TTTT: a weekly virtual chocolate tasting game

Happy New Year!

Now more than ever, during these times of physical distancing, chocolate lovers need to find and embrace new ways to transcend language & time zone barriers to build community around our favorite subject: CHOCOLATE 🍫😋

Tangential Tasting Twin Tuesday (aka TTTT) has been played on Instagram for more than a year, though you might not have realized that until now.

Since there aren’t many opportunities for me to get together with friends to taste chocolate, I wondered if there was a creative way to virtually share a common experience with friends around the globe.

One morning, at the end of June 2019, I looked at my Instagram feed and drew inspiration from a chocolate that another friend had posted about earlier in the day. I searched my stash & found something similar that I could riff on. It was like “tag team tasting” & I hoped to spur other friends to do the same thing after seeing my post.

It took a little while for the concept to gain traction, but soon a totally random Tuesday pastime has become a more organized weekly event!

We started posting about specific origins and/or makers & often people would choose an identical bar – we call that instance a “twin” (and sometimes there are even “triplets”). Well, we certainly didn’t want anyone to feel left out of the fun when they didn’t have a bar matching the weekly theme and that’s where “tangential” comes into play.

Let’s say the theme was Madagascar and I posted about Dandelion Chocolate’s bar – well, someone else might have Dandelion’s Costa Esmeraldas (Ecuador) bar and THAT WOULD ABSOLUTELY COUNT! In my head, it was like the game of Scrabble… each person’s post could potentially lead us into a new direction by building on what was posted by others!

In this instance, the weekly theme was Honduras, but morphed to include Tanzania

After we exhausted as many countries of origin as feasible, we switched to a more “open ended” alphabet theme (I swear, I didn’t influence participants even though I *clearly* love A through Z projects)! Check out #TTTT_H through #TTTT_Z for ideas & to see how we grew week-over-week. You’re probably wondering what happened to weeks A through G – well, it took us a while to figure out the best naming convention/nomenclature – prior to letters, we were using the date instead (for example #TTTT03Mar).

For the last four months of 2020, we painted a virtual chocolate rainbow (#TTTT_Rainbow) with a different color each week, starting with #TTTT_Pink and ending with #TTTT_Black.

Starting on January 5th, we are returning once again to the alphabet. Consider this your invitation to participate! It doesn’t matter who you are within the chocolate community or what language you speak…EVERYONE IS WELCOME to join the TTTT “tribe”!

When you post, please use the #TTTT_2021 hashtag + the hashtag for the week. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me at @myic2016.

Looking forward to seeing what YOU post this week for #TTTT_A!

Y is for Yacon Beer

Wow, can you believe that I’ve finally come to the end of this round of Eating the Chocolate Alphabet; it’s been MORE than a year since my “A is for Absinthe” entry! Sadly, I didn’t find a “Z” alcohol chocolate, so this is the last post of the series. Don’t feel cheated that I left out letters in this round – I’ve written about 33 different bars this series – that’s 7 more than the alphabet!

Also, (though maybe I shouldn’t really be surprised), almost 3 years ago I wrote about this unique “Y” letter ingredient as part of my inclusion series. Here’s the link to that post.

The South American Andes meets the Scottish Highlands in this Austrian Zotter bar called: YaconBier and Whisky

As always, I love the wrapper sleeve illustration by artist Andreas H. Gratze. The picture makes me think of a flamenco guitarist, though this musician is probably playing a charango if it is representing Peru and Bolivia in honor of the origin of the yacon root/tuber.

As mentioned, I’ve been waiting to taste this bar for quite some time + the “best by” date elapsed about a year ago, so forgive the chalky white blemishes on the outside of the bar showing the wavy pattern of the 70% noble (dark) chocolate couverture of this “hand scooped” bar. There is no one to blame but myself.

This outer coating was a little crumbly when cut with a knife, but that just made it easier to isolate and taste the chocolate on its own. To me, it was a little smoky (like a mezcal), but I’m guessing it is really the peaty notes from the Scottish Single Malt Whisky.

The ganache looks like a toasted white chocolate and has a slightly crystallized honey or soft/granulated caramel mouthfeel/texture. Based on the inner wrapper, the yacon beer used for this bar was brewed in the volcanic region of Austria by Milli’s Bio-Oasis. If you visit Milli’s website and scroll down, you will see a photo of a yacon root, which looks a lot like a yam or sweet potato.

