Cavalier NV - Dark Cocoa Nibs bar No Sugar Added - March 3, 2018

Chocolate of the Day: 

Cavalier NV

Dark Cocoa Nibs - No Sugar Added bar

Good +

Weight: .7 oz. (20 g.) / 1.4 oz. (40 g.) (per label) in total bar

Calories: 85 calories in 1/2 bar

Cost: $5.00 for 1 bar

Purchased from: Pebble Beach Market, Pebble Beach, CA

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

Today's bar was made without conventional sweetener (cane sugar). Instead, this Dark Cocoa Nib - No Sugar Added bar from Cavalier NV (made in Belgium), was sweetened with a blend of ingredients.*

The long ingredients list was a little off-putting, but there were no off notes in this dark chocolate bar.

The melt and texture was a bit interesting: slightly smooth and buttery, but slightly granular as well. However, much of this contrast is explained by the the pairing of chocolate and crushed bits of cocoa nibs.

*Ingredients: Unsweetened Chocolate, Dextrin, Erythritol, Cocoa Butter, Inulin, Oligofructose, Roasted Cocoa Beans, Soy Lecithin as an emulsifier, Natural (vanilla) Flavor, and Steviol Glycosides as a sweetener."

Bisou Chocolate - Dark Chocolate Nibs, Matagalpa 87% bar - March 2, 2018

Chocolate of the Day:

Bisou Chocolate

Dark Chocolate Nibs Matagalpa 87% bar

Good ++ - Good +++

Weight: 1 oz. (30 g.) (per label) in total bar

Calories: 155 calories (estimate) in 1 bar

Cost: $ Not Applicable - gift 

Purchased from: Not applicable - gift from friend (Thank you Gary!)

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

Bisou Chocolate (Oakland, CA) is a San Francisco Bay Area-based company that creates hand-crafted, dark chocolate bars from sustainably sourced cacao grown in multiple origin countries. Thank you to Gary and Pat for this bar and the introduction to Bisou. Always delighted to discover new chocolates and chocolate makers, in our own backyard no less.

Today's Bisou Dark Chocolate Nibs Matagalpa (Nicaragua) 87% cacao bar* had a smooth, slightly creamy and crunchy texture and a dark, deep slightly earthy flavor.

This three-ingredient bar was made from: cocoa beans, organic whole cane sugar and organic cocoa butter. 

*Note: As of today, the 87% Nibs Matagalpa bar from Bisou Chocolate is sold out (on their website). However, one can hope that it (or a similar batch bar) might reappear in the future.

White Label Chocolate - Sea Salt and Roasted Nib 70% bar - March 1, 2018

Chocolate of the Day: 

White Label Chocolate

Sea Salt and Roasted Nib 70% bar 

Good + - Good ++

Weight: 1.32 oz. (37.5 g.) / 2.65 oz. (75 g.) in total bar

Calories: 198 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar

Cost: $12.00 for 1 bar

Purchased from: Mutari Chocolate, Santa Cruz, CA 

Welcome to Day #1 of Chocolate and Nibs Theme Week.

Today's White Label Chocolate Sea Salt and Roasted Nib 70% bar represented what has become a classic combination of flavors and textures in the craft chocolate industry.

A dark chocolate bar base (with a touch of sugar and sea salt) was studded with nibs—the crunchy essence of cacao. The cacao beans used to make this bar were from the Dominican Republic and the nibs came from Venezuela. 

The resulting savory-sweet dark bar had notes of true chocolate, yellow fruit (banana, golden raisins), and a fleeting trace of light floral and spice.*

The cocoa nibs made this a less sweet chocolate than one might expect for a 70% cacao bar. This may delight those who like darker bars and slightly vex those who like sugar, to provide the entire, conventional sweet and salty snack experience.

The sparkles of sea salt and crunchy nibs were balanced and fairly uniform (a hard thing to achieve when applying salt crystals and nibs by hand), and there were no off notes.

Thank you to the chocolate makers in Santa Cruz. They've created a series of thoughtful, single origin bars and a welcoming retail space with high-end drinking chocolates and other items.

*Tasting Notes printed on the packaging: Chocolate, Vanilla, Banana, Salt

White Label Chocolate - Madagascar Sambirano Valley 68% bar - Feb. 28, 2018

Chocolate of the Day: 

White Label Chocolate 

Madagascar Sambirano Valley 68% bar

Good + - Good ++

Weight: 1.15 oz. (32.5 g.) /2.3 oz. (65 g.) in total bar

Calories: 172 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar

Purchased from: Mutari Chocolate, Santa Cruz, CA 

Welcome to Day #14 of Chocolate, Enchanted Islands and Pirates Theme Week. Once again, a seven-day week has turned into a two weeker. 

But this theme week(s) wouldn't be complete without a chocolate made with cacao from Madagascar—an enchanted isle full of baobob trees, lemurs, vanilla, cacao, black pepper and pirates.

Yes, this enchanted island also has had problems with maritime skullduggery in the past. But, while that is interesting, let's focus on today's Madagascar Sambirano Valley 68% bar from White Label Chocolate (Santa Cruz, CA)—made from Trinitario and Criollo cacao beans grown in Madagascar (2015 Harvest).

