Chocolate of the Day
Amazonas Imports, Inc.
Whole Cocoa Beans
Good ++
Weight: .5 oz. (14.1 g.) / 6.5 oz. (184 g.) in total package
Calories: 36 calories (per label) in 1/2 oz. serving
Cost: $4.99 for 1 package
Purchased from: (small grocery store)
Welcome to Day #2 of 100% Cacao Theme Week. The purest form of 100% cacao is a cocoa bean--the essence of chocolate.
Today's Whole Cocoa Beans were from El Salvador and distributed by Amazonas Imports, Inc. (Sun Valley, CA).
This package was sold at a small grocery store, for making drinking chocolate. (The directions called for toasting, peeling, then grinding the beans with cinnamon and sugar; and then adding the ground cocoa mass to hot milk/water.)
Aroma and flavor notes for these whole cocoa beans included faint green, olive, wood and nut notes. These easy to snack on dried beans (cacao seeds) had a soft crunchy, slightly fibrous nut-like, texture. They were relatively mild--neither too bitter nor very acidic.
I really enjoyed these unroasted cacao beans, and would eat them again. And I also plan to follow the recipe to make drinking chocolate (perhaps one batch with roasted bay nuts).*
Ingredients: "whole cocoa beans"
Allergen-related information: "The product is packed in a facility where nuts are stored."
*Bay tree nuts were roasted and eaten by indigenous peoples in California (where I live). Some people use ground bay nuts as a cacao-like substitute (or flavor) to make a hot chocolate-like beverage.