Typically yacon is used as a natural, alternative sweetener with a low glycemic index; but, in the case of this chocolate bar, raw cane sugar is the first ingredient, so it’s fairly sweet. Honestly, if I didn’t know there was alcohol, I would not have been able to tell. I imagine that a fresh bar would be vibrant! If you’ve tried either the beer or the chocolate, please let me know your thoughts!

Zotter is based in Austria, but they also have a US presence in Florida! For those in Europe, check out: https://www.zotter.at/en/ and for those in the US, visit: https://www.zotterusa.com/

Yes, I have a theme for “Round 5” of Eating the Chocolate Alphabet; however, I’ll be taking a break during the hot summer months since SoCal weather and shipping chocolate don’t mix. For the next round, I plan to feature California-based chocolates A through Z. Bonbons, chocolate shops, confections and bean-to-bar are all fair game, so if there’s a particular place you think I should write about, leave me a note in the comments section. Bonus points if it’s a “double word score” like Andy’s Apothecary!

Salud & Slàinte on this Thirsty Thursday!

W is for Whiskey

Procrastination finally paid off!

This alcohol-related round of Eating the Chocolate Alphabet seems to have dragged on FOREVER! We’re almost at the end though. This is my penultimate post & I’ve been wondering when to write about whiskey. I wasn’t motivated for “Thirsty Thursday” or “Finally Friday.” This morning, I woke up to discover that it is World Whiskey Day. It’s a sign! (or serendipity, you decide!) Had I been more in tune with boozy theme days, I could have said it was planned this way.

OK, time to raid the stash now. I remembered at least 2-3 bars were just waiting for the right day, but searching the inventory spreadsheet I was surprised to find 6 whiskey bars (well, technically 7, but you’ll have to wait until the last post of this series to hear about that one!)

It’s now 11:45 AM & the only thing I’ve eaten in the last 3 hours has been boozy chocolate. It’s a tough job, but someone’s gotta do it. Suffice it to say that I’m craving protein, or carbs, or veggies…ANYTHING!

Since tasting and photographing started around breakfast time, the Zotter Whisky & Bacon bar seemed like a logical beginning! (You’re probably also wondering about “whisky” vs. “whiskey” – the Scottish spell it without the “e” while the Irish & Americans include it – there’s no difference in terms of the alcohol though.)

Don’t you just love the cute & colorful pig/pork inspired illustrations on the front of this wrapper?! I’m sow-prised that I couldn’t figure out puns about the piggy Marilyn Monroe or Blues Brothers characters. I was worried puns would “boar” you, so I’ll just “swine” about it instead 😜 (Sorry, those sounded funnier in my head!)

This bar is from Zotter’s hand-scooped collection, which means that there are multiple layers involved.

Beneath the thin layer of dark chocolate couverture there is a milk chocolate whisky ganache layer, as well as hazelnut praline with pork cracklings. The ingredients list says: “whisky (alcoholic extract of bacon)” which I suppose means that they steeped bacon in whisky to impart the flavor! It’s definitely creamy, crunchy, salty & sweet all at the same time. During my first tasting, I didn’t notice the baking spice flavors; but this time, I could taste the vanilla, cinnamon and star anise. There’s apparently also cardamom, but it must have been really subtle.

Next up is Bixby & Co.’s 70% Dominican Republic Bourbon bar. They used barrel aged, grain-to-glass, Maine-made bourbon from Split Rock Distilling.

Woah, there Trish! This is supposed to be “W is for Whiskey!” Why are you trying a bourbon bar? Maybe you’ve heard the saying “all bourbon is whiskey, but not all whiskey is bourbon.” It’s complicated, but the differences in the spirits have to do with the grain content, distillation and type of wood used for barrel aging.

A bourbon whiskey is made with at least 50% corn and barrel aged. From Split Rock’s website, it looks like they use 60% corn, 20% wheat, 15% barley & 5% rye and barrel age in new char 3 white oat.

Anyway, I digress…back to the chocolate.

Look at how DETAILED this mould design is! I see an octopus and books amongst the sworls. It seemed like such a shame to break into it. Straight out of the inner foil wrapper, the bar aroma reminded me of balsamic vinegar. With a medium to sharp snap, I placed a tasting morsel on my tongue. It started off floral/herbal and then tasted like a pound cake or marzipan. Lightly textured/thick mouthfeel during the slow/even melt and fruity on the finish with some tip of tongue tingles.

