Chocolate(s) of the Day
Spinnaker Chocolate
70% Uganda with Bee Pollen and Salt (bar)
Good ++ - Good +++
Weight: 1 oz. (28.3 g.) / 2 oz. (57 g.) in total bar
Calories: 130 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $11.00 (estimate) for 1 bar
Purchased from: Missing information
Welcome to Day #9 of Chocolate and Honey Theme Week; and Day #1 of Chocolate and Uganda Week.
Today's 70% Uganda with Bee Pollen and Salt (bar) was from Spinnaker Chocolate (Seattle, WA). It was made using cacao grown by smallholder farmers from the Semuliki Forest area in Bundibugyo, Western Uganda. (This cacao is processed and exported to the U.S. by Latitude Trade Co.)
Aroma notes: subtle, nuanced dark chocolate, faint sweet floral; and sweet and salty (cookie, saltine).
Texture: smooth dark chocolate with bee pollen granules and tiny sparkling flakes of sea salt.
Flavor notes included: chocolate-y, fudge-y, well executed 70% dark chocolate with a near perfect blend of sweet and salty flavor inclusions.
Bee pollen consists of tiny, roundish, maize-colored bee pollen grains (vs. honey's, sugary-sweet, amber syrup-like quality).* Some bee pollen grains will likely have a kind of powdery gold glow to them. These were attractively sprinkled on one side of today's bar, along with sea salt flecks.
Both flavor inclusions were from Jacobsen Salt Co. (Portland, OR)--a company that specializes in sea salt and honey.
I enjoyed the natural sweetness of this complex bar, and being able to taste the bee-styled nuances (pollen sweet, floral, very faintly earthy).
Ingredients: Cacao, Organic Cane Sugar, Bee Pollen Granules, Sea Salt Flakes
Allergen-related information: "Processed in a facility that uses milk powder and nuts."
* Honey and bee pollen are both made by honeybees. Both can have complex, floral flavors. Bee pollen is fermented by bees into "bee bread" and nutrients also differ slightly from honey (including vitamins, protein(s), carotenoids, phenolic and other compounds); and sometimes also have a very faint earthy pollen taste.
