Thursday, September 30, 2021

Fresco Chocolate - Ghana 68% Recipe 260 - Light Roast, Subtle Conche dark chocolate (bar) - Sept. 30, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Fresco Artisan Chocolate
Ghana 68% Recipe 260 - Light Roast, Subtle Conche dark chocolate (bar)
Good ++ - Good +++
Weight: .9 oz. (25 g.) / 1.8 oz. (50 g.) in total bar
Calories: 136.5 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $9.00 (+ summer shipping) for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

Welcome to Day #6 of Chocolate and Ghana Week.

Today'a Ghana 68% (Recipe 260) Light Roast, Subtle Conche (bar) was made by Fresco Chocolate (Lynden, WA).

Fresco offers single origin bars with different roast (light to dark) and conche* (subtle to long) profiles that can be tasted side-by-side. There's no better way to learn what you really like, and to better understand what choices support your preferences.

This approach makes it easier for customers to create chocolate flights and tastings--for a group of friends, or just for one. (These bars are created using recipe numbers, that are also included on the labeling.)

The subtle aroma notes for today's 68% Ghana (light roast) bar included (in order of appearance) dark chocolate with subtle tangy, sweet acidic green and fruit (dried persimmon), very faint vegetable (potato bread), faint brown sugar and very faint warm spiced fruit (peaches and pears heated with cinnamon and other spices).

The texture was smooth and relatively buttery.

Flavor notes for this single-ingredient bar included: rich, "warm," sweet dark chocolate, bread and butter, and a sustained current of true chocolate (fudge, dark chocolate torte and frosting). This dark chocolate had a mild fruit acidity (sweet, tart red berry (lingonberry** jam with a hint of sweet persimmon) that lingered/sparkled a bit into the finish. The chocolate was very low in bitterness.

This bar had a relatively subtle aroma, but was filled with bright, full, sweet and true chocolate notes. The light roast and subtle conche likely helped to preserve or highlight some of these bright, light, sweet flavors.

Ingredients: Cocoa beans, cane sugar, cocoa butter

Allergen-related information: "Free from: gluten, dairy, nuts, soy"

*Conching follows the initial grinding of cacao. Fresco describes conching as "heat, motion, aeration and time producing chocolate's final flavor." And "adjusting these variables can produce dramatically different flavors." 

**Lingonberries, also known as mountain cranberries and cowberries, are popular in Scandinavia and have a sweet, tart, red berry flavor. Lingonberry jam is generally just a bit mellower (naturally a bit sweeter and less acidic) than our cranberry jam/sauce.

Fresco Chocolate - Ghana 100% dark chocolate (bar) - Sept. 29, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Fresco Artisan Chocolate
Ghana 100% light roast, subtle conche dark chocolate (bar)
Good ++ - Good +++
Weight: .9 oz. (25 g.) / 1.8 oz. (50 g.) in total bar
Calories: 127.5 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $13.00 (+ summer shipping) for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

Welcome to Day #5 of Chocolate and Ghana Week.

Today'a Ghana 100% (Recipe 235) Light Roast, Subtle Conche (bar) was made by Fresco Artisan Chocolate (Lynden, WA).

The company's single origin, bean-to-bar chocolate bars demonstrate precisely why and how choices made in chocolate making process matter. You can taste what different roasting and conching* choices/profiles taste like in finished form.

It's easy to assemble "flights" of Fresco bars (e.g. with the same cacao origin(s) but different roast and conche choices), and taste them side-by-side to compare the differences between light or dark roast, and subtle vs. long conching. (Today's bar is the first of three Fresco Ghana bars featured this week.)

The aroma notes for this 100% bar included (in order of appearance) dark chocolate with subtle tangy, sweet acidic green and fruit (dried persimmon), yeast bread and dark chocolate with a faint bitterness.

The melt and mouthfeel were buttery smooth.

Flavor notes for this single-ingredient bar were lovely, and included: beer (porter, stout), bread and butter, and rich, buttery (there's that word again), luscious fudge-y, dark chocolate with relatively mild acidity and relatively low bitterness** for an ultra-dark bar.

While I didn't have a comparable Fresco 100% Ghana bar with another roasting choice, I did really like this "light roast" choice with this particular cacao. A heavier roast might have resulted in the loss of some more delicate notes.

The taste of this wonderful 100% cacao bar was very satisfying; so make sure to savor it slowly.

Ingredients: Cocoa beans

Allergen-related information: "Free from: gluten, dairy, nuts, soy"

*Conching follows the initial grinding of cacao. Fresco describes conching as "heat, motion, aeration and time producing chocolate's final flavor." As with roasting (and most other steps in chocolate making), conching requires great attention to detail. And "adjusting these variables can produce dramatically different flavors."

**Bitterness is a result of several factors including the variety of cacao used (even the soil where the cacao was grown at times), fermentation, and roasting. Over-roasting cacao can lead to a bitter taste-- especially if more volatile fruity, nutty, green and floral notes that might have helped keep the flavor more balanced are "burned" off in the roasting process.



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