Moka Origins - Tanzania 72% Dark Chocolate, (bar) - May 1, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Moka Origins
72% Tanzania Dark Chocolate (bar)
Good ++
Weight: 2.4 oz. (67.9 g.) in total bar
Calories: 372 calories (estimate) in 1 bar
Cost: $12.00 (plus shipping) for 1 bar
Purchased from: Moka Origins (online order)

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

Today's Tanzania 72% Dark Chocolate (bar) was from Moka Origins (Honesdale, PA).

If you want to experience a warm, flavorful, sweet dark chocolate embrace, try this bar. It had an inviting aroma with warm spice (cinnamon, cloves), and freshly baked dark chocolate cake notes. The melt and texture were smooth.

The flavor had a warm and bright sweet taste, with fruity (red apple, peach, nectarine, red berry) and true chocolate (devil's food cake + rich, hot drinking chocolate) flavor and finish. 

This Tanzania cacao-based chocolate was low in bitterness; and the choice to bump up the cacao percentage (from 70% to 72%) was a good one. This bar was naturally bright and fruity; and a lower percentage of cocoa solids might have resulted in chocolate that was too sweet.

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

Allergen-related information: gluten free; vegan; soy free; made in a facility that handles tree nuts.

Raaka Chocolate - 100% Cacao Unroasted Dark Chocolate Kokoa Kamili Tanzania (bar) - April 30, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Raaka Chocolate

100% Cacao Kokoa Kamili Tanzania (bar)

Good +

Weight: .9 oz. (25.4 g.) / 1.8 oz. (50.9 g.) in total bar

Calories: 124 calories in 1/2 bar

Cost: $6.00 for 1 bar

Purchased from: Raaka Chocolate, online order

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

Today's 100% Cacao Unroasted Dark Chocolate Kokoa Kamili Tanzania (bar) was made from bean-to-bar by Raaka Chocolate (Brooklyn, NY).

Today's bar contained just two ingredients: un-roasted, organic cacao beans from Kokoa Kamili,* Tanzania, and organic cocoa butter. No added sugar. 

Unroasted (or very lightly roasted) cacao can be a great choice for ultra high-percentage chocolate bars (85-100%) bars.

This bar had a relatively bright aroma (with an anticipation of tasting light fruit, sweet hazelnut, light spice).

It had a very smooth, slightly slow/waxy melt and texture (I was eating this bar on a cool, spring morning. I did not get the same "waxy" slow melt later in the afternoon; so this could have been temperature related.)

The flavors were subtle. The dark chocolate flavor had balanced flavor notes: buckwheat pancake, very faint green and dried fruit (prune, fig). There was a slight, fleeting astringency in the finish. And the bitterness level was quite low for a 100% cacao bar--making it a friendlier 100% bar. A faint dark chocolate and mild green note lingered in the finish.

The maker's description: "bright, not bitter." ..."Forget everything you know about 100% bars. This pure cacao bar is creamy and bright, not bitter, with a subtle, tingling fruit sweetness."

Ingredients: Organic cacao beans, organic cacao butter

Allergen-related information: Vegan, Gluten Free, Soy Free, Nut Free; Non-GMO Project Verified. USDA Organic; Transparent Trade.

*Kokoa Kamili, in the Kilombero Valley in southwest Tanzania, is a social enterprise that buys freshly harvested cacao from farmers and focuses on fermenting and drying beans in a centralized facility, to help ensure high-quality cacao for chocolate makers.

Theo Chocolate - Organic Salted Almond 45% Milk Chocolate (bar) - Apr. 29, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Theo Chocolate
Fair Trade, Organic Salted Almond 45% Milk Chocolate (bar)
Good +
Weight: 1.5 oz. (42.5 g.) / 3 oz. (85 g.) in total bar
Calories: 240 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $3.99 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Farm Fresh to You, CSA box delivery service, add-on item

Welcome to Day #14 of Chocolate and RSTU Theme Week, featuring chocolates with origins and flavor inclusions that start the letters R, S, T and/or U. It seemed right to end this two-week long, alphabetic exploration with something sweet and salty.

Today's Organic Salted Almond 45% Milk Chocolate (bar) was from Theo Chocolate (Seattle, WA). The company offers a variety of organic and fair trade chocolate bars (and confections), including this one.

