Meurisse Chocolate NV
Himalayan Salt Dark Chocolate Bar
Good ++ - Good +++
Weight: .88 oz. (25 g.) / 3.52 oz. (100 g.) in total bar
Calories: 140 calories in 1/4 bar
Cost: $10.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Il Parco, Presidio, San Francisco, CA
Himalayan Salt Dark Chocolate Bar
Good ++ - Good +++
Weight: .88 oz. (25 g.) / 3.52 oz. (100 g.) in total bar
Calories: 140 calories in 1/4 bar
Cost: $10.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Il Parco, Presidio, San Francisco, CA
Welcome to Day #8 of Chocolate and Salt Theme Week.
Today's Himalayan Salt Dark Chocolate Bar from Meurisse Chocolate NV (Antwerp, Belgium) was manufactured in Belgium.
Founded in 1845 by Adolphe Meurisse, the company is one of Belgium's oldest chocolate makers. I'm impressed with any enterprise that surpasses the century mark, much less 180 years. (Less than half of one percent of U.S. companies have made it to 100 years.)
The company offers a variety of bars using single origin cocoa from Papua New Guinea.
Aroma notes included: dark chocolate with faint earth and dried fruit (fig) and faint sweet vanilla. (The faint earth note disappeared a few minutes after the sealed inner wrapper was opened.)
This generously-sized bar was relatively thick. It had a satisfying, smooth, slightly fudge-y texture.
Flavor notes for substantial (thick and generously-sized 73% cacao chocolate included: dark chocolate (fudge-y, chocolate-y) with vanilla; subtle dried fruit (fig); and very faint nut (sweet walnut**, hazelnut). Note: there were no nut ingredients in this bar. The salt was well-balanced (in the Goldilocks zone*).
I enjoyed this relatively hearty, balanced dark chocolate with fudge brownie, subtle and authentic-tasting vanilla, and (Pink Himalayan) salt notes. I liked the sweetness level, the cacao percentage level (73%) and the subtle, well-executed complexity of the cacao (from Papua New Guinea). This chocolate exceeded my expectations.
Ingredients: Cocoa mass*, cane sugar*, cocoa butter*, natural vanilla powder*, salt. (* = from organic agriculture.)
Allergen-related information: "May contain traces of milk, soy, pistachio, almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts."
*Not too little, not too much. Just right for me.
** In Greece and other Mediterranean and Middle Eastern countries you can buy young/green walnuts in syrup (aka walnut jam or walnut preserves). The blend has a unique, sweet green fig/nut flavor. It's a taste that I've tasted in chocolates as well (especially those made with organic sugar), and have described it as having sweet, green botanical/syrup notes.
