Chocolate of the Day
Castronovo Chocolate
Signature Collection Puerto Rico 70% (bar)
Good ++
Weight: 1.1 oz. (31.1 g.) / 2.2 oz. (62.2 g.) in total bar
Calories: 150 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $16.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Castronovo, online order
Welcome to Day #1 of Caribbean Chocolate Cruise Week. After a week-long virtual visit to Haiti (through the magic of chocolate), it's time to explore other Caribbean destinations (Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Trinidad and then back to Haiti).
Historically cacao was brought to Puerto Rico (from Central and South America) by the Spanish. However, I can't remember tasting a chocolate made entirely of cacao grown in Puerto Rico, so a big thank you to Castronovo for making this possible. See information below for more information.*
Today's Signature Collection Puerto Rico 70% (bar) was from Castronovo Chocolate (Stuart, FL). Aroma notes included: dark chocolate; faint sweet floral (vanilla) green/botanical; and (appealing) pickled peppers--that faded after the package had been opened for a bit.
Texture: smooth, even, texture and melt.
Flavor notes included: well balanced, sweet and flavorful dark chocolate with intriguing, faint, fleeting pickled pepper; and fruit (ripe berry (blackberry) and date). These notes all harmonized very well together and made for a very nice dark chocolate bar.
I really liked this well-executed dark chocolate, and found it somewhat addictive--with its, well-balanced, tasty, almost piquant flavor element(s).
Maker's tasting notes: "I love this chocolate for its nice natural flavors of date, vanilla, a sweet nuttiness like pecan and a delicious creaminess..."
Ingredients: organic cocoa beans, organic cane sugar, organic cocoa butter.
Allergen-related information: "Made in a facility that uses milk and wheat. Contains no nuts. Made in a nut-free facility (nut-free and soy-free)."
*Castronovo has been working with a farmer named Juan in Puerto Rico since 2016, on fermentation and fundraising after a 2017 hurricane. Some background on the cacao farm from Castronovo Website is pasted below:
"...Juan discovered some very old original cacao trees, growing wild amongst a variety of fruit trees in the forest. He describes the pods as being very large with red and yellow colors. Hurricane Maria in 2017 wiped out a newly planted 60-acre farm, but the old trees grown in the agro-forest on his father's land survived. Despite the setback from Hurrican(e) Maria, they have replanted and have adopted cultivation techniques to provide more resilience from future storms. They continue learning as much as they can with a vision to develop the fine cacao industry in Puerto Rico..."
By trying this fine chocolate from the USA...you can support more chocolate from Puerto Rico in the future. "All proceeds from the cacao purchase go directly to the farm."