The aroma of this bar sent out seductive snack signals: milk chocolate, roasted nuts (hazelnut,* almond) and savory/salted notes. This smelled like high-end, grown-up candy bar territory (thankfully without the additives or preservatives).

And, sure enough, creamy, sweet milk chocolate was interspersed with crunchy almond bits, and punctuated with sparkles of sea salt--creating a rich, addictive blend of sugar salt, fat (cocoa butter, nuts), and chocolate--with a satisfying textural contrast. 

The milk, nuts and salt--present in perfect snack food proportions (heaven help the weak-willed)--outshone cacao flavor nuances that may have been present. But there were no objectionable notes.

The maker's description for this bar: "Smooth. Creamy. Salty. Crunchy. All together perfect."

Ingredients: Organic, fair trade cane sugar; organic, fair trade cocoa butter; organic, fair trade cocoa beans; organic whole milk powder; organic almonds; pink Himalayan salt.

Allergen-related information: Contains milk and tree nuts (almonds). "Made on equipment that also processes wheat and other tree nuts and in a facility that handles peanuts, eggs, and sesame. May contain shell pieces."  

*Despite the aroma, there were no hazelnut ingredients listed.

Sugarpova - Dark Chocolate Cafe Mocha + Milk Chocolate Hazelnut Truffes

Chocolate(s) of the Day

Sugarpova
Dark Chocolate Cafe Mocha Truffles
Good +
Weight: .74 oz. (21 g.) / 4.1 oz. (116 g.) in total package of truffles
Calories: 110 calories in 2 pieces
Cost: N/A - gift from a friend (Thank you Bill) 
Purchased from: Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, Palo Alto, CA

Sugarpova
Milk Chocolate Hazelnut Truffles
Good
Weight: .77 oz. (22 g.) / 3.9 oz. (110 g.) in total package of truffles
Calories: 120 calories in 2 pieces
Cost: NA - gift from a friend (Thank you Bill)
Purchased from: Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #13 of Chocolate and RSTU Theme Week, featuring chocolates with origins and flavor inclusions that start with the letters R, S, T and/or U. 

Sometimes the type of chocolate itself deserves a shout-out. For example, chocolate truffles. "Truffles"* in the U.S. are usually round chocolate shells that surround and seal in creamy, chocolate ganache (fillings)--often infused with flavor additions.

Today's 1.) Dark Chocolate Cafe Mocha Truffles and 2.) Milk Chocolate Hazelnut Truffles were created and distributed by Sugarpova LLC (Coral Gables, FL). The company's CEO behind this brand is tennis star, Maria Sharapova.

Dark Chocolate Cafe Mocha Truffles

These almost silky, smooth dark, sweet chocolate truffles had a faint ground nut nougat and dark chocolate aroma, flavor and texture (with hints of nut cookie, coconut, sweet dark chocolate (fudge brownie) and smooth coffee). Tasty.

Milk Chocolate Hazelnut Truffles

A whiff of these milk chocolate truffles revealed a whipped hazelnut butter and sweet milk chocolate aroma. The texture was very creamy; and the flavor was reminiscent of Italian gianduia/gianduja (creamy chocolate and hazelnut blends found in confections, gelatos, chocolate bars and baked good fillings/spreads). These truffles were a bit sweet for me, but it's hard to deny the seductive power behind this flavor fusion.

Ingredients: Dark Chocolate Cafe Mocha 

Dark chocolate (cocoa liquor, sugar, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, ground vanilla beans), organic coconut oil, coffee beans, canola oil, natural coffee flavor. (Cocoa solids 50% minimum.)

Allergen-related information: "Contains soy, coconut" "Processed in a facility where peanuts and tree nuts are present with wheat, barley and egg products."

Ingredients: Milk Chocolate Hazelnut

Milk chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, milk, chocolate liquor, nonfat dry milk, soy lecithin (an emulsifier) and vanilla), sugar, palm kernel oil, hazelnuts, canola oil, palm shortening, cocoa powder, non fat dry milk, milk, soy lecithin (and emulsifier), maltodextrin, salt, silicon dioxide, natural flavor.

Allergen-related information: "Contains milk, soy, hazelnuts." "Processed in a facility where peanuts and tree nuts are present with wheat, barley and egg products."