Next is Goodnow Farms’ Special Reserve Single Origin 77% dark chocolate with Putnam Rye Whiskey. They steeped the Esmeraldas (Ecuador) beans for several days in Boston Harbor Distillery’s rye whiskey. A rye whiskey means that more than 50% of the mash is that grain type. In fact, the BHD Putnam New England Rye is 95% rye and 5% two-row malted barley!

Love the nearly pristine matte finish of this bar, while the back of the bar had interesting swirls from the chocolate machine’s depositing heads.

Super smooth & creamy during the slow even melt since there is additional cocoa butter (pressed in house from the same Esmeraldas origin beans). Initially tasted like drunken raisins or cherries, which then evolved to walnuts or pecans with a yogurt-like tang at the back of the throat after the chocolate was gone from the mouth.

I saved this Chocolate Tree Whisky Nibs bar for last since they soaked the Marañon Canyon (Peru) nibs in a single malt from Islay, known to have very peaty/smoky notes.

With the topsy turvy tiles, some pieces were thicker than others. Straight out of the inner pouch, there was a drunken dried fruit aroma which is typical of Peruvian origin chocolate. Once I snapped off a tasting morsel, that distinctive earthy peat smell took over. Lightly crumbly when chewed, each bite was chock full of crunchy nibs. Here’s a close up of one of those inclusions:

In the opening “class photo,” you likely saw two other bars that I haven’t described yet. Well, let’s just say that those are mass produced/bulk industrial brands rather than craft chocolate.

The Canadian maple whisky inside the milk chocolate leaf shaped shell was very sweet, had a waxy mouthfeel and didn’t melt easily on the tongue.

The 58% dark chocolate + Irish Whiskey was a thick bar with a medium snap & a toothy bite. Again, it didn’t melt easily, was waxy/too sweet and had an overwhelming vanilla aroma (though none was added).

At the time that I first tasted these chocolates, it was TOO early to pair with whiskey. But now that “happy hour” is approaching, maybe I’ll do some cocktail pairings. Stay tuned for the results, though I can already tell you that the Chocolate Tree bar pairs well with Laphroaig!

To learn more about the craft chocolates described here, check out each maker’s websites:

Bixby & Co. – https://bixbyco.com/
Chocolate Tree – https://www.choctree.co.uk/
Goodnow Farms – https://goodnowfarms.com/
Zotter (USA) – https://www.zotterusa.com/

Cheers & how are YOU celebrating World Whisk(e)y Day? 🥃

V is for Vodka

Translation can be a funny thing!

It’s always fascinating to learn new terminology when conducting research for these posts. For example, the label of this bar made by Zotter Schokoladen in Austria:

You see three ingredients that start with “ERD” – the German word for earth.

  • ERDnuss – literal translation is “earth nut” (meaning peanut)
  • ERDäpfel – “earth apple” (meaning potato)
  • ERDbeere – “earth berry” (meaning strawberry)

Like many of Zotter’s unique inclusion bars, this one is “handscooped,” meaning that it is comprised of multiple layers. The first is a handmade peanut nougat with chunky pieces of brittle and next is an equally sized layer of potato vodka enhanced ganache made with apricot and sweet potato. All this is enrobed (coated) with strawberry flavored milk chocolate.

The overall taste is an adult peanut butter & jelly chocolate sandwich! Even though vodka is listed as an ingredient, it really isn’t boozy at all.

Speaking of that alcohol, until recently I assumed that all vodka was produced by fermenting potatoes. Turns out that vodka was also traditionally made from fermented grains like wheat, barley and rye. Looking through a list of vodkas on Wikipedia, I was surprised to see ones made with grapes, peaches, figs and even horseradish or creamed corn!

Did you notice letters behind the three bears on the label illustration? It says “klima wandel” (climate change). Based on reading the inner wrapper, my guess is that this bar was created in support of a climate initiative/earth talks in Vienna. So, in keeping with the earlier translations, could it be that the name of the bar “Rettet die ERD-Bären” (save the earth bears) really means “save the humans”?

If you’re in the U.S. and would like to buy some Zotter bars for yourself, please visit their website: https://www.zotterusa.com/

For those in Europe, use this link: https://www.zotter.at

Wherever you are in the world…
Cheers/Prost/Na Zdorovie on this Thirsty Thursday!

U is for Uinta Brewing

When I started this round of Eating the Chocolate Alphabet, I knew that some letters would be more difficult to fulfill than others.

