A. Morin - Perou 63% Absolut - Limited Edition (bar) - Dec. 6, 2022

Chocolate of the Day

A. Morin 
Perou Absolut 63% Edition Limitee (tablette)
Peru Absolute 63% Limited Edition (bar)
Good +++
Weight: .88 oz. (25 g.) / 3.52 oz. (100 g.) in total bar
Calories: 140.75 calories in 1/4 bar
Cost: $12.50 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

Welcome to Day #7 of Chocolate and Peru Theme Week.

Today's Perou Absolut 63% Limited Edition (bar) was from SAS Chocolaterie A. Morin (Donzere, France). 

All three ingredients--cocoa beans, cocoa butter and sugar--used to make this truly single origin dark chocolate were all from Peru. 

Rich and pleasingly complex aroma notes for this dark chocolate included: dried fruits (date, plum, fig, dried peach, and barely detectable dried pineapple with some almost invisible (perhaps imaginary) rum), warm spice cake, faint sweet green, very faint molasses, and very faint, warm, woody earth (peat).

The relatively thick bar had a smooth, relatively buttery melt and a very fine granularity consistent with some stoneground chocolates (or shorter conche times that help preserve flavors). These two absolutely complementary textures were skillfully melded together, to arrive at what felt like the best of both worlds.*

The taste was very consistent with the aroma described above, with more dark chocolate (flavorful dark ganache) notes intermingled with the deep, dark but smooth, dried fruit and molasses spice cake holiday party murmuring softly in the background.

This well-executed, all-Peru chocolate offered rich, sweet flavor depth and complexity. And the choice to go sweeter (63% vs. 70%) worked well in this case. The sugar seemed to brighten up/highlight all the best naturally occurring notes in the cacao beans and added cocoa butter--rather than overpowering them.

Ingredients: Peru cocoa beans, Peru cane sugar, Peru cocoa butter.

Allergen-related information: "May contain traces of milk, nuts and sesame."

*Longer grinding and conching times can reduce cocoa solid particle size and fully integrate solids and cocoa fat (butter) together, resulting in a creamy/creamier texture. But, taken too far, longer processing times can result in the loss of more volatile flavor elements that would be desirable to preserve. There is both art and science that goes into this step, and arguably every step, involved in chocolate making.