**********

*Traditional, French-style chocolate truffles are hard to find. (In San Francisco, CA, there is a shop called XOX Truffles/cafe that makes/sells them.) XOX Truffle cocoa-dusted chocolates look more rough-hewn, and more closely resemble their namesake: the prized, tuberous truffle (fungi) hunted by men (and trained dogs and/or pigs) in the countrysides of France and Italy--and in the Pacific Northwest in the U.S. 

A doff of the hat to the Savory

Both types of truffles are quite wonderful. For a real gastronomic treat, try hunting down the one or two chocolatiers/artisan chocolate makers that make (fungi/savory) truffle-infused chocolate truffles/bars. Savory and sweet. Bella. (Xocolatl de David in Portland, OR, has produced some fun, savory chocolate flavors in the U.S. in the past.)

Mission Chocolate - Umbu Dark Chocolate 70% and Candied Umbu Fruit (bar) - April 27, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Mission Chocolate
Umbu Dark Chocolate 70% and Candied Umbu Fruit (bar)
Good ++
Weight: 2.12 oz. (60 g.) in total bar
Calories: 297 calories in 1 bar
Cost: $10.00 for 1 bar (dark purple dot)
Purchased from: Chocolate Covered, San Francisco, CA

Welcome to Day #12 of Chocolate and RSTU Theme Week, featuring chocolate items with origins or flavor inclusions that start with the letters R, S, T and/or U, like Sao Paulo, Brazil, and Umbu fruit.

Today's "Umbu" Dark Chocolate 70% and Candied Umbu Fruit (bar) was created by Arcelia Gallardo at Mission Chocolate (Sao Paulo, Brazil). The company offers a line of bars made with Brazilian cacao, and flavor inclusions from Brazil.

The cacao used to make this bean-to-bar chocolate was from Fazenda Camboa, a family-owned plantation in northeast Brazil that produces "Atlantic Rainforest Cacao."

This bar had an aroma with dark chocolate, mild but aromatic fruit, and very light botanical (cucumber cream, faint mint, aloe, sweet wood/camphor) notes.

The back side was adorned with a mindful grid of small, carefully cut, thin squares of softly chewable, candied umbu fruit.* 

The fruit had an intriguing, but hard to describe, subtle flavor (sweet green plum mixed with green grape plus an expansive, light and airy fruit sweetness that I can't compare to anything else I've had before). The candied squares had the sweet-tartness of plum stone fruit with candied pear + cactus fruit texture (i.e. a blend of soft gel-like fruit pectin with a slight, natural graininess). And just when I thought I had the umbu figured out, there was a burst of lemon-lime candy. Citrus flavor fun.

I was so intent on tasting this new fruit for the first time that I had to take many, small successive bites to taste both umbu and chocolate. Oh yes, the chocolate! It was smooth and dark with medium fruit acidity and seemed well-matched with the umbu fruit.

Thank you Arcelia for the virtual vacation to Brazil this morning via your Umbu dark chocolate. 

Ingredients: Organic cacao, organic sugar, organic umbu (fruit), cocoa butter

Allergen-related information: (Made without gluten, dairy or soy ingredients.) "May contain traces of milk, peanut, coconut, tree nuts, and wheat due to shared equipment."

*"Umbu (Spondias tuberosa) (aka Umb, Imba or Brazil plum) is a soft-fleshed fruit, green/yellow in color, and sweet and sour in taste. It is the size of a large grape, soft like a ripe fig, and juicy like a tomato. The umbu tree is the most important tree in the Caatinga Biome (semi-arid region in Northeast Brazil)"..."It is harvested in the wild by families that deliver (the fruits) to cooperatives to get turned into preserves." 

The source of text above in quotes was the Mission Chocolate Umbu bar description on Bar and Cocoa's website. (I added the extra information in parenthesis.) 

 

Trader Joe's - Uganda - 85% Dark Chocolate Bar - Apr. 26, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Trader Joe's 
Uganda 85% Dark Chocolate Bar
Good ++
Weight: .875 oz. (25 g.) / 3.5 oz. (100 g.) in total bar
Calories: 158.3 calories in 1/4 bar
Cost: N/A - gift from family member (Thank you David)
Purchased from: (Trader Joe's) gift from family member

Welcome to Day #11 of Chocolate and RSTU Theme Week, featuring items with origins or flavor inclusions that start with the letters R, S, T and/or U...such as Uganda.

Today's Uganda 85% Dark Chocolate Bar was from Trader Joe's (Monrovia, CA).

