Mashpi Chocolate - Chocolate Bar with Passion Fruit and Black Pepper - Sept. 26, 2025

Chocolate of the Day

Mashpi Chocolate 
Chocolate Bar with Passion Fruit & Black Pepper 65% Cacao
Good ++
Weight: .88 oz. (25 g.) / 1.76 oz. (50 g.) in total bar
Calories: 150 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $9.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Choiba Agroforestry Products, online order

Welcome to Day #5 of Chocolate and Ecuador Theme Week.

Today's Chocolate Bar with Passion Fruit & Black Pepper 65% Cacao (bar) was made by Mashpi Chocolate (Quito, Ecuador); and imported and distributed by Andean Ecocrafts, LLC (Reno, NV).

The cacao variety used to make this bar was "Cacao Nacional Fino de Aroma." And passion fruit and black pepper were blended with this cacao.

Passion fruits--aka maracuya, maypops and more formally: Passiflora edulis in my garden, but Passiflora maliformis in today's bar--originated in South America. Their tart-sweet flavor puts the "punch" in fruit punch juice blends. And the golden/orange fruit pulp inside the smooth oval passion fruit husk has been used to flavor desserts, chewing gum, filled/chocolate confections, cocktails and juices, and more.

Black pepper (Piper nigrum) originated from India. It can be full of subtle and complex aroma and flavor. Happily, both passion fruit and black pepper are now cultivated/available far and wide.

Aroma notes for this chocolate included: tart, sweet fruit (passion fruit), dark chocolate and faint spice.

Texture: smooth chocolate peppered with relatively hard and crunchy dark pieces of passion fruit seeds. The black pepper added flavor depth and interest but the passion fruit was the star of the show.

I enjoyed the boldly tart passion fruit and the occasional hint of black pepper. Both complement dark chocolate nicely. 

It must have been challenging to balance the passion fruit and the pepper, given how dominant fresh passion fruit can be. It almost made me want to taste more of the black pepper; but then the chocolate might need amping up...but I liked that it was nice and smooth the way it was...Glad I didn't have to make these tough decisions.

I appreciated: the short list of authentic and powerful ingredients; as well as the company's focus on regenerative agriculture.

Ingredients: "Cacao mass, raw sugar cane, cacao butter, passion fruit, black pepper."

Allergen-related information: (None listed on the package that I could see.)