Pralus - Indonesia Criollo 75% (bar) - Dec. 3, 2023

Chocolate of the Day

Pralus 
Indonesia Criollo 75% (bar)
Good +++
Weight: 1.76 oz. (50 g.) / 3.5 oz. (100 g.) in total bar
Calories: 292.5 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $12.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar & Cocoa, online order

Welcome to Day #8 of Chocolate and Indonesia Theme Week. 

Today's Indonesia Criollo 75% (bar) was made in France by Patisserie Chocolaterie Pralus s.a.s. (Roanne, France).

The Java Criollo cacao variety used to make this chocolate was grown on the Island of Java, in Indonesia. This hybrid cacao is known for nuanced, subtle heritage Criollo flavor(s), blended with the bolder dark chocolate flavors of a Forastero* cacao variety.

Aroma notes included: bold dark chocolate, gentle fruit (sweet, green grapes; faint peach), very faint sweet cracker, malt, and honey; and barely there lemon-green herb (oxalis, wood sorrel, sour grass).

This well-tempered bar broke with a hard snap, and had a smooth texture and melt. As this relatively thick bar melted, there was a subtle unfolding and undulation of flavors that I associated with chocolates made with Criollo cacao(s).

Flavor notes included: rich dark chocolate, honey, subtle fruits, and fudge brownie.

Ingredients: Indonesian cocoa (min. 75%), sugar, cocoa butter, emulsifier: sunflower lecithin.

Allergen-related information: May contain traces of nuts or milk.

*Some would call this blend somewhat counter-intuitive hybrid a "best of both worlds" that combines the subtle prized flavors of a Criollo cacao (originally transported from the Americas to the Philippines and Indonesia--via Spanish ships many years ago), with the bold flavors of a Forastero cacao. Forastero pods are larger (contain cacao beans) and are more disease resistant as well.

 

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."

Francois Pralus - Bresil Forastero 75% (bar) - May 29, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Francois Pralus
Bresil (Brazil) Forastero 75% (bar)
Good ++
Weight: 1.76 oz. (50 g.) / 3.5 oz. (100 g.) in total bar
Calories: 292.5 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $8.60 (estimate) (+ shipping) for 1 bar
Purchased from: Chocosphere.com (online order)

Welcome to Day #2 of Chocolate and Brazil Theme Week.

Today's Bresil (Brazil) Forastero* 75% (bar) was made by Francois Pralus (Roanne, France).

The aroma notes for this dark chocolate included: cocoa, fruit (dried apple, dried persimmon), butter, faint, warm spice (cinnamon, 5-spice blend with a hint of tangerine peel), and faint herb/green (sweet lemon balm, light green grass).

The Brazil 75% chocolate had a creamy melt and texture (a luscious quality almost all Pralus chocolates seem to share). This trait may be due to longer conching/grinding times** (resulting in smaller particle size and full incorporation of cocoa solids and fats), and added cocoa butter.

The chocolate flavor was quite pleasant and subtle complexity, and relatively civilized for being made using just a Forastero cacao variety. (A longer conching time can also tame certain notes.**) 

The flavor notes included: chocolate (mocha brownie), with faint fruit (bright red apple and sweet, sun ripened blackberries) and a pleasant finish. 

The cacao was from a plantation located in Itacare along the Rio de Contas (De Contas River), in northeastern Brazil (Bahia). The river water flows from "Chapada Diamantina" (a national park, with a name that means "Diamond Plateau"). 

This water contains alluvial diamonds and "bathes the Forastero cacao trees and creates precious cacao pods." Cacao Badaro has over a century of history. Diego Badaro is a fifth generation cacao farmer who helped introduce organic/biodynamic, environment-friendly agricultural practices to the region.

Maker's tasting notes read as follows: "Single plantation chocolate. Powerful nose, well-balanced, coffee, cocoa and woody (boises) aromas."

Ingredients: "75% cocoa, sugar, pure cocoa butter, GMO-free soya lecithin"

Allergen-related information: May contain traces of nuts or milk.

