milk chocolate – Eating the Chocolate Alphabet

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!

I is for Ice Wine

Ice Wine was my “gateway” drink!

On a date, at a cozy French bistro in a trendy part of Los Angeles in my early 30s, wanting to appear cultured and chic, but daunted by the wine list, I came upon Neige (apple ice wine). I ordered it and fell in love (with the wine, mostly; but with the guy as well, if I’m being honest).

Since then, I’ve always had an affinity for sweet wines: late harvest varietals and ice wine (grape or apple-based), in particular.

According to Wikipedia:

“Ice wine is a type of dessert wine produced from grapes that have been frozen while still on the vine. The sugars and other dissolved solids do not freeze, but the water does, allowing for a more concentrated grape juice to develop. The grapes’ must is pressed from the frozen grapes, resulting in a smaller amount of more concentrated, very sweet wine. With ice wines, the freezing happens before the fermentation, not afterwards.”

When a Canadian friend saw my alcohol-related Eating the Chocolate Alphabet project, she offered to find me chocolates made with ice wine; Canada is one of the largest producers of ice wine since the weather consistently gets cold enough there. How could I refuse?!

Love that the quintet of detailed, maple leaf-shaped bonbons are served individually in a little tray inside the shiny (and hard to avoid an accidental selfie while being photographed) outer box.

The outer shell is milk chocolate and in the center there is a small dollop of crumbly ice wine flavored cocoa butter. Overall this confection is too sweet for my taste and I wonder what it might have been like with either white chocolate or dark chocolate as the shell.

Granted, these are not “craft” chocolates, but they do provide a fond nostalgia for time gone by.

Over the years, romance with the guy withered and died, but my affection for the wine has not. On the whole, I can’t complain about that turn of fate, it’s opened a world of opportunities for me 🙂

If you know of another ice wine chocolate that I should try, please leave a comment below!

E is for Enzian

Every time I think up a new theme for Eating the Chocolate Alphabet, the process for acquiring bars that fit each letter seems easier in my head than in reality. The only thing that initially came to mind for “E” was elderflower liqueur, but that proved impossible to find in a chocolate. So, today’s hero is Lilla from Little Beetle Chocolates. While on a reconnaissance trip to Austria, she found not one but two “E” bars as well as them containing an alcohol that I had never even heard of until now!

Introducing Enzian...

According to Wikipedia, enzian liquor (also known as gentian spirit or gentian schnapps) is a clear distilled alcoholic beverage originating in the Alpine region, produced using roots from gentian plants (generally the yellow variety, though there is also purple, brown or spotted). Gentian can be found in angostura bitters, is said to be the main flavor in vermouth and has been used since the Middle Ages for the production of schnapps. WOW…what a versatile plant this is!

First up is Xocolat Alpin

The illustration on both the outer packaging and the inner glassine envelope makes me want to take up cross stitching again; the floral pattern is both intricate and satisfying in its symmetry. While I’m not certain, since I had trouble translating the German text in small cursive font on the back of the box, I believe that the beautiful design was created by hand at https://www.handdrucke.at/en/

Is it just me, or does their mould design look like ravioli waiting to be cut apart into individual portions? The convex bulge lulled me into believing that the bar was filled, so it came as a surprise when I bit into a portion and discovered it was solid chocolate.

Even though sugar is the first ingredient of this 43% milk chocolate bar and there is less than 1% of gentian oil, the overall flavor is extremely bitter. I read somewhere that the bitter taste from gentian (accurately described as the “king of the bitter herbs”) can still be perceived when diluted down to 1 part in 12,000. If you’ve ever licked a pencil eraser and thought that it tasted metallic…then you have a good starting point for this chocolate! Other vivid descriptions are the packaging taglines: “with the spice of nature / with the aroma of the mountains.” When I described this bar as “botanical,” a friend very astutely asked: “Is that the nice way of saying it tastes like leaves?” Hmmm…BUSTED 😲

Medium snap, smooth mouthfeel during the slow/even melt, it’s hard to get past the bitterness and then you’re left with a lightly astringent finish. Paired with a sweet vermouth, it’s actually quite tasty! FYI, this bar does NOT contain any alcohol, just the enzian (gentian) oil.

