Duffy's - Honduras Mayan Red Milk Chocolate 61% (bar) - June 20, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Duffy's Fine Chocolate
Honduras Mayan Red Milk Chocolate 61% (bar)
(Red Star Chocolate Ltd)
Good +
Weight: 1.06 oz. (30 g.) / 2.11 oz. (60 g.) in 1 bar
Calories: 175.8 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $9.50 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

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

Today's Honduras Mayan Red Milk Chocolate 61% (bar) was from Duffy's Fine Chocolate (Lincolnshire, UK). 

The company specializes in single origin, artisan chocolate bars; and the cacao used to craft this bar was purchased directly from Xoco (Honduras) that offers fine flavored, single varietal cacaos from Central America.

The aroma of today's dark milk bar had diffuse, sweet fruit (currants, red berries), faint tart green herb (lemon verbena, wood sorrels, oxalis), and sweet (caramel) dark milk chocolate notes.

This chocolate had a smooth melt and texture with a subtle astringency.

Flavor notes included: subtle true chocolate (very low in bitterness), fruit (red berries and currants in cream) and light, almost green and earthy, caramel notes.

Duffy's (maker's) tasting notes: "A smoothly balanced strong milk chocolate with hints of sweet currants and blueberries and a dark treacle aftertaste."

Bar and Cocoa notes: "Fine and rare Directly Traded cocoa beans from a single source in Honduras are carefully roasted then stone-ground for three days to develop and mature all the fine flavors that are in the beans..."

Ingredients: "Criollo cocoa beans, organic sugar, cocoa butter, milk powder."

Allergen-related information: Contains dairy (milk powder). Peanut free, soy(a) free, tree nut free, gluten-free.

 

Duffy's - Honduras Indio Rojo 72% (bar) - June 19, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Duffy's
(Red Star Chocolate Ltd)
Honduras Indio Rojo (Mayan Red) 72% (bar)|
Good +
Weight: 1.06 oz. (30 g.) / 2.11 oz. (60 g.) in 1 bar
Calories: 180 calories (per label) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $9.50 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

Welcome to Day #2 of Chocolate and Honduras Theme Week.

Today's Duffy's Fine Chocolate Mayan Red (Indio Rojo) 72% bar (made in Lincolnshire, UK) was from Red Star Chocolate Ltd (Cleethorpes, England).

This chocolate had a subtle, yet very complex aroma and flavor and was made with Xoco* (Criollo variety) cacao grown in Honduras.

The aroma notes alone included: aloe, cucumber, cream, avocado and very faint dried fruit (guava, light golden raisin, currant), very faint tart green herb, followed by Boston brown bread (steam-baked with molasses, corn meal, raisins), creamy polenta, and light, fresh, mineral water notes.

The chocolate had a relatively creamy, smooth melt and uniform texture, and a subtle true chocolate flavor, with diffuse, naturally sweet, fruit, very faint tart green herb (lemon balm, oxalis), and very faint vegetable (aloe, cucumber, potato) notes. 

The finish was quite mild with a faint, gentle fruit/floral tea astringency.

Duffy's tasting notes: "Strong, complex, quality dark chocolate with currants, tangy orange and a raisin and coffee aftertaste."

Bar and Cocoa notes: "The maker rarely gets these beans in stock -- only 25 kg some years -- and always looking for more. A complex chocolate that almost crosses the line towards savory."

Ingredients: Criollo cocoa beans, organic sugar, organic cocoa butter and sunflower lecithin.

Allergen-related information: "Soya free, gluten free. Vegan-friendly."

*Early on (in 2011), Duffy's started to work with Xoco Gourmet (based in Honduras). 

Xoxo is an organization that has worked to help preserve rare, fine flavor cacao trees (e.g. via grafting programs) and performs centralized fermentation for cacao farms/farmers in Central America (Honduras, Guatemala, Belize and Nicaragua). Farmers are paid "a premium for their quality." And Zoco markets this high-end cacao to artisan chocolate makers.

Duffy's has continued to buy Honduran cacao directly from Xoco, and works to highlight the variety of subtle, complex flavors inherent in these (Criollo) "Indio Rojo" beans when making batches of their bars.