Mashpi Chocolate - Chocolate Bar with Calamondin 65% Cacao - Oct. 3, 2025

Chocolate of the Day

Mashpi Chocolate 
Chocolate Bar with Calamondin 65% Cacao 
Good ++
Weight: .88 oz. (25 g.) / 1.76 oz. (50 g.) in total bar
Calories: 150 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $8.33 for 1 bar (3 for $25.00)
Purchased from: Choiba Agroforestry Products, online order

Welcome to Day #12 of Chocolate and Ecuador Theme Week.

Today's Chocolate Bar with Calamondin 65% Cacao 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." (There was no cacao percentage listed.)

Calamondin (Citrofortunella microcarpa) "is a small citrus fruit with a delicate, soft, aromatic skin." The makers used the skin of this citrus fruit in this bar. And this fruit tasted every bit like a cross between a kumquat (sweet rind) + a mandarin orange/tangerine.

Aroma and flavor notes for this chocolate included: pleasantly smooth dark chocolate with gently aromatic and slightly floral citrus (that had a very pleasant, almost undulating, nuanced tart-sweet taste), and brown sugar notes.

Texture: pleasantly smooth dark chocolate--with only one tiny, tiny dark particle (seed or cacao nib bit?). 

I enjoyed the opportunity to try yet another unique and special bar made with a blend of tropical fruit and cacao supporting a bio-reserve in Ecuador. It had an intriguing, gently complex flavor.

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, calamondin"

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

Mashpi Chocolate - Chocolate Covered Bananas - Oct. 2, 2025

Chocolate of the Day

Mashpi Chocolate 
Chocolate Covered Bananas (package)
Good ++ 
Weight: 2.82 oz. (80 g.) in total bar
Calories: 340 calories (estimate) in 1 package
Cost: $10.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Choiba Agroforestry Products, online order

Welcome to Day #11 of Chocolate and Ecuador Theme Week.

Today's Chocolate Covered Bananas were 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."

The "seda" (translation: silk) bananas*--that were covered in Ecuadorean chocolate in today's offering--were an heirloom variety preserved by small producers.

Aroma and flavor notes for this chocolate included: dark chocolate; aromatic, softly sweet, banana and subtle brown sugar (panela).

Texture: smooth dark chocolate; the dehydrated banana pieces (slices) were just right with an authentic texture that seemed to preserve the best of the banana. (The fruit was just right: not too mushy, not too tough; i.e., it did not have a hard chew.)

I enjoyed the sweet, mellow flavor and texture of the banana, and the fact that it tasted slightly less acidic than Cavendish bananas we find in stores here in the U.S.

I appreciated: the short list of authentic and quality ingredients; the well-executed and balanced flavors; as well as the company's commitment to sourcing cacao from farmers who practice regenerative agriculture.

Ingredients: "Dehydrated banana, cacao mass, raw sugar cane, cacao butter"

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

*Bananas originated in Southeast Asia and the South Pacific. They arrived in the Americas centuries ago. Commercial banana growers in the Americas were impacted by disease(s); and some cultivars like the popular Gros Michel cultivar survived in smaller pockets after suffering from fungal disease(s), and being declared "commercially extinct" in 1965. Following that period, the more disease-resistant (at that time) cultivar, the Cavendish, became the banana we know and love today in the U.S. But, concerns about fungal diseases continue--with bananas and cacao.