Next is Tiroler Edle

At first, I thought: what a cute silver foil stamped cow logo on the front of this box. Little did I realize that this is a not-so-subtle hint as to the origin of the milk used for this 60% dark milk chocolate: an alpine cattle breed called Grauvieh in German and Tyrolean Grey in English.

The fair direct traded couverture chocolate (Ghana & Ecuador origins) was sourced from chocolatier’s partner, Felchlin, and then filled with 46% Galtürer Enzianbrand-Creme (cream of gentian brandy).

At first bite, there was a boozy burst of dried fruit flavor, but then the creamy sweet filling reminded me of Turkish coffee, smoke or leather. I have to admit that I’ve already eaten half the bar in one sitting 🙂

To find out more about these Austrian chocolate bars, please visit: https://www.xocolat.at/ and https://www.tiroleredle.at/

B is for Bärenjäger

Sorry that it’s been a while since my last post! This round of Eating the Chocolate Alphabet has been more difficult than the other ones. 😢 Yes, I’m struggling to find alcohol-related chocolates; but, honestly, I’ve had this bar since mid-January {well, to be honest, I bought 2 bars that day for photographic purposes & ended up eating one, so I had to buy a backup “prop” late last month!}

What I didn’t realize when starting this round of the Alphabet was a little thing called timing. While I tend to get great natural lighting for photos in the morning & early afternoon, tasting alcoholic chocolates that early makes me loopy and not very productive for the rest of the day. 😲 I really need to figure out a better system and stop rationalizing that it’s “5 o’clock somewhere” in the world! 🤷‍♀️

Anyway, back to the chocolate!

When I announced my new theme on Instagram, one of the first people to reply was Diana Malouf from Ococoa telling me that she makes a caramel bar with Bärenjäger (honey liqueur). Well, no arm twisting needed…I had found my “B” bar!

The 6-rectangle bar made with milk chocolate, white chocolate, cream, sugar, honey liqueur, butter and salt sports a cute honeycomb transfer pattern on the back. Each crisp rectangular shell is generously filled with a creamy/smooth, sweet & lightly boozy caramel filling that reminds me of dulce de leche or cajeta. 😋

During yesterday’s photo shoot, I ended up eating ALL 6 RECTANGLES! 🐷My advice when ordering this bar is to get AT LEAST two of them!

Looking online, I see that Bärenjäger translates to “Bear Hunter” in German. According to the manufacturer’s website, the beehive-to-bottle recipe dates back to 18^th Century Germany and was formulated to lure bears out of their dwellings by hunters (who also ended up consuming this drinkable honey).

Diana showed me the bottle of honey liqueur at her shop (though I didn’t taste it since I was driving),

But, now I realize that what I found at BevMo was a different formulation: Honey & Bourbon

Don’t you just love the little beehive bottle topper!

In case you’re curious, the Honey & Bourbon has a warming, but short lived “burn” and a vibrant honey aroma. Now I need to try the Honey Liqueur version…for research purposes, of course! {hey Diana, I’m coming over}

Ococoa is best known for their nut butter cup collection + other seasonal confections, one of which is their Smokey Scotch Truffles, just in time for Fathers’ Day. If your Dad (or you) enjoys a peaty Scotch, those truffles are a MUST HAVE! Visit their website for more information & let them know that Trish from Eating the Chocolate Alphabet sent you! ❤️

P is for Papaikou

Maybe it’s the post-holiday blues or that I’ve been trying not to succumb to the cold/flu bug that’s been going around…but I just haven’t been motivated to write my featured “P” post this week 😢 That and mid-week I abruptly changed my mind about which bar to post! 😲

Whenever I feel less-than-enthusiastic, the thing that keeps me going is the fascinating information that I learn each time I research a new origin!

