Pacari Chocolate - Raw 100% and 70% bars - February 11, 2013

Chocolate(s) of the Day:

Pacari Chocolate
1.) Raw 100% bar
Very Good
Weight: .35 oz. (10 g.) in 1/5 bar/ 1.76 oz. (50 g.) total bar
Calories: 53 calories for 1/5 bar
Cost: $6.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: The Chocolate Garage, Palo Alto, CA

2.) Raw 70% bar
Good +
Weight: .35 oz. (10 g.) in 1/5 bar / 1.76 oz. (50 g.) total bar
Calories: 53 calories (estimate) for 1/5 bar
Cost: $6.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: The Chocolate Garage, Palo Alto, CA

What is raw chocolate? Most definitions involve minimizing heating the chocolate during roasting and conching (typically to a range below 112 - 120 degrees Farenheit) in order to preserve antioxidants and nutritional value. The challenge has been to create a finished bar or product that doesn't taste any different than a fine bar that has been traditionally processed.

I'm happy to report that today's raw bars from Pacari Chocolate (Ecuador) were nicely tempered, with a perfect snap, flavorful, smooth and rich. Nothing about them yanked me out of the tasting experience in taste or texture that said "raw." The 100% cacao bar had a nice floral note to begin with and followed up with a sustained robust current of rich, slight bitter flavor.

We tasted the Raw 70% bar second. The added sugar masked a bit of the floral note at the beginning, created a bright spot in the middle, and mimimized the bitter flavor. When we re-tasted the Raw 100% bar after this one, some of the floral note was also gone, and it tasted a bit more bitter/sour than it had initially.

While it was interesting to compare these two raw bars from the same maker (and it's not unusual to re-taste a bar at the end of a chocolate tasting to find that flavors shifted), based on this experience, I would advise eating the 100% bar separately to enjoy the unique, unadulterated flavors of pure cacao.

Thank you to Lawton for tasting input.

Today was Day #6 of Chocolate and Ecuador Theme Week.

Note: Due to travel this week, posts and photos will be delayed.

Pacari Chocolate - Manabi 65% Single Origin bar - February 10, 2013

Chocolate of the Day:

Pacari Chocolate
Manabi 65% Single Origin bar
Good - Good +
Weight: .35 oz. (10 g.) / 1.76 oz. (50 g.) total bar
Calories: 53 calories (estimate) for 1/5 bar
Cost: $6.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: The Chocolate Garage, Palo Alto, CA

Pacari Chocolate's line of organic, single origin, and raw bars from Ecuador provides one of the best samplings available (short of visiting South America) of cacao flavors from this country that lies in the heart of the cacao growing zone.

Today's single origin, 65% cacao dark chocolate bar was made with beans from the Manabi region. (Yesterday's bar was from Los Rios.) There was a light fruit plum note at the beginning, a relatively pleasant mouth feel and light finish. My only quibble: a very slight hint of white powder (more in flavor than texture).

Today was Day #5 of Chocolate and Ecuador Theme Week.

Pacari Chocolate - Los Rios 72% cacao bar - February 9, 2013

Chocolate of the Day:

Pacari Chocolate
Los Rios - 72% cacao bar
Good +
Weight: .5 oz. (14.1 g.) / 1.76 oz. (50 g.) total bar
Calories: 74 calories (estimate) in 1/2 oz. (14.1 g.) serving
Cost: $6.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: The Chocolate Garage, Palo Alto, CA

Today's bar was an organic dark chocolate bar from Pacari Chocolate (Ecuador). This 72% cacao single origin bar was from the Los Rios region. (It was also kosher and dairy free with no gluten ingredients.)

This bar had rich, slightly more complex chocolatey flavor -- complex and pleasing flavor arcs often being a strength associated with single origin offerings.

Pacari, like many fine chocolate makers, also has a good story and a close connection with farmers. More about that soon.

Note: Due to travel this week, posts and photos will be delayed.

Hoja Verde - Dark Chocolate 80% bar - February 8, 2013

Chocolate of the Day: 

Hoja Verde
Dark Chocolate 80% bar
Good
Weight: .468 oz. (13.33 g.) / 2.81 oz. (80 g.) in total bar
Calories: 69 calories in 1/6 bar
Cost: $ N/A - sample
Purchased from: N/A - sample from Hoja Verde booth, at Winter Fancy Food Show, San Francisco, CA

Today was Day #4 of Chocolate and Ecuador Theme Week.

Yesterday, I featured a similar Hoja Verde bar -- made with 72% cacao (shown with today's 80% bar in top photo), Today's bar was just a shade darker, at 80% (minimum cocoa solids).

This bar was similar in taste to yesterday's bar, with the same faint hint of soy lecithin (a commonly used emulsifier) in terms of mouth feel and taste. Otherwise, a short list of pure cacao ingredients (cocoa mass/liquor, sugar cocoa butter).

Theoretically, choosing a Fair Trade Certified bar like this supports farm families through "fair prices, direct trade, community development, and environmental stewardship." A commendable set of goals.

Note: I will be traveling this week, and some posts and photos may be delayed.

