Domori - Trinitario Peru 70% Dark Chocolate (bar) - Nov. 18, 2020

Chocolate of the Day

Domori
Trinitario Peru 70% Dark Chocolate (bar)
Good +++ - Very Good
Weight: 1.76 oz. (50 g.) in total bar
Calories: 279 calories in 1 bar
Cost: $8.00 (sale) for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

Welcome to Day #11 of Chocolate and Peru Theme Weeks.

Today's Trinitario Peru 70% Dark Chocolate (bar) was made by Domori srl (based in None (Torino), Italy). 

This well-executed chocolate was wrapped in packaging that contained the image of a muscular yet agile spotted jaguar in a tree. The bar had a satisfying, thick, firm creamy/fudgey texture. (Note: it was eaten in a cool room.) 

The aroma offered beautiful and seductive hints fruit, light floral (vanilla rum-soaked raisin),  green (earthy, lush grasses) and nut. The sleek bar delivered with similar/complementary flavor notes (which are not always the same as the aroma notes in a chocolate). 

Tasting it revealed concentrated fruit (with bright red raspberry highlights), nut butter (almond), faint green floral flavor notes and an very faint earthiness. 

The finish* was purr-fect, and lingered until it stealthily disappeared, presumably back to the jungle. I don't know where departing chocolate or jaguar** spirits go. I was too focused on enjoying this chocolate, from start to finish, to notice.

So much flavor was coaxed out of just two ingredients.* And of course, much of that was due to the choice of the Trinitario variety of cacao that was chosen.

The cacao beans were grown in "the Apurimac river area in southern Peru. A recently created hybrid (Trinitario Cocoa) with notes of flowers, caramel and cream. Very delicate, with a discreet acidity and a fresh taste that makes it a protagonist in high level patisserie production and in cocktails." 

Why do you stick around and pay close attention to the "finish" that an artisan dark chocolate bar or a fine wine might have? The same reason why you stay as the sun is setting, for the potential to see/experience that last bright flourish of light and color parfait. Don't miss the green flash :-).

*Ingredients: cocoa mass, cane sugar.

** Jaguars used to be found in the U.S. Sadly, they were hunted to extinction. These beautiful animals might occasionally be sighted as far north as Mexico but are primarily found further south in the Americas. Their stronghold is in the Amazon Basin, not far from where cacao is grown. They can live in forests and transitional areas between canopied regions and grasslands. 

A. Morin - Perou Cusco Noir 70% (bar) - Nov. 17, 2020

Chocolate of the Day

A. Morin 
Perou Cusco Noir 70% (bar)
Good ++ - Good +++
Weight: 1.76 oz. (50 g.) / 3.52 oz. (100 g.) in total bar
Calories: 336 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $9.80 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

Welcome to Day #10 of Chocolate and Peru Theme Weeks.

Today's Perou Cusco Noir 70% (bar) was made from bean-to-bar by A. Morin (Donzere, France). Andre Morin founded la chocolaterie "A. Morin" in 1958; and the family's chocolatier skills and history have been passed down "from father to son" since 1884.

This Peru 70% bar was a lovely choice to brighten up a cold, windy late November day. I savored this chocolate as I watched the last of a the bright yellow leaves being wrenched from trees outside...from the warm window view inside. 

The aroma of this bar was lovely. Think fresh baked chocolate chip oatmeal cookies with fruit (peach-light plum) and faint green notes. The flavor was just as pleasing with a balanced sweetness.

The cacao used to make this pure origine (single origin) chocolate was grown in Peru. The maker's tasting notes read as follows: This chocolate reveals notes of sour fruits at first, then develops aromas of mango and plums before a spicy and flowery finish.

Ingredients: Organic cocoa beans, organic cane sugar, organic cocoa butter

 

A. Morin - Perou Chanchamayo Noir 100% (bar) - Nov. 16, 2020

Chocolate of the Day

A. Morin 
Perou Chamichanga Noir 100% (bar)
Good + - Good ++
Weight: 1.76 oz. (50 g.) / 3.52 oz. (100 g.) in total bar
Calories: 336 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $9.80 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

Welcome to Day #9 of Chocolate and Peru Theme Weeks.

Today's Perou Chanchamayo Noir 100% (bar) was made from bean-to-bar in France, by A. Morin (Donzere, France), from one ingredient: Organic (Peruvian) cacao beans. 

The company has been creating chocolate for over a century ("from father to son" since 1884).

Today's bar was one of those 100% cacao bars that had a rich, chocolate aroma with bright-sweet true chocolate (chocolate cake) with faint earth and molasses/spice notes. The "sweet" association meant that the unsweetened taste reality was a bit of a brain disconnect with the first bite. (The palette-brain was expecting sugar.) This brain foolery happens more in some 100% bars than others.

This A. Morin thick chocolate had a fudgey rich, velvety (creamy nut butter) texture, and some initial tart acidity that mellowed over the course of the tasting experience to a relatively uniform, ultra-dark chocolate (think Forastero cacao variety and/or heavy roast profile). There was a very slight, (dark roast) balanced bitterness that lingered late in the finish after a sip of water.

