Chocolate of the Day
Puchero
75% Indonesia Java Criollo Single Origin (bar)
Good ++
Weight: 1.23 oz. (35 g.) / 2.4 oz. (70 g.) in total bar
Calories: 207.5 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $ N/A - gift from a friend
Purchased from: N/A - gift from a friend - Thank you Toni!
Welcome to Day #2 of Chocolate and Indonesia Theme Week.
Today's Puchero 75% Indonesia Java Criollo Single Origin (bar) was produced by Tostarix S.L. (Vallodolid, Spain). The company offers a variety of small batch, bean-to-bar chocolates.
Aroma notes included: smooth dark chocolate, tropical fruit (ripe, sweet mango), and caramel.
This chocolate had a smooth, almost creamy/milky texture, mouthfeel and flavor.
Flavor notes included: bittersweet chocolate, and sweet fruit (apple, berry, date, mango), faint caramel and very faint gingerbread. What is so special about Criollo cacao varieties? Subtle, sophisticated, complex flavors that also tend to be (depending on the origin and roast) low in acidity and bitterness.*
Puchero maker's notes: "Fermented white cacao from hybrid varieties known as Java Criollo. Complex, creamy and milky. Notes of caramel and tropical fruit."
Ingredients: "cacao beans, organic beet sugar, organic cacao butter."
Allergen-related information: "May contain traces of nuts, milk and gluten"
*Single origin chocolates made with heritage/Criollo cacaos are rare. They represent less than 5% of the fine chocolate market.
Criollo and/or heritage varieties of cacao beans tend to come from smaller cacao pods, and the trees are often more delicate/prone to diseases, which helps explain why they are found/selected less often for planting in large plantations, where the highest yields and lowest risk of diseases are selected over subtler flavor characteristics.
Similar trade-offs are made with other heritage/heirloom variety crops, ranging from roses to tomatoes.
