Tabal Chocolate
Ka Two-Ingredient Chocolate (bar)
Ka Two-Ingredient Chocolate (bar)
Good + - Good ++
Weight: 1.5 oz. (42.5 g.) / 3 oz. (85 g.) in total bar
Calories: 241.5 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $12.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Chocolate Covered, San Francisco, CA
Welcome to Day #5 of Chocolate and Colombia Theme Week.
Today's Ka Two-Ingredient, 80% Cacao bar was made from directly traded cacao, from bean-to-bar by Tabal Chocolate (Wauwatosa, Wisconsin).
Aroma notes for this Colombian single source bar were subtle and complex and included (in order of appearance): true chocolate, oxalis (light green, citrus), green floral (geranium), very faint fleeting latex, roasted cacao, seed butter muffin, cocoa, barely detectable savory (leather, smoke) and fresh green (green tea).
Flavor notes included (in order of appearance): chocolate, green floral (orchid), graham cracker, very faint dried fruit (green mango), barely detectable, fleeting light earth (light, loamy soil) and nut (green walnut), and marshmallow (mallow, malva plant). The bar had a subtle, balanced bitterness and mild oxalic acidity.*
The texture was uniform (generally smooth) with a slight astringency (a light, grainy dry feeling in the mouth similar to what one might experience with newly ripened persimmon (fruit) and red wine aged in oak barrels (likely to contain astringent tannic acid(s)), followed by a very calcium-rich, mineral water chaser.
Ingredients: Single origin cacao, organic cane sugar
Allergen-related information: "Made in a facility that also processes tree nuts and dairy." "Gluten free, vegan, soy free...Kosher parve."
*Note: I've mentioned oxalic acid in describing several bars this week (and this year). The more chocolate I've tasted, the easier to recognize the often subtle, slightly green, tart and citrusy/lemony aroma and flavor as the naturally occurring substance/acid present in many greens (notably spinach, rhubarb and beet greens), cacao, nuts and seeds.
If you've tasted purslane, wood sorrel or sour grass, you may remember a green, slight lemony-tart flavor that is often associated with higher oxalate content. The oxalate level varies (even for the same plant and variety) and can be affected by growing conditions; and it's not always detectable by taste.
More about the different oxalates (soluble and insoluble, and why you might care) may be covered in future posts.