Unwrap this bar and hold it up to the light at different angles and you'll see the red hue that's associated with Madagascan cacao. Try this bar and you'll taste citrus tart fruit, red berry and acidity, flavors common with Madagascar bars. There was also a very slight black pepper note with this bar.

Tasting notes for this bar read as follows: Roasted nuts, ripe red fruit, raspberry.

I was fortunate to visit the factory and store (Mutari Chocolate in Santa Cruz, CA), where the company's bean-to-bar single origin bars are made. The makers at White Label offer a tour and tasting options (flights of drinking chocolates) to customers. Bars can also be ordered online.

Thank you to the staff and founders/owners for taking a moment away from important roasting and retail activities to say hello. Look forward to coming back for a tasting.

Askanya - Paradis 47% Cacao Milk Chocolate Haiti bar - Feb. 27, 2018

Chocolate of the Day: 

Los Chocolateries Askanya

(Haiti) Paradis 47% Cacao bar

Good +++ - Very Good

Weight: .97 oz. (27.5 g.) / 1.94 oz. (55 g.) in total bar

Calories: 145.5 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar

Cost: $10.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: The Chocolate Garage, Palo Alto, CA 

Welcome to Day #13 of Chocolate, Enchanted Islands and Pirates Theme Week.

This Haiti Paradis 47% cacao bar was the last in the series of four bars from Los Chocolateries Askanya (Ouanaminthe, Nord-Est, Haiti). The bar was made in Haiti, using Haitian-grown cacao. The previous three bars from this maker featured this week were dark chocolate bars.

Today's Paradis 47% cacao bar was a delightful milk chocolate bar made with Haitian Cacao, Sugar, Milk and Cocoa Butter. It was smooth, almost creamy, and sweet with an appealing light fruitiness to it.

This was one of those milk chocolate bars that even a dark chocolate fan could appreciate.

Askanya - Wanga Neges 50% Cacao bar - Feb. 26, 2018

Chocolate of the Day: 

Les Chocolateries Askanya

(Haiti) Wanga Neges 50% Cacao bar

Good ++ - Good +++

Weight: .97 oz. (27.5 g.) / 1.94 oz. (55 g.) in total bar

Calories: 145.5 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar

Cost: $10.00 for 1 bar

Purchased from: The Chocolate Garage, Palo Alto, CA 

Welcome to Day #12 of Chocolate, Enchanted Islands and Pirates Theme Week.

Today's Wanga Neges 50% cacao bar was made by Les Chocolateries Askanya (Ouanaminthe, Nord-Est, Haiti) using only Haitian-grown cacao and rapadura (rapadou).

Rapadura is made from sugar cane juice; however, the resulting sugar is not as heavily processed as white sugar, and it still includes a molasses component—giving it a slightly richer flavor and nutritional profile. It's metabolized a bit more slowly, and is similar to piloncillo and panela in terms of flavor.

And speaking of flavor, this bar had a lovely, satisfying caramelized brown sugar flavor throughout.

* Wanga Neges is a Creole term that translates to "hummingbird" or "woman charm."

Askanya - Minuit Dark Chocolate 60% Cacao Haiti bar - Feb. 25, 2018

Chocolate of the Day:

Les Chocolateries Askanya
Haiti Chocolat Noir Minuit 60% Cacao bar
Good + - Good ++
Weight: .97 oz. (27.5 g.) / 1.94 oz. (55 g.) in total bar
Calories: 145.5 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $10.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: The Chocolate Garage, Palo Alto, CA


Welcome to Day #11 of Chocolate, Enchanted Islands and Pirates Theme Week.

Today we continue with another bar from Haiti: the Minuit* 60% Cacao bar from Les Chocolateries Askanya (Ouanaminthe, Nord-Est, Haiti).

This bean-to-bar chocolate contained three ingredients: Haitian cacao, sugar and vanilla bean.

For a 60% cacao dark bar, it was remarkably sweet, to the point where the sweet eclipsed any subtle floral or other flavor notes that might have been in the cacao. Thankfully the richer chocolate flavor and dried fruit and fleeting citrus notes remained.

It is wonderful, and rare, to find and be able to enjoy chocolate made in same country where the cacao beans were grown. Making bean to bar chocolate "in country," in a tropical island nation like Haiti can be difficult. Chocolate is best made and stored in a cooler, drier place away from island sunshine.

A moment of hot sun on a loading dock can be disastrous for chocolate bars on their way to customers, in any country. Cacao growing countries with a lack of end-to-end climate and humidity controlled/air conditioned processing, storage and delivery infrastructure, with longer shipping routes to customers, face major challenges.

All the more impressive then that these Askanya bars this week were largely free of white blotches or "bloom" (usually areas where heat caused cocoa butter and cocoa solids to separate) and/or scuffs.

*Minuit means "midnight" in French. Minuit is also the last name of a Dutch colonist, Peter Minuit, who bought the island of Manhattan (present day New York City) from the Native Americans for traded goods with an estimated value of about $24.00 USD) in 1626. Pirate or shrewd businessman? You be the judge.

Minuit has also come to mean a colonist, or person who moves to a new country.