Did you know that in the eyes of the U.S. Census Bureau, there are no incorporated areas in the state of Hawaii below the county level (as in the county of Hawaii)? This means that even large cities like Honolulu or Hilo are considered a Census Designated Place (CDP) for statistical data purposes only! According to Wikipedia, there were 1,314 people in Papaikou in 2010, down from 1,414 during the 2000 census. To put that number into perspective for me, there were about 1,200 students in my high school; which must mean that Papaikou is a close-knit community!

Pāpa’ikou is located on the east side of the “Big Island” of Hawaii, north of the county seat of Hilo. In addition to seeing the small cacao farms and the Tropical Botanical Garden, I’d love to visit the Hawaii Plantation Museum to learn more about the area’s sugar plantation era from its beginning in the early 1860s until the last mill closed in 1996.

Now for the chocolate itself!

In November, when I visited the month-old Romeo Chocolates shop on Historic Pine Avenue in Long Beach, California, I was surprised that, in addition to their own chocolate confections, they were selling co-branded chocolate bars made by Mānoa in Hawaii.

Though it doesn’t say so on the packaging itself, I found additional information about this 50% milk chocolate bar on Mānoa’s website:

“These beans were sourced from Tom Sharkey of Hilo Sharks Coffee and Colin Hart-whom we have sourced since 2015. Sharkey and Colin harvest pods from 6 farms in the Hilo Paliku area, which spans from Wailuku River to Hakalau and the Puna District. They return to Sharkey’s farm to crack and extract wet seed before loading the fermentation boxes. Sharkey and Colin maintain the orchards and manage the post-harvest handling, which is paramount for quality.”

Unclasping the gold foil stamped and embossed outer cardboard packaging, I could immediately see that the plastic inner wrapper had become stuck to the light brown bar and knew that the visual finish would be shiny and marred in spots.

Despite this, the bar sported an intricate mold design on the front with the company name encircled in the center and stylized cacao pods and/or leaves at the top and bottom sections.

At first whiff, the aroma reminded me of peanut butter, but then became more grassy/herbal…which made me wonder if this smell came from the beans themselves, the post-fermentation process or the milk that was used?! If anyone has additional information, I’d love to hear about it!

The bar broke apart easily with a sharp snap, revealing a cross section that was completely smooth in places and looked like Swiss cheese, dotted with air bubbles, in others.

At the break point, there were subtle toasted milk/caramel notes. This aroma carried over to the overall taste during the slow/even, creamy melt. Rather than change or evolve, the flavor remained consistent during the entire tasting and lasted well after the chocolate was gone from my mouth. Honestly, if you told me that this bar was made with camel’s milk (or a non-cow’s milk), I would believe you! Have YOU tried this bar? If so, please leave a comment below with your thoughts/impressions!

To learn more about Mānoa, please visit their website: https://manoachocolate.com/

50 States Collaboration – Nevada / Hexx Chocolate & Confexxions

Even though these chocolates have been in my stash since mid-April, I’ve been dragging my feet on tasting & posting them, partly because of the quantity (6 milk & 5 dark) and partly because I wasn’t sure how to execute my vision of a large tic-tac-toe game to pay tribute to the Xs that appear on each of the bite-sized morsels (maybe it’s just me, but the logo looks like a stylized, sideways hashtag). With the dwindling number of states “assigned” to me for this collaboration project, I could no longer procrastinate! So, apologies in advance since this set-up doesn’t really match my mental picture 🙁

When I discovered that an Instagram friend was visiting Las Vegas, I immediately jumped on the opportunity to request that he visit Nevada’s only bean-to-bar maker and purchase some chocolates on my behalf to save on warm weather shipping charges. Rather than choosing from the different countries of origin (or type of chocolate), he opted for one of each flavor that was available (NOTE: at that time, Venezuela was only available in milk chocolate in this 0.25 oz. “taster” size).

