Chocolate of the Day
Dandelion Chocolate
70% Maya Mountain Belize (2024 Harvest) (bar)
Good ++
Weight: 1 oz. (28.3 g.) / 2 oz. (57 g.) in total bar
Calories: 130 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $N/A - gift
Purchased from: N/A - gift from friends - Thank you Evan, Maddy & Isla!
Welcome to Day #4 of Chocolate and Central America Theme Week, including several bars crafted from Belize cacao.
Today's 70% Maya Mountain Belize (2024 Harvest) (bar) was made by Dandelion Chocolate (San Francisco, CA).
Aroma notes for this chocolate included: dark, relatively bold chocolate with faint molasses and peat notes with a subtle, well-managed bitterness. (The faint peat note receded after the package was opened for several minutes.)
Texture: Relatively smooth with a very faint, tannic astringency
Flavor notes included: Bold dark chocolate with balanced/managed bitterness and tannins with initial chocolate-y sweetness, followed by sour, dried fruit (citrus peel + apple + plum marmalade), barely detectable molasses, and light wood.
After a few bites, the "sour"/marmalade fruit mellowed into tart-sweet red fruit and berry territory.
This chocolate tasted more bold/intense than 70% cacao; it was closer to an 80%er. A fruit ale-like (almost hoppy)* bitterness lingered into a fairly long, ultra-dark chocolate-y finish.
Note to milk chocolate fans with a sweet tooth...This Belize bar was full of flavors; but some of these flavors might be a bit intense for those easily frightened by bolder dark chocolates.
I really appreciated the makers' short list of just two ingredients; no added cocoa butter; and the choice of single origin (Maya Mountain Cacao, Belize) from a single harvest year (2024).
I've long appreciated Dandelion Chocolate's range of single origin chocolates -- made with a group of different makers in their San Francisco location(s). A Belize bar one year might be slightly different than the next. The more specific the cacao type, origin, harvest and maker's roasting choices are, the more unique and special the flavor profile will be.
Ingredients: Cacao Beans & Cane Sugar
Allergen-related information: "Contains No Dairy, Gluten, Nuts or Soy"
*Note: I drank some hop water, then re-tasted this chocolate. The chocolate tasted much mellower, balanced, sweeter and less bitter. So, this bar might be great paired with a hop-heavy ale or stout, or a smoky/peaty whiskey.
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