Fjak Sjokolade - Single Origin 60% Milk Madagascar (Akesson Bejofo Estate) - July 25, 2023

Chocolate of the Day

Fjak Sjokolade 
Single Origin 60% Milk Madagascar - Akesson Bejofo Estate (bar)
Good + - Good ++
Weight: .935 oz. (26.5 g.) / ~1.87 oz. (53 g.) in total bar
Calories: 145 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $11.00 in 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

Welcome to Day #7 of Chocolate and Madagascar Theme Week.

Today's 100% Organic Single Origin 60% Melk Madagaskar (Milk Madagascar) bar--made with cacao from Akesson's Bejofo Estate, was handcrafted in Scandinavia by Fjak Sjokolade (Hardangerfjord, Norway).

Aroma notes for this single origin 60% bar included: milk chocolate, fruit (raisin) and very faint vegetable (potato vegetable soup). Like most chocolates, any savory vegetable notes generally "disappear" or recede after a few minutes of opening. 

This dark milk chocolate had a uniform, creamy taste and texture, with a slight granular astringency.

Flavor notes included: dark milk chocolate, subtle cream caramel, and lovely fruit (fresh, ripe, sweet, white wine grape; white raisin and very faint sweet tangerine).

Maker's tasting notes: "Round creamy chocolate with hints of citrus and caramel"

Ingredients: Cocoa beans*, cane sugar*, milk powder* and cocoa butter* (*Organic)

Allergen-related information: Contains milk.

Akesson's - Brazil Fazenda Sempre Firme 100% Forastero Cocoa & Cocoa Nibs (bar) - Nov. 13, 2022

Chocolate of the Day

Akesson's
Brazil Fazenda Sempre Firme 100% Forastero Cocoa and Cocoa Nibs (bar)
Good +
Weight: 1.06 oz. (30 g.) / 2.12 oz. (60 g.) in total bar
Calories: 182.9 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $8.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

Bem-vindo (welcome) to Day #8 of Chocolate and Brazil Theme Week.

Today's Akesson's Brazil Fazenda Sempre Firme 100% Forastero Cocoa and Cocoa Nibs (bar) was from AO Global (Uccle, Belgium).

Made in France, this 100% cacao chocolate was created from a "parasinho" Forastero variety cacao grown on the Fazenda Sempre Firme (plantation) in Bahia, Brazil. (The Fazenda has been called paradise, or paraiso, thus the cacao name parasinho (little paradise.)

Aroma notes for this unsweetened ultra-dark bar included: dark chocolate, sweet green, dried fruit, and sweet bread notes. 

The thick bar was a textural blend of relatively dark, dense smooth chocolate + crunchy nibs.

The bold, dense dark chocolate (Forastero) flavor was relatively acidic (citrus, acidic/tannic wood) flavor with sustained but balanced dark forest/earth notes. About 20 seconds after the finish receded there was another very faint, diffuse uptick of tobacco. 

This is what I'd refer to as a "monster" dark bar, comparable to very bold, acidic/tannic red yet still high-end wines. A small group of people will enjoy the sheer strength of these flavors, just as a select group might with a monster zin(fandel) wine that used to come out of California a few decades ago. (My dad, a tannic-phile) loved bringing these home from (at that time small) local wineries.)

I love flavor complexity and depth (and do enjoy many 100% cacao bars), but perhaps on a slightly more gentle scale. It's a bold choice using a feisty 100% Forastero for a 100% unsweetened bar. I will enjoy trying it different ways with other foods and beverages.

Maker's tasting notes: "...The chocolate we developed from these (Parasinho Forastero) beans is smooth, woody and earthy. It has also expressive notes that evoke autumn scents, tobacco and the local pitanga fruit."

Ingredients: 100% cocoa: cocoa beans, cocoa butter, cocoa nibs (7%)

Allergen-related information: "May contain traces of nuts, almonds, milk and gluten."

Akesson's - Brazil Fazenda Sempre Firme 75% Forastero Cocoa (bar) - June 6, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Akesson's

Brazil Fazenda Sempre Firme 75% Forastero Cocoa (bar)

Good +

Weight: 1.06 oz. (30 g.) / 2.12 oz. (60 g.) in total bar
Calories: 172.5 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $8.00 for 1 bar (+ shipping)
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order 

Welcome to Day #10 of Chocolate and Brazil Theme Week. 

Today's Brazil Fazenda Sempre Firme 75% Forastero Cocoa bar (made in France) was from Akesson's (AO Global Sprl, Uccle, Belgium). 

Company founder Bertil Akesson not only specializes in single plantation chocolate, but also has direct cacao plantation experience in Brazil.*

Subtle aroma notes included: brown sugar, faint woodsy, very faint green (lemon balm/sour grass), and very faint warm spice.

Flavor notes: smooth (uniform) dark chocolate with naturally sweet (brown sugar), faint fleeting cream, wood and earth notes. 

Made with a variety of Forastero cacao, the resulting chocolate was less bold/bitter than many other Forastero chocolates. (The roast profile might have been adjusted as a result, leading to a "lighter" flavor.)

Maker's tasting notes: "The chocolate we developed from these beans is smooth, woody and earthy. It has also expressive notes that evoke autumn scents, tobacco and the local pitanga fruit."