Really, how many alcohol names do YOU know of that start with “U”?

A Hungarian chocolatier friend of mine was going to make Unicum bonbons – but I chickened out because that liqueur is EXTREMELY bitter! You probably don’t believe me that Unicum actually exists, but here is a link to a Bon Appetit article reviewing it!

Anyway, I digress…

When I attended the Northwest Chocolate Festival in November 2019, my problem was solved. Lo and behold, a chocolate made with a U alcohol: a beer from Uinta Brewing! Yes, I realize that using a brand name is a bit of a stretch, but I already feel guilty about not covering every letter this round!

The Chocolate Conspiracy from Salt Lake City, Utah infused unroasted Peruvian cacao nibs with Uinta Brewing’s Baba Black Lager.

Love the stylized honeycomb mould design which reinforces the fact that this chocolate is sweetened only with raw, unfiltered Utah wildflower honey. Or, it could be that it is paying homage to Utah’s nickname: the “beehive” state!

Deep dark brown color, trending toward black – which makes sense given the name of the beer! Medium to soft snap, smooth/silky to the touch and a slight fruity aroma at the cut edge. Placing a hexagon-shaped morsel on your tongue, your taste buds awaken as if you’ve just sipped an aperitif. There’s a slow/even melt and a distinctive sweetened-with-honey texture when chewed (meaning that it’s lightly grainy, reminiscent of halva or fudge). I’m not much of a beer drinker, so I can only assume that the long lasting bitter after taste can be attributed to the multiple types of malt in the beer.

Utah isn’t really the first place that comes to mind when you think of beer, but Uinta Brewing has been around since 1993 (starting out in an old mechanic’s garage…imagine the confusion of people wanting to get their cars repaired!) Since 2001 they have been 100% wind powered (one of the first Utah businesses to do so) and added solar panels a decade later. With their commitment to precision, passion & people, they are always looking for ways to make beer in a way that is better for the planet. If you would like to learn more about their history and products, please visit their website.

Can you believe there are only 3 more chocolates lined up for this round of the Alphabet! Do you have any suggestions for the next theme? Leave me a comment to let me know!

To obtain one of these chocolate bars for yourself, head over to Chocolate Conspiracy’s website: https://www.eatchocolateconspiracy.com/

S is for Sake

Kanpai! It’s Sake Saturday!

From Wikipedia, “Sake is an alcoholic beverage made by fermenting rice that has been polished to remove the bran (hard outer layer of the grain). Sake is produced by a brewing process that is more similar to that of beer, where starch is converted into sugars, which ferment into alcohol.”

The solids that are left behind after pressing and filtering the fermented sake are called “kasu” (or lees) and THAT happens to be the inclusion ingredient in both of these Fossa Chocolate bars from Singapore.

First up is a 38% white chocolate made with sake kasu produced in the process of brewing Daiginjo – the highest grade of sake brewed by Asahara Shuzo Brewery.

The base chocolate has an eggy yellow color and does give off a flan or crème caramel flavor. By itself, it’s creamy smooth and melts easily (yet slowly) on the tongue.

Looking at the crumbled topping on the back of the bar, you might almost think it is a spice (like cinnamon), tiny pieces of granola or droplets of caramelized sugar.

These little nuggets are quite hard, chewy and tend to stick in your teeth. I was surprised by the initial granny smith/tart apple flavor that finishes with a lightly effervescent, malty and alcoholic aftertaste. Eaten together, it is like a sake-flavored vanilla pudding!

Next is the limited release, 75% dark chocolate bar in collaboration with artisanal sake curator, KuroKura. This bar has sake kasu sourced from two different craft sake breweries.

From the outer packaging: “The white kasu comes from the Moriki brewery, one of Japan’s smallest, where a husband-and-wife team brew amazingly complex sakes using home-grown organic Yamada Nishiki rice.”

The “white” kasu (which, to me, looks more beige/tan in color) intriguingly tastes like a salty, concentrated tomato paste/fruit leather. Tomatoes are known to be umami (the 5th category of taste along with salty, sweet, sour, and bitter), so it makes sense.

As for the darker pieces, the packaging says: “the red kasu comes from the brewing of Inemankai, a one-of-a-kind sake by the Mukai brewery using a strain of red rice that grows in the master brewer’s hometown of Ine in rural Kyoto.”

By themselves, these “red” kasu taste so much like coffee to me.

