Domori - 80% Fondente Dark Chocolate Criollo (bar) - Sept. 12, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Domori

80% Fondente Dark Chocolate Criollo (bar)

Good +++

Weight: 1.76 oz. (50 g.) in total bar

Calories: 288.5 calories in 1 bar

Cost: $8.00 (+ summer shipping) for 1 bar

Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

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

Today's 80% Fondente Dark Chocolate Criollo (bar) was made by Domori (None, Italy). 

Criollo cacao is known for its mild, round flavor, with little or no bitterness or astringency (tannins). The Criollo cacao used to make this bar was grown in Venezuela. 

Christopher Colombus first visited Venezuela in 1498 on his third voyage to the New World. But, it was an Italian navigator the following year who gave the country its present-day name. In 1499, Italian navigator, Amerigo Vespucci (part of the Alonso de Ojeda-led Spanish expedition), is said to have dubbed the land Veneziola (little Venice) after seeing houses on stilts by the shores of Lake Maracaibo (near the Caribbean coast) that reminded Vespucci of Venice, Italy.

More than 500 years later, Italian bean-to-bar maker Domori shares a wonderful heritage variety of Venezuelan cacao with us in the form of beautiful, two-ingredient,* dark chocolate.

The aroma notes (in order of appearance) included: true chocolate (brownie), bold green (fruit, stalks, floral), fruit (dried plum (prune), dried apricot), light warm spice cake, vanilla, molasses, light cherry, Thompson grapes, and very faint plant latex.

The flavor had a lovely, complex chocolate cake flavor with warm stone fruit compote, very faint spice, chocolate pudding and chocolate milk, and an ice cream sundae (cherry and fig chocolate ice cream with nuts) notes that lingered softly into the finish.

This well-balanced and well-executed 80% Criollo bar lacked the bitter, tannic (acidic), sour and/or heavy roasted notes that can cause some people to shy away from bolder, high-cacao percentage chocolates. Though more subtle, this 80% bar had plenty of flavor, while offering the smoothness and natural sweetness of a 65% to 70% cacao bar.

Tasting notes: "...offers notes of dried figs, dates and raisins...the result is a unique bar, with excellent sweetness and roundness."

*Ingredients: Criollo cocoa mass and cane sugar. 

Allergen-related information: "May contain traces of soy, milk, and nuts." No gluten ingredients.

L'Amourette Chocolat - Gold Trinitario Venezuela Sur Del Lago 80% (bar) - Sept. 11, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

L'Amourette Chocolat LLC
Gold Trinitario Venezuela Sur Del Lago 80% (bar)
Good +++
Weight: 1.13 oz. (33.3 g.) / 3.5 oz. (100 g.) in total bar
Calories: 160 calories (per label) in 1/3 bar
Cost: $9.99 for 1 bar
Purchased from: All About The Chocolate, Monterey, CA

Welcome to Day #4 of Chocolate and Venezuela Theme Week, and the 15th birthday (Day #5,476) of Chocolate Banquet.

Today's Gold Trinitario Venezuela Sur Del Lago 80% (bar) was made and distributed by L'Amourette Chocolat LLC (San Francisco, CA). The company has offered a line of single origin bars (including several from Colombia and Venezuela) and some with flavor inclusions.

This L'Amourette Sur de Lago 80% bar was the the perfect guest of honor at today's pirate-themed 15th birthday celebration for Chocolate Banquet. Fifteen years of enjoying a new/different chocolate item every day (plus two other birthdays) were great reasons to celebrate.

Chief chocolate maker Andre V. at L'Amourette crafted today's Venezuela chocolate from bean-to-bar in San Francisco, using difficult to obtain Trinitario variety cacao from a fascinating region. 

Lake Maracaibo, Pirates, Lightning and Cacao

Sur del Lago ("south of the lake") is the area where the cacao used to craft today's chocolate was grown. And not just any lake...Today's cacoa was grown within walking distance of Lake Maracaibo.

This large, almost mythical "lake" (a large, brackish bay that is open at the upper end to the Caribbean Sea) is linked to pirate* legends, epic lightning storms, and cacao. 

