Chocolate of the Day
Rozsavolgyi Csololade
Peru Gran Nativo Blanco 72% (bar)
Good ++
Weight: 1.23 oz. (35 g.) / 2.46 oz. (70 g.) in total bar
Calories: 162.4 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $20.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order
Welcome to Day #8 of Chocolate and Peru Theme Week.
Today's Peru Gran Nativo Blanco 72% (bar) was from Rozsavolgyi Csokolade (Budapest, Hungary).
Aroma notes for this Peruvian* cacao-based chocolate included a pleasing blend of integrated subtle notes: dark chocolate (mousse), diffuse fruit and very faint spice.
Flavor notes for this smooth, creamy and naturally sweet chocolate included: chocolate-y (dark chocolate mousse, creamy dark ganache), diffuse and subtle fruit (berry jam, sweet plum), and barely detectable, fleeting earth, very faint bitterness, and floral spice. This 72% chocolate tasted more like a 68% bar. (Thank you to the maker for their choice of 72% vs. 70%.)
I enjoyed this smooth, sophisticated chocolate with many attributes of Criollo/Nacional* cacao beans including gentle and complex flavors found in heritage cacao varieties. Chocolates made from these relatively rare heritage cacao varieties are more expensive (e.g. today's $20 USD bar); but my hope is that more chocolate lovers have the opportunity to get to know and taste these very special varieties.
Ingredients: Cocoa beans, organic cane sugar, organic cocoa butter, cacao content 72%
Allergen-related information: "May contain traces of nuts, oat and milk powder"
*The maker offered these background and tasting notes: "Gran Nativo Blanco cocoa is grown by smallholder members of the Norandino cooperative in the Piura region, North of Peru. The majority of the beans in this ancient/criollo cacao varietal are completely white, with an intense aroma of gooseberries and lime, balanced with the sweetness of panela with lots of floral notes. Luckily, via careful processing, we managed to preserve most of this in the chocolate."