Ingredients: Organic cocoa beans

 

A. Morin - Perou Chanchamayo Noir 63% (bar) - Nov. 15, 2020

Chocolate of the Day

A. Morin 
Perou Chamichanga Noir 63% (bar)
Good + - Good ++
Weight: 1.76 oz. (50 g.) / 3.52 oz. (100 g.) in total bar
Calories: 295 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $9.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

Buen Dia, Bonjour and Good Day. Welcome to Day #8 of Chocolate and Peru Theme Weeks.

Today's Perou Chanchamayo Noir 63% (bar) was made in France from Peruvian cacao, by A. Morin (Donzere, France). The company has been creating chocolate for over a century (passed"from father to son" since 1884...I'm always impressed with this level of continuity in business). 

The chocolate had a true, sweet chocolate (chocolate cake) aroma.

The primary flavor spike included a tart sweetness and medium acidity, with some astringency. (I briefly imagined a fruit salad with sweet pink grapefruit, green apples, ripe persimmons and tart cherries, drizzled with honey). 

A mild (honey) and with a faint herbal-floral/spice finish lingered after things settled down.

Ingredients: Cocoa beans, cane sugar, cocoa butter

Cacaosuyo - 70% Cacao Piura Select Dark Chocolate (bar) - Nov. 14, 2020

Chocolate of the Day

Cacaosuyo 
(Produced by Theobroma Inversiones SAC)
70% Cacao Piura Select Dark Chocolate (bar) 
Good ++ - Good +++
Weight: .88 oz. (25 g.) in total bar
Calories: 130 calories in 1 bar
Cost: $4.25 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

Welcome to Day #7 of Chocolate and Peru Theme Weeks.

Today's Cacaosuyo 70% Cacao Piura Select Dark Chocolate (bar) was produced by Theobroma Inversiones SAC (Lima, Peru). 

The company is dedicated to making chocolate using cacao fruit/beans grown in the land of the "Four Suyos"* of Peru, a term that recalls a rich cacao history dating back to the Incan Empire. Through these chocolates, one can experience a very important cradle site for cacao in the Americas, where it's believed that centuries ago the Inca people shared cacao with their allies, but kept it a secret from outsiders.

Today's 70% cacao dark bar is the last of four conveniently sized (single-serving) different Cacaosuyo bars featured this week, and was made with prized "white" cacao beans grown in the Piura region of northwestern Peru--a region that includes semi-tropical forests in the east and coastal beaches to the west.

This chocolate had true chocolate aroma with a faint dried fruit, molasses, lightly wine- soaked raisin and citrus (Meyer lemon peel) notes. The bar was relatively thin, allowing easy and rapid access to the texture and flavor. It had a creamy melt and mouthfeel.

Flavor notes were similar to the aroma notes mentioned above with a slight hints of malt/cereal and green nut and a very light citrus astringency (throat tickle). This bar was relatively suave and sophisticated: well balanced, flavorful yet tastefully subtle.

The maker's tasting notes read as follows: The "...flavor you are about to experience is a product of a combination of meticulous harvest and post-harvest processes. We are confident that this bar, with its light citrus and nutty notes, will be a pleasant discovery." 

Ingredients: Cocoa paste (Theobroma cacao L) and sugar.

*The Four Suyos refers to Incan empire Tawantinsuyu's Four Suyos (similar to counties or regions) that surrounded Cuzco: Antisuyo (east, forest/wild area), Chinchaysuyo (northwest), Contisuyo (west) and Collasuyo (south). The Empire at its heydey occupied most of Peru, and parts of what is now Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, Chile and Argentina. 

Centuries ago, the Spanish named the Peruvian city of Piura, after the native Quechuan word "pirhua," meaning "abundance." The Peruvian region of Piura overlapped with the Incan suyo known as Chinchaysuyo. (Chinay or Chincha means ocelot in Quechua.)

Cacaosuyo - 70% Cacao Lakuna Dark Chocolate (bar) - Nov. 13, 2020

Chocolate of the Day

Cacaosuyo 
(Produced by Theobroma Inversiones SAC)
70% Cacao Lakuna Dark Chocolate (bar) 
Good +++ - Very Good 
Weight: .88 oz. (25 g.) in total bar
Calories: 150 calories in 1 bar
Cost: $4.25 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

Welcome to Day #6 of Chocolate and Peru Theme Weeks.

Today's Cacaosuyo 70% Cacao Lakuna Dark Chocolate (bar) was produced by Theobroma Inversiones SAC (Lima, Peru). 

The company is dedicated to making chocolate using cacao fruit/beans grown in the land of the "Four Suyos"* of Peru, a term that refers back to the Inca Empire. The Incas consumed cacao "as a source of energy and power" and today the peoples of Peru are linked to a rich cacao heritage and traditions that stretch from past to present.

Today's 70% cacao dark bar is the third of four conveniently sized (single-serving) different Cacaosuyo bars featured this week, and was made with cacao beans grown in the Amazon region in northern Peru (Amazonas).

