Chocolate(s) of The Day
TCHO
Dark Duo - filled bar; 75% Cacao Shell (bar)
Good ++
Weight: .7 oz. (20 g.) / 2.1 oz. (60 g.) in total package of 3 bars
Calories: 100 calories in 1 bar
Cost: $5.99 (estimate) for 1 bar
Purchased from: The Market at Edgewood, Palo Alto, CA
TCHO
Holy Fudge 75% Cacao (bar)
Good ++
Weight: .7 oz. (20 g.) / 2.1 oz. (60 g.) in total package of 3 bars
Calories: 110 calories in 1 bar
Cost: $5.99 (estimate) for 1 bar
Purchased from: The Market at Edgewood, Palo Alto, CA
Welcome to Day #5 of Chocolate Banquet's 20th Year Anniversary Theme Week, celebrating a different chocolate every day since September 11, 2006.
This week features several chocolate makers who are still in business decades after I first met them--including many with connections to the San Francisco Bay Area where Chocolate Banquet got its start.
The first TCHO chocolate I tasted was a "Nutty" Peru 65% dark chocolate in 2006.
I first visited TCHO in 2006 when the company was in start-up mode on the Embarcadero in San Francisco. Years later, in 2014, after successful operations (and great factory tours), the company moved across the Bay to Berkeley, CA. (Thank you to the team for a great factory tour in Berkeley in 2023, when the factory moved to a 100% plant-based line of bars.)*
Initially, TCHO chocolate "names" were focused on flavor descriptions (fruity, fudgey, nutty, citrus-y, etc.)--flavors inherent in cacao rather than cacao percentage and country of origin. It helped educate people about flavor nuances.
(TCHO added country of origin to flavor information And, happily, as the craft chocolate movement led to more educated buyers, more chocolate makers soon began including more detailed country of origin and sourcing information in the 2000s.)
Dark Duo
The Dark Duo (filled) bars were made using single origin cacaos from Peru and Ghana. The 75% Cacao shell melted seamlessly with the "center."
Aroma and flavor notes for this truffle bar included: complex, dark chocolate fudge with bright fruit (tropical fruits, red berry); very faint mixed nut butter (almond, cashew, hazelnut); vanilla; and very faint (balanced) earth. (Note: there were no nut ingredients listed.)
The chocolate texture was soft and friendly with a pleasant melt and mouthfeel, and with a slightly softer center.
Maker's Tasting Notes/Description: "Lush & Fruity Cacao Truffle Filled Fudgy Dark Chocolate" "A Distinguished Cacao Experience"
Ingredients: Cacao Beans*+, Cane Sugar*, Cocoa Butter*+, Coconut Oil*, Sunflower Lecithin*, Vanilla Beans* (*Organic; +Fair Trade Certified; Over 69% Fair Trade Certified (tm) (Ingredients))
Allergen-related information: May contain tree nuts.
Holy Fudge
Aroma and flavor notes for this 75% Cacao (Single Origin Ghana) Organic & Fair Trade bar included: dark chocolate (rich, dark fudge brownie); vanilla; and very faint, balanced citrus with a pleasant fudge-y finish.
Texture: smooth texture and melt
I appreciated this enjoyable chocolate by itself; and the fact that it pairs well with other items. It would be great in a dessert or a recipe for fudge sauce/cake/pudding/ice cream dish...and of course fudge brownies. The possibilities are endless.
Pretty sure this chocolate is used in the company's Lemon Twist dark chocolate bar with olive oil--a real crowd-pleaser this year--that I hope will become part of the company's permanent flavor line-up.
Maker's Tasting Notes/Description: "Notes of Crisp Brownie Edges From Ghana's World-Renowned Cacao Farms"
Ingredients: Cacao Beans*+, Cane Sugar*, Cocoa Butter*+, Sunflower Lecithin*, Vanilla Beans* (*Organic; +Fair Trade Certified; Over 75% Fair Trade Certified (tm) Ingredients)
Allergen-related information: May contain tree nuts.
*The TCHO brand was sold to Ezaki Glico (maker of Pocky chocolates) in 2018.