*Forastero (cacao variety) is associated with bold, hearty flavor(s), and is more disease-resistant, than say, the more delicate Criollo cacao variety. The robust Forastero leads in terms of cacao production worldwide.

** I have not visited Pralus chocolate makers. My comments here (about conching/grinding times) are speculations about processes, based on knowledge I've accumulated from past tours, tastings, interviews with makers and other research.

Domori - Chacao Organic Dark Chocolate 85% bar - Aug. 21, 2020

Chocolate of the Day

Domori srl
(Chacao line)
Cioccolato Fondente Bio 85%
(Organic Dark Chocolate 85% (bar))
Good ++ - Good +++
Weight: .88 oz. (25 g.) / 1.76 oz. (50 g.) in total bar
Calories: 300.5 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $6.50 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Chocosphere.com, online order

Welcome to Day #9 of Ghana and Ivory Coast Theme Week.

Today's Cioccolato Fondente Bio 85% (Organic Dark Chocolate 85%) bar was from Domori (None, Torino (Turin), Italy).

Note: Please take your time with this bar. It will be worth it.

The aroma of this bar had bold dark chocolate with sweet spice, green, wax and coconut notes and a very faint bitterness. This chocolate had a relatively complex aroma that shifted a bit over time.

The melt and texture were relatively smooth with a balanced and relatively soft astringency and bitterness for an 85 percent made using (what I thought was a) bold Forastero* cacao grown in Cote de Ivoire (Ivory Coast). 

The flavor was bold and dark and not too sweet (thank you!). There were also balanced roasted and earth notes that unfolded during the tasting process. It was as if there were two different roasts (dark and light) that had been blended--to great effect. (There were some borderline charcoal-leaning notes in the flavor and yet some green in the aroma.) 

The roast profile chose may not have worked with a Criollo or even a Trinitario variety of cacao, but whatever it was it worked with today's with a bolder, darker (yet complex) cacao variety.*

The finish was lingering with an interesting expansive quality to it that was not quite bitter or sour, but similar to a nice, round, ripe, sweet grapefruit. It was not unpleasant and a little fascinating. It was as if, after a walk down a relatively dark corridor, someone opened a door in the ceiling and some interesting light was revealed. Perhaps this was true metaphorically as well as literally.

Having tasted many bold, densely dark Forastero* cacao bars before, this was one of the most fascinating ones. Savor this slowly, and you might appreciate the often unappreciated profundity of this cacao variety--thanks for the skill applied by the chocolate makers (and likely the in-country suppliers/growers as well). 

It was not flitty and fruity; but it had quite a bit to say if you slowed down and listened. (Moments later after I thought the finish had tailed off, there was a belated nutty (peanut butter) note. This bar never ceased to amaze.) All this with just two ingredients.**

This chocolate belongs in a tasting flight, to help illustrate what this cacao variety (and origin) are all about.

Maker's tasting notes: "A strong chocolate in which notes of ripe fruit stand out, supported by a dominant note of cocoa."

*Thank you to Chocosphere.com, a U.S. distributor for Domori. They provided more information on the cacao in this bar. The cacao variety used was organic "Forestino," from the Scay Cooperative in Cote de Ivoire. This Forestino cacao "...selected by Domori for this project comes from...the area between the villages of Toumodi, Oulaidon, Taabo and Liebe, not far from the seashore. Most of the plantations in this area are smaller and grow the Forestino (or French) cacao variety created in the early 20th century as a hybrid of the Brazilian Amelonado and the Guaiana from French Guaiana. Some plantations even preserve and harvest traces of pure Guaiana varieties." 

**Ingredients: Organic Cocoa mass, organic cane sugar

Nuance Chocolate Company - Ghana and Nibs 70% Pure Dark (bar) - Aug. 14, 2020

Chocolate of the Day

Nuance Chocolate Company 
Ghana and Nibs 70 percent Pure Dark (bar)
Good ++
Weight: 1.94 oz. (55 g.) in total bar
Calories: 291 calories (estimate) in 1 bar
Cost: $8.50 for 1 bar 
Purchased from: Nuance Chocolate Company, online order

Welcome to Day #11 of Cocoa Nibs Theme Week, and Day #2 of Ghana and Ivory Coast Chocolate Theme Week.