One of the things that I noticed about the mini heat-sealed pouches was that the milk chocolate ones (which were all 47% cacao content) had a “drippy” design while the dark chocolate ones (which varied in cacao percentage from 70-74%) had a solid rectangular color block. Also, the “forward slash” of each X matched the color coded wrapper.

Personally, I would have liked more information imprinted onto these wrappers, since it wasn’t until afterwards that I learned that the dark chocolates were made with just two ingredients: cocoa beans and palm sugar while the milk chocolates were made with five ingredients: cocoa beans, palm sugar, milk powder, ground vanilla beans and cocoa butter.

Overall, it seemed that the milk chocolate “traveled” better since there was less chocolate dust marring the surface vs. the dark chocolate. However, the milk chocolate all smelled very similar to each other: an industrial plastic-like aroma that reminded me of mass-produced candy rather than the bean-to-bar craft chocolates shown on their website. Speaking of which, this “tasting” size doesn’t appear on their website and all the bars available online are packaged in cardboard boxes, so maybe these issues have since been resolved.

If you haven’t noticed already, these small chocolates are all six-sided (hexagonal)…a visual representation of the company name, get it?! 😉 From what I’ve seen online, the mold for their full-size chocolate bars form a “honeycomb” shape composed of multiple hexagons.

In each case, I tried the milk chocolate first and then the corresponding dark chocolate (if there was one). I also tasted the dark chocolates in ascending order of cacao percentage. Below is a summary of my thoughts. Too bad I didn’t find this online “tasting menu” with descriptions of the flavor notes BEFORE my own sampling. Wonder why the Dominican Republic origin isn’t part of the online tasting menu!

Venezuela (Ocumare)

Some cosmetic defects, medium snap, grassy smell, creamy, reminded me of a milkshake, even melt, lightly grainy/almost “sticky” mouthfeel

Peru (Marañón Pure Nacional)

Milk: Minimal dust, soft snap, taste reminded me of a powdered hot cocoa mix, creamy yet sticky mouthfeel

Dark (70%): Some dust, sharp snap, slow to melt, bitter in comparison to the milk, roasted/earthy/fruity flavor, thick/not smooth mouthfeel

Tanzania (Kokoa Kamili)

Milk: Air bubbles & dust marring surface, medium snap, smelled like fresh baked brownies, yogurt-like tang, thick milky mouthfeel

Dark (70%): Lots of dust, dry/brittle snap, initially tasted like a hard cheese that changed to fruity/berry-like, astringent/chalky aftertaste

Dominican Republic (Oko Caribe)

Milk: Shinier/less dust than others, though still had air bubbles on the surface, sharp snap, dry appearance, tasted like a caramel or powdered hot cocoa mix, not smooth mouthfeel, back-of-the-throat acidity

Dark (71%): Also shinier/less dust than others, sharp snap, dry/chalky, tasted fruity/citrusy, astringent aftertaste on tongue

Ecuador (Camino Verde)

Milk: Shinier, less dust, some scuffing & air bubbles, brittle/crumbly snap sending shards flying everywhere, very sweet, caramel taste

Dark (73%): Minimal cosmetic defects, sharp snap, smelled fruity like plums, lightly roasted/nutty flavor [THIS WAS MY FAVORITE]

Madagascar (Sambirano Valley)

Milk: Dust, ghosting & air bubbles marring surface, dull snap, dry/chalky appearance but tasted creamy, too sweet & lightly “sticky” mouthfeel

Dark (74%): lots of air bubbles, smelled fruity (like ripe berries), tasted like burnt toast or lightly vegetal, chalky mouthfeel

Next time I visit the Las Vegas, I plan on taking a factory tour and re-sampling these small-batch, single origin bars to determine if the taste and smell were transit related. Besides, based on the side panel of their shopping bag, it looks like there is PLENTY to do, see & eat! 🙂

If you’d like to learn more about Hexx Chocolate & Confexxions, check out their website: http://www.hexxchocolate.com/

Remember to follow the Time to Eat Chocolate blog to hear about the next stop in the “50 States” project…we’re almost reaching the end!

