Rozsavolgyi Csokolade - Trincheras (Venezuela) 95% (bar) - Sept. 16, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Rozsavolgyi Csokolade 

Trincheras (Venezuela) 95% (bar)

Good ++ 

Weight: .88 oz. (25 g.) in total bar

Calories: 154.2 calories (per label) in 1 bar

Cost: $ missing information

Purchased from: The Village Market, SF Ferry Building, San Francisco, CA

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

Today's Trincheras (Venezuela) 95% (bar) was from Rozsavolgyi Csokolade (Budapest, Hungary).* 

Trincheras is a cacao growing region in the Carabobo State in (northwest) Venezuela that borders on the Caribbean Sea.

The rich and appealing aroma of this bar included notes of chocolate, molasses, fruit-floral (very, very faint muffled red berry, rose geranium, vanilla and other exotic florals I couldn't quite catch) and very faint freshly baked bread.

The flavor was surprisingly mild for a 95% ultra-dark bar, with a very little bitterness, and barely detectable floral and earth notes. 

Ingredients: Trincheras cocoa beans, organic cocoa butter, organic cane sugar; cacao content minimum 95%.

Allergen-related information: 

*Rozsavolgyi Csokolade produces a variety of beautifully designed and packaged bars, confections and drinking chocolates. 

Chocolate shops in the U.S. may carry their line (usually bars/tablets); and online orders may be an option, depending on your location. Happily, I found this bar in a specialty market that carries several bean-to-bar chocolate makers' bars in San Francisco.

D. Barbero - Fondente Origine Unica Venezuela 72% Cacao (bar) - Sept. 15, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

D. Barbero 
Fondente Origine Unica Venezuela Cacao 72% (bar)
Good + - Good ++
Weight: 1.41 oz. (40 g.) / 2.82 oz. (80 g.) in total bar
Calories: 226.4 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $3.99 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Mollie Stone's, Sausalito, CA

Welcome to Day #7 of Chocolate and Venezuela Theme Week. 

Today's D. Barbero Fondente Origine Unica (Dark Chocolate Single Origin) Venezuela Cacao 72% (bar), made in Italy, was from Barbero Davide S.r.l. (Asti, Italy). The company is known for its torrone nougat and chocolate. 

This bar had a "true chocolate" (chocolate cake, brownie) aroma with light fruit (bright, red berry jam) notes. The melt and texture were smooth and even.

Flavor notes mirrored the aroma and included true chocolate (chocolate cake, brownie), sweet red berry (faint strawberry) and cocoa (hot chocolate with vanilla) that lightly lingered into the finish as part of an overall, well-balanced, bittersweet (dark chocolate chip) taste. 

There were no strong bitter or off notes; and this smoothness of flavor--coupled with a natural sweetness (enhanced by sugar and a touch of vanilla)--will appeal to a broad audience.

Ingredients: "Venezuela cocoa paste, sugar, cocoa butter, natural vanilla flavor."

Allergen-related information: "Gluten free" (made without gluten ingredients)

Domori - Trinitario 70% Sur Del Lago Dark Chocolate (bar) - Sept. 14, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Domori 

Trinitario 70% Sur Del Lago Dark Chocolate (bar)

Good ++ Good +++ 

Weight: 1.76 oz. (50 g.) in total bar

Calories: 282.75 calories in 1 bar

Cost: $9.00 (+ summer shipping) for 1 bar

Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

Welcome to Day #6 of Chocolate and Venezuela Theme Week.

Today's Trinitario 70% Sur Del Lago Dark Chocolate (bar) was from Domori (None, Italy).

Subtle aroma notes (in order of appearance) included very faint green herb (oxalis) and latex/rubber in the first 30 seconds. These notes dissipated after the chocolate was removed from the inner wrapper and allowed to sit for a few minutes. Then molasses, green, true chocolate, and later, very faint fruit jam aroma notes appeared.

This well-tempered bar broke with a snap, and had a smooth, even texture.

The overall flavor was bold but mellow. (This apparent contradiction is possible with Trinitario, a variety of cacao that can embody aspects of bolder Forastero and milder, fruitier Criollo varieties.) 

Do let this bar melt in your mouth and chew each piece very slowly or you'll miss the subtle flavors blossoming on your tongue. Flavor notes (in order of appearance) included green, and true chocolate and molasses notes; but then these shape-shifted to include lovely buttery nut, strawberry + raspberry jam flavors, and faint, fleeting angel food cake, faint ginger molasses cookie, and faint floral (vanilla cream cheese) notes over a period of 10-20 seconds.

This was a well balanced and executed bar with a gradual unfolding of tiny flavors (think of a male peacock spreading out its tail) for those patient enough to wait.

Ingredients: Cocoa mass, cane sugar. 

