Ritual Chocolate - Belize 75 percent bar - May 4, 2015

Chocolate of the Day

Ritual Chocolate
Belize Toledo 75 percent cacao bar
Good ++ 
Weight: 1.5 oz. (42.5 g.) in total bar
Calories: 225 calories (estimate) in 1 bar
Cost: $8.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: The Chocolate Garage, Palo Alto, CA

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

The label on this Belize 75% Cacao dark chocolate bar from Ritual Chocolate indicated the company was based in Denver, Colorado.

However, the craft chocolate industry moves quickly, and by the time of this write-up, company founders Robbie Stout and Anna Davies had relocated their factory to, and opened a cafe in, Park City, Utah. So, Ritual Chocolate bars are now considered "Utah Craft Chocolate."

Ritual Chocolate's Belize bar (Batch #004, Harvest Year 2014) was made with two ingredients: organic cacao (a blend of indigenous heirloom and Trinitario cacao beans from the Toledo district of Southern Belize) and organic cane sugar.

Tasting notes on the packaging let us know that we could expect a "balanced chocolate with notes of dried fig, cherry and a hint of tobacco."

I thought this bar had a pleasant chocolatey, dried fruit, almost smoky aroma. It wasn't too sweet, which I very much liked. The bar had a relatively balanced, complex flavor profile with hints of tart dried sour cherry -- so, in other words, the taste mirrored the tasting notes. The chocolate had a shine to it, and a smooth, cocoa buttery texture and mouthfeel.

The company has attractive packaging and each bar is adorned with an illustration of an animal that resides within the country of cacao origin. In today's case, the animal looks to be a young Tapir, a large endangered herbivore that lives in Central and South America.

Charm School - Coconut Milk Maple Pecan bar - May 3, 2015

Chocolate of the Day:

Charm School Chocolate
Coconut Chocolate with Maple Candied Pecans bar
Good +
Weight: 2.1 oz. (60 g.) in total bar
Calories: 315 calories (estimate) in 1 bar
Cost: $11.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: The Chocolate Garage, Palo Alto, CA

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

Joshua Rosen, owner and chocolate maker at Charm School Chocolate (Baltimore, MD) crafts non-dairy chocolate bars from scratch. And the bars I've tried have all been made with cacao from Belize. The beans are "stone ground in small batches from single origin cacao," according to information on the company's website.

Today's 49% cacao Coconut Milk Chocolate Maple Candied Pecans bar was made with cacao beans from Maya Mountain Cacao (in the Toledo district of Southern Belize), Georgia pecans, and maple syrup. Subtle hints of sea salt, cinnamon and grains of paradise* help round out the flavor profile. Crispy, crunchy and flavorfully sweet nutty texture harmonized with smooth underlying coconut milk chocolate.

Coconut milk takes the place of cream and/or milk -- and if you didn't know this fact, you could be easily fooled. There is no strong coconut taste to these bars.

Charm School Chocolate bars are soy free, certified vegan and made with organic ingredients.

*Grains of Paradise (Aframomum melegueta) is the name of a spice, related to ginger (with flavor notes often likened to black pepper and/or cardamom), native to West Africa but also found in the Caribbean and Latin America.

Taza Chocolate - Belize bar - May 2, 2015

Chocolate of the Day: 

Taza Chocolate
Factory Limited Belize Bar
Good +
Weight: .75 oz. (21.25 g.) / 3 oz. (85 g.) in 1 bar
Calories: 115 calories in 1/4 bar
Cost: $6.95 (estimate) for 1 bar
Purchased from: SweetE Organic, Mill Valley, CA

Today was Day #3 of Chocolate and Belize Theme Week.

This Factory Limited Belize dark bar was crafted from the first batch of cacao beans that Taza Chocolate (Somerville, MA) obtained from Maya Mountain Cacao (MMC), located in the Toledo District of Southern Belize). MMC sources beans from local farmers in the region and helps supply the beans to premium chocolate makers like Taza.

Taza Chocolate is known for flavorful stoneground chocolate -- disc-like rounds with break-apart wedges used for drinking chocolate in the rustic Mexican style.

Taza continued in the stoneground tradition with this bar. Rather than buttery smoothness made possible by particles ground (for days) into a tiny size for smoothness, each bite of this Belize bar sparkled with intact cocoa and sugar flavors and semi-granular textures.