NOTE: If you know of any other bean-to-bar makers in Nevada, please leave a comment or send an email…we like to keep our resource lists as up-to-date as possible!

50 States Collaboration – New York / Fruition Chocolate

Usually Lori (from Time to Eat Chocolate) and I trade off featuring different states and chocolate makers in our respective blogs, but this week we are both featuring “The Big Apple.” It wasn’t until this project that I discovered that New York is second to California in terms of the number of bean-to-bar makers! In case you’re wondering…Oregon and Texas tie for 3rd with ten B2B makers in each of those states, while California has a whopping 36 and New York has 12!

Back in 2014, Fruition hired the All Good NYC creative team to revamp their packaging and I wish I knew if there was a term (mathematical or otherwise) to describe the kaleidoscopic / repeating stylized flower petal pattern that features prominently on these thick, notched closure cardboard boxes. I don’t know about you, but the stark contrast between these two Fruition bars makes me think of “Ebony and Ivory”…

Viewing the outer packaging at a certain angle, with the right lighting really makes the pearlized stamping and embossing sparkle and shine, such that this design is both distinctive and eye-catching.

Brown Butter Milk Chocolate (43% Dominican Republic cacao)

Removing the bar from the sealed clear plastic sleeve, you’ll notice the symmetrical motif is repeated, but this time with a single tilted “F” within a square inside of a circle near the top. Some chocolate dust along the left side of the bar and a few air bubbles mar the overall matte finish.

As you would expect from a brown butter bar, caramel is the primary aroma. Straight out of wine fridge storage, there is a crisp snap when segmenting morsels and a semi-crisp snap at room temperature (granted it’s in the high 60s/low 70s here at the moment). If only I had taken Physics, I might understand what causes the random “shear” pattern when breaking off pieces for tasting.

The mouthfeel is thick and dense during the slow and even melt. Overall, this not-too-sweet bar is smooth, creamy and milky; which makes sense since locally churned Ronnybrook Farm Dairy browned butter was used in this interpretation of a classic milk chocolate bar. The caramel flavor is intensified when chomped rather than melted, leaving a pleasant lingering toasted nut aftertaste at the finish.

Hudson Valley Bourbon Dark Milk (61% Dominican Republic cacao)

Over the years, this bar has won several awards; however, the sticker here (from Batch no. 3 packaging) only reflects the World Silver from the 2015 International Chocolate Awards. (According to their website, they won World Silver again in 2016!) Since I’m familiar with bourbon barrel aged beers, I was especially intrigued to find out how “oaky” the results would be in this dark milk chocolate bar since the roasted Dominican Republic nibs were aged with Tuthilltown Spirits bourbon barrel staves.

Similar to the last bar, this one had some chocolate dust and air bubble cosmetic defects as well.

There was a sharp snap and a woody aroma when segmenting pieces of this bar. As I’ve come to expect from Fruition bars, there was a slow even melt and a smooth and creamy mouthfeel. Initially, I tasted caramel, though different than the last bar; but a second tasting produced a woody fruit flavor which I’m guessing comes from the bourbon barrel aging process. Thankfully the oak notes were muted.

Side-by-side, you can see the differences in the chocolate brown color between a milk and dark milk.

Which one would you select if you had the choice?!

To learn more about chocolate maker Bryan Graham and the extensive Fruition product line, visit: https://www.tastefruition.com/

Be sure to also follow the Time to Eat Chocolate blog so you don’t miss next week’s stop in the “50 States” project!

Other chocolate makers in New York:

Dark Forest Chocolate Makers

Fine & Raw Chocolate

Madécasse

Mast Brothers

Raaka Virgin Chocolate

Raw Chocolate Love

Sol Cacao

NOTE: If you know of any other bean-to-bar makers in New York that aren’t mentioned above, please leave a comment or send an email so that we can keep this list as up-to-date as possible!

