Tuesday, June 8, 2021

Mission Chocolate - Two Rivers 70% (bar) - June 8, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Mission Chocolate 
Two Rivers 70% (bar)
Good + - Good ++
Weight: 1.06 oz. (30 g.) / 2.12 oz. (60 g.) in total bar
Calories: 162 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $9.50 (+ summer shipping) for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

Welcome to Day #12 of Chocolate and Brazil Theme Week.

Today's Two Rivers (bar) was the creation of Mission Chocolate by Arcelia Gallardo (Sao Paolo, Brazil).

This chocolate bar was a melding of two 70% cacao Brazilian origin chocolates fused together. Today's two-hue chocolate evoked the moment when two mighty rivers (one lighter and one darker in color) come together before the two colors combine into the Amazon River.* 

This was a very creative product idea that related to the cacao's Amazon origins. It also made me think about lighter and darker cacao beans--and, more metaphorically, the yin and yang of chocolate. Below is a review of both sides:

The lighter side had an aroma with faint savory, light leather, dark milk chocolate, faint tart green and ripe sweet red berry. Texture was thick and creamy. Taste: The first bite was tart sweet (lemon balm, sour grass), rich, dark milk chocolate with raspberry jam and peanut butter notes. Note: Although this half of the chocolate bar looked and tasted like a dark milk chocolate, there were just three ingredients listed on the packaging: cacao, organic sugar and cocoa butter for this fusion bar. No milk. 

The darker (ebony-colored) side to this bar broke with a snap; had smooth, dark chocolate texture and flavor; and had notes of faint spice, dark molasses and earth. It also had faint, fleeting notes of tart green-citrus sweetness and peanut butter in the second half of the tasting.

Like many other Brazil bars this week, both the lighter and darker sides of this bar possessed a significant level of natural sweetness, and could easily be mistaken for a 55% and 60-65%% cacao chocolates, respectively.

Ingredients: Cacao, organic sugar, cocoa butter

Allergen-related information: No gluten, soy or milk ingredients. "May contain traces of milk, peanut, coconut, tree nuts, and wheat due to shared equipment.")

*The famous and colorful "meeting of waters" east of Manaus, Brazil, happens when the darker Rio Negro (black water) joins the lighter, latte-colored Solimoes River. These two, different, liquid bands of color flow side by side for a few miles before the two colors blend together, due to their differences in temperature, density, speed and composition. (Waters can be darker if they've picked up plant tannins from slow travel through tree, forests or bogs; and waters can look lighter if they've rapidly run through areas with fine silt/clay/mud particles that have been stirred up.) 

Heinde and Verre - Single Origin Bold Brazil Dark 71% (bar) - June 7, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Heinde and Verre B.V.
Single Origin Bold Brazil Dark 71% (bar)
Good + - Good ++
Weight: 1.25 oz. (35 g.) in 1 bar of 2 / 2.5 oz. (70 g.) in total package of 2 bars
Calories: 200 calories in 1/2 package (1 of 2 bars)
Cost: $9.50 (estimate) (+ shipping) for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order (read their tasting notes) 

Welcome to Day #11 of Chocolate and Brazil Theme Week.

Today's Single Origin Bold Brazil Dark 71% (bar) was from Heinde and Verre B.V.* (Rotterdam, The Netherlands).

The company selects cacao beans from a single farmer/source. In Brazil, the company direct sources from "Coopoam Farmers Brazil Para Amazon Region." As the best chocolate makers do, Heinde and Verre chocolate makers work with each cacao origin to develop different roast profiles (often using more than one roast for a single batch of bars) to develop unique flavors.

The two, individually-wrapped bars contained in this package offered a convenient way to share with others, or to keep some chocolate fresh (unopened) for a later tasting. 

The chocolate had a thick, creamy melt and texture, and true chocolate (chocolate cake) with concentrated fruit (dried red/dark berry, date) aroma and flavor notes.

The source of the cacao used to make this bar: "Coopoam Farmers Brazil Para Amazon Region." Para is one of the top two cacao-growing states in Brazil. (The other is Bahia.) Located in northern Brazil where the Amazon flows toward the Atlantic Ocean, the area includes the mouth of the Amazon River as it flows toward the Atlantic Ocean. 

Maker's tasting notes: "This Brazilian cacao continuous (sic) to deliver a wide range of flavours. We achieved this by applying multiple roasting profiles on a single origin bean."

Ingredients: Cacao and cacao butter (71%), sugar, sunflower lecithin.

Allergen-related information: (None listed on packaging)

*Heinde and Verre means "near and far" in English. The name "pays homage to the Dutch tradition of sourcing the best ingredients worldwide and combining these with quality local produce."

 

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