Crow & Moss - Dominican Republic Zorzal 70% Chocolate (bar) - Oct. 20, 2020

Chocolate of the Day

Crow and Moss 
Dominican Republic Zorzal 70% Chocolate (bar)
Good ++
Weight: 1.235 oz. (35 g.) / 2.47 oz. (70 g.) in total bar
Calories: 150 calories (per label) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $8.75 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Chocosphere.com, online order

Welcome to Day #2 of Chocolate, Dominican Republic and Haiti Theme Week.

Today's Dominican Republic Zorzal 70% Chocolate (bar) was made from bean to bar by Crow and Moss (Petoskey, MI).

The rich chocolate aroma had an inviting complex aroma with notes of fruit (ripe red fruit, cherries, raisin, dried plum), toffee brittle, a hint of maple spice and fleeting, very faint fresh green (grass). 

The well-tempered chocolate broke with a hearty snap and flavors were similar to those mentioned above in the aroma, only with more chocolate (cocoa, brownie), and a very faint, balanced, fermented milk/cream note.

The maker's tasting notes read as follows: "cherry, caramel, spice"

Ingredients: Dominican Reserve Zorzal cacao beans, organic cane sugar

Nuance Chocolate - Dominican Republic 70% Pure Dark (bar) - Oct. 19, 2020

Chocolate of the Day

Nuance Chocolate
Dominican Republic 70% Pure Dark (bar)
Good ++
Weight: .97 oz. (27.5 g.) / 1.94 oz. (55 g.) in total bar
Calories: 146 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $8.50 for 1 bar (plus shipping)
Purchased from: Nuance Chocolate, online order

Welcome to Day #1 of Chocolate and Dominican Republic Theme Week.

Today's Dominican Republic 70% Pure Dark (bar) was made by Nuance Chocolate (Fort Collins, CO).

This 70% cacao chocolate had a slightly earthy and true dark chocolate (chocolate cake) aroma and flavor with a subtle lingering dark chocolate finish.

The GMO-free cacao beans (harvested in 2015) used to make this bar were obtained from Rizek Cacao, a grower, processor, exporter (and more recently chocolate maker) operating in the Dominican Republic since 1905.

Ingredients: cacao, cane sugar, cocoa butter

 

Christopher Elbow Chocolates - Nicaragua 70% Dark (bar) - Oct. 18, 2020

Chocolate of the Day

Christopher Elbow Chocolates
Nicaragua 70% Dark (bar)
Good +
Weight: 1.15 oz. (32.5 g.) / 2.3 oz. (65 g.) in total bar
Calories: 160 calories in 1/2 bar 
Cost: $9.95 (+ shipping) for 1 bar
Purchased from: Christopher Elbow Chocolates website, online order

Welcome to Day #10 of Chocolate Nicaragua Theme Week.

Today's Nicaragua 70% Dark (bar) was from Christopher Elbow Chocolates (Kansas City, Missouri). This bar was part of the companies single origin craft chocolate bar line. They also offer bars with "signature" flavor inclusions, and filled chocolate confections (bonbons, truffles).

Made with La Colonia, Nicaragua-grown cacao harvested in 2017, the resulting bar had subtle dark chocolate aroma, and uniformly smooth dark chocolate flavor with a bright, fruity (cherry, nectarine, sweet lemon) sweetness.

Ingredients: Organic cacao, organic cane sugar, cocoa butter

Cru Chocolate - Nicaragua 72% La Dalia Dark Chocolate (bar) - Oct. 17, 2020

Chocolate of the Day

Cru Chocolate 
Nicaragua 72% La Dalia Dark Chocolate (bar) 
Good +++
Weight: 1.55 oz. (43 g.) in total bar
Calories: 233 calories (estimate) in 1 bar
Cost: $7.99 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Farm Fresh To You (CSA box), add-on item

Welcome to Day #9 of Chocolate and Nicaragua Theme Week.

Today's Nicaragua 72% La Dalia Dark Chocolate (bar) was made by Cru Chocolate (Roseville, CA).

This bar had pleasing true chocolate (fudge brownie, dark hot cocoa*) notes, as well as bittersweet red berry fruit (ripe red currant) and fleeting hints of roasted coffee, nut butter and spice (cinnamon, allspice). Flavors lingered lightly in the finish. 

The makers tasting notes read as follows: "Made with cacao from the nation of poets and soulful emotions. This carefully handcrafted Nicaraguan bar expresses the cacao's earthy, bittersweet flavors, spotted with hints of spiced herbs and caramel."

Cacao beans were fermented by Cacao Bisiesto** in Nicaragua, and hand-sorted, roasted cracked, winnowed, stone-ground, conched and aged by Cru Chocolate in the U.S. The chocolate was well-tempered and the texture was almost creamy, smooth--despite the fact that there was no added no cocoa butter (cocoa bean fat that many craft chocolate makers add, especially to cacao beans grown at the Equator that tend to be "leaner," for a creamier mouth feel). Impressive.

Ingredients: cacao beans, organic unrefined cane sugar

*Cru Chocolate also makes drinking chocolate. Something in the aroma of today's Nicaragua bar evoked a hot cacao/drinking chocolate beverage--so much so that I caught myself blowing lightly on the first bite of chocolate before biting into it. While that's not happened in my 14 years of writing about chocolate, chocolates continue to be full of unexpected depth and magic.