A Tale of Two Horchatas

Let me start off by saying that I love horchata! There is one that I still dream about from a Puerto Rican restaurant in North Hollywood that makes theirs with ground sesame seeds. But the one that is, for me, the paragon of all horchatas comes from a small mole restaurant in the Maravilla neighborhood of East Los Angeles. Their horchata is made Oaxacan-style, drizzled with fuscia-colored cactus-fruit syrup, rimmed with pink sugar and topped with roasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds). <drool>

However, when I started looking for unusual inclusion ingredients to feature as part of the Eating the Chocolate Alphabet series, horchata never really crossed my mind. This non-alcoholic beverage is typical in Central and South American restaurants, but is also available in Spain. Each country has their own style and a plethora of different ingredients can be used for the flavoring. Some call for milk, others water. Until I started discovering that this drink could be made with ground nuts or seeds, my only experience had been with the ground rice and cinnamon variety.

Shortly after visiting the Mast Brothers factory in Downtown LA, I heard they were selling a Los Angeles collection that included an horchata bar! When one of my friends texted me that she was at the Artisanal LA holiday market in December, I sent her on a quest to find some bars for me. Please don’t write to me and ask if I’ve read the scathing 4-part DallasFood.org exposé articles about Mast Brothers’ chocolate…the answer is yes, and I refer you back to the beginning of this post: I LOVE HORCHATA (that and I’m a sucker for chocolate bars that are part of an “exclusive” collection…I blame my boyfriend for corrupting me in that regard)! 😉

As always, the Mast Brothers’ packaging could easily double as an abstract art print. The thick textured paper of this bar has bold swaths of neutral, earth-tone colors and is credited as “artwork by Block Shop Textiles.”

Like all the other bars that I’ve seen, the back of the package has a center justified, line-by-line list of ingredients.

The cacao is called out simply as 58%, without a country of origin; so if you’re inquisitive (like me), you search on their website to discover that Tanzanian beans were used for this bar. Peeling back the informational sticker to unfold the packaging, you’ll see a gold foil wrapped bar made from a standard 28-rectangle mold.

Not surprisingly, the primary aroma is that of cinnamon, though there is also a nutty scent as well. Segmenting some pieces, there was a soft and slightly brittle snap.

The mouthfeel is certainly not smooth, but not gritty like stone ground/minimally processed cacao either. Despite the addition of cocoa butter, the chocolate seems disappointingly dry instead of creamy. There is a muted tang from the buttermilk; but, overall, this bar falls short of the flavor I would expect to justifiably represent the diverse and vibrant Hispanic culinary tapestry within the city of Los Angeles.

As you might know, I’m also currently working on a “50 States” collaboration project with Time to Eat Chocolate. To save on shipping costs, I volunteered to cover Washington since it’s geographically closer to me. Also, lucky for me, I have a Washington expert in my arsenal…for who better knows about the “sweets scene” than a dessert blogger! Jess, aka the Seattle Dessert Geek, was instrumental in acquiring some chocolates for me since apparently there are some Theo Chocolate flavors that never make it out of the city. As a shameless plug for my other project, stay tuned when I cover two different bean-to-bar chocolate makers from Washington soon!

Sorry for veering off on a tangent there…now back to this post! During Jess’ day-after-Valentines’ shopping trip, we were both surprised to discover that one of Theo’s new flavors is Cinnamon Horchata! So instead of keeping that bar for the collaboration project, I decided to feature it with my other horchata bar; though, in retrospect, maybe it wasn’t a fair side-by-side comparison :0

As mentioned, this 45% milk chocolate bar is one of the newer additions to their “Fantasy Bar” line. The colorful illustration on the packaging (as well as the name) shows that cinnamon will be prominently featured; but what I didn’t realize until reading the ingredients is that it would also include crisped brown rice and crisped quinoa. One of my only complaints, aside from the fact that the first ingredient listed is sugar, is that the foil was wrapped with the external paper and the folds were sealed so tightly that I had to practically mutilate the outer band to get to the chocolate bar.

As you can see the bar is just bulging with crispy crunchy goodness and who doesn’t love a bar with crunch?!