Together, West African cacao from Ghana and Ivory Coast dominate the world's cacao supply chain in terms of volume. Perhaps half of all chocolates being sold might fit into this theme week, but most chocolates (often blends) do not disclose the country(ies) of origin for cacao.

Today's Ghana and Nibs 70% Pure Dark Chocolate (bar) was made by Nuance Chocolate Company (Fort Collins, CO). There aroma was subtle, but with rich, pure dark chocolate notes.

The Ghana Forastero cacao used to make this 70% cacao bar, combined with the maker's skills and a little sugar, yielded deep chocolatey (fudge brownie) and cherry flavor notes, with a faint hint of white grape, roasted nuts (subtle walnut, pine nut), and a very mild, balanced bitterness (think very subtle roasted coffee).

Black Forest Cake and cherry nut brownies came to mind--although this dark chocolate bar had more concentrated dark creamy and crunchy cacao flavor, and less sugar. I'll take that any day. (Although a flourless cake or brownies (with very little or no added sugar) made with this chocolate would likely make a very fine dessert.)

Ingredients: cocoa, cane sugar, cocoa butter. ("All nature and GMO-free").

Gallette Chocolates - Bahia (Brazil) Forastero 70% Chocolate bar - June 14, 2020

Chocolate of the Day:

Gallette Chocolates
Bahia Forastero 70% Chocolate bar
Good - Good +
Weight: 1.52 oz. (43 g.) / 3.53 oz. (100 g.) in total bar
Calories: 230 calories in 1 serving (9 squares) of bar
Cost: $9.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Chocosphere.com, online order

Welcome to Day #3 of Chocolate and Brazil Theme Week.

Today's Bahia Forastero 70% Chocolate bar was from Gallette Chocolates LTDA (Sao Paolo, Brazil). 

Bahia is a state in northeastern Brazil (bigger than California, but smaller than Texas), is currently the largest producer/exporter of cacao in Brazil (a country about 86.6% the size of the U.S.).

Brazil, the world's sixth largest cacao producer once occupied the number two spot. However, a fungal disease decimated cacao trees and caused a decades-long steep decline in Brazil's cacao market from starting around 1989. The Forastero variety/strains of cacao, known to be more robust and disease-resistant (than more delicate heritage varieties), have played a large part in the country's rebounding cacao industry in recent years.

Today's Forastero 70% dark bar had an aroma with deep cocoa (dark drinking chocolate), light umami* and very faint, almost tart, processed green/green fuel notes. The melt was smooth with a very slight astringency/roughness in the texture--that was not really objectionable and almost vanished after the first bite or two. 

In fact the overall flavor of this chocolate seemed to improve as the tasting progressed. 

Iniitally all I tasted was deep and dark with a slightly roasted cocoa flavor and a mellow, almost marshmallow sweet overtone I associate with Forastero cacao-based chocolate. It had a nicely balanced bitterness to it.

After four tastings over as many hours I was tasting a bit of fruit (cherry notes) and a hint of nuts (walnut). Always re-taste chocolate over the course of the day if you can hold back that long. Flavors do evolve.

Forastero flights of fancy

You flavor fanciers may have enjoyed wine, beer and whiskey tasting flights, no? Well, this works with fine flavored chocolates as well.

This Gallette 70% chocolate made me want to pair this bar with other makers' Forastero-based 70% (or thereabouts) chocolate bars. Side-by-side tastings make it easier to detect subtle flavor nuances. Forastero cacao beans are known for their bold and "dense" flavor. So, rather than compare a Forastero-based chocolate with, e.g., a delicate complex rose of a Criollo heritage bar where the two might obliterate or depreciate each other, a flight of Forastero bars might be more edifying.

