Thursday, November 3, 2022

Chocolate Naive - BBQ Spice Stone Ground Dark Chocolate 65% (bar) - Nov. 2, 2022

Chocolate of the Day

Chocolate Naive
BBQ Spice Stone Ground Dark Chocolate 65% (bar)
Good ++
Weight: .66 oz. (19 g.) / 2 oz. (57 g.) in total bar
Calories: 104.69 calories in 1/3 bar
Cost: $10.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

Welcome to Day #6 of Chocolate and Umami Theme Week.

Today's BBQ Spice Stone Ground Dark Chocolate 65% (bar) was created by Domantas Uzpalis at Chocolate Naive and produced by Mulate UAB (Vilnius, Lithuania). 

Uzpalis has made several chocolate bars with umami flavor inclusions, including porcini (mushroom) and tahini bars.

Umami food flavors have been described as rich, meaty, brothy, smoky and earthy. They tend to be savory, and may (or may not) contain salt. (Yesterday's featured 70% Black Sauna dark chocolate bar used sauna-smoked cacao blended with botanicals (Siberia fir, activated birch charcoal, wormwood and sea salt) associated with black sauna traditions in northern and northeastern Europe.)

The well-executed, balanced (and layered) aroma and flavor notes for today's BBQ Spice chocolate included: tomato (there was no tomato listed in the ingredients), pepper, and subtle savory sauce notes. 

While there are some delicious Latin American mole sauces (typically served with meat or cheese entrees) that include similar pepper and spice blends with a hint of cacao, achieving the same tasty outcome in a chocolate bar with savory seasonings and spices taking a back seat role to the cacao may not always work. 

But, today's the BBQ Spice 65% chocolate was successful (especially within the first few hours of its being opened--before more volatile/delicate aromas escaped). The choice of 65% cacao was very effective. It helped capture the rich savory-sweet taste that a good BBQ sauce often possesses. And if you add some of this chocolate to a (meat or vegetarian) entree, I don't think anyone will mind.

Maker's suggested pairings: "Limiting chocolate to the sweets table is a short-sighted mistake many people make (I agree)...Use it in rubs on red meats like pork or lamb..." 

Ingredients: Specialty cacao*, cane sugar*, pure cacao butter*, black garlic* (3%), chipotle pepper (2%), yeast extract*, black pepper (1%), vanilla* (1%), sea salt*. (*"wild or natural farming")

Allergen-related information: "May contain traces of milk, wheat, treenuts or peanuts." 

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