Here are a couple of close ups of the inclusion ingredients: the first showing the crisped rice peeking out from a segmented piece & the second showing a small lump of un-dispersed ground cinnamon:

This is a relatively small bar, just 4 large horizontal rectangles. While cinnamon is the initial aroma, you also can’t miss a milky sweet, caramel scent to the chocolate. Breaking off one of the rectangles produced a brittle snap and tiny shards tended to fly everywhere! Don’t even try to melt this bar, chomp away blissfully, combining creamy with crunchy!

Of the two horchata bars that I tasted, Theo was the winner for me! Now if someone could figure out a way to combine chocolate with either of the two horchata drinks that I mentioned at the beginning of this post, THAT would be the BEST of times!

Bonus G – Goat Milk

So far I’ve tried camel milk and donkey milk, so when fellow blogger and chocophile Estelle Tracy from 37 Chocolates suggested a cross-country swap, I jumped at the opportunity to try a goat milk bar from Philly’s own Chocolate Alchemist!

I had heard that Robert Campbell (aka the “Chocolate Alchemist”) uses hand-stitched wrappers made from re-usable Nepalese lokta paper, so I took the time to carefully unstitch one side of the packaging…

only to later realize that I merely needed to lift the round sticker from the back of the packaging to release the foil wrapped bar from the envelope enclosure…DOH! Face palm! :0

The bar had broken in half during transit to California, but that made it easier for me to compare “back” and “front” at the same time:

The “back” looks a little mottled, full of swirls and tiny dots; while the “front” is shinier despite a slightly grainy/flecked appearance with some “ghosting” marring the finish.

Segmenting the rectangles to create tasting morsels, there is a soft/dull snap and the pieces are a little crumbly. I really shouldn’t have been surprised by the amount of nooks and crannies at the break, since that’s the texture you get when cacao beans are minimally processed.

Robert strongly believes in creating blends instead of single origins, using only all-natural, unrefined sweeteners and eschewing the “standard” 70% bar; so this 65% bar is a blend of Dominican and Peruvian beans, sweetened with local maple sugar.

There is a musty, earthy aroma to the bar; but I was completely unprepared for the intense sour, tangy goat cheese flavor. This was sharp, almost like a blue or Roquefort cheese or a yogurt on the edge of going past the expiration date! Honestly, a little goes a long way & this is not a bar that I would recommend eating all in one sitting!

As you might know, if you follow the Chocolate Alchemist on Instagram, he is fiercely outspoken and un-apologetically direct when speaking his mind about subjects near and dear to his heart. While I’ve not had the opportunity to meet him, based on what I’ve seen of his interactions with others online, he is very generous and supportive of his friends and family. Where other chocolate makers might try to tone down or tame the “wild” flavors of cacao to be more universally palatable or accessible to everyone, he unabashedly embraces the brash tastes for what they are.

Melting a piece on my tongue (yes, I was “brave” enough to do so), I felt the abrasiveness from tiny errant pieces of cacao nibs; though, overall, it wasn’t as grainy or gritty as some stone ground chocolate bars that I’ve tried in the past.

Is this chocolate for everyone?! No…but I think that’s OK. If everything was homogeneous, then how could you appreciate or realize when something stands out as being different or unique?

You’ll also enjoy reading Estelle’s article from Edible Philly where she dedicates several paragraphs to describe Chocolate Alchemist chocolate bars, as well as Robert himself…you’ll need to scroll down toward the bottom of that article for the section called “Bean-to-Bar Chocolate in Philadelphia.” Make sure you don’t miss the lead-in photo at the top of the webpage since it shows what a block of un-tempered, aged goat maple chocolate looks like when it is dappled with fat “bloom.”

In the spirit of blending, I just sampled a piece of the goat milk bar with last week’s foie gras bar and discovered it’s a surprisingly well-balanced combination! Dare to be different & stay curious! ;-p

For more information about the Chocolate Alchemist and to order his products online, check out: https://www.chocolatephilly.com/

Category: milk chocolate