Chocolate of The Day
Chocolate and Love GmbH
Organic 70% Cocoa Pomegranate (bar) Madagascar Dark Chocolate with Pomegranate
Good + - Good ++
Weight: 1.06 oz. (30 g.) / 2.8 oz. (80 g.) in total bar
Calories: 160 calories in 1 serving (9 pieces/squares) of bar
Cost: $N/A - gift from a friend
Purchased from: N/A - gift from a friend
Welcome to Day #6 of Chocolate & Fruits Theme Week. Yesterday's dark chocolate bar contained cocoa nibs and pomegranate. Today's Pomegranate dark chocolate bar contained some of the same ingredients but had a different twist.*
Today's Organic and Vegan 70% Cocoa Pomegranate (bar) with Madagascar Dark Chocolate and Pomegranate was a product of Switzerland, and was made for Chocolate and Love Ltd (Perth, UK).
Aroma and flavor notes included: soft dark chocolate (hot cocoa, cacao nibs) and tart sweet red fruit (pomegranate).
Texture: smooth dark chocolate with almost fully integrated, but not quite, softly chewy bits of pomegranate, sweetened with apple juice and vanilla.
I liked that this chocolate was made using certified organic, Fairtrade, and single origin (Madagascar) cacao. Madagascar cacao is known for its citrus and berry (fruit) notes--and that may have amped up the other (added) fruit flavors a little in this bar.
This 70% dark chocolate was actually quite sweet; but I could still make out some satisfying cocoa notes. The fruit bits ("pomegranate preparation" pieces)--embedded throughout the bar--yielded fairly strong apple and red fruit candy, and chocolate and vanilla cookie flavors.
The layering of flavors seemed about right. The fruit bits didn't seem too large. Nor were the bits totally incorporated--where it would have been harder to make out any single origin cacao notes. But, I think I would have preferred a lighter scattering of said fruit bits (even though they were flavored in a thoughtful way) so I could taste the chocolate more.
Ingredients: Cocoa mass*, raw cane sugar*, cocoa butter*, pomegranate preparation* 9%, (pomegranate, apple juice concentrate*, rice flour*, thickener* [pectin*]), vanilla pods*
*Certified organic. Cocoa, sugar, vanilla; traded in compliance with Fairtrade Standards, total 91%. Visit: www.info.fairtrade.net. Cocoa solids 70% minimum (chocolate).
According to the information on the inside of this bar's label (kudos, lots of good info), the Madagascar cacao came from: "Cooperative Premium Cacao Sambirano CPCS". (The company sources cacao from Fairtrade certified co-operatives in Peru, the Dominican Republic, Panama and Madagascar.)
Allergen-related information: May Contain Milk, Tree Nuts, Peanuts & Coconut
*You can take one fruit and dark chocolate and make a bar eight different ways with eight different results. I love the versatility of chocolate. It's compatible with so many beverages, bars, confections and desserts, and even savory dishes. Thank you to all the makers creating so many different implementations, all with subtle differences.
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