Dick Taylor - 72% Belize bar - May 1, 2015

Chocolate of the Day: 

Dick Taylor Chocolate
72% Belize bar
Good - Good ++
Weight: 1 oz. (28.3 g.) / 2 oz. (56.6 g.) in total bar
Calories: 150 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $9.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: The Chocolate Garage, Palo Alto, CA

DickTaylorChocolate.com

Today was Day #3 of Chocolate and Belize Theme Week.

This award*-winning 72% cacao Belize bar was crafted by Dick Taylor Chocolate (Eureka, CA), using beans from Maya Mountain Cacao, in the Toledo district in Southern Belize.

The flavors were rich, robust and well balanced.

The two Northern California chocolate makers behind these bars -- Adam Dick and Dustin Taylor -- eschew vanilla, emulsifiers and added cocoa butter to focus on creating the best bar possible. Successful execution requires precise attention to many tasks and details, and the ability to coax the optimal flavors from a batch of cacao beans that may vary from year to year.

The company's award-winning packaging illustrations are done by Dustin's brother, graphic designer Garrett Taylor (who is also an illustrator at Pixar).

*Northwest Chocolate Festival (Seattle), Bronze - 2013; Good Food Awards (San Francisco) winner - 2014; Academy of Chocolate Awards (London), Bronze - 2015

Mast Brothers - Belize 70% bar - April 30, 2015

Chocolate of the Day: 

Mast Brothers
Belize chocolate bar - 70% cacao
Good
Weight: .71 oz. (20 g.) / 2.5 oz. (70 g.) in total bar
Calories: 106 calories in 2/7 bar
Cost: $10 (estimate) for 1 bar
Purchased from: Oxbow Produce and Grocery, Napa, CA

Today was Day #2 of Chocolate and Belize Theme Week.

This Belize 70% dark, single origin bar was crafted with just a few ingredients (cacao beans and sugar) from the Mast Brothers (Brooklyn, NY).

The bar had a sweet, flavorful almost milk chocolate taste, and a smooth, but very slightly chaulky texture.

Charm School Chocolate - 70% Dark Belize bar - April 29, 2015

Chocolate of the Day: 

Charm School Chocolate
70% Dark Belize bar
Good ++
Weight: 1.05 oz. (30 g.) / 2.1 oz. (60 g.) in total bar
Calories: 157 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $10.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: The Chocolate Garage, Palo Alto, CA

Today was Day #1 of Chocolate and Belize Theme Week -- an extension of the past few weeks with a focus on chocolate and (other) Central American countries.

The 70% Dark Belize bar from Charm School Chocolate (Reisterstown, MD) was made with just a few ingredients: organic cacao beans, organic cane sugar and organic cocoa butter. The cacao came from Maya Mountain Cacao (MMC) in southern Belize, an organization that sources cacao beans from farmers in the region.

The tasting notes on package read: "reminiscent of plump raisins and chocolate sandwich cookies." I wasn't that excited about this description. Or, I should say I'm not sure this description does the bar justice. But, darn, I could really taste the raisins and chocolate cookies in this smooth dark bar, so it was accurate. I liked the complexity, the fruit/acid (raisins) and the chocolatey elements.

Today's Belize bar was part of a line of dairy free and vegan, single origin chocolate bars from Charm School Chocolate. (Other bars include a very tasty coconut milk chocolate bar.)

Diego's Chocolate - Cinnamon - April 28, 2015

Chocolate of the Day: 

Diego's Chocolate
Canela (Cinnamon) 75% cacao
Good
Weight: 1 oz. (28.3 g.) /1.8 oz. (50.9 g.) in total roll/package
Calories: 150 calories (estimate) for 1/2 roll/package
Cost: $6.00 for 1 roll/package
Purchased from: The Chocolate Garage, Palo Alto, CA


Today was Day #7 of Chocolate and Central America Theme Week, and I've started and ended this week with a rustic, single origin 75% chocolate from Diego's Chocolate (San Pedro La Laguna, Guatemala).

Diego's chocolates are cigar-shaped, hand-crafted rolls that maintain the bright flavors and texture (slightly grainy) of fresh ground ingredients. Today's artisanal chocolate was infused with subtle ground cinnamon flavor.

This authentic chocolate comes from rural Central America, a region with volcanic mountains, lakes and forests where cacao grows. It may lack some of the buttery smooth, conched-for-days mouthfeel of a Swiss-made chocolate bar, but it is a wonderful example of how chocolate confections were first (and still are) created in Central America.

This style of chocolate stretches back for centuries, and pre-dates more expensive, stainless steel industrial machines and infrastructure. And these chocolates are Maya grown and Maya made chocolates that are created "in-country" -- a treat in and of itself.