Hoja Verde - Dark Chocolate 72% bar - February 7, 2013

Chocolate of the Day:

Hoja Verde
Dark Chocolate 72% bar
Good
Weight: .468 oz. (13.33 g.) / 2.81 oz. (80 g.) in total bar
Calories: 210 calories in 1/6 bar
Cost: $ sample
Purchased from: N/A - Hoja Verde booth, Winter Fancy Food Show, San Francisco, CA

Today was Day #3 of Chocolate and Ecuador Theme Week. I was kindly provided with today's 72% dark chocolate bar (and another 80% bar that I'll feature tomorrow) from Hoja Verde (Ecuador) to sample while attending the recent Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco, CA.

This Hoja Verde 72% bar was made with Fair Trade Certified, Fino Arriba variety cacao beans that were grown in the tropical lowlands of Ecuador. Translated from Spanish, Hoja Verde means green leaf. This name might refer to the fact that cacao trees were "grown amid shaded plantations."

The bar itself had a hard snap, and smelled chocolatey. It had a smooth flavor, with a very low fruit acid profile (I would have liked a touch more), and a texture and taste that was somewhat influenced by the addition of soy lecithin (added to many bars as an emulsifier). There was nothing wrong with this pleasant bar, except for a very slight chaulky finish.

Note: I will be traveling this week, and some posts and photos may be delayed due to lack of Internet access.

Rogue Chocolatier - Balao 75% bar - February 6, 2013

Chocolate of the Day: 

Rogue Chocolatier
Balao 75% bar
Very Good - Very Good+
Weight: 2.12 oz. (60 g.) in 1 bar
Calories: 305 calories (estimate) for 1 bar
Cost: $ N/A - part of a Kickstarter campaign
Purchased from: Rogue Chocolatier via The Chocolate Garage, Palo Alto, CA -- part of a Kickstarter project

I'm delighted to kick off Chocolate and Ecuador Theme Week today with this dark chocolate Balao 75% bar from Rogue Chocolatier (Three Rivers, MA).

This past week, I savored the earthy, nutty flavors of cacao nibs. This week, with a focus on single origin bars from Ecuador, will be a study in subtle flavors from a country that straddles the equator -- right in the heart of cacao growing territory. (Cacao is generally grown within 20 degrees north and/or south of the equator.)

Rogue founder, Colin Gasko, launched a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2012 to raise money for improved equipment -- to up the ante on what already were well executed single origin dark chocolate bars, that have routinely sold out quickly.

Colin is a bean-to-bar maker, an art that requires attention to detail, patience and technical skill -- from start (sorting dry, fermented beans upon arrival) to finish (ensuring bars are properly tempered, molded and packaged before shipping), with all important production steps in between. More work, but these new American makers, like Colin at Rogue, are producing some of the best small-batch dark chocolate in the U.S.

Judging from this simple, two-ingredient bar (made with cocoa beans from Camino Verde, Ecuador and cane sugar), the new equipment/process was a success. I received this bar from Batch #1 as part of the Kickstarter initiative (I was one of many funders). The bar maintained a smooth, subtle fruit acid flavor throughout the tasting experience, with a slight floral note at the very end. A very nicely balanced, and well-crafted bar. Uniform and still very interesting.

Recchiuti Confections - Feve bar - February 5, 2013

Chocolate(s) of the Day:

Recchiuti Confections
Feve bar
Good+
Weight: .75 oz. (21.25 g.) / 3 oz. (85 g.) in 1 bar
Calories: 120 calories in 1/4 bar
Cost: $5.99 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Paradise Foods, Corte Madera, CA

Today was Day #7 of Chocolate and Nibs Theme Week, and the first chocolate of the day was a Feve bar from Recchiuti (San Francisco, CA). Feve is a French word for bean or, in this case, many small pebble-sized pieces of unsweetened, roughly ground cocoa bean, or nibs, that hadn't yet been made into chocolate.

Cacao nibs gave this dark bar a crunchy, somewhat nutty texture. It was so richly textured with nibs, it was difficult to make out the stamped "R" and the name Recchiuti on the top side of this bar.

Nib hunt at Little Nib, Chocolate Lab

In search of more nib-related items from this chocolatier, I drove to San Francisco to investigate two new Recchiuti establishments.

The Little Nib and the Chocolate Lab (a few doors down from each other in the Dogpatch neighborhood of the City) opened last September and November (2012), respectively.

The former, Little Nib, was a small retail space that sold Recchiuti chocolates and bars. I knew I was in the right place, when the shop clerk pointed to a glass jar on the counter, with a metal scoop. The jar was filled with almond-sized, dark brown, dried cocoa beans -- where nibs originate. However, except for today's Feve bar, there were no other chocolates in the shop that featured cacao nibs.

So, I moved on to the Chocolate Lab, a cafe with both savory and sweet dishes, to have an early dinner. I've included pictures of part of a light, wedge-shaped piece of goat cheese souffle served with a pretty side salad and house-made pickled vegetables, and also a shrimp salad, just to prove that I occasionally eat something other than chocolate.

I also enjoyed an affogato with Recchiuti burnt caramel ice cream and espresso. But, let's face it, as tasty as these items were, I was here for the chocolate devil's food cake with the cacao nib infused foam on top.

The Chocolate Lab Cake was sitting in a mahogony-colored pool of coffee creme anglais, topped with a fluffy, subtly flavored nib infused foam, and sprinkled with caramelized nibs. A collar of bittersweet chocolate (printed with the words Chocolate Lab) encircled the cake and foam. I bypassed the cake part (couldn't have gluten), but throughly enjoyed the richly appointed adornments: foam, nibs, chocolate and sauce.

Thank you to the helpful staff who provided assistance with gluten-free options.