jcoco - Agave Quinoa Sesame bar - July 15, 2015

Chocolate of the Day: 

Seattle Chocolates
jcoco Agave Quinoa Sesame bar
Good +
Weight: 1 oz. (28.3 g.) in 1 bar
Calories: 150 calories (estimate) in 1 bar
Cost: $N/A - gift from a friend (thank you Toni!)
Purchased from: N/A - gift from a friend

Today was Day #1 of Chocolate, Grains and Grasses Theme Week.

Grains are malty, neutral-tasting and a bit starchy -- a good foil for flavorful chocolate which has just enough acidic tang and bittersweet zing to liven things up.

Most chocolate and grain items come in the form of baked goods. Before I had to skip all things gluten, some of my favorites included: chocolate croissants, German chocolate cake, eclairs, and other lovelies. Thankfully there are plenty of gluten-free alternatives to these sweets now -- except perhaps flaky pastry items such as croissants.

This week, I'll be focusing on chocolates with grain or grass inclusions or alternatives, such as today's jcoco Agave Quinoa Sesame bar from Seattle Chocolates (Seattle, WA).

Quinoa is from a plant native to South American that's grown primarily for its edible seeds. It has become popular in the last several years in the U.S. However, it is neither grass nor grain, but rather a "pseudocereal." (Chenopodium quinoa is more closely related to the beet family.) However, quinoa can serve, and is serving, as a grain alternative to couscous, bulgar wheat, rice and other starches, and can complement or replace other cereal grains.

Today's non-GMO and gluten-free Agave Quinoa Sesame milk chocolate bar was sweet and a good blend of creamy sweet milk chocolate and crunchy, chewy seeds and quinoa. Agave and sugar glazed quinoa to be precise. A dash of sea salt helped balance the sweetness.

This bar was part of an assortment of 6 small-sized, different flavored jcoco bars from Seattle Chocolates.

Bonnat - Los Colorados Equateur 75% bar - July 14, 2015

Chocolate(s) of the Day: 

Chocolat Bonnat / Bonnat Chocolatier
Los Colorados Equateur (Ecuador) 75% de cacao (bar)
Good ++ - Very Good
Weight: 1 oz. (28.3 g.) / 3.5 oz. (100 g.) in 1 bar
Calories: 152 calories (estimate) in 1 oz. (28.3 g.) piece of bar
Cost: $16.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: The Chocolate Garage, Palo Alto, CA

Today was Day #10, the last day of an extended Chocolate and Ecuador Theme Week.

Today's Los Colorados Equateur (Ecuador) tablette (bar) was made by Chocolate Bonnat (Voiron, Isere, France).

Bonnat is a business with a strong family history in chocolate. Felix Bonnat established a chocolate shop back in the1880s in the French town of Voiron. And the family tradition continues today. The current Maitre Chocolatier (head chocolatier) is Stephane Bonnat.

The company has produced at least 10 single origin chocolates, including today's Ecuador bar.*

This 75% cacao bar was made in France, with unroasted cacao beans shipped in from Ecuador -- from the Santa Domingo de Los Colorados region, so named because of the local colors there associated with the Tsachilas people, who dye their hair (and clothes) with plant materials (achiote and other natural colors).

SOMAChocolate.com

The bar's aroma was subtle and pleasing. One of the Bonnat hallmarks was apparent with the first bite of this bar -- a buttery, creamy texture and melt combined with good flavor (flavorful and balanced dried fruit, floral notes and cream). I also get a tiny whiff of floral-banana-marshmallow with many Ecuador bars, including this one. The overall flavor was quite good and without strong bitterness.

I enjoyed a similar 75% dark Ecuador from Bonnat last year, but the packaging was a different color, the bar title was different; and it's likely the harvest year was slightly earlier. So I don't think this was a repeat.

Just in case, I had a second single origin chocolate today, albeit not from Ecuador. (They were single origin truffles from SOMA Chocolatemaker (Toronto, Canada).) It was fruity and sweet and creamy and quite good. (The tasting notes mentioned wild raspberries and wildflower honey.)

*I was first introduced to Bonnat chocolate bars by Sunita de Tourreil, owner and chocolate curator extraordinaire at The Chocolate Garage (Palo Alto, CA). The creamy, buttery texture and smoother taste of these bars was a nice complement to some of the strong, bold flavors of craft bars emerging from the wave of new American makers several years ago. Thank you Sunita.

Pump Street Bakery - 100% Ecuador bar - July 13, 2015

Chocolate of the Day: 

Pump Street Bakery
Ecuador 100% - Guantupi 2013 Havest (bar)
Good
Weight: 1 oz. (28.3 g.) / 2.47 oz. (70 g.) in total bar
Calories: 150 calories (estimate) for 1 oz. (28.3 g.) piece of bar
Cost: $13.95 for 1 bar
Purchased from: ZombieRunner, Palo Alto, CA

Today was Day #9 of Chocolate and Ecuador Theme Week.