Sampling the bar (chocolate + both kasu together), I’m impressed by how juicy and fruity it tastes, starting off very plum/prune-like and then evolving to savory black licorice. This reminds me of a German dopplebock beer, like Samichlaus.

While I might not ever re-purchase these bars, I’m very glad to have tasted them and thrilled to have been able to try both versions together!

P.S. In case you were curious about kanpai (the Japanese way of saying “cheers”), it literally means “dry {sake} cup” or an exhortation to empty your cup of sake, like the phrase “bottoms up.”

Have you ever thought about combining sake with chocolate?
Let me know in the comments below.

For more information on Fossa Chocolate, please visit their website: https://www.fossachocolate.com/

R is for Rum

One of these bars is NOT like the other. Can you tell what the difference is?!

As I gather bars together for each post, I realize that A) I over-plan and buy too many bars ahead of time (meaning that the “best by” usually elapses well before I have the chance to taste them) and B) I’m a little obsessive 😜
I have too many chocolates!! I know you’re all shocked by that statement!

Anyway, did you guess that four of the five bars photographed above are Rum + Raisin? If so, bonus points for you!

Tasting in alphabetical order (would you expect anything else from me)…

Cultura Craft Chocolate (Denver, Colorado)
Limited Release 72% Rum + Raisin

While the packaging mentions raisin, the list of ingredients does not. Maybe this was a typo/oversight or maybe raisin refers to the flavor profile that they are highlighting?

This one is described as being a Guatemalan dark chocolate infused with Bear Creek Distillery’s Spiced Rum. The surface is lightly frosted since the “enjoy by” date had elapsed by a whole year. YIKES! 😲

There’s a vegetal aroma to the bar that (strangely) reminds me of miso soup. Dry, brittle snap & crumbly when chewed. I encountered a yogurt-like tang and a grainy mouthfeel during the slow/even melt. Finishes with fruity/cherry notes.

Charley’s Chocolate Factory (Queensland, Australia)
70% Dark Chocolate PLUS Rum and Raisin

This bar is truly a melting pot of ingredients! The cocoa beans are from the Madang Province of Papua New Guinea, the cocoa butter is Venezuelan, the soy lecithin is from Germany, the rum is from Queensland (Australia) and the raisins are also Australian.

Speaking of which, just look at the generous amount of plump, chewy drunken raisins dotting the back of this bar!

No aroma straight out the packaging, which is surprising given that my past experience with PNG chocolate has been heavy on the smoke since traditionally those cocoa beans have been smoke dried.

The 3 ounce bar feels hefty/dense in my hands and has a medium snap. It’s slow to melt on the tongue and produces a thick/not completely smooth mouthfeel during the even melt.

It’s what I would consider a good snacking bar with all those rum infused raisins on the back!

Jasper + Myrtle (Canberra, Australia) Spiced Rum Dark Chocolate

OK, now that I look at the packaging again, this doesn’t specifically say raisin, but it DOES say “dried fruit” as part of the ingredients list. Does that count?! Other ingredients listed are: Australian Rum, spices and bourbon vanilla.

Again, this one has a lightly frosted appearance since the “best by” date is also almost a year ago 😢

There’s an immediate spice aroma. Is it cinnamon or nutmeg? I’ll say cinnamon as my final answer!

Sharp snap, slow/even melt releasing primarily caramel notes plus black pepper and other spices, with an oaky/woody taste mid-melt and on the finish. No visible inclusions or mouthfeel texture from the dried fruits, so I wonder if they were ground in with the cocoa beans.

Solkiki (UK) 63% Coconut Dark Milk Rum n Raisin

The outer, cardboard packaging could hardly stay closed due to all the lumpy inclusion goodness encased in Gran Nativo Blanco (Peru) dark non-dairy (vegan) milk chocolate. There are small, chewy, boozy Diplomatico Reserva rum infused raisins studding the bar as a textural treat.

Medium to sharp snap, vibrant tropical fruit flavor with a creamy, slow/event melt. It’s rich and satisfying and could easily stand in as an after dinner dessert!

Last, but not least…

Wm. Chocolate (Madison, Wisconsin) Honduras Wampusirpi 72% dark + Roaring Dan’s Rum

Another lightly frosted outer surface (it’s about 6 months out of date), with a high pitched snap. This one has an intense molasses/prune-y aroma and flavor. I wonder if these notes come from the rum or the whole cane sugar used as sweetener. Silky smooth, creamy, slow/even melt with a malty and light leather finish.

