Chocolate(s) of the Day
Fossa Chocolate
Tokushima Collection "Indigo" (bar)
Good ++
Weight: .88 oz. (25 g.) / 1.76 oz. (50 g.) in total bar
Calories: 144 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $12.99 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Caputo's Market, online order
Fossa Chocolate
73% Dark Sake Kasu (bar)
Good ++
Weight: .88 oz. (25 g.) / 1.76 oz. (50 g.) in total bar
Calories: 136 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $12.99 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Caputo's Market, online order
Welcome to the last day (Day #14) of Unique Chocolate Theme Week. And today features two special and unique chocolate bars.
Today's Indigo (38% white) and 73% Dark Sake Kasu bars were created by Fossa Chocolate (Singapore). The company offers thoughtfully crafted, well-executed bars, many with special teas and Asian flavor inclusions.
Indigo* (bar)
Aroma and flavor notes included: white chocolate; slightly sweet floral; milky citrus (orange blossom + lemon ice cream); and hard to pin down botanical (sweet, woodsy, tea) notes. These relatively delicate, sweetly complex and creamy notes lingered into the finish.
This truly unique ivory-colored 38% white chocolate--part of Fossa's Tokushima Collection**--was a muted darker green-teal color and had a well-executed, creamy texture with a very slightly textured mouthfeel (from the dried indigo).
I enjoyed the nuances of flavor in this sweet 38% white milk chocolate, and the opportunity to experience my first taste the unique plant behind the beautiful blue indigo color.
Maker's description: "Dried and made into a powder to be blended with 38% white chocolate, the flavor is soft and delicate, reminding us of woods and florals."
Ingredients: Cocoa butter, milk powder, cane sugar, dried indigo
Allergen-related information: Contains dairy. Produced in a facility that processes nuts.
*There are different species of plants known as "indigo"--a member of the legume/pea family--with most associated with Africa, India, South China and Japan. (Indigenous people in the Americas also used similar plants for dyeing materials.) It's also used as a medicinal plant in some cultures.
Note: I would advise researching the plant/indigo source first, before eating it, particularly if you think you've found it growing in the wild.)
**Tokushima Prefecture is on Shikoku Island, Japan.
73% Dark Sake Kasu (bar)
Aroma notes included an aromatic orchestra of scents: chocolate, lightly sour fruit(s) candy, very slightly bitter, fermented spirits, and umami.
This was a blend of tasty dark chocolate + slightly umami and fermented sake kasu "candy" squares. The layered, slightly sweet, sour, bitter and fermented (sake) flavors (from two types of kasu*) extended into a long, slightly fermented sweet finish.
Texture: smooth, creamy dark chocolate interspersed with small, thin, firmly chewy squares of flavored candy.
I like umami flavors with chocolate; and this sake 73% dark bar was authentic and delightful to try.
This Sake Kasu bar reminded me a little bit of a naturally sweeter (less hoppy) version of chocolates made with beer, malt and hops. It had the richness and depth of flavor(s) found in other bars with fermented spirits.
*Maker's notes: The white kasu comes from Akishika Shozu, a "kiian-zukuri" or "seedling to sake" brewery that makes sake using organic rice grown in-house...And the red kasu comes from the brewing of Inemankai - a one-of-a-kind sake by Mukai Shuo using a strain of red rice that grows in the master brewer's hometown of Ine in rural Kyoto.
Ingredients: Cacao, cane sugar, sake Kasu (rice, koji), dextrose
Allergen-related information: Produced in a facility that processes nuts & dairy.
