Mission Chocolate - Escuro 70 % Fazenda Camboa 2018 Harvest bar - Oct. 15, 2019

Chocolate of the Day: 

Mission Chocolate
Escuro 70% Fazenda Camboa 2018 Harvest bar
Good +++
Weight: 1.06 oz. (30 g.) / 2.12 oz. (60 g.) in total bar
Calories: 162 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $10.00 (estimate) for 1 bar
Purchased from: Chocolate Covered, San Francisco, CA

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

Today's Escuro 70% Fazenda Camboa 2018 Harvest Dark Chocolate bar was from Arcelia Gallardo of Mission Chocolate (Sao Paolo, Brazil).

This offering had an appealing chocolate aroma and smooth melt and texture. The 70% cacao dark bar had true chocolate flavor, with soft, balanced touches of faintly fermented dairy milk*, clay/earth, and light sweet forest berry/forest floor.

The finish was pleasant and lingering with a very light astringency.

Making Chocolate "In Country"
Up until recent years, the opportunities for U.S. consumers to try chocolate made in the same country where the cacao had been grown were relatively few and far between. Chocolate making in the U.S. almost always involves transcontinental supply chains.

Arcelia Gallardo moved to Brazil from the U.S. and found herself much closer to cacao growing farms (such as the large organic farm, Fazenda Camboa in Bahia that she works extensively with now).  It must have been exciting to produce "fresher" chocolate in the same country where cacao was grown (i.e. making chocolate "in country").

Over time, she also experienced some of the challenges of making chocolate in a tropical environment (e.g. more frequent power outages), and learned the value of techniques such as resting/seasoning chocolate. (How ironic that initially some of her chocolate might have been "too" fresh because she was so close to the harvest source.)

In a (Well Tempered) podcast interview, Gallardo talked about learning the value of letting chocolate rest a bit first before making bars to enhance/create the optimum flavor profile. When she had made chocolate at/with Dandelion Chocolate in San Francisco, the long transportation chain that existed between farms and their small factory facility had "built in" aging time, due to the longer supply chain.

*There was no dairy or milk in this bar that contained only three ingredients: organic cacao, organic sugar and cocoa butter.

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Mission Chocolate - Laranja 70% Fazenda Camboa Dark Chocolate with Candied Orange Peel (bar) - Oct. 14, 2019

Chocolate of the Day: 

Mission Chocolate
Laranja 70% Fazenda Camboa Dark Chocolate with Candied Orange Peel (bar)
Brazil Biomes Project - Atlantic Rainforest
Good +++ - Very Good
Weight: 1.06 oz. (30 g.) / 2.12 oz. (60 g.) in total bar
Calories: 147 calories (per label) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $10.00 (estimate) for 1 bar

Purchased from: Chocolate Covered, San Francisco, CA

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

Today's Laranja 70% Fazenda Camboa dark chocolate bar was created by Arcelia Gallardo at Mission Chocolate (Sao Paolo, Brazil).

This well-crafted 70% cacao chocolate was made from cacao grown at Fazenda Camboa (Brazil's largest organic farm, in Bahia, Brazil).

The smooth, yet relatively complex dark chocolate had flavor notes of true chocolate, earth and dairy milk (there was no milk or dairy ingredients in this bar), and very faint spice (although this latter note could have been associated with the orange).*

Pieces of high-quality, candied orange peel with a soft chew complemented this chocolate very nicely. As with all the Mission Chocolate bars sampled this week, Gallardo** has done a wonderful job of highlighting the best of Brazilian flavors with her chocolate.

* Ingredients: Organic cacao, organic sugar, orange peel, cocoa butter
**Arecelia Gallardo grew up in California and spent time making chocolates in the San Francisco Bay Area before moving to Brazil.

Mission Chocolate - Cupuacu 70% Fazenda Camboa: Colheita 2018 (bar) - Oct. 13, 2019

Chocolate of the Day:

Mission Chocolate
Cupuacu 70% Fazenda Camboa: Colheita 2018 (bar)
Chocolate Escuro Com Pedacinhos de Doce Cupuacu
Good +++ - Very Good
Weight: 1.06 oz. (30 g.) / 2.12 oz. (60 g.) in total bar
Calories: 143 calories (per label) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $10.00 (estimate) for 1 bar
Purchased from: Chocolate Covered, San Francisco, CA

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

Today's Cupuacu 70% Fazenda Camboa: Colheita 2018 (bar) was from Mission Chocolate* (Sao Paolo, Brazil).

Mission Chocolate founder Arcelia Gallardo highlights flavors from Brazil in her bars.

