Chocolate of the Day
Hogarth Chocolate Makers
Gianduia Dark Hazelnut (bar)
Good ++
Weight: 1.23 oz. (35 g.) / 2.47 oz. (70 g.) in total bar
Calories: 206.62 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $11.50 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order
Welcome to Day #12 of Chocolate and Hazelnuts Theme Week, and Day #1 of Chocolate and New Zealand Series.
Today's Gianduia Dark Hazelnut 45% Cacao (bar)--made with New Zealand hazelnuts--was from Hogarth Chocolate Makers (Nelson, New Zealand).
Founded by Karl (a former fisherman and sailor) and Marina Hogarth, the eponymous small-batch, bean-to-bar company offers a wide range of bean-to-bar chocolate bars with interesting and thoughtful flavor inclusions, and some single origin bars.
This "Kiwi style Gianduia" chocolate was made with toasted and ground New Zealand hazelnuts.
Aroma notes included: mild dark milk* chocolate with peach green tea and very faint nut and butter.
Texture: soft, smooth and relatively creamy/buttery.
Flavor notes: lightly roasted, fragrant dark chocolate with green tea, stone fruit (peach, very faint sweet red berry jam), nut butter, very faint green tea and dairy milk.*
The ground hazelnuts (30% of bar) had become one with the chocolate, creating an almost seamless fusion between relatively mild and nuanced cacao (think Criollo variety) and hazelnut chocolate (gianduia) flavors. The 45% cacao chocolate was also low in bitterness and acidity.
Ingredients: Cocoa Solids 45% (Cocoa Beans, Cocoa Butter**), Cane Sugar*, Hazelnuts (30%).
Allergen-related information: Contains Nuts. May Contain Traces of Milk.
*Aroma or flavor notes do not necessarily track with actual ingredients. For example in this case, there are no milk ingredients, but there were like dairy-like/buttermilk-like notes.