I would advise opening the inner packet that contains this bar and you might sample the aroma, but then let it breathe for a few minutes. (The aroma will shift and mellow a bit.) This chocolate had a unique aroma with rich, concentrated dark sweetness, dried fruit (prunes, lightly rum-soaked dark raisins) and faint licorice spice and herbal spirits notes. 

The bar was relatively thin, allowing great access to the texture and flavor. The bar's true dark chocolate, and natural dark sweetness bloomed (like you'd find in fennel, licorice or other naturally sweet plants) with the first bite. Don't worry if you're not a licorice fan, you won't need to be to enjoy this experience. The melt was almost creamy, and the texture was smooth but with a very light astringency mid-way to finish.

Chocolate flavor notes were similar to the dried fruit aroma and sweet herbal notes listed above. There was also a very slight green/bright earth note that was faint and harmonized with the overall cacao profile. A minute or two after the last bite, I experienced floral notes (that included saffron (Crocus sativus), an expensive floral spice derived from the bright orange stamens springing from the center of purple saffron crocus flowers). What an intriguing bar.

The maker's tasting notes read as follows: "Our passion to explore the Amazon and chocolate brings us a wonderful cacao that is hidden in the rich jungle of Peru, to transform into an exquisite dark sweetness, full of floral notes that intimately combine with fruits make this a new experience for those of us who dream of deliciously different flavors. We call it Lakuna."**

Ingredients: Cacao paste (Theobroma cacao L) and sugar

*The Four Suyos refers to Inca empire Tawantinsuyu's Four Suyos (similar to counties or regions) that surrounded Cuzco: Antisuyo (east, forest/wild area), Chinchaysuyo (northwest), Contisuyo (west) and Collasuyo (south). The Empire at its heydey occupied most of Peru, and parts of what is now Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, Chile and Argentina. 

**Lakuna, or lacuna in English, has a nuanced (temptingly metaphorical) series of definitions. It can mean an interval or gap; a missing page from a book, manuscript or logical argument; or (in a medical context) a cavity or depression in a bone. In Botany, lacunae are air spaces in cellular plant tissues. 

But, rather than a deficiency, a gap can also have great value. (Note: Without lacunae or nasal cavities we could not smell and taste.)

How might this definition apply to today's chocolate? 

Music is created by a variety of notes, some strong, some soft. But, there is also depth and power in the pauses between notes. This 70% Amazonas bar has bold flavors, but in the intervals between what seem to be strong notes, complex green/herbal and floral notes emerge, resulting in a wonderful whole. So, rather than what might be emptier gaps in some chocolates, the "holes" are filled with music. A "w" is added to "whole" here. 

Great chocolates that I've had the pleasure to try are created by chocolate makers and maestros--along every step of the process from bean-to-bar--and seem to evoke a distinct sense of their own music when you taste them. I chalk this experience up to multi-layered crafting skills, chemistry magic in the "gaps" and around the edges, and perhaps a touch of chocolate-tasting synesthesia (where senses of smell and taste might merge in the brain with auditory senses and experience memories.)

A solid, perfectly uniform block of anything can be powerful and skillfully executed, but there is less to "hear" and write about. Which is why I'm attracted to the interesting and varied facets and forms of science, nature and people...and complex foods like chocolate.

Cacaosuyo - Cuzco 80 Dark Chocolate 80% Cacao (bar) - Nov. 12, 2020

Chocolate of the Day

Cacaosuyo 
(Produced by Theobroma Inversiones SAC)
Cuzco 80 Dark Chocolate 80% Cacao (bar) 
Good ++  
Weight: .88 oz. (25 g.) in total bar
Calories: 160 calories in 1 bar
Cost: $4.25 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

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

Today's Cacaosuyo 50% Cacao Piura Milk (bar) was produced by Theobroma Inversiones SAC (Lima, Peru). 

The company offers chocolate made "in-country" using cacao fruit/beans grown on lands in Peru that overlap with the "Four Suyos"* or Four Regions of the ancient Inca Empire. These areas have a rich cacao history spanning several centuries.

Today's 80% cacao dark bar is the second of four conveniently sized (single-serving) different Cacaosuyo bars featured this week. It was made in country, i.e. in Peru with cacao beans grown in the Cuzco region of Peru. 

This chocolate had an interesting aroma with grape, green, and subtle fermentation and earth notes. The bar was relatively thin, allowing great access to the texture and flavor. The chocolate had a creamy melt and mouthfeel and smooth texture. And some of the faint green notes carried over into the flavor. For an 80% chocolate, this had an appealing, very balanced bitter and sweet quality.

The maker's tasting notes read as follows: 

Ingredients: Cacao paste (Theobroma cacao L) and sugar

*The Four Suyos refers to Incan empire Tawantinsuyu's Four Suyos (similar to counties or regions) that surrounded Cuzco: Antisuyo (east, forest/wild area), Chinchaysuyo (northwest), Contisuyo (west) and Collasuyo (south). The Empire at its heydey occupied most of Peru, and parts of what is now Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, Chile and Argentina.