Chocolate of the Day
Marou Faiseurs de Chocolat
Marou Bar - Dark Chocolate 64% Tropical Fruits and Roasted Cashews
Good ++
Weight: 1.2 oz. (35 g.) in 1 bar
Calories: 200 calories in 1 snack bar
Cost: $3.20 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order
Welcome to Day #1 of Chocolate and Vietnam Theme Week.
Today's Dark Chocolate 64% Tropical Fruits and Roasted Cashews Marou Bar was from Marou Faiseurs de Chocolat (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam), and Imported by A Priori Specialty Food (Salt Lake City, UT) into the U.S.
Founded in 2011, by Samuel Maruta and Vincent Mourou, team Marou (a name that blends the founders' surnames) sources cacao from several provinces in southern Vietnam.
Aroma notes for this "bite-sized adventure," single origin (Vietnam) chocolate bar included: complex, high-end dark chocolate and fruit (citrus, mango, other diffuse tropical fruit, berry and very faint fruity floral).
The textural blend of smooth, rich dark chocolate was interspersed with chewy, flavorful fruits and small chunks of crunchy nutty pieces was satisfying, as were the flavors.
While the well-sealed package looked like a fancy "snack bar" this was truly a high-end single origin craft chocolate bar (dark, smooth, with a faint, fleeting and balanced earth note) with flavor inclusions: roasted nuts (cashews) and dried fruits (mango, faint passion fruit and citrus (kumquat). The latter contributed bursts of tart sweet flavors that complemented the nuts and chocolate very nicely.
This 64% cacao chocolate was not too sweet (thank you). The dried tropical fruits provided the touch of bright sweet orange sunshine, just as the orange and gold packaging colors suggested might be the case.
Ingredients: Cacao nibs, cane sugar, cashews, cacao butter, dried mango, dried passion fruit, dried kumquat.
Allergen-related information: Contains cashews. "Manufactured in a facility that also processes milk, tree nuts, peanuts, eggs."