** Cacao Bisiesto (Matagalpa, La Dalia) is a small, socially conscious cacao fermentary in the central highlands of Nicaragua. Co-founded by Jose Enrique Herrera (cacao agronomist) and Gifford (Giff) Laube, this outfit has worked with farmers to help improve the quality of fermented cacao. Their good work has benefited artisan/craft chocolate makers and consumers (even though these critical first steps in the chocolate making process taking place in the cacao growing countries, and are largely hidden from consumer view).

Kaitxo - Nicaragua El Castillero, Rio San Juan 75% Trinitario blend (bar) - Oct. 16, 2020

Chocolate of the Day

Kaitxo Specialty Chocolate
Nicaragua El Castillero, Rio San Juan 75% Trinitario blend (bar)  
Good ++
Weight: 1.235 oz. (35 g.) / 2.47 oz. (70 g.) in total bar
Calories: 200 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $9.50 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cacao, online order

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

Today's Nicaragua El Castillero, Rio San Juan 75% Trinitario blend (bar) was made from bean to bar in Basque country, Spain, by the makers at Kaitxo Specialty Chocolate (Balmaseda, Spain). The company, founded in 2017, offers chocolate, coffee, and tastings.

This three-ingredient* chocolate (no lecithin, thank you!) was made using an "El Castillero" blend of Trinitario (variety) of cacao beans, from the San Juan Coop in northern Nicaragua. (Growers in this Rio San Juan area also produce coffee.)

The resulting dark bar had a pleasing complexity with true dark chocolate, slight umami and very faint green aroma notes. The flavors of this 75% cacao dark chocolate also included a faint earth note and a balanced, brown sugar and/or date-like sweetness.

The Kaitxo maker's tasting notes read as follows: melaza (molasses), manzana asada (roasted apple) y (and) datiles (dates).

*Ingredients: Cacao beans, sugar, cacao butter

Chocolate Momotombo - Tableta Temp. Fino de Leche y Tableta Chocolate Oscuro - Oct. 15, 2020

Chocolate(s) of the Day

Tableta Temp. Fine de Leche 
Chocolate Momotombo
Good ++
Weight: 1.41 oz. (40) / 2.82 oz. (80 g.) in total bar
Calories: 212 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $9.00 (estimate) for 1 bar
Purchased from: The Chocolate Garage, Palo Alto, CA

Tableta Chocolate Oscuro
Chocolate Momotombo  
Good +++
Weight: 1.41 oz. (40 g.) / 2.82 oz. (80 g.) in total bar
Calories: 212 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $9.00 (estimate) for 1 bar
Purchased from: The Chocolate Garage, Palo Alto, CA

Bienvenido a (welcome to) Day #7 of Chocolate and Nicaragua Theme Week.

Today's two chocolate bars were made by Carlos Mann and team at Chocolate Momotombo (Managua, Nicaragua). Mann has worked with local growers in obtaining the best quality cacao and has immersed himself in local cacao traditions. 

I had the privilege to meet Carlos many years ago at a Chocolate Salon in San Francisco, and again in Nicaragua, where he was making great chocolates, and working to bring back chocolate making in this country with a long history of cacao cultivation and ceremonial cacao.

The Momotombo Dark Milk chocolate with cacao nibs had wonderful rich, deep chocolate flavor, with subtle earth, caramel and molasses notes. Smooth chocolate was accented by a generous helping of crunchy cacao nibs, helping to preserve the freshly roasted cacao flavors. 

The Momotombo Dark Chocolate 70% bar had a rich, deep chocolate flavor with a slight earthiness, roasted coffee and molasses notes. 

Both chocolate bars are well worth sampling and represent Nicaragua very well, if you can find them in the U.S. (The Chocolate Garage in Palo Alto, CA, now closed unfortunately, used to carry Momotombo chocolates.)

K+M Extra Virgin Chocolate - Dark Milk Chocolate Nicaragua (bar) - Oct. 14, 2020

Chocolate of the Day

K+M Extra Virgin Chocolate 

Dark Milk Chocolate Nicaragua (bar)

Good + - Good ++

Weight: 2.5 oz. (70 g.) in total bar

Calories: 400 (estimate) calories in 1 bar

Cost: $15.00 (estimate) for 1 bar

Purchased from: Equator Coffee, San Francisco, CA

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

Today's Dark Milk Chocolate Nicaragua (bar) was from K+M Thomas Keller and Armando Manni (located in Napa, CA).

The whole milk powder blended with Nicaraguan cacao in this dark milk (no cacao percentage listed) chocolate added creamy texture and smoothness to the aroma and flavor. A small amount of Manni extra virgin olive oil added extra silky, velvety texture. 

Frequently there is a trade-off between adding fats and milk powder to chocolate. Creamier, buttery textures offer luxurious mouth feel, but usually mute cacao aroma and flavor. However, there were satisfying faint, balanced hints of green and fruit (dark berries) in this chocolate, making it rather addicting.

The maker's tasting notes for this bar read as follows:

"An intense and complex chocolate, K+M Extravirgin Milk Chocolate Nicaragua delivers flavors of rich cream and black currants complemented by notes of malt and coffee..."

Ingredients: organic cocoa beans, RBST-free whole milk powder, organic cane sugar, organic cocoa butter, organic (Armando) Manni extra-virgin olive oil, organic soy lecithin.