Behind every chocolate bar, there is a story…this one is truly unique!
There was a time when I feared it would be impossible to feature the letter “Y” this round!
- My boyfriend & I had scoured the internet for possible cacao growing cities around the globe that started with the letter Y: Yogyakarta, Indonesia; Yaoundé, Cameroon; and Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast were contenders, but then came the issue of actually finding chocolate bars from those areas.
- I had issued a plea on my Instagram stories and pinned the post to my profile for WEEKS afterwards; sadly, that resulted in very few responses.
- Needing to reach a bigger audience (and running out of time), I posted to a chocolate-centric Facebook group asking for suggestions. Someone with connections to a farm in Yorkin, Costa Rica replied, but then nothing ever came of it. Another person suggested a 100% bar made from Yamasa, Dominican Republic beans…but, have you ever tasted a 100% bar…ugh!
I became resigned to the fate that I might have to “bend the rules” to achieve a blog-worthy post. Then, the most amazing series of events started to unfold!
Lauren Heineck from WKND Chocolate spotted an Instagram post of a woman roasting cacao beans in Yariguíes National Park, Colombia and tagged me in the comments! I immediately reached out to @spiralterra asking if there was ANY possibility of getting a single bar using those beans. Unfortunately no bars existed, but she had returned from the trip with a small quantity of fermented/dried beans that she could send to me. One small snag, she’s in Belize and I’m in Southern California. Oh, and that tiny (yet crucial) detail: I AM NOT A CHOCOLATE MAKER!!
The elusive “Y” was finally within my grasp! My head was spinning! What should I do?
Accessing my mental rolodex: who do I know that could transform cacao beans into chocolate for me? Over the last two years of blogging, I’ve gotten to know several chocolate makers even though I’ve never met them in real life. Map Chocolate and Violet Sky Chocolate were both instrumental in Round 2 of the Alphabet, so of course I would reach out to them for their advice. I also wanted to involve Lauren since she was the one who had first alerted me to the origin. Then, I remembered a blog post from Will Marx of Wm. Chocolate where he detailed his experience with test batch after test batch, trying to find a substitute complex & dynamic flavor profile after a favorite origin ran out.
Quickly firing off an email to these four chocolate makers, I needed a “reality check.” Should I take the risk of requesting that an “unknown quantity” be shipped internationally? Could a few bars of chocolate be made with 5 pounds (or less) of beans? What pitfalls did I need to consider?
I was thrilled to get responses back from everyone within hours of me pressing send, even though it was already late in the day! They each provided insightful advice, feedback and thoughts. Overall, my idea was met with enthusiasm and they were willing to help out. Now I worried if air mail would cost me an “arm and a leg” or if the package would somehow get lost in transit or stuck in customs limbo.
I asked Giulia (aka spiralterra) for a shipping estimate, knowing that her response would probably “make” or “break” my decision to move forward. After a couple of days of stress and anxiety on my part, she provided me a more cost-effective solution. Her partner (Sam), based in New York, had the same batch of beans and could ship me two pounds!
Cue the choir of angels singing…
During my initial fact-finding email exchange, Will from Wm. Chocolate had indicated that he had some time coming up in his schedule for a quick turnaround…this project was suddenly becoming very tangible! Fast forward about a week, now I was daily monitoring the shipment of beans from New York to Wisconsin (where Will is based); I needed to know the precise moment that the “eagle had landed.”
Part of me was curious to know everything about those beans, but another part wanted to be surprised. Staying in suspense won! Leaving things in Will’s capable hands, I didn’t learn the “backstory” or even the final cacao percentage until AFTER I had tasted the finished chocolate bar!
Thanks for reading this VERY long preamble! Now for the moment you’ve been waiting for! Insert drumroll…
This was my first time seeing Will’s custom logo mold, since the “K” bar and the “W” bar were created with completely different molds!
Despite the chocolate “dust” that clung to the front of the bar, the logo indentations were eye catching and well defined! Looking closer, I noticed tiny, reddish-brown flecks reaching the surface of the bar.
Knowing that I love the artistic “drip patterns” that often appear on the backs of bars, Will unleashed his inner Picasso and opted not to smooth out the liquid chocolate with a vibration machine after filling the molds. These are the backs of just 2 of the 6 bars that I received, but each one had its own personality and quirks. I’ve tweaked the photos below with black & white filters so that the images will “pop” better! Let me know what YOU see!
Originally I was going to wait a few days to taste the bars in the morning, when my palate was fresh; but, since half of the bars arrived cracked, I took that as a sign for an immediate, impromptu late-afternoon tasting session!
There was a sharp snap and a fruity aroma at the break point. I noticed some flecks of white and interesting shear patterns.
But OH MY! I was NOT prepared for the flavor explosion in my mouth! There was an immediate back of the throat, vibrant burst of fruit that reminded me of molasses, dried raisins, or alcohol-soaked cherries. Smooth mouthfeel, slow/even melt and a bit astringent during and after the melt.
About a week later, I was finally able to make time to taste in earnest. The partially consumed bar still had a sharp snap, but the aroma at the break point was more earthy and woody. This time the flavor was deeper and a bit subdued. Don’t get me wrong, it was still complex, robust and full-bodied. The flavor was now more tangy, like sour cherries or a fruity Greek yogurt, with a long lasting tannic finish.
No longer worried about being “pre-influenced,” I could finally contact Will to request his notes and photos from the production process!
As you can see, the beans look mostly pristine!
Will decided that a medium roast would bring out the inherent qualities and flavors of the cacao. I can almost smell the winnowed nibs from this photo! [Note: winnowing removes the papery skin/husk from the roasted beans.]
Pre-grinding the nibs a bit makes them easier to process, these powdered nibs were ready to be put in the refiner/melanger to be slowly ground into a liquid state.
After several hours, a sweetener could be added to the chocolate liquor (Note: this has nothing to do with alcohol, but means liquified chocolate). Will chose sucanat, a whole/unrefined sugar from Costa Rica that has a flavor similar to mild wildflower honey.
The final formulation included just 3 ingredients: nibs, cocoa butter and wholesome sweetener; resulting in a one-of-a-kind 74% dark chocolate!
I’m very grateful to Samuel Kent Combs for sending a note with the beans to explain their “provenance.” I had never heard of FEC2 & FSV41 varieties of Trinitario beans until then! If you are interested, there are several Colombian cacao documents online (in Spanish) explaining these clones: Fedecacao El Carmen 2 (FEC2) & Fedecacao San Vicente 41 (FSV41).
Usually with these posts I have featured the origin itself rather than concentrating on the bar, but hopefully you agree that its story was too special not to be featured.
To learn more about where the cacao beans came from [Bosques de Yariguíes in the Santander department of Colombia], please visit this website: http://bosquesdecacaoyariguies.com/en/home/
To purchase other Wm. Chocolate bars for yourself, please visit: https://wmchocolate.com/
Without the LOVE of adventure from all the individuals involved, this bar might never have happened. To EACH of you, I say a heartfelt THANK YOU!!!