A sustained inhalation of this offering yielded deep, dark true chocolate with notes of earthy forest, leather saddle, and faint roasted, salted potato/root vegetable. It was the kind of bold aroma that I would expect when tasting an ultra-dark bar (greater than 80% cacao).

The texture of this bar was luxurious, with a thick, satisfying, creamy-chewy (nut butter-like) melt and mouthfeel. 

The flavor was hearty and bold dark chocolate, a fleeting flicker of green floral, with a subtle hint of very nicely balanced bitterness--and faint earth and true chocolate (very smooth, almost savory brownie) in the finish. A re-tasting also yielded a barely-detectable hint of warm spice (cinnamon) at the very end, and a wee bit of astringency.

Overall, this was very smooth for an 85% cacao chocolate bar. Unlike some high cacao percentage bars--that have sweet, come-hither aromas, but then pounce upon the palette like a jaguar--this was almost the opposite. The aroma was stronger/darker than the taste.

Ingredients: Cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter.

Allergen-related information: "May contain milk, soy, wheat, almond, cashew, coconut, hazelnut, pistachio."

Raaka Chocolate - Oat Milk Unroasted Dark Chocolate Uganda 58% (bar) - Apr. 25, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Raaka Chocolate
Oat Milk Unroasted Dark Chocolate Uganda 58% (bar)
Good + 
Weight: .9 oz. (25.4 g.) / 1.8 oz. (50.9 g.) in total bar
Calories: 113 calories (per label) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $6.00 (sale) for 1 bar
Purchased from: Mollie Stone's Markets, Sausalito, CA

Welcome to Day #10 of Chocolate and R,S,T,U Theme Week, featuring chocolate items with origins and/or flavor inclusions that start with the letters R, S, T and/or U--as in Uganda (Africa).

Today's Oat Milk Unroasted Dark Chocolate Uganda* 58% Cacao (bar) was from Raaka Chocolate (Brooklyn, NY). 

Raaka's chocolate makers use unroasted cacao. Skipping the roasting process can yield smoother, brighter, fruitier chocolate flavors, and can sometimes preserve more delicate notes (such as green and/or floral).

The cacao used to make this chocolate came from Semuliki Forest Cacao, Uganda* (from more than 1,000 smallholder, organic farmers--over half are women). 

This area in Western Uganda is part of a rare (for East Africa) stretch of tropical, lowland forest that includes a National Park, a Wildlife Reserve, and many endangered species. Semuliki cacao is comprised of "mostly Trinitario and Amelonado" (cacao varieties). The flavor profile is described by Cacao Services (consultants in Uganda) as: "rich base cocoa with balanced fruit acidity and sometimes notes of brown sugar and panela."

The aroma of today's Raaka bar conjured up a hot bowl of coconut oatmeal with unsweetened dark chocolate pieces and a drizzle of maple syrup. 

The 58% cacao unroasted dark chocolate had a relatively rapid melt, with a thick and creamy mouthfeel, and a very slight graininess (oat flour) in the finish.

The dark chocolate flavor (from what I could taste) seemed bright and bold, slightly fruity, without being bitter or earthy. Oat flour or oat "milk" (as well as other milks) can be used to calm (or even neutralize) feral or spiky cacao flavors; but no lion tamer services were required with this friendly vegan bar.

Coconut added naturally sweet flavor as did a judicious amount of maple sugar. Vanilla bean added a bit of warmth.

Raaka tasting notes for the cacao/chocolate in this bar: "Chocolatey, panela, fig, cinnamon." 

Note: the inside of this Raaka Chocolate Semuliki Forest Cacao bar wrapper also included transparent trade information for the cacao, including the price paid to farmers: $4.50 per kilogram in 2020. This price includes post-harvest processes and transportation to the departure port in Africa.

Ingredients: Organic cacao beans, organic maple sugar, organic oat flour, organic coconut, organic cacao butter, organic vanilla bean.

Allergen-related information: Vegan, gluten free, soy free; Certified Organic and Kosher by NFC. 

* Uganda is smaller in size than the U.S. state of Michigan, but has a larger population than New York and Florida put together. Agricultural exports include: cotton, tea, tobacco...and cacao. 

Most cacao grown in Africa comes from West Africa, specifically Ivory Coast and Ghana. However, cacao is also grown further east, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Tanzania, as well as Uganda.