Allergen-related information: "May contain traces of nuts, milk and soy." No gluten ingredients

Domori - 90% Fondente Dark Chocolate Criollo (bar) - Sept. 13, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Domori 

90% Fondente Dark Chocolate Criollo (bar)

Good + - Good ++

Weight: 1.76 oz. (50 g.) in total bar

Calories: 301.5 calories in 1 bar

Cost: $8.00 (+ summer shipping) for 1 bar

Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

Welcome to Day #5 of Chocolate and Venezuela Theme Week.

Today's 90% Fondente Dark Chocolate Criollo (bar) was from Domori (None, Italy).

The aroma of this bar softened a bit after the inner, sealed wrapper was opened. Aroma notes (in order of appearance) included: unsweetened dark chocolate, roasted peanut butter with a hint of fruit jam, green (forest vegetation, green stalks, seed, roasted artichoke), dried fruit (prune, banana peel), faint maple syrup, s'more (fire-roasted marshmallow, graham cracker and chocolate treat)...and much later, a trace of molasses.

The first bite yielded a very satisfying, smooth, even, thick nut butter melt and texture.

The ultra-dark 90% chocolate had just a flicker of sweetness and a light balanced bitter-sour taste throughout. (Not quite pink grapefruit level, but a muffled notch below that on the same scale.) Flavor included relatively bold (for Criollo variety cacao beans) nutty, roasted and cocoa notes that lingered into the finish. 

What a difference a day (and 10%) makes. Today's Domori 90% Criollo bar was quite a switch from its sweeter, fruitier 80% Criollo bar sibling (enjoyed and reviewed yesterday, 9/12/2021). These differences were a testament to the variables and choices that exist when making each batch of chocolate. While there were some similar notes between the two chocolates, this 90% bar will appeal more to ultra-dark fans who appreciate bolder and roasted flavors.

Tasting notes: "Exciting notes of dried fruit with extraordinary persistence. Excellent balance."

Ingredients: Cocoa mass, cane sugar. 

Allergen-related information: "May contain traces of nuts, milk and soy." No gluten ingredients

Domori - 80% Fondente Dark Chocolate Criollo (bar) - Sept. 12, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Domori

80% Fondente Dark Chocolate Criollo (bar)

Good +++

Weight: 1.76 oz. (50 g.) in total bar

Calories: 288.5 calories in 1 bar

Cost: $8.00 (+ summer shipping) for 1 bar

Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

Welcome to Day #4 of Chocolate and Venezuela Theme Week.

Today's 80% Fondente Dark Chocolate Criollo (bar) was made by Domori (None, Italy). 

Criollo cacao is known for its mild, round flavor, with little or no bitterness or astringency (tannins). The Criollo cacao used to make this bar was grown in Venezuela. 

Christopher Colombus first visited Venezuela in 1498 on his third voyage to the New World. But, it was an Italian navigator the following year who gave the country its present-day name. In 1499, Italian navigator, Amerigo Vespucci (part of the Alonso de Ojeda-led Spanish expedition), is said to have dubbed the land Veneziola (little Venice) after seeing houses on stilts by the shores of Lake Maracaibo (near the Caribbean coast) that reminded Vespucci of Venice, Italy.

More than 500 years later, Italian bean-to-bar maker Domori shares a wonderful heritage variety of Venezuelan cacao with us in the form of beautiful, two-ingredient,* dark chocolate.

The aroma notes (in order of appearance) included: true chocolate (brownie), bold green (fruit, stalks, floral), fruit (dried plum (prune), dried apricot), light warm spice cake, vanilla, molasses, light cherry, Thompson grapes, and very faint plant latex.

The flavor had a lovely, complex chocolate cake flavor with warm stone fruit compote, very faint spice, chocolate pudding and chocolate milk, and an ice cream sundae (cherry and fig chocolate ice cream with nuts) notes that lingered softly into the finish.

This well-balanced and well-executed 80% Criollo bar lacked the bitter, tannic (acidic), sour and/or heavy roasted notes that can cause some people to shy away from bolder, high-cacao percentage chocolates. Though more subtle, this 80% bar had plenty of flavor, while offering the smoothness and natural sweetness of a 65% to 70% cacao bar.

Tasting notes: "...offers notes of dried figs, dates and raisins...the result is a unique bar, with excellent sweetness and roundness."

*Ingredients: Criollo cocoa mass and cane sugar. 

Allergen-related information: "May contain traces of soy, milk, and nuts." No gluten ingredients.

L'Amourette Chocolat - Gold Trinitario Venezuela Sur Del Lago 80% (bar) - Sept. 11, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

L'Amourette Chocolat LLC
Gold Trinitario Venezuela Sur Del Lago 80% (bar)
Good +++
Weight: 1.13 oz. (33.3 g.) / 3.5 oz. (100 g.) in total bar
Calories: 160 calories (per label) in 1/3 bar
Cost: $9.99 for 1 bar
Purchased from: All About The Chocolate, Monterey, CA

Welcome to Day #4 of Chocolate and Venezuela Theme Week, and the 15th birthday (Day #5,476) of Chocolate Banquet.