Umami

*Umami, or slightly savory, flavor(s) in chocolate are thought to be undesirable, a flaw if you will, by some chocolate tasters. I've always appreciated these flavor notes myself when they are well-behaved. Certain flavors arrive as unwanted dinner guests at some dinner tables. As long as they're relatively well-behaved and not too loud (and keep one foot on the floor at all times), I consider umami aroma/flavor notes to be interesting company. Otherwise we'd all be forced to eat the same dark chocolate pudding day after day. And wouldn't that be dull? 

BTW, I see on the Gallette website a box of small wedge-shaped chocolate confections that look like a cheese box filled with "cheese" wedges...If I can ever find this Gallette offering in the U.S., I will include these in my next Chocolate and Umami Theme Week.

Guittard - Soleil de Autumn 45% bar - May 26, 2017

Chocolate of the Day: 

Guittard
Soleil d' Automne 45% Cacao Blend No. 30 bar
Good +
Weight: 1.06 oz. (30 g.) / 2.65 oz. (75 g.) in total bar
Calories: 176 calories in 2/5 bar
Cost: $missing information for 1 bar
Purchased from: Piazza's Fine Foods, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #5 of Chocolate and Dark Blend Bars Theme Week.

Today we push the edge of the envelope for what's considered dark chocolate with this Soleil d' Automne 45% Cacao (Blend No. 30) bar from Guittard (Burlingame, CA). Technically, 45% can still be considered dark chocolate, although perhaps "dark milk" might be a better description.

If you like milk chocolate, this dark milk bar (part of a line of Guittard blend bars with cacao % content ranging from 30% to 100%) might be to your liking.

Today's bar had a pleasant milk chocolate aroma with a hint of toffee popcorn. This chocolate managed to be creamy and sweet (without being overwhelmingly so) and had more authentic fine chocolate flavor than many other similar lower percent dark milk bars*.

Tasting notes listed on the packaging read: "Milk chocolate with notes of caramel apple and creme fraiche dairy."

This Guittard bar was made with a blend of Criollo and Forastero varieties of cocoa beans that were grown in West Africa and Indian Ocean regions.

*Many popular, high-volume commercial milk chocolate bars contain less than 15% cocoa solids.

Guittard - L'Harmonie 64% Cacao bar - May 25, 2017

Chocolate of the Day: 

Guittard
L'Harmonie 64% Cacao bar - Blend No. 29
Good ++
Weight: 1.06 oz. (30 g.) / 2.65 oz. (75 g.) in total bar
Calories: 160 calories in 2/5 bar
Cost: $missing information for 1 bar
Purchased from: Piazza's Fine Foods, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #4 of Dark Chocolate Blends Theme Week.

Today's L'Harmonie 64% Cacao bar (Blend No. 29) from Guittard (Burlingame, CA) was an upbeat* dark bar with subtle floral and fruit (apple, banana, apricot, light tropical) and with a faint hint of floral green tea.

Tasting notes printed on the packaging read: "Semisweet chocolate with floral aromatics and tart fruit notes."

The L'Harmonie bar incorporated cacao from Central America, South America and the Caribbean. The varieties of cacao that were selected from these three regions included the three primary members of the cacao holy trinity: Forastero, Trinitario and Criollo beans.

*This dark chocolate bar was lighter, sweeter and more carefree (if dark chocolate can be carefree) than most of this week's ultra-dark bars. Stands to reason, as there was more sugar in this bar than other dark blends sampled so far this week.

Guittard - Clair de Lune 85% bar - May 24, 2017

Chocolate of the Day: 

Guittard
Clair de Lune 85% bar - Blend No. 49
Good + - Good ++
Weight: 1.06 oz. (30 g.) / 2.65 oz. (75 g.) in total bar
Calories: 160 calories in 2/5 bar
Cost: $missing information for 1 bar
Purchased from: Piazza's Fine Foods, Palo Alto, CA


Welcome to Day #3 of Dark Chocolate Blends Theme Week.

Today's bar was the first of several dark chocolate blends created by Guittard (Burlingame, CA). Guittard has been making chocolate in the San Francisco area* since the 1800s.