One of the best ways to learn about chocolate is to sample a few 100% cacao dark chocolate bars. Experience chocolate without the sugar; this is cacao in its pure, dark state.

Today's Ecuador 100% - Guantupi 2013 Harvest (bar) (Batch #4712) was made from scratch by The Pump Street Bakery, a small family owned bakery and cafe in the U.K. They buy beans from the farmer, and after cleaning the beans, roast them in their bread oven(s), then grind beans and conch chocolate at their bakery location.

Yesterday, I tried Pump Street Bakery's Ecuador 75% - Guantupi 2014 Harvest (bar). The beans in today's 100% Guantupi 2013 bar came from the same plantation/farm in Ecuador as the beans used to make the 75% bar, but the harvests were one year apart. There are many potential variations between craft batches (e.g. roasting and conching times might have been slightly different), making this both vexing and delightful to consumers and makers alike. So even if the same beans were used, there may be variations possible between single region bars.*

The 100% bar had a faint aroma, and very uniformly dark bitter coffee flavor, whereas the 75% bar seemed to have more complex smell (slight fruit, even a tiny bit of spice?) and flavor. Could that really be just because of the sugar? It's hard to tell without a direct, side-by-side comparison (same batch -- one with sugar, and one without).

Both bars broke with a nice clean, hard snap (a sign of a good temper), and were quite smooth in texture. Both had uniform dark flavor -- with a somewhat bitter, dark roasted coffee flavor in both. Both had good, almost creamy (but not overly so) balanced texture.

Today's 100% bar was very well executed (no small feat) and interesting to taste, but was a bit too bitter for me.

*Additional Notes:

This would be a great 100% bar to add to a plate of other 100% bars for comparison taste testing. Also interesting, if possible, would be a side-by-side tasting with a bar made with cocoa beans from the same harvest (year, farm and batch #) and roasting and conch times, but with some added sugar, i.e. not 100% but same origin conditions.

Pump Street Bakery - Ecuador 75% bar - July 12, 2015

Chocolate of the Day: 

Pump Street Bakery
Ecuador 75% - Guantupi 2014 Harvest (bar)
Good +
Weight: 1 oz. (28.3 g.) / 2.47 oz. (70 g.) in total bar
Calories: 150 calories (estimate) in 1 oz. (28.3 g.) of bar
Cost: $13.95 for 1 bar
Purchased from: ZombieRunner, Palo Alto, CA

Today was Day #8 of Chocolate and Ecuador Theme Week.

The Pump Street Bakery (Orford, Suffolk, UK) is a blend of bakery and cafe, located in the village of Orford on Suffolk's Heritage coast; and creative things are happening at this family owned business.

It sounds like a great place to linger over coffee and cake, perhaps before taking a class or workshop to learn more about great food. And last, but not least, single origin, bean-to-bar chocolate is made in their bakery.

Today's Ecuador 75% bar had a pleasant, complex bittersweet cocoa aroma, and broke with a clean hard snap.

Both taste and texture were smooth and balanced in this three ingredient bar (cocoa beans, cane sugar and cocoa butter). Hints of dried fruit, marshmallow and slight floral flavor mingled with bittersweet vanilla tea or coffee notes. (There was no vanilla in this bar.)

This dark bar was crafted from Heirloom Cacao Preservation accredited cocoa beans (Guantupi 2014 Harvest) from Samuel von Rutte's Hacienda Limon farm on the Guantupi River (Guayas basin) in the Los Rios province of Ecuador. Pump Street imports their beans directly from Samuel "and carefully processes his great beans to produce a 75% smooth dark chocolate with notes of caramel and cream, finishing with roasted coffee and honey."

Trader Joe's - Ecuador bar - July 11, 2015

Chocolate of the Day: 

Trader Joe's
66% Cacao Dark Chocolate Ecuador bar
Good++
Weight: .795 oz. (22.5 g.) / 1.59 oz. (45 g.) in total bar
Calories: 115 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $N/A - part of 8-bar package, cost previously recorded
Purchased from: Trader Joe's, Palo Alto, CA

Today was Day #7 of Chocolate and Ecuador Theme Week.

This 66% cacao Ecuador bar from Trader Joe's (Monrovia, CA) was part of an 8-bar tasting pack, or "Chocolate Passport" -- with 8 different single origin bars.

This complex little bar had a sweet almost spicy chocolate aroma, and a flavor arc that included caramel, fruit, hazelnut, and ended with very slightly bitter earth. The texture was pleasantly creamy, in terms of mouthfeel and melt.