Today's Gold Trinitario Venezuela Sur Del Lago 80% (bar) was made and distributed by L'Amourette Chocolat LLC (San Francisco, CA). The company has offered a line of single origin bars (including several from Colombia and Venezuela) and some with flavor inclusions.

This L'Amourette Sur de Lago 80% bar was the the perfect guest of honor at today's pirate-themed 15th birthday celebration for Chocolate Banquet. Fifteen years of enjoying a new/different chocolate item every day (plus two other birthdays) were great reasons to celebrate.

Chief chocolate maker Andre V. at L'Amourette crafted today's Venezuela chocolate from bean-to-bar in San Francisco, using difficult to obtain Trinitario variety cacao from a fascinating region. 

Lake Maracaibo, Pirates, Lightning and Cacao

Sur del Lago ("south of the lake") is the area where the cacao used to craft today's chocolate was grown. And not just any lake...Today's cacoa was grown within walking distance of Lake Maracaibo.

This large, almost mythical "lake" (a large, brackish bay that is open at the upper end to the Caribbean Sea) is linked to pirate* legends, epic lightning storms, and cacao. 

Tasting Sur De Lago

The rich aroma of this ultra-dark 80% bar had notes that included (in order of appearance) deep, dark chocolate, raspberry jam, green (stalk, floral), ripe tropical fruit (mango, sapote, cacao pulp), balanced iron-rich, tropical forest/loamy soil, and green herb (very, very faint licorice).

This chocolate had an abundance of rich flavor and natural, jammy fruit and mineral sweetness. The raspberry (red and black) preserve notes in the aroma carried over to taste, as did some of the bold, but balanced green, molasses, floral and earth notes. There were a few flashes of nut butter as well.

Taster's notes: Made with using 48 hour conching process

Ingredients: "Venezuelan cocoa beans (Sur Del Lago), cocoa butter, organic cane sugar"

Allergen-related information: "Soy and gluten free product. Vegan...Manufactured in a facility that also processes nuts."

*Numerous raids, skirmishes and attacks involving pirates in the (distant and recent) past have occurred in Lake Maracaibo. (Europeans first discovered this bay in 1499 and Spanish settlers moved in later.) 

In 1669, famous pirate and Welsh buccaneer Captain Henry Morgan raided Spanish settlements on the shores of Lake Maracaibo, and is said to have wreaked havoc on an advancing Spanish Fleet, evading capture in the process. In the 1820s, a battle for independence from the Spanish also occurred on this Lake.

In the fictional adventures of Captain Blood (in the book Captain Blood published in 1922, written by R. Sabatini), a similar pirate eluded capture by his nemesis Don Miguel de Espinosa in Lake Maracaibo.

Many present-day pirate attacks have been associated with the oil operations there. 

As for the lightning storms, I recommend doing a Google search on "pictures of lightning and Lake Maracaibo." It is a fabulous spot for lightning (specifically the natural phenomenon known as catatumbo lightning where hundreds of strikes can occur in a relatively small area during a nighttime storm).

 

Chocolate Story - Venezuela 70% cocoa Grand Cru (bar) - Sept. 10, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Manufaktura Czekolady Sp.

(Chocolate Story)

Venezuela 70% cocoa Grand Cru (bar)

Good + - Good ++

Weight: .88 oz. (25 g.) / 1.76 oz. (50 g.) in total bar

Calories: 149.25 calories in 1/2 bar

Cost: $8.50 (plus summer shipping) for 1 bar

Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

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

Today's Venezuela 70% cocoa Grand Cru (bar) was made by the team at Manufaktura Czekolody Sp. (Chocolate Story) in Poland. 

Two friends and chocolate lovers, Krzysziek Stypulkowski and Tomek Sienkiewicz, left the Information Technology (IT) industry to follow their passion and catch the craft chocolate wave; and they were the first to offer single origin, bean-to-bar chocolate(s) in Poland in 2009.

The scent(s) (a large part of taste) in this bar mellowed--after the inner foil (sealed) package had been open awhile. Aroma notes included (in order of appearance) started with slightly bitter, well-roasted nuts (a mix of peanut, walnut, pecan, almond) and dried fruits (faint dried black fig, date, dark berry). 

Two minutes later the aroma softened a bit into honey fig and red berry; and, after another minute, cherry. (In this sense today's Venezuela chocolate was similar to a bold, complex, tannin-rich, red wine that needs to breathe a bit after opening.)

The melt was even, thick, slow and satisfying, with a stiff, very smooth slab of nut butter, mouthfeel. (I enjoyed this texture.)

Flavor notes included red grapes, fleeting cherry, ultra-dark (well done) brownie, and balanced bitter, fire-roasted nut notes. 

Chocolate Story tasting notes: walnuts, cherry, chokeberry and redcurrant.

Ingredients: "Roasted cocoa beans from Venezuela (70%), sugar, cocoa solids; 70% minimum."

Allergen-related information: "May contain milk, nuts."