Monday, August 1, 2022

Monsoon Chocolate - Semuliki Forest Uganda 74% Dark Chocolate - July 31, 2022

Chocolate of the Day

Monsoon Chocolate
Semuliki Forest Uganda 74% Dark Chocolate
Good ++ 
Weight: .88 oz. (25 g.) / 1.76 oz. (50 g.) in total bar
Calories: 137 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $9.99 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Monsoon Chocolate, online order

Welcome to Day #10 of Chocolate and Uganda Theme Week.

Today's Organic Semuliki Forest Uganda 74% Dark Chocolate (bar) was from Monsoon Chocolate (Tucson, AZ). 

The company offers a variety of bean-to-bar chocolates and confections. This Semuliki Forest (western Uganda) bar is a collaboration with Uganda-based Latitude Trade Company* and is part of Monsoon's (single) Origin Series.

Aroma notes for this creamy smooth dark bar included very faint fermentation (mineral salts, slightly tangy (very faint) berry/fruit pickle vinegar), faint dark chocolate, and a faint flicker of pleasing green floral (green tea).

The flavor notes mirrored the aroma notes above, except the taste had a sustained, enjoyable deep(er) chocolate-y flavor (chocolate ganache)--with very faint fleeting earth, and diffuse fruit and warm sugar-spice notes.

Ingredients: Organic cocoa beans, organic cane sugar, organic cocoa butter

Allergen-related information: "There is no gluten or animal products to this bar; however, it is processed in a facility that also processes wheat, dairy, nuts, and soy."

*The Semuliki Forest area in western Uganda is close to the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The lowland tropical rain forest climate is relatively rare for eastern Africa; and it is well suited for growing cacao.

Even more fortunate, nearby, Latitude Trade Company, an Ugandan registered social enterprise, owned and managed by Jeff Steinberg, is working directly with 100s of local small farmholders in several communities in the district of Bundibugyo (in foothills of the Rwenzori mountains) in western Uganda. 

Latitude buys "wet" (freshly harvested) cacao beans from farmers. The cacao then passes through a high-grade fermentation facility that ultimately produces high-quality cacao for chocolate makers around the globe--including Monsoon Chocolate and others in the U.S. featured this week.




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