Wednesday, June 26, 2024

To'ak Chocolates - Utah Gin Cask Aged Ecuadorian Dark Chocolate 75.5% Cacao (bar) - June 25, 2024

Chocolate of the Day

To'ak Chocolate
Utah Gin Cask Aged Ecuadorian Dark Chocolate 75.5% Cacao (bar)
Good +++
Weight: .88 oz. (25 g.) / 1.76 oz. (50 g.) in total bar/package
Calories: 150 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: N/A - holiday gift from family
Purchased from: N/A - holiday gift from family (thank you Megan and Tony!)

Welcome to Day #2 of Chocolate and Ecuador Theme Week. 

Today's Utah Gin Cask Aged Ecuadorian Dark Chocolate 75.5% Cacao (bar) was made from tree-to-bar in Ecuador, by To'ak Chocolate  (Quito, Ecuador). The company specializes in high-end, Ecuadorian cacao-based chocolates.

The makers work with Ecuador's famed "Nacional" cacao variety, a popular cacao dating back to the 1800s.* In the 1900s, disease (Witches Broom) adversely impacted cacao harvests for decades.** (I feel grateful that when I started Chocolate Banquet almost 18 years ago, many South American cacao farms were on the rebound.)

Aroma and flavor notes for this attractively packaged bar included: relatively subtle dark chocolate, faint molasses, sweet green (botanical, oxalis), and very faint, well-balanced: earth/forest, diffuse tart-sweet fruit (peach, cacao), and then light cream in a gentle, lingering finish.

Texture: well tempered, uniformly smooth, thick (in a cool room) and relatively creamy. (And, as a delightful bonus, there was a crunchy, whole, cacao bean at the center that had a slight charcoal roast flavor to it.)

This was a skillfully and thoughtfully executed dark chocolate -- smooth, sophisticated and subtly complex and flavorful. Well balanced, and it was not too sweet (thank you!).

Ingredients: 75.5% Organic Heirloom Cacao Beans, 24.5% Organic Cane Sugar

Allergen-related information: "May contain traces of milk, soy or nuts."

*In the maker's words: "As of 2009, pure Nacional cacao was believed to be extinct. Our journey led us to the secluded valley of Piedra de Plata, where we found some of the last surviving trees..."

** This plant gall disease (caused by fungal and other contributing causes) disfigures plants; and it has also caused the collapse of cacao harvests in Brazil.


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