contain gluten. Contains lactose/cow's milk. May contain traces of nuts, peanuts, almonds, hazelnuts, cashew nuts, oats.

Luisa Abram - Tocatins River Wild Cocoa Brazilian Amazon 81% (bar) - May 30, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Luisa Abram
Chocolate de Cacau Selvagem da Amazonia Brasileira - Rio Tocantins (barra)
(Chocolate made with wild cocoa from the Brazilian Amazon, Tocantins River (bar)
Good ++
Weight: 1.4 oz. (40 g.) / 2.8 oz. (80 g.) in total bar
Calories: 250 calories in 1/2 package (1 of 2 small individually wrapped bars)
Cost: $10.00 for 1 of 2 bars in package
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

Welcome to Day #3 of Chocolate and Brazil Theme Week.

Today's Brazilian Amazon Tocantins River 81% dark bar was made by Luisa Abram (Sao Paolo, Brazil). The company specializes in bean-to-bar chocolate with wild cacao from the Amazon.

Aroma: dark chocolate with green, citrus (lemon) herbal notes (lemon balm, sour grass*)
fleeting, faint fruit notes (dried green banana, dried persimmon) 

The aroma notes above implied some astringency; however, the texture and flavor were only mildly so, and in a pleasing and interesting way.

The cacao seemed to have a natural sweetness (or absence of bold bitterness); and the opportunity to go with the higher-percentage 81% cacao version of this chocolate was much appreciated. The maker's choices honored and harnessed the natural sweetness without extra sugar. (Thank you!)

This package contained, two individually-wrapped smaller bars, making it very easy to share with others, or to keep a fresh (unopened) portion for later. I liked that.

Ingredients: cacao mass, organic cane sugar, cocoa butter 

Allergen-related information: Made in a facility that handles milk and brazil nuts.

*Sour grass is a wild, edible plant with a lemony and/or Vitamin C tartness to it. Also known as lemon "sorrel" or lemon clover and yellow upright oxalis, part of the tart flavor comes from oxalic acid. 

For those with kidney/kidney stone issues, you may have been told to limit consumption of plant foods that contain high levels of oxalic acid, such as rhubarb, spinach, beet greens and other greens, certain nuts (almonds)--and, sadly dear friends, cocoa powder and dark chocolate.

So it's possible I was tasting cacao that was naturally higher in oxalic acid today (thus the sour grass aroma). But, this is speculation on my part. The amount of oxalate content varies widely in cocoa.

Methods of farming, fermention, drying, processing and other factors can all influence oxalate content in cocoa, as this study published in ResearchGate in 2016, shows.
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