Ingredients: Cocoa (min. 75%), cane sugar, pure cocoa butter.

Allergen-related information: May contain traces of nuts, almonds, soya, milk and gluten.

*In 2009, Akesson and a Brazilian partner purchased the historic Fazenda Sempre Firme in Bahia, Brazil. This plantation is located in the Mata Atlantica (the wild forest/rainforest area(s) in Eastern Brazil along the Atlantic coast). They are growing a Forastero variety of cacao called "parasinho."

Fjak Sjokolade - Single Origin 70% Mork (Dark) Madagascar (bar) - Mar. 20, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Fjak Sjokolade 
Single Origin 70% Mork (Dark) Madagascar (bar)
Good ++ - Good +++
Weight: 1.87 oz. (53 g.) in total bar
Calories: 295 calories (estimate) in 1 bar
Cost: $9.50 (+ shipping) for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

Welcome to Day #9 of Chocolate and Madagascar Theme Week.

Today's Single Origin 70% Mork (Dark) Madagascar small batch chocolate (bar) was handcrafted, from bean-to-bar, in (Hardangerfjord) Norway by the maker(s) at Fjak Sjokolade. 

The organic cacao used to make this bar was from Akesson's Bejofo Estate in the Sambirano Valley in northwestern Madagascar.

A wealth of enjoyable aroma notes over a period of minutes included: dried fruits: (fig, date, raisins), fleeting fermentation, sweet cocoa, whipped cream, and spice cake.

The melt and texture: smooth, even, thick, and almost creamy with a light, tart astringency. (My teeth also felt the presence of citric/citrus acid, tannins* and sugar in many of this week's fruity Madagascar chocolate bars.) 

Flavor notes included satisfying chocolate flavor, a blend of acidic fruits (sweet lemon, sweet cranberry, cacao pulp, faint sweet-tart melon, tart cherry), and subtle hints of cream and earth. Late in the post-finish there was a brief, fleeting sparkle of dried plum and goji berry notes. 

All these tart sweet fruit notes made this bar taste more like a sweeter, 60% or 65% cacao, bar.  Again, a relatively common experience with Madagascar bars. 

Fjak maker's tasting notes read as follows: "Bold dark chocolate with rich notes of black cherry and citrus."

Ingredients: "Cocoa beans, cane sugar and cocoa butter;" Allergen notes: "Processed in a facility that handles nuts, dairy and gluten"

*Tannins are polyphenolic compounds that have health properties; but they can also be bitter and astringent (dry mouthfeel, slightly grainy coating on teeth), and can cause an upset stomach if consumed in excess. Tea, coffee, wine, chocolate, fruits and berries (unripe bananas and  persimmons, grapes, cranberries, blueberries), and certain leaves and spices, all contain relatively high levels of tannins.

Akesson's - Madagascar Bejofo Estate 100% Criollo bar - May 8, 2018

Chocolate of the Day:

Akesson's Organic, Ltd.
Madagascar Bejofo Estate 100% Criollo Cocoa bar
Good +++
Weight: 1.06 oz. (30 g.) / 2.12 oz. (60 g.) in total bar
Calories: 182.7 (per label) calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $13.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: The Chocolate Garage, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #7 of 100% Cacao Theme Week.

This bar had a rather heavenly aroma for an ultra-dark bar, with sweet cream, ripe mild fruit and caramel notes. It also had an ultra-creamy texture and melt.

This chocolate had pleasing complex Criollo cacao flavor infused with a slightly bitter edge and a mild creamy aftertaste—that faded quickly and politely for a 100 percent bar.

If you want to sample a rare 100% cacao bar that is more light and fragrant flower than sledgehammer, try this one.

Akesson's - Bali Sukrama Farms 75% bar - Feb. 10, 2016

Chocolate of the Day:

Akesson's Organic, Ltd.
(Single Plantation Chocolate)
Bali - Sukrama Farms, 75% Trinitario Cocoa
Good ++
Weight: 1.06 oz. (30 g.) / 2.12 oz. (60 g.) in total bar
Calories:  172.5 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $N/A - part of a subscription 
Purchased from: Cocoa Runners (subscription)

Today was Day #8 of Chocolate and Some Enchanted Islands Theme Week. As often happens when we have too many chocolates to fit into a seven-day week, we're including a few bonus days. Chocolate weeks are just more abundant.

All of our island bars featured this week have been single origin bars. Akesson's Organic, Ltd. (Notting Hill, London) goes one step further with single plantation bars.

Akesson's relationships they've built with individual plantations (such as those owned by the Sukrama family in Bali)*, help to assure desired characteristics from tree to bar.

This award-winning** 75% Trinitario Cocoa dark chocolate bar had a subtle aroma, smooth melt and texture, bold but well-balanced and even dark chocolate flavor, a very faint five-spice blend note, and a relatively clean finish.

Tasting notes: "...This bar has a masculine bitterness and expressive notes of spices."

And now we say Selamat tinggal (goodbye in Indonesian) to Bali. Next stop will be: Vietnam.

*Akesson's also has an ownership stake in plantations in Madagascar and Brazil.

**This Akesson's Bali bar was a Bronze 2014 European Chocolate Awards and Great Taste 2014 award winner.

The content and images in this post belong to ChocolateBanquet.com.