The Wampusirpi, Honduras cacao was soaked in Great Lakes Distillery’s Roaring Dan’s Rum, named after Dan Seavey, a pirate who sailed in the Great Lakes at the turn of the 20th Century.

Lately I’ve been pairing chocolates with a matching cocktail.

What you see here is a Hop Toad: equal parts white rum, apricot liqueur & lime juice. Here are the results from individual tastings:

The citrus notes were highlighted when pairing the cocktail with Charley’s and Jasper + Myrtle. The citrus was especially intensified/more pronounced with Wm. Chocolate.

Alternatively, the apricot sweetness was enhanced by Cultura and Solkiki.

I realized too late that I also have a unique sugar cane alcohol made in the Peruvian Amazon. Sounds like I have more pairings and experimentation in my future!

If you have a rum cocktail recommendation, please leave me a note in the comments section.

Please visit the various makers’ websites for more details on their offerings!

Cultura Craft Chocolate: https://www.culturachocolate.com/
Charley’s Chocolate Factory: https://www.charleys.com.au/
Jasper + Myrtle: https://jasperandmyrtle.com.au/
Solkiki: https://www.solkiki.co.uk/
Wm. Chocolate: https://wmchocolate.com/

Bonus – P is for Pisco

Fruity, frothy & light. That’s how I like my cocktails. Seems like I’ve just described a Pisco Sour (among other things); so, why not feature a bar called Pisco Sour! OK…don’t mind if I do!

More than a year ago (yes, it’s taken me *THAT* long to finally post about this bar), I tasked a friend to find me this Chocolate Tree Scotland bar during his trip to the UK. Woo hoo! Mission accomplished!

If you’re concerned that the box seems awfully large for the bar next to it…don’t despair! There is a second, individually wrapped, bar in this box for portion control or just double the fun! Love the eye-catching kaleidoscope of llamas on the packaging + the chosen colors make me think of lemons/limes/citrus. So appropriate for this bar!!

Since this bar experienced a trans-Atlantic trip, the topsy-turvy tiles are a little bloomed/frosted in appearance, which also explains why it’s slow to melt on the tongue. Regardless, I prefer to chomp to enjoy the crunchy nibs embedded in the 70% Piura (Peru) dark chocolate. And when I do chew, it then heightens the fruitiness. Bright fruit punch flavors explode in the mouth with a tart zing at the back of the throat on the finish.

From the packaging, it sounds like the nibs were infused with the ingredients of a classic Pisco Sour cocktail: pisco (a type of colorless brandy), lime juice & bitters. Not sure which came first: the Peruvian town and/or river Pisco or the spirit/alcohol. According to Wikipedia, 1764 was the first recorded use of this term to denote a Peruvian aguardiente (literally translated as burning water, the English equivalent is “fire water”), even though there are debates whether Peru or Chile was the first to produce Pisco.

It surprised me to learn that Pisco is made from fermented grape juice distilled into a high proof spirit since I’m generally not a fan of wine; but I do like a good Pisco Sour.

Pairing the chocolate with the cocktail heightens the citrusy notes of each. YUM!😋

Cheers on this Thirsty Thursday! 🍸

To learn more about Chocolate Tree Scotland, please visit their website: https://www.choctree.co.uk/

P is for Pálinka

My original goal for this round of Eating the Chocolate Alphabet was to feature lesser-known or new-to-me alcohols. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Lilla (aka Little Beetle Chocolates) for sourcing this chocolate bar directly from Hungary!

According to Wikipedia, pálinka (a fruit brandy commonly made with plums, apricots, apples, pears or cherries) has been around since the fourteenth century and might have been used medicinally by the Hungarian King and Queen during the Middle Ages to treat their arthritis. Like champagne and Parmigiano-Reggiano, pálinka has a PDO (protected designation of origin), meaning that unless the beverage was mashed, distilled, matured and bottled in Hungary, it can’t be called pálinka.

Now to taste the chocolate!

Just look at this gorgeous mould design that reminds me of a fireplace tile! {forgive the slight frosted appearance since the “best by date” is actually tomorrow 😲}

Lucky for me (depending on how you look at it), I didn’t have my usual pangs of conscience in breaking off tasting morsels since the bar was already segmented into various pieces. I could immediately smell and taste star anise, which surprised me, until I read the ingredients: fennel is listed at the very end!