Tasting Sur De Lago

The rich aroma of this ultra-dark 80% bar had notes that included (in order of appearance) deep, dark chocolate, raspberry jam, green (stalk, floral), ripe tropical fruit (mango, sapote, cacao pulp), balanced iron-rich, tropical forest/loamy soil, and green herb (very, very faint licorice).

This chocolate had an abundance of rich flavor and natural, jammy fruit and mineral sweetness. The raspberry (red and black) preserve notes in the aroma carried over to taste, as did some of the bold, but balanced green, molasses, floral and earth notes. There were a few flashes of nut butter as well.

Taster's notes: Made with using 48 hour conching process

Ingredients: "Venezuelan cocoa beans (Sur Del Lago), cocoa butter, organic cane sugar"

Allergen-related information: "Soy and gluten free product. Vegan...Manufactured in a facility that also processes nuts."

*Numerous raids, skirmishes and attacks involving pirates in the (distant and recent) past have occurred in Lake Maracaibo. (Europeans first discovered this bay in 1499 and Spanish settlers moved in later.) 

In 1669, famous pirate and Welsh buccaneer Captain Henry Morgan raided Spanish settlements on the shores of Lake Maracaibo, and is said to have wreaked havoc on an advancing Spanish Fleet, evading capture in the process. In the 1820s, a battle for independence from the Spanish also occurred on this Lake.

In the fictional adventures of Captain Blood (in the book Captain Blood published in 1922, written by R. Sabatini), a similar pirate eluded capture by his nemesis Don Miguel de Espinosa in Lake Maracaibo.

Many present-day pirate attacks have been associated with the oil operations there. 

As for the lightning storms, I recommend doing a Google search on "pictures of lightning and Lake Maracaibo." It is a fabulous spot for lightning (specifically the natural phenomenon known as catatumbo lightning where hundreds of strikes can occur in a relatively small area during a nighttime storm).

 

Chocolate Story - Venezuela 70% cocoa Grand Cru (bar) - Sept. 10, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Manufaktura Czekolady Sp.

(Chocolate Story)

Venezuela 70% cocoa Grand Cru (bar)

Good + - Good ++

Weight: .88 oz. (25 g.) / 1.76 oz. (50 g.) in total bar

Calories: 149.25 calories in 1/2 bar

Cost: $8.50 (plus summer shipping) for 1 bar

Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

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

Today's Venezuela 70% cocoa Grand Cru (bar) was made by the team at Manufaktura Czekolody Sp. (Chocolate Story) in Poland. 

Two friends and chocolate lovers, Krzysziek Stypulkowski and Tomek Sienkiewicz, left the Information Technology (IT) industry to follow their passion and catch the craft chocolate wave; and they were the first to offer single origin, bean-to-bar chocolate(s) in Poland in 2009.

The scent(s) (a large part of taste) in this bar mellowed--after the inner foil (sealed) package had been open awhile. Aroma notes included (in order of appearance) started with slightly bitter, well-roasted nuts (a mix of peanut, walnut, pecan, almond) and dried fruits (faint dried black fig, date, dark berry). 

Two minutes later the aroma softened a bit into honey fig and red berry; and, after another minute, cherry. (In this sense today's Venezuela chocolate was similar to a bold, complex, tannin-rich, red wine that needs to breathe a bit after opening.)

The melt was even, thick, slow and satisfying, with a stiff, very smooth slab of nut butter, mouthfeel. (I enjoyed this texture.)

Flavor notes included red grapes, fleeting cherry, ultra-dark (well done) brownie, and balanced bitter, fire-roasted nut notes. 

Chocolate Story tasting notes: walnuts, cherry, chokeberry and redcurrant.

Ingredients: "Roasted cocoa beans from Venezuela (70%), sugar, cocoa solids; 70% minimum."

Allergen-related information: "May contain milk, nuts."

Duffy's Chocolate - Venezuela Ocumare 55% (bar) - Sept. 9, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Duffy's 

Venezuela Ocumare 55% (bar)

Good + - Good ++

Weight: 1.05 oz. (30 g.) / 2.11 oz. (60 g.) in total bar

Calories: 181.2 calories in 1/2 bar

Cost: $9.50 (+ summer shipping) for 1 bar

Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order 

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

Today's Venezuela Ocumare 55% (bar) was made by Duffy's* Chocolate (in Cleethorpes, England). 

