Chocolate of the Day
Raven Rising
Cranberry - (filled chocolate)
Good ++
Weight: .5 oz. (14 g.) / 6 oz. (168 g.) (estimate, per label) in total box of 12 pieces
Calories: 43.4 calories (estimate, per label) in 1 piece
Cost: $37.50 for 1 box of 12 chocolates (4 different flavors) (+ shipping)
Purchased from: Raven Rising, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada
Welcome to Day #3 of Chocolate and Fruit Theme Weeks.
Today's Cranberry dark chocolate was made using Cacao Barry's relatively new Evocao "WholeFruit" chocolate made with cacao fruit.* This chocolate was part of a 4-flavor assortment box from
Raven Rising (Sudbury, Ontario, Canada).
Edible berries including cranberries** have a long history in the Americas; and a Cranberry chocolate seemed an appropriate to mark Thanksgiving Day tomorrow (Thursday) in the U.S., as well as Native American Heritage Day, a holiday since 2008, that falls on the Friday that follows Thanksgiving here.***
Raven Rising offers "Global Indigenous Chocolates" that include local/native ingredients (flavor inclusions) and ingredients sourced from Indigenous people and businesses where possible. Pastry Chef and Chief Chocolatier, Tammy Maki, produces a variety of well-executed and interesting bars and confections. She uses chocolate from Barry Callebaut Group** (Zurich, Switzerland) for her creations. Maki is a "proud Saulteaux Ojibwe Kwe from White Bear First Nation in Saskatchewan" (Canada).
Aroma
This dark chocolate confection and had a meaty, dark chocolate aroma with dark red fruit (cranberry) notes.
Flavor
I enjoyed this thoroughly dark (couverture and ganache filling) chocolate that had pemmican, tart authentic bittersweet red fruit (cranberry) and caramel notes with balanced bitter earth and citrus acidity. It's hard to find flavorful confections like this that aren't too sweet. (Thank you!)
Ingredients: (included: Cacao Berry WholeFruit Evocao dark chocolate, cranberries)
Allergen-related information: (None listed/found; possible of traces of soy, dairy)
*Barry Callebaut was created in 1996 after a merger between Belgian chocolate maker Callebaut and French chocolate producer Cacao Barry. Following the acquisition of the cocoa business from Petra Foods in 2013, Barry Callebaut became one of the largest producers of chocolate and cocoa products and suppliers to confectioners, chocolatiers and chefs worldwide.
In 2021, the company began shipping 72% dark chocolate Evocao(tm) WholeFruit (Chocolat Toutfruit) for chefs, bakers, chocolatiers and other food professionals--as the first offering in a WholeFruit chocolate line-up. This dark chocolate contains 31% cocoa mass, 41% cocoa butter, as well as "upcycled" cacao/fruit pulp/juice/sugars/"peel"--detectable by tart-sweet, citric acid-like flavor (although there was no palpable fruit pulp texture). It is also supposed to be lower in sugar (probably less cane sugar if natural fruit is being used).
**American cranberries are endemic to boggy/swampy areas in northeast North America. Growing areas extend as far south as Georgia and north into Canada.
Tammy Maki at Raven Rising notes that the "...Tart, tangy cranberry has been a staple of Indigenous peoples and had been used as a food and medicine. Cranberries were an integral part of pemmican (somewhat similar to jerky, made from tallow, meat and cranberries/berries) and (cranberries) helped preserve the meat. The dye from cranberries was used for blankets and rugs."
***Indigenous Peoples days are celebrated in October in the U.S. and in June in Canada.
