Chocolate of the Day
Chocolate Naive
Black Sauna Smoked Chocolate (bar)
Good ++
Weight: .66 oz. (19 g.) / 2 oz. (57 g.) in total bar
Calories: 113.6 calories in 1/3 bar
Cost: $15.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order
Welcome to Day #5 of Chocolate and Umami Theme Week.
Today's Black Sauna Smoked Chocolate (bar) was created by Domantas Uzpalis at Chocolate Naive and produced by Mulate UAB (Vilnius, Lithuania).
Umami foods have been described as smokey, meaty and/or earthy. They tend to be savory, and may (or may not) contain salt. Today's unique 70% dark chocolate bar explores smoked cacao blended with a few specific botanicals (fir, charcoal, wormwood), associated with black sauna traditions in northern and northeastern Europe.
I braced myself for some smoke-monster aroma; but this was not the case. Aroma notes for this bar included: subtle pine, light sweet mint/menthol, and subtle, buttery and smooth dark chocolate.
The texture was smooth with nice melt and very slight granularity.
Flavor notes included: slight aromatic smoke note, mild diffuse fruit (red berry), and sweet green herbs and botanicals (including faint sweet pine). This bar did contain a small amount of sea salt, but I couldn't detect it. The very subtle smoke note was much closer to sweet herb than American savory BBQ or smoked salmon smoke. (Tomorrow I will feature Chocolate Naive's BBQ Spice dark chocolate bar.)
I paired this chocolate was a cup of hot dried sage tea (a pairing suggestion by the maker) + green tea. (Green tea is also considered umami.)
Maker's description: "Flavor notes: initial punch of strong and smoky flavor followed by sweet and aromatic pine notes. Biting bitterness of the wormwood at the finish." "Pairing suggestions: "We recommend to pair this bar with herbal tisanes (also known as herbal tea infusions). Try pairing with fermented fireweed tea or something more traditional, like sage, mint or chamomile tea."
Ingredients: Wild smoked cacao, wild cane sugar, wild pure cacao butter, wild Siberian fir (2%), wild activated birch charcoal, wild wormwood (1%), wild sea salt.
Allergen-related information: "May contain traces of milk, wheat, treenuts or peanuts."
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