The man behind the company name is Gerald "Duffy" Sheardown (a former motorsport(s) engineer/mechanic and team manager who shifted to making bean-to-bar chocolate and engaging in direct trade with cacao farmers in far-off lands closer to the Equator).

This bar was made with fine (Criollo variety) cacao from the Ocumare region (valley) in Venezuela. (U.S.-based Bar and Cocoa notes: "Ocumare refers to a village, a region and a cacao blend.")

The aroma for this Venezuela cacao bar leaned toward dessert notes and included (in order of appearance) creamy milk chocolate, sweet caramel and chocolate ice cream.

The chocolate's texture was smooth and creamy, with a very slight (fruit) astringency.

The flavor was sweet milk chocolate--with caramel and cake notes extending into the finish. 

Duffy's tasting notes: "A velvet-smooth mix of almonds, bananas and raspberry jam."

Ingredients: Cocoa beans, organic cane sugar, cocoa butter and whole milk powder.

Allergy-related information: Contains milk powder; soya free; gluten free.

*Duffy's is also known as Red Star Chocolate Ltd

Tosier Chocolatemaker - 70% Tumaco, Colombia (bar) - Sept. 8, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Tosier Chocolatemaker

Tumaco, Colombia 70% (cacao) (bar)

Good ++

Weight: 2.1 oz. (60 g.) in total bar

Calories: 329.4 calories in 1 bar

Cost: $10.00 (+ summer shipping) for 1 bar

Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

Welcome to Day #9 of Chocolate and Colombia Theme Week.

Today's Tumaco, Colombia 70% dark chocolate (bar) was from Tosier Chocolatemaker, a bean-to-bar, small batch maker located in Gipping Valley, Suffolk, UK.

The company makes vegan, microbatch, craft chocolate bars using "single origin cocoa."

Tumaco is on the west/Pacific coast side of Colombia. Crops grown in this area (many by subsistence farmers) include coconuts, plaintains, palm oil and cacao. The "indigenous variety" cacao used to make this bar was "intercropped (in a biodiverse setting) with timber, fruit trees, corn and beans."

Colombia also produces a large amount of coffee for export. Tosier also offers a stoneground 70% dark bar with single estate Colombian coffee.

Today's bar was similar to some other Colombia bars this week. It had a very subtle aroma with sweet dark chocolate, faint tart green (oxalis) and citrus notes and had a smooth texture with a slight astringency.

The flavor notes (in order of appearance) included tart green herb (wood sorrel, sour grass, oxalis), citrus (light, tart, acidic sweet lemon, green apple), refreshing green (light green tea with a very faint green floral) sweet molasses and toffee, fleeting earth, and barely there pleasant savory and coffee.

Tosier flavour and production notes read: "Caramel, nuts and molasses" and "light roast, 60 hours grinding in stone melanger with refiner."

Ingredients: "Cocoa beans, organic unrefined cane sugar, ethically sourced cocoa butter"

Allergen-related information: "May contain traces of nuts." (Plant-based with no added gluten, dairy, additives or palm oil.)

Arete - Colombia Tumaco 56% dark milk chocolate - Sept. 8, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Arete Fine Chocolate

Colombia Tumaco 56% Dark Milk Chocolate (bar)

Good +++

Weight: 1.15 oz. (32.5 g.) / 2.3 oz. (65 g.) in total bar

Calories: 178 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar 

Cost: $ missing information

Purchased from: missing information

Welcome to Day #7 of Chocolate and Colombia Theme Week.

Today's Colombia Tumaco 56% Dark Milk Chocolate (bar) was made by David and Leslie Senk of Arete Fine Chocolate.

 

Arete closed their doors of their factory/shop in Tennessee in March 2020. I am hoping they might re-open one day and/or at least return to chocolate making in the future. The couple (formerly located in California) have earned a well-deserved reputation for great chocolate  

I have been hanging on to this Arete (full disclosure, now-expired) Colombia Tumaco bar for a special occasion like this week (Colombia Theme Week and my birthday week).

This was a delicious dark milk chocolate bar, from the luxurious melt and smooth, creamy texture to the complex and subtle flavors.

It had very subtle and balanced flavor notes that included faint fruit (muffled apricot, plum jams), green herb (very light licorice infused green tea), very light earth, chocolate gingerbread molasses, freshly baked sourdough bread with butter and peach jam.

