Harald Unique - 35% Milk Chocolate bar - Dec. 10, 2015

Chocolate of the Day: 

Harald Unique
35% Cocoa Milk Chocolate bar
Good
Weight: 1.4 oz. (40 g.) / 2.8 oz. (80 g.) in total bar
Calories: 210 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $1.99 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, Palo Alto, CA

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

Today's 35% Cocoa Milk Chocolate bar was part of the Harald Unique (São Paolo, Brasil) line of Brazilian origin chocolate bars. This bar was made with cacao from two Brazilian states: Pará (in the North), and Bahia (Eastern Brazil).

The milk chocolate was sweet and smooth and had a slight caramel flavor. As with many milk chocolates, the percentage of cocoa solids was low enough that it was difficult to tease out cacao flavors.

Cacao seeds, the source of chocolate, are generally called cocoa or cacao beans. In today's description, they were called cocoa "almonds," showing the differences that can occur in local usage or translation. ("Almonds" is a fair description—as these nuts do look similar to whole cacao beans/seeds.)

The content and images in this post belong to ChocolateBanquet.com.

Harald Unique - Brazilian 63% Cocoa Bahia bar - Dec. 9, 2015

Chocolate of the Day: 

Harald Unique
63% Cocoa Semisweet Chocolate bar
Good - Good+
Weight: 1.4 oz. (40 g.) / 2.8 oz. (80 g.) in total bar
Calories: 210 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $1.99 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, Palo Alto, CA

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

Brazil is likely weigh in as the 6th largest producer of cacao in the world in 2015 (behind 4 African countries and Indonesia). However, until recently, there haven't been that many opportunities to sample Brazilian cacao single origin bars in the U.S.

Harald Unique (Sao Paolo, Brasil) offers a series of different chocolate bars made with cacao from Amazonia. Yesterday's 70% semisweet dark bar was made with organic cacao from the Brazilian state of Pará in northern Brazil.

Today's 63% cocoa semisweet dark bar (no milk) came from further south. This Harald Unique bar was produced from cacao grown at "João Tavares* Farm, in Uruçuca, south of Bahia state, Brazil, under the coordinates" 14 degrees 05' South and 30 degrees 3' West.

The bar was sweetly fragrant and tasted a bit like silken smooth, high-end chocolate frosting. If you're craving cake-like sweetness, this might be a great choice. The fruit and caramel notes mentioned on the packaging were edged out a bit by the frosting flavor, but still present. Flavor and texture were smooth and even, with no "off" notes.

To Harald's credit, they are one of the first Brazilian-based makers (that I'm aware of) offering single origin bars here in the U.S. (via distributor Loco Brands in Florida) that also lists details about where the cacao is grown—down to the coordinate level.

More Brazil single origin bar choices in the U.S. offers an opportunity to learn more about Brazil, Brazilian cacao (and plantations), and this large producer of chocolate.

*João Tavares is a fourth generation cacao farmer in Eastern Brazil, who uses Cabruca agroforestry methods—including the practice of growing cacao under native shade trees.

The content and images in this post belong to ChocolateBanquet.com.

Harald Unique - Amazonia 70% bar - Dec. 7, 2015

Chocolate of the Day: 

Harald Unique
Amazonia 70% Semisweet bar
Good+
Weight: 1.4 oz. (40 g.) / 2.8 oz. (80 g.) in total bar
Calories: 220 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $1.99 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, Palo Alto, CA

Today was Day #2 of Chocolate and Brazil Theme Week, and I sampled a Harald Unique (Sao Paolo, Brasil) bar from Amazonia with a pleasant chocolate aroma, and smooth texture and flavor, with a slight floral spike, and subtle "candy" finish (sweeter than expected for a 70% dark bar).


Brazil is big. So I apologize for the high altitude zoom down into the rainforest origin details below.

Amazonia
What is Amazonia? In a word, it's very large. Generically, Amazonia can refer to the entire Amazon River Basin area, which covers an area roughly the size of the United States, and includes tributaries located beyond Brazil (in Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia and Guayana).

More specifically, the term can refer to areas within Brazil—the largest country in South America (and the Southern Hemisphere for that matter). Brazil is made up of 26 states.

The second largest state in Brazil is Para—the most populous state in the Northern Region of Brazil. A stretch of eastern Para reaches into the sea (Atlantic Ocean) and encompasses the mouth of the Amazon River. It's also a state where cacao grows.

Amazonia 70% bar origin
The Harald Unique "Chocolate from Amazonia" bar contained 70% (organic) cocoa, semisweet chocolate with cacao from "Transamazonica and Lower Xingu River Region.