Slow to melt on the tongue (likely due to the condition of the bar), it definitely becomes creamy on the palate after a few moments. Once the chocolate has warmed up, then it’s easy for your tongue to encounter chunks of candied nibs that add texture and crunch. I wonder what specific type of pálinka was used to soak the Venezuelan cocoa nibs before they were candied since fennel is the overall flavor note that I can taste (which isn’t a bad thing, mind you!)

If you are curious about Rózsavölgyi Csokoládé, take a look at my post from 2016 where I provided more details on the makers and their packaging.

For those of you in the U.S., you can buy a variety of bars from Caputo’s: https://caputos.com/rozsavolgyi/

Now I’m on a quest to find a bottle of pálinka, preferably apricot, since Lilla shared a filled chocolate ball that had this exotically perfumed and potent spirit. Have YOU tried pálinka? Leave me a comment!👇🏻

M is for Mezcal

There was a time when the taste, let alone the smell, of mezcal made me recoil. Thanks to a certain someone (you know who you are!), now I fully embrace the bold and robust flavors of this spirit & often order cocktails with this as a main ingredient.

At the NW Chocolate Festival in Seattle last November, a friend literally dragged me to the Cuna de Piedra booth telling me I *HAD* to taste their mezcal bars. He also mockingly told me that I couldn’t buy the Mezcal Reposado bar since HE BOUGHT THE LAST ONE! 😧 To console myself, I purchased this Mezcal Joven bar paired with 73% Soconusco, Chiapas origin dark chocolate. Hopefully I can get my hands on the other bar soon!

Love the reddish brown color and that each rectangular baton is emblazoned with part of a Spanish phrase that translates to: “Mexico, cradle of cacao. From the bean to the bar.” Cuna de Piedra translates to “stone cradle” – though I’m not certain if they are referring to the metate, a tool that is often used to grind cacao into paste.

Citrusy aroma & lightly bitter taste, like pith or peel, which makes sense when reading the informational panel on the outer label: “Young Mezcal made from 100% Maguey Espadin from Santiago Matatlán, a town located in the central valleys of Oaxaca, considered to be the ‘world capital of mezcal.’ The agaves were crushed into an Egyptian stone mill, known as tahona, the liquid was fermented in oaks vats and double distilled in clay pot stills to obtain the freshest citrus and herbal notes, which blend harmoniously with our Soconusco, Chiapas 73%.”

Medium to sharp snap; flourless chocolate cake texture when chewed. There is an immediate burst of bright fruity flavor as soon as a piece hits your tongue/palate. There’s a lightly smoky taste without being overwhelming. Thick/palate coating mouthfeel during the slow/even melt. The texture is not completely smooth, but also not grainy. I was surprised to read that the alcohol had been removed from the Mezcal, making this bar non-alcoholic.

For no other reason than there was “Piedra” in the company name, I paired this chocolate with a dram of Santo de Piedra Mezcal Joven. This mezcal had a granny smith / Jolly Rancher apple flavor on its own. Sipping the mezcal while having a piece of chocolate in my mouth resulted in an unusual savory flavor combination that made me think of salsa, with notes of tomato, onion & garlic! 🤯

To find out more about the chocolate, please visit: https://shop.cunadepiedra.com/

As an added bonus, I tried a second mezcal/citrus dark chocolate bar. This has languished in my stash for over a year, the best by date elapsed more than 7 months ago. I wouldn’t say that I’m a procrastinator, I just started planning this round of the alcohol Eating the Chocolate Alphabet too early!

This Parliament Chocolate bar (from Redlands, CA) has a muted smoky aroma straight out of the inner wrapper. I was surprised to see so many holes/gaps along the edges as well as an unexpected crunch – I’m assuming it’s from candied citrus peel even though it wasn’t listed as an ingredient. Medium to sharp snap; crumbly texture when chewed. Slow to melt on the tongue & there is none of the smoky “bite” that I associate with mezcal.

Since this Peloton de la Muerte mezcal is known to have fruity flavors, I thought it would be a good pairing with the chocolate. That first sip was pure fire, but once that subsided it was smooth & tangy. I’m not sure that it enhanced the chocolate, but it certainly didn’t detract from it.

In case you’re curious about the tiny drams of mezcal, these were from a 2017 Drinks by the Dram advent calendar from Masters of Malt, not sure when they will be shipping to the US again, but hopefully soon!

Many restaurants have Tequila Tuesday events, but I say we need to institute Mezcal Miercoles ASAP!! Salud!