Cuna de Piedra - 73% Mexican Cacao from Comalcalco, Tabaso & Smoked Heirloom Chile (bar) - July 3, 2025

Chocolate of the Day

Cuna de Piedra
73% Mexican Cacao from Comalcalco, Tabasco & Smoked Heirloom Chile (bar)
Good ++
Weight: .5 oz. (14.1 g.) / 1 oz. (28 g.) in total bar
Calories: 77 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar 
Cost: $6.99 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Caputo's, online order

Welcome to Day #9 of Chocolate & Mexico Theme Week.

Today's 73% Mexican Cacao from Comalcalco, Tabasco & Smoked Heirloom Chile (bar) was from Cuna de Piedra* (Monterrey, NL, Mexico).

The company is an "homage to Mexican Cacao." And the cacao used to make this bar was from the Comalcalco, Tabasco region in southeastern Mexico. (The cacao beans chosen were part of the "Dry Season, Harvest 2023".)

Aroma notes for this chocolate included: appealing dark chocolate with faint, refreshing tart-sweet (vitamin C-rich) fruit aspects (that might have been from the fruit-tree/wood** smoked chile pepper), and wonderfully subtle and rich smoked chile.

This dark chocolate was full of rich, authentic flavor...beginning with a very slightly fruity, high-quality cacao chocolate, that was followed by (about five seconds later) the fiery arc of the lightly smoked heirloom chile that gradually rose, hit peak heat, and then receded. 

I liked the sweetness level. It was just enough sugar to add some brightness; but it wasn't too sweet. And I felt fortunate to try this rare Tres Lomos heirloom chile (from the central region of Veracruz).

**Maker's notes: "Chiles in Mexico, just like cacao, are a fundamental part of our gastronomic identity." The chile was "processed at origin according to the Meridional-Totonacapan method: a pre-Hispanic technique of smoking at ground level for three days using wood from fruit-bearing trees such as guava and wild berries." For more information on chiles: @arodiorea.mx. 

My notes: Consider taking a smaller first bite if you're sensitive to hot foods. 

Ingredients: Cacao beans, Cane sugar, Smoked Heirloom Chile.

Allergen-related information: "Manufactured on equipment that processes wheat, milk, soy, peanuts, tree nuts and eggs."

*The company name Cuna de Piedra translates to "cradle of stone," which immediately made me think of women grinding roasted cacao beans into a paste using a stone metate and mano (grinding stone) in the jungles of Central America.