Getting even more specific, the cacao came from "the counties of Altamira, Anapu, Brasil Novo, Medicilandia, Pacaja, Uruara, and Vitoria do Xingu"..."under the coordinates: 03,21225487074142 and 52,23291115529." (Latitude and Longtitude I believe.)

The content and images in this post belong to ChocolateBanquet.com.

flying noir - Brasilao - Dec. 7, 2015

Chocolate of the Day: 

flying noir
Brasilao
Good ++ - Very Good
Weight: .4 oz. (11.32 g.) (estimate) in 1 piece
Calories: 60 calories (estimate) in 1 piece
Cost: $12.00 (estimate) for a 6-piece "spirited" assortment box
Purchased from: flying noir table at Fall Chocolate Salon (San Francisco, CA)

Bem-Vindo (Welcome) to Day #1 of Chocolate and Brazil Theme Week.

Today's purple pyramid-shaped, Brasilao chocolate was created by flying noir (Oakland, CA). This dark milk chocolate was filled with a soft lime (fresh lime juice, zest and pulp) caramel, flavored with Novo Foyo cachaca.*

flying noir chocolatier, Karen Urbanek, is a master of the bittersweet. The first thing you may notice upon biting into chocolates from her "spirited" collection (after marveling at the hand-painted exteriors) is an absence of sugar—leaving room for other flavors to develop and dance on your tongue.

*Cachaca is a distilled spirit found in the popular Brazilian cocktail—the caipirinha. Cachaca (also known as aguardente, pinga, and other names) is made from fresh sugarcane juice (vs. rum, which is typically made from molasses, a concentrated by-product of sugarcane juice processing). 

Alli and Rose - Dark Chocolate Powerberries - Dec. 6, 2015

Chocolate of the Day: 

Alli and Rose
Dark Chocolate Powerberries
(pomegranate, blueberry, cranberry, acai berry with chia)
Good
Weight: 3 oz. (85 g.) / 6 oz. (170 g.) in total package
Calories: 450 calories in 1/2 package
Cost: $3.69 for 1 package
Purchased from: Ross Stores, Mountain View, CA

Today was Day #7 of Chocolate and ABC (Apple, Baobab and Cranberry) Theme Week—with a slight foreshadowing* of Chocolate and Brazil Theme Week (beginning tomorrow).

I enjoyed some dark chocolate covered "Powerberries" from Alli and Rose (Lincolnton, NC) today. The product description invited me to "taste the crunchy chia." I barely detected the chia, but the multi-berry filling had an authentic fruity flavor.

*Acai berries were one ingredient in today's chocolate; and they remind me of Brazil .... And, starting tomorrow, we're traveling (virtually) to that large South American country here on Chocolate Banquet.

Chocolaterie Monbana - Chocolat Noir and Cranberry bar - Dec. 5, 2015

Chocolate of the Day: 

Chocolaterie Monbana
Chocolat Noir and Cranberry bar
Good+
Weight: 2 oz. (56.6 g.) / 2.8 oz. (80 g.) in total bar
Calories: 300 calories (estimate) in 2 oz. (56.6 g.) of bar
Cost: $7.99 for 1 bar
Purchased from: HomeGoods/TJ Maxx, Santa Clara, CA

Today was Day #6 of Chocolate and ABC (Apple, Baobab and Cranberry) Theme Week.

This Chocolat Noir (Dark Chocolate) and Cranberry bar from Chocolaterie Monbana (Ernee, France) was covered with a constellation of cranberry bits, and was infused with an almond-tasting flavoring.

Dove - Whole Cranberries Dipped in Dark Chocolate - Dec. 4, 2015

Chocolate of the Day:

Dove
Whole Cranberries "Dipped in Creamy Dove Dark Chocolate"
Good
Weight: 1.41 oz. (40 g.)/ 2.83 oz. (80.2 g.) in total package
Calories: 190 calories in 1/2 pack
Cost: $2.69 for 1 package
Purchased from: CVS/pharmacy, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #5 of Chocolate and ABC (Apple, Baobab and Cranberry) Theme Week.

When I opened today's package of Whole Cranberries Dipped in Dove Dark Chocolate, from Mars Incorporated (Hackettstown, NJ), I was greeted with a hot cocoa aroma.

The round chocolate pieces came conveniently packaged in a 2-serving bag of individual pieces—dark milk* chocolate around a whole, tangy-sweet cranberry fruit core.

*Note: The dark chocolate coating did have milk in it.