Chocolate of the Day
Mashpi Chocolate
Chocolate Bar with Cacao Pulp 65% Cacao
Good ++ - 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 #10 of Chocolate and Ecuador Theme Week.
Today's Chocolate Bar with Cacao Pulp 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."
This bar was part of the company's line of bars produced with "Ecuadorean Nacional Cacao, tropical fruits, spices and raw sugar cane coming from 100% agroecological farms."
Aroma and flavor notes for this fruit-filled 65% cacao dark bar included: slightly boozy, sweet fruity chocolate (smooth, sophisticated cocoa note) with pockets of intense (concentrated) cacao fruit flavors: thick, jammy cacao fruit pulp centers -- with a mouthfeel somewhere between a dark, rich apple "butter" and slightly fermented (or trace of high-end fruit vinegar) fruit gel).
The cacao pulp's bright, complex tropical fruit butter flavors--cacao fruit pulp, mangosteen, dried sweet melon, citrus (sweet tangerine), tamarind and dried cherry--stole the show.
Texture: pleasantly smooth dark chocolate with a smooth, jammy/fruit (thick fruit butter-like) silky-gel paste-like filling.
I loved this sweet-tart, flavorful celebration of cacao fruit and chocolate -- in this form: a dark chocolate bar with segmented squares filled with tasty and authentic cacao fruit paste). Most people never get to taste real cacao fruit pulp-- that lends so much flavor to the cacao fermentation process, while tasting nothing like dark chocolate.
I appreciated: the short list of authentic and quality ingredients; as well as the company's commitment to sourcing cacao from farmers who practice regenerative agriculture.
Ingredients: "Cacao mass, raw sugar cane, cacao butter, cacao pulp"
Allergen-related information: (None listed on the package that I could see.)