Today's bar included pieces of cupuacu fruit (Theobroma grandiflorum) that grows in Brazilian rainforests and is a relative of cacao (Theobroma cacao). Cupuacu fruit has more sweet flesh surrounding its seeds (than the minimal white pulp found in cacao pods—which is wonderful nonetheless). And Gallardo's pairing of this delicious fruit with chocolate was magnificent.

The flavor in these small squares of dried cupuacu fruit seemed to shift from guava to bright pineapple to a cross between a mango and a papaya, to a fountain of liquid citrus (sweet tangerine) sunshine. Naturally when a fruit (or any inclusion) is this exciting, there is a danger or overshadowing the chocolate.**

Indeed, the chocolate seemed to shift a bit when combined with its botanical cousin. The base 70% chocolate (made with cacao (Colheita 2018) from Fazenda Camboa in Bahia, Brazil) seemed "lighter" than previous from Misson Chocolate 70% bars tasted this week. It did have a slight dairy milk/milk chocolate feel to it. It had a fleeting very light earth flavor and true chocolate note, and perhaps it was a tiny bit more nutty. However, this latter characteristic could have been an artifact of tasting it with the embedded cupuacu fruit pieces.

Gallardo's Brazil Biomes Project designation(s) on her chocolate bar labels invite consumers to appreciate the diverse environments and cacao growing regions that span a large country like Brazil (or even a large farm like Fazenda Camboa). She chooses ingredients from a specific biome area to highlight in a given bar. (Brazil has six biome areas, i.e. five others apart from the Amazon—probably the best known. Atlantic Rainforest would be another.)

*The company's name, Mission Chocolate, was inspired in part by founder Arcelia Gallardo's stay in the Bay Area when she was working with Dandelion Chocolate in the Mission district of San Francisco, before her move to Brazil.

**Mission Chocolate uses cacao grown in Brazil (from Fazenda Camboa in Bahia). This bar was made with only three ingredients: organic cacao, organic sugar, cupuacu (fruit).

Copyright 2019. Unauthorized use of the text and/or images from this site, www.ChocolateBanquet.com, is a copyright violation.

Mission Chocolate - Goiabada 70% Dark Chocolate with Guava Chunks (bar) - Oct. 12, 2019

Chocolate of the Day:

Mission Chocolate
Goiabada 70% Dark Chocolate with Guava Chunks (bar)
Brazil Biomes Project - Atlantic Rainforest, Fazenda Camboa
Good +++
Weight: 1.06 oz. (30 g.) / 2.12 oz. (60 g.) in total bar
Calories: 146 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $10.00 (estimate) for 1 bar
Purchased from: Chocolate Covered, San Francisco, CA

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

Today's Goiabada 70% Dark Chocolate with Guava Chunks (bar) was created by Arcelia Gallardo at Mission Chocolate (Sao Paolo, Brazil).

Biting into this bar at 7:00 a.m. in the cool morning air evoked an image of hunting for bright fruit in a deep, dark forest. Later in the day, after the (room, palette and chocolate) warmed up, this bar had a sweet, light earth and tropical fruit aroma. The chocolate was smooth and dark with a light earth note. The small squares of dried fruit had authentic just-harvested guava flavor, with a smoothly chewy and mixed silken and slightly granular dried fruit texture.

A short list of fresh, high-quality ingredients (cacao, organic sugar, guava and cocoa butter) were skillfully blended to make this a wonderful tasting experience.

*Fazenda Camboa, owned by two brothers, is the largest organic farm in Brazil. Located in Bahia, north of Sao Paolo, this farm offers forastero and trinitario cacao. Gallardo is (according to the Mission Chocolate website) currently using Fazenda Camboa's trinitario hybrid cacao for her bars. The cacao for this bar was part of the Atlantic Rainforest Brazil Biomes Project.

Copyright 2019. Unauthorized use of the text and/or images from this site, www.ChocolateBanquet.com, is a copyright violation.

Mission Chocolate - Baru 70% Brazil Project Cerrado (bar) - Oct. 11, 2019

Chocolate of the Day: 

Mission Chocolate
Baru 70% Brazil Project Cerrado, Fazenda Camboa (bar)
Good +
Weight: 1.06 oz. (30 g.) / 2.12 oz. (60 g.) in total bar
Calories: 178 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $10.00 (estimate) for 1 bar
Purchased from: Chocolate Covered, San Francisco, CA

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

Brazil is a very large country with several cacao growing regions; and production of cacao grown in this South American powerhouse has been on the rise in recent years.

One relatively new chocolate maker in the past several years is Mission Chocolate (Sao Paulo, Brazil).

Mission Chocolate was founded by multi-talented chocolate expert, chocolate maker and educator, Arcelia Gallardo, who was born in California and spent time on a farm before getting into chocolate, traveling throughout Latin America, and ultimately settling in Brazil. (Gallardo also spent time in the San Francisco Bay Area producing tasty chocolates in Berkeley and working with Dandelion Chocolate in San Francisco.)

