Chocolate of the Day
Stone Grindz Chocolate
Ba Ria, Vietnam (The Origin Project) 70% Cacao (bar)
Good +++
Weight: 1 oz. (28.3 g.) / 2 oz. (57 g.) in total bar
Calories: 155 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $9.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Stone Grindz, online order
Welcome to Day #4 of Chocolate and Vietnam Theme Week.
Today's Ba Ria*, Vietnam (The Origin Project) 70% Cacao (bar) was from Stone Grindz Chocolate (Scottsdale, AZ).
Aroma notes for this bar included: dark chocolate (attractive cocoa with very faint, fleeting and well-balanced fermentation notes; chocolate ganache/frosting).
Both the overall texture and melt were smooth and creamy.
Flavor notes included: chocolate-y--in the best way possible: smooth, creamy, flavorful with gentle complexity. Very light and smooth bittersweet quality; like excellent drinking chocolate with a long, satisfying creamy finish.
This 70% dark chocolate had a fairly high degree of natural sweetness. The well-executed, authentic and rich flavor(s) balanced the sweetness. Mildly addictive and/or more-ish**.
I also would have loved to have tried a slightly darker (73%-75%) version of this 70% bar. (One can fantasize; but makers have to make tough choices when they're working with a limited batch of cacao beans.
Ingredients: Organic cacao beans, organic cocoa butter, organic cane sugar
Allergen-related information included: (None listed on packaging.)
*Ba Ria is one of several cacao-growing provinces in southern Vietnam. Cacao likely first arrived and was cultivated in Vietnam in the 1800s. High-quality, fine cacao from these provinces in recent decades (and the hard work of dedicated people) has enabled a growing number of excellent, small-batch, craft chocolates. (Sadly, I think this Ba Ria bar (and its Dak Lak Vietnam 79% sibling) are already gone/sold out.)
**More-ish is a slang reference to certain sweets, snacks and other foods that tempt a person to over-consume. After one bite/serving, one still feels compelled to eat more...and more.
I've never experienced this compulsion after eating a big salad--or other higher fiber/protein foods. I'm also fully satisfied after just a few bites of eating darker (80%+ cacao) chocolates.
But occasionally I find chocolate flavors so divine that I just want to savor and appreciate them just a little longer. Today's chocolate fell more into that category.
