Friday, September 16, 2022

Kaitxo - Txoko Madagascar Valle del Sambirano 67% (bar) - Sept. 15, 2022

Chocolate of the Day

Kaitxo
Txoko - Madagascar Sambirano Valley 67% (bar)
Good ++ 
Weight: 1.2 oz. (35 g.) / 2.4 oz. (70 g.) in total bar
Calories: 190 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $8.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order 

Welcome to Day #3 of Chocolate and Madagascar Theme Week.

Today's Txoko Madagascar Valle del Sambirano 67% dark chocolate (bar) was produced by Kaitxo (Balmaseda, Spain), a specialty coffee and chocolate maker.

Aroma notes for this bean-to-bar Madagascar chocolate included: dark chocolate (dark chocolate mousse); soft sweet green; very faint marshmallow; subtle caramel; barely detectable fruit (faint, diffuse banana/plantain with mild red berry jelly); almost floral; and very faint, sweetly aromatic tobacco.

The chocolate had even melt and texture with a very slight astringency/graininess--that seemed to disappear after several bites.

Flavor notes included: dark chocolate (dark chocolate mousse, ganache); slightly muted bright red fruit (red currant, cherry); pleasant, very faint earth; and very light tobacco. 

Cacao varieties used to make this chocolate included: Trinitario, Forastero and Criollo. While there are plenty of hybrids of these available, including all three in one chocolate is not necessarily the norm. The resulting chocolate flavors were well balanced and blended and offered an agreeable, complex range of bold and subtle notes.

Chocolates with less than 70% cacao content can taste too sweet. (Too much sugar can mask flavors.) Happily, this was not the case with this bar. There were enough flavors from the above mentioned cacao varieties to shine through.

I admired the well-executed complexity and subtle layers of (aroma and) flavor. And I enjoyed the sweet red fruit and other notes that unfurled in subtle, almost three-dimensional ways in this 67% cacao chocolate. Very enjoyable bar.

Ingredients: Cocoa beans, sugar, cacao butter

Allergen-related information: May contain traces of peanuts, tree nuts, soy and milk.

 

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