Kessho Craft Chocolate - Porcini Dark Milk 60% Cacao Semuliki Forest, Uganda (bar) - July 4, 2026

Chocolate of The Day

Kessho Craft Chocolate 
Porcini Dark Milk 60% Cacao Semuliki Forest, Uganda (bar) 
Good ++ 
Weight: 1.06 oz. (30 g.) / 2.1 oz. (60 g.) in total bar
Calories: 177 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $12.00 for 1 bar 

Purchased from: Kessho, online order

Welcome to Day #8 of Chocolate & Mushrooms Theme Week. And Happy 250th birthday to those celebrating Independence Day in the U.S.A.

Today's Porcini Dark Milk 60% Cacao Semuliki Forest, Uganda (bar) was from Kessho Craft Chocolate (distributed by Kessho, LLC (Austin, TX)).*

The cacao used to make this bar was (a hybrid of Trinitario & Forastero varieties) grown in the Semuliki Forest region of Uganda.

Aroma and flavor notes included: smooth, rich dark chocolate; umami (gently savory, mushroom); subtle caramel; and very faint (barely detectable) fruit and nuts. It was a smooth and attractively interesting flavor ride, with a slight mushroom flavor at the end of a long relatively sweet finish.

Most of the mushroom/fungi flavor inclusions in this week's chocolates have been what are often considered "medicinal" or "adaptogenic" species. There are well over 10,000 species of mushrooms, and only a small subset of these are edible. The subset of these that taste good is even smaller.**

However, happily, today's Porcini mushroom flavor came with more delicious culinary associations, and not just, "eat it and it will be good for you" implied messaging.

Texture: smooth, relatively creamy, dark milk chocolate (with no detectable mushroom powder ("grit")). (The mushroom powder was well incorporated into the chocolate.)

I enjoyed the blend of dark milk chocolate with balanced umami notes, and authentic (and not overwhelming) mushroom flavor; the use of single origin cacao; and the short list of ingredients.

Maker's Tasting Notes: "Earthiness, umami, blue cheese...Foraged Yunnan porcini mushrooms lend their deep earthiness to this dark milk chocolate..."

Ingredients: "Whole cacao beans, sugar, cocoa butter, whole milk powder, porcini mushroom powder"

Allergen-related information: "Contains milk. Made in a facility that also processes tree nuts, wheat, sesame and eggs"

*Kessho is a Japanese word that means "Crystal" that pays tribute to the crystalline structure of chocolate.

**I've found this to be true for plants as well. About 10% of all plants are technically edible, and only 10% of that number actually taste good. Do your research on any plants (or certainly any mushrooms) you taste in the wild. As the cautionary advisory/saying goes in the mushroom foraging circles: "Every mushroom is edible, at least once..."