Was it still good? Yes, it was! Well executed and well-tempered chocolate like this tends to hold up (if stored properly in a cool, dark place). Thank you Arete!

Ingredients: Cocoa beans (Colombia, Tumaco), organic whole milk powder, organic cane sugar, organic cocoa butter.

Allergen-related information: "May contain traces of peanuts, tree nuts, dairy, wheat, soy due to the use of shared equipment."

Disidente - Don Miqueas 75% Colombian Craft Chocolate (bar) - Sept. 6, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Disidente 
Colombian Cacao Taxonomy (Manufactured by El Colaboratorio)
Don Miqueas 75% Colombian dark chocolate (bar)
Good ++ 
Weight: 1.41 oz. (40 g.) in total bar
Calories: 191 calories in 1 bar
Cost: $6.50 for 1 bar (+ summer shipping)
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

Welcome to Day #7 of Chocolate and Colombia Theme Week.

Today's (Cacao) Disidente Don Miqueas 75% cacao Colombian craft chocolate (bar) was manufactured by El Colaboratorio (Bogota, Colombia). 

Disidente creates bean-to-bar chocolates that help spotlight the agricultural biodiversity of Colombia. They use Colombian-grown cacao(s)--sourced from cacao co-operatives and organizations in different regions of Colombia.

The cacao used to craft today's bar was from Arauca (in northeastern Colombia in the Orinoco River basin), in a cacao growing area with a "great farming tradition pioneered by (a gentleman named) Don Miqueas."

The banquet of aroma notes (in order they appeared) included: chocolate, green tea, goji berry, faint tart (almost citrusy) sweet pineapple, candied orange in brown sugar, chocolate (light brownie, chocolate cookie), more fruit (fruit salad with apple, tropical fruits and maybe an orchid or two). very faint graham cracker with warm spice and floral (vanilla). Later (after tasting and going back to smell again) there was also a faint, light, buttery seed oil note.

The texture of this bar was uniform and relatively smooth and had a very faint astringency (feeling of very slight tart dryness on the palette (what you might experience with a cocktail of oxalis + hibiscus + pink grapefruit + lemon).

The flavor was balanced, relatively subtle and, like the aroma, enjoyably complex. It sounds like I'm describing Criollo variety cacao, but this week's Disidente bars had a bit more tart green, light citrusy aspect to them; and the fruit notes were not as soft subtle as the stone fruit (think peach) that are often associated with Criollo. This week's chocolates were more like a blend of Trinitario and Criollo. 

Flavor notes included chocolate and sweet, acidic and very slightly savory fruit (fresh ripe tomato, tomato soup); cream/milk; faint cookie (dark chocolate with brown sugar and molasses), and fleeting, very faint earth (loam, mushroom). A trace of the tart green fruit and floral (oxalis* with a whisp of green apricot) lingered a bit in the finish.

Once again, as with other similar bars this week, this Don Miqueas had a lot of subtle complexity and flavor(s). A 75% cacao choice (rather than 70% cacao) seemed like a good choice as there was still plenty of natural sweetness.

Disidente tasting notes: "Distinguished by its complex nose full of white flowers. The palette is brimming with tension with a citric acidity, and hints of kumquat and grapefruit. Light and delicate, and ending in a mineral and balanced residual."

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

Allergen-related information: (No information listed on label.)

*Oxalis is a plant that contains oxalic acid--a naturally occurring compound found in many plants, including greens (notably: spinach, rhubarb and beet greens), cacao (and other seeds), and nuts. Edible forms of "wild" plants like wood sorrels,"sour grass" and other forms of oxalis have a tart, almost lemony green flavor. This flavor can sometimes be detected in some dark chocolates and may be observed/described as a combination of green and/or citrus note(s) in chocolate tastings. 

The acid levels (acetic acid, citric acid, lactic acid, (possibly malic acid), oxalic acid and tannins (tannic acid)) were just enough to keep things interesting, and not so high that only a few would appreciate the result. But, as in wines and other foods and beverages, this aspect is subject to personal preference. (This is similar to drinking a red wine that has picked up a lot of tannin in oak barrels. Some will love it, but too much oak and not enough fruit may narrow your fan base.)