Chocolate of the Day
Fjak Sjokolade
70% Mork Sjokolade and Alde Sider
(70% Dark Chocolate and Alde Cider)
Good ++
Weight: .935 oz. (26.5 g.) / 1.87 oz. (53 g.) in total bar
Calories: 145 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $11.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order
Welcome to Day #6 of Chocolate and Cheese Theme Week.
Today's 70% Dark Chocolate Cider (bar) was made by small-batch, bean-to-bar chocolate maker Fjak Sjokolade (Hardanger, Norway).
Founded by two women in 2015, the company offers a variety of single origin bars and chocolates with local Nordic flavors.
Today's chocolate with infused with Norwegian hard cider from Alde (Hardanger, Norway)--a region known for its apples, plums and cherries. The cacao used to make this bar was from Tanzania (Kilombero Valley).
Aroma notes for this Norwegian bar included: dark chocolate, diffuse fruit (apple juice), faint brown sugar, and even fainter sweet green botanical, almost floral.
This well-tempered bar broke with a snap, and had a smooth texture with a very mild tart fruit astringency.
This was a harmonious and well-executed blend of 70% dark chocolate and apple cider, with nuanced flavor notes. The relatively bold dark chocolate balanced the sweetness of the apple and the sugar in the dark chocolate base. The apple cider contributed fruit with gently undulating, pleasant apple flavors and balanced acidity.
I enjoyed the first few bites of this chocolate without any cheese. And then paired it with an aged cheddar cheese. A camembert (commonly paired with hard cider) or similar cheese might have worked too. However, the apple flavors in the cider were delicate and enjoyable enough that I might avoid very strong cheeses.
Maker's description: "bold and boozy"
Ingredients: Cocoa beans*, cane sugar*, cocoa butter*, dried apple* and Cider from Alde (*Organic)
Allergen-related information: Processed in a facility that handles nuts, dairy and gluten.