This Clair de Lune 85% bar (Blend No. 49) was described as "bittersweet chocolate with subtle cherry notes," and was prepared with no added cocoa butter. I also found this to have bittersweet, tart and sour cherry/red fruit or berry notes. For an ultra-dark bar, it was well balanced overall.

While we don't know the exact origins, we know that this Guittard blend contains Forastero, Trinitario and Criollo varieties of (non-GMO) cacao beans that were grown in Central America, South America and the Caribbean.


"The art of chocolate making begins on the farm." This sentence was printed on inside of the wrapper/packaging. So true.

Many steps are involved in making great chocolate, but without the right beans to begin with from the farmer, great chocolate is all but impossible. Blending may help tone down sharp notes or balance "flaws" but even blending techniques have their limits.

Guittard has years of experience arriving at the right flavor profile(s) for wholesale and retail chocolatiers as well as consumers; and this line of blend bars will be interesting to taste.

*Guittard has a distinguished history in the San Francisco Bay Area. The founders of Guittard—and Ghirardelli Chocolate Company (now owned by Lindt and Sprungli)—came from Europe to the Bay Area in the 1800s. Many people were drawn to San Francisco in the mid-1800s after the discovery of gold. Fortunately, company founders at both companies found it more profitable to sell chocolate than to pan for gold themselves. Wise choice. Guittard is also still being managed by descendents of 

Francois Pralus - Fortissima 80% bar - Feb. 15, 2013

Chocolate of the Day:

Francois Pralus
Fortissima - 80% cacao bar
Good + - Very Good
Weight: .875 oz. (25 g.) / 3.5 oz. (100 g.) total bar
Calories: 131 calories (estimate) in 1/4 bar
Cost: $12.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: The Chocolate Garage, in Palo Alto, CA

Fortissima (in Italian and French) means strong. It's also a term applied to music. I found that to be a fitting analogy for this Fortissima 80% cacao bar from Francois Pralus (Roanne, France).

Tasting Experience - Music

A tasting experience for a chocolate can be 20 or 30 seconds long -- and might be compared to a short piece of music. The prelude in this case (following the hard snap (a sign of a well tempered bar) when I broke off a piece of bar to taste) was a very mild smell, compared to the strong, unified "chord" of three flavor(s) that dominated throughout this experience. Somewhere in the middle of this chord there was also a pleasant roasted flavor note, then the strong chord resumed. The finish melted away to nothing.

The Melt

And speaking of melting, most Pralus bars have a deliciously smooth mouth feel or texture, similar to that of some other Swiss, German, French, Belgian and other European makers, in part due to cocoa butter, soy lecithin -- and, perhaps most important, longer conch times where particle sizes are ground down to smaller sizes, resulting in a more silky smooth texture. The trade-off with longer conching time can be loss of flavor (off flavors as well as interesting ones).

Criollo, Forastero, Trinitario

This Fortissima 80% bar was made using the beans from three types of cacao pods: Criollo, Forastero, and Trinitario. This classification is, in fact, an oversimplification (a subject of a future post), but if all three were musical notes on a piano, and you played all three notes at the same time -- you'd get a very strong flavor chord, especially if you used a stronger percent of cocoa solids. Not unlike this 80% cacao bar. So, Fortissima it is.

As a handy reference (to origin) on this Pralus "Les Tropiques du Chocolat" bar, there was a map with a dot roughly where Ecuador is located in South America, with the following coordinates: 2 degrees 18' S 76 degrees 38' 0.

Chocolate Math, Cartoon Physics, and a New Daily Format

Today was Day #10 of Chocolate and Ecuador Theme Week. Frequent visitors to this site will note that Chocolate Math does not always correlate with reality. Just as there are principles of Cartoon Physics where humor can alter perceptions of time and space, so it is with Chocolate Math here on Chocolate Banquet. A week may stretch from seven days to ten or eleven days in length. And, when you are enjoying chocolate, this is not such a terrible thing.

Note: Today, I'm changing Post titles to reflect the name of the Chocolate of the Day, rather than preface every post title with "ChocolateBet:" followed by the date. The daily chocolate "bet" continues; however, after more than six years I think I've already conveyed this point.