Chocolat Bonnat - Les Recettes de Jean Sulpice - Sarrasin Caramelise 55% Milk Chocolate (bar) - Oct. 21, 2025

Chocolate of the Day

Chocolat Bonnat
Les Recettes de Jean Sulpice - Sarrasin Caramelise 55% Cacao Chocolat Au Lait
(The Recipes of Jean Sulpice - Caramelized Buckwheat 55% Cacao Milk Chocolate) 
Good ++ 
Weight: 1.76 oz. (50 g.) / 3.5 oz. (100 g.) in total bar
Calories: 297.5 calories in 1/2 bar (50 g.)
Cost: $15.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Jemome's C.V. Market, Carmel Valley, CA

Bonjour, and welcome to Day #8 of Chocolate & France Theme Week.

Today's Les Recettes de Jean Sulpice - Sarrasin Caramelise 55% Cacao Chocolat Au Lait (bar) made by Bonnat Chocolatier (Voiron, France). It was a collaboration between chocolate maker Stephane Bonnat and French chef, Jean Sulpice.*

The cacao(s) used to make the chocolate was from Indonesia and Mexico.

Aroma and flavor notes for this bar included: complex milky, mild chocolate with light cocoa and very slight earthy grain with barely detectable roasted green tea notes.

Texture: smooth, milky chocolate with slightly crunchy, pyramid-shaped (presumably toasted/browned) caramelized buckwheat. (Caramelized in this case did not mean sweet caramelized sugar.) Each bite of chocolate had a slow then rapid melt (in a cool room).

Buckwheat (a seed from a plant) is believed to originate in Asia (Yunnan province in southwestern China). It spread to Europe, and eventually the United States. Many of us remember eating buckwheat pancakes with maple syrup and butter when young. I wondered what caramelized buckwheat would taste like in chocolate.

Maker's comments/notes (rough translation): Indonesian and Mexican milk chocolate for rare cacaos with casse-claire and a pinch of caramelized buckwheat to spice it up and enhance the floral aromas of these rare cacaos.

I enjoyed the opportunity to try this chocolate with buckwheat. I appreciated being able to taste the nuanced flavors present in this flavor inclusion, as well as the list of short, quality list of ingredients.

Ingredients: "Cocoa, cocoa butter, sugar, powdered milk, buckwheat."

Allergen-related information: Contains Milk, and buckwheat.

*Jean Sulpice is perhaps best known in France as the youngest French chef to receive a Michelin star. (He was 26 years old at the time and earned a second star in 2010 -- becoming the youngest chef to win two stars.)