Chocolate of the Day
Honeymoon Chocolate
Strawberry Milk Chocolate (bar)
Good + - Good ++
Weight: 2.2 oz. (62 g.) in total bar
Calories: 280 calories in 1 bar
Cost: $12.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Z. Cioccolato, San Francisco, CA
Welcome to Day #4 of Chocolate and Fruits Theme Week.
Today's Strawberry Milk Chocolate (bar) from Honeymoon Chocolates (Clayton, MO). was created using a short list of thoughtfully sourced cacao (Belize), cacao butter (Peru), raw honey (local farms), and organic ingredients (cacao, milk, strawberries).*
I usually prefer dark chocolates. And I admit my first reaction when I read "strawberry milk chocolate" was a small sigh. Milk and sugar can dull fresh, sweet-tart fruit flavors. (This can happen with some strawberry ice creams.) However, this skillfully made and nuanced bar (that I suggest savoring slowly) proved otherwise.
Aroma notes included: fermented cacao and tart-sweet red fruit. (Just as some bottles of wine are best left to breathe after opening, some well-sealed chocolates improve with being aired out for a few minutes after opening.)
The initial fermentation notes dissipated in less than 10 minutes leaving room for richer, more attractive, nuanced chocolate and caramel and delicate floral (pollen/honey) notes.
This bar had an interesting texture with a melt that started slow (in a cold tasting room) with an almost gentley waxy creamy mouthfeel that accelerated into a rapid, natural melt. I am assuming this was in part due to the use of raw honey instead of cane sugar.
The attractive bar had a hexonal honeycomb pattern on the front side and an authentic rosey, duo-toned, naturally red pink strawberry pieces adhered to the back of the bar.
What about the chocolate? The milk chocolate had more of a clear, well-balanced bittersweet chocolate (rather than a muted milk chocolate) flavor, that I liked.
Raw honey and strawberry fruit bits provided subtle sweetness, without the same sugar buzz** that one often find in milk chocolates. (Thank you!)
*Ingredients: Organic cacao, raw honey, organic cacao butter, organic milk powder, organic strawberry.
Allergen-related information: "Free of refined sugar, soy, or gluten."
** Honey tends to be sweeter than sugar, by weight, which means that a 70% cacao chocolate bar sweetened with honey, might taste different than a 70% chocolate bar sweetened with cane sugar.