There wasn't a lot of information as to where the cacao beans came from within Ecuador, i.e. which plantation/farm or province. But if I had to guess I'd say it contained at least some Arriba Nacional fine flavored cacao.

The concept of a Chocolate Passport was great. I love to travel, but I may not be able to get to every chocolate producing country in the world. Eating single origin chocolate bars gives us a way to travel "virtually" to each of the major cacao producing regions and learn about geographic differences in beans, and in some cases the difference in soil and local conditions as well as processing.

Duffy's - Corazon Del Ecuador bar - July 10, 2015

Chocolate of the Day:

Red Star Chocolate Ltd
Duffy's Fine Dark Chocolate
Corazon Del Ecuador - Camino Verde 72% bar
Good - Good +
Weight: 1 oz. (28.3 g.) / 2.82 oz. (80 g.) in total bar
Calories: 150 calories (estimate) in 1 oz. (28.3 g.) piece of bar
Cost: $N/A - part of a larger subscription box
Purchased from: Cocoa Runners, U.K.

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

Duffy's Corazon Del Ecuador - Camino Verde bar from the U.K. was made from Nacional cacao beans from the Guayas province of Ecuador.

Why is the bean type so important you might be asking? This tasting note printed on the packaging (pasted below) helps explain the sweeter, lighter, floral and fruit flavors that can accompany these fine flavored Nacional beans:

"A floral chocolate with hints of hazelnuts, orange blossom and allspice ..."

Today's 72% dark bar smelled sweet with a light caramel note, and very subtle, uplifting floral scent. The subtle "fruit" (think light, bright citrus + mild strawberry) was detectable as well. It faded to a light chocolate brownie finish.

This chocolate was nothing like the dense, dark earthy bars of the past few days; but then again, I'd been tasting 85% and 100% bars, which don't benefit from the slight sugar sparkle effect that 70% bars do.

Why re-tasting matters...

My only quibble was with the texture of this otherwise smooth bar -- there was a very slight graininess (as you might taste in a marshmallow) as the bar was melting in my mouth. However, when I re-tasted the bar a few hours later, none of this "graininess" was present -- only smooth chocolate. This is why it's important to re-taste during the course of a day. While some of these apparent changes in flavor and texture can occasionally be attributed to an inconsistency within a bar, it's more likely due to shifts in the taster's palette (what they've been eating or drinking in the last few hours before eating the chocolate).

And the temperature of the chocolate can make a difference too. For example, a bar that's too cold may literally have a stiffness to it that makes accessing certain flavors more difficult.

Chchukululu - Chukudamia 65% Dark with Macadamia bar - July 9, 2015

Chocolate of the Day: 

Chchukululu
Chukudamia - 65% Dark Chocolate with Amazonian Macadamia bar
Good - Good +
Weight: .704 oz. (20 g.) / 1.76 oz. (50 g.) in total bar
Calories: 100 calories in 2/5 bar
Cost: $7.50 for 1 bar
Purchased from: SweetE Organic, Mill Valley, CA

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

I met Lourdes Delgado, president of Chchukululu (Ecuador), when she was at the Winter Fancy Food Show (in San Francisco) last January. I enjoyed her passion for educating people about Ecuador and Arriba Nacional cacao, and hearing about her Ecuadorian chocolate bars.

The company name, Chchukululu, is slightly easier to comprehend if you imagine the word's origin. Roughly translated from Kichwa-Aymara, it means "singing bird."

Chchukululu bars, including today's 65% Dark Chocolate with Amazonian Macadamia (nut bits), are made from "Cacao Nacional that grows along the Arriba Zone, comprising the provinces of Manabi, Guayas, and Los Rios."

Arriba Nacional is considered "fine flavored" cacao* and is characterized by a sweet floral, light fruit aroma.  I did experience a lighter, sweeter complex aroma and flavor in the first few bites of this bar, that was different than non-100% Nacional Arriba bars this week.

Delicate Flavors "vs." Hybrid Vigor

It would be great to preserve more of these "heritage" fine flavors in cacao beans. However, I'm guessing as we make plants more uninviting to insects (and diseases) by increasing bitter components and making them tougher, delicate aromas might be at risk. (The roses in my yard that were bred to be the hardiest seem to have lost some of their lovely smell over time.)

*Only a small percent of the world's chocolate is made with these fine flavored Arriba Nacional beans, so called because of their floral and fruit aroma and flavor notes. An increasingly small percent of chocolate in Ecuador is made with these beans, due to adoption of more vigorous hybrids such as CCN-51 -- that may be more productive and disease-resistant, but may lack some of these pleasant aromas. One can hope that work is still underway on hybrids that retain more of these precious flavors.