This week will feature several of Mission Chocolate's bars, including today's Baru 70% Dark Chocolate with Baru Nut(s)* (bar). The cacao for this bar was from Brazil Biomes Project Cerrado, Fazenda Camboa. Fazenda Camboa is a large organic farm on the east (Atlantic) coast in the state of Bahia, Brazil.

Whole baru nuts (pressed into the back of the smooth dark chocolate bar) added visual interest, a soft crunch, and mild nut flavor.

*Baru nuts grow wild in Brazil and are usually roasted before eating. They have a mild taste that has been described as a cross between a "peanut and a cashew with a slight cacao flavor." I would describe it having a soft texture a bit like a cross between a roasted pine nut and a Brazil nut.

Copyright 2019. Unauthorized use of the text and/or images from this site, www.ChocolateBanquet.com, is a copyright violation.

TCHO - Black Lime + French Thyme 68% Cacao (bar) - Oct. 10, 2019

Chocolate of the Day: 

TCHO Ventures, Inc.
Maker's Series: Black Lime + French Thyme 68% Cacao (bar)
Good - Good +
Weight: 1.23 oz. (35 g.) / 2.47 oz. (70 g.) in total bar
Calories: 170 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $7.99 for 1 bar (plus shipping)
Purchased from: TCHO.com, online order

Welcome to Day #8 of Chocolate, Salt and Savory Theme Week.

Today's Maker's Series: Black Lime + French Thyme 68% Cacao (bar) was created by Chief Chocolate Maker, Brad Kintzer,* at TCHO (Berkeley, CA).

Only 647 of these lime and thyme dark bars were made for sale; and this flavor was Number 12 in TCHO's micro batch Maker's Series. Many of the other flavors in this series have sold out before I've had the opportunity to try them. I felt lucky to obtain one of these bars—that was minted just a few weeks earlier.

Bars in this series were packaged in a luxurious outer dark navy blue box with embossed copper colored logo type, and inside the box was a dark chocolate brown colored lining and a brochure with more information. The design was reminiscent of packaging you might see with fine cigars, jewelry, wine, etc.

The aroma and flavor of this bar was weighted toward fresh thyme, an herb used in many savory dishes. Interspersed with the (dried) thyme notes were crunchy hard micro-bits of black (sun-dried, Persian) lime which yielded balanced micro-bursts of tangy citrus. Lime, like chocolate can go savory or sweet, and did so nicely here.

Your brain will be so busy trying to figure out and enjoy the savory inclusions that the nuances of the smooth dark chocolate may get a bit lost. But, that's a "risk" worth taking in discovering new chocolates.

A wee bit of sea salt further contributed to the savory profile, helping to confuse the brain for a split second. However, a very subtle hint of vanilla added a faint, warming, floral note, which (along with cane sugar) helped nudge the brain ever so gently into chocolate bar recognition territory).

The maker's notes described the inspiration for this bar read, in part, as follows:

"The combination of citrus and herbs might evoke memories of savory feasts and, honestly, that's exactly the bit of inspiration that leads to this micro batch...This may be a chocolate bar, but the pairing of Black Lime and French Thyme still has all the savory feels."

"For our 12th release, we wanted to pay homage to a classic combination with our twist by embracing the zesty "funk" from the black lime and the lighter piney, minty, and peppery French thyme. These unusual flavors layer together with the 68% dark chocolate for an herbal and tangy kick of umami.."

Plus it must be refreshing fun for the makers to do experiment a bit with high-quality limited editions after spending so much time carefully jockeying high-volume, high-quality blends from multiple sources.

*My favorite part of learning about TCHO Chief Chocolate Maker, Brad Kintzer, was hearing about his family roots in chocolate, and that an older relative (grandmother?) was buried with a Hershey's chocolate bar. 

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Trader Joe's - Milk and Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Caramel Popcorn - Oct. 9, 2019

Chocolate of the Day: 

Trader Joe's
Milk and Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Caramel Popcorn
Good - Good +
Weight: 3 oz. (85 g.) / 6 oz. (170 g.) in total package
Calories: 420 calories in 1/2 package
Cost: $2.99 for 1 package
Purchased from: Trader Joe's, Mountain View, CA

Welcome to Day #7 of Chocolate, Salt and Savory Theme Week.

Today's Milk and Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Caramel Popcorn was from Trader Joe's (based in Monrovia, CA).

This sweet and salty snack had a light, soft loft and crunch, and the combination of milk and dark chocolate coating was well balanced with the salted caramel popcorn at the core of every piece.

Copyright 2019. Unauthorized use of the text and/or images from this site, www.ChocolateBanquet.com, is a copyright violation.