bean to bar – Page 8 – Eating the Chocolate Alphabet

S is for Sirene Artisan Chocolate Makers

In the words of Taylor Kennedy, owner of Sirene Artisan Chocolate Makers in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, “Without a direct comparison, it is hard to understand that there is something different about chocolate.” To aid in the appreciation of the nuances between countries of origin, this particular box contains two different mini chocolate bars so that you can easily compare and contrast with minimal effort. Not only are both bars the same percentage (73%), but also they each only contain two ingredients (cacao beans & organic cane sugar) that way the natural flavors/characteristics of those beans can truly be showcased.

This morning on Instagram, The Chocolate Website recounted her dilemma of trying to identify 6 different chocolate bars once they were removed from their packaging. With this in mind, I really appreciated that each of the Sirene bars was wrapped in a different colored metallic foil (silver color for Ecuador and gold color for Madagascar)!

Choices, choices…which one to try first? After reading the tasting notes on the inside of the box flaps, I decided to try Ecuador first and then Madagascar…I think I made the right decision!

The Ecuadorian beans come from Camino Verde, a plantation in the town of Balao with trees that are close to 100 years old. According to the packaging, trees of this age yield beans with 10% less cocoa butter, which in turn produces a more intense cocoa flavor. True to that description, I could immediately see the deep, dark brown color and smell the earthy and roasted aroma upon unwrapping the chocolate.

Even though the bar is a little thick, there was a nice sharp snap when being segmented. Each of the 5 rectangles reminded me of a flag with alternating vertical and horizontal lines on each quadrant…it was fun to run my tongue along those ridges while I was melting each bite. There was a slow, even melt and the flavor was reminiscent of a not-too-sweet, nutty brownie with a long, satisfying finish.

Upon unwrapping the Madagascar bar, I noticed more chocolate “dust” clinging to the outside, possibly since one of the rectangles had been broken in transit.

The snap of that particular rectangle felt a little dry/crumbly and there was only a mild aroma; however the taste was an explosion of bright fruits. Since I didn’t want to rely just on that first broken piece, I segmented another portion for comparison purposes. At the breaking point, there was a fresher roasted aroma and the flavor reminded me of a just squeezed lemon. This piece also had a more velvety smooth mouthfeel with an even melt and a long lasting tart aftertaste.

The Madagascar beans from the Akesson family’s Somia planation are lighter brown in color (perhaps because of being enriched with volcanic minerals), so there was no surprise that this bar looked more like milk chocolate compared to the Ecuador bar.

As a side note…maybe it’s just me, but I’m as fascinated with the undersides of bars as I am with the mold-imprinted side. Both bars seemed to have concentric “ripples” as if a pebble had been dropped at the edge of a lake…more than likely a final drip of liquid chocolate hit the mold & had not been vibrated to a completely smooth finish.

If “tasting pair boxes” aren’t your thing, don’t worry…other packages feature just the one origin or flavor. To find out more about Sirene and Taylor Kennedy’s background as a former world traveling photographer and writer for The National Geographic magazine, check out: http://sirenechocolate.com/

R is for Rózsavölgyi Csokoládé

Like some famous personalities that need only go by their first name (think of Prince, Cher or Madonna), Rózsavölgyi Csokoládé requires no introduction to aficionados of fine chocolate since their molds are visually so distinctive and unique!

The husband and wife team of Zsolt and Katalin started making chocolate confections in Budapest, Hungary in 2004 and they chose the name “Rózsavölgyi” (meaning “from the valley of the roses”) to pay tribute to the neighborhood that they lived in. Soon after Katalin honed her skills learning from various chocolate makers around the world, they knew that switching to bean-to-bar (instead of using other people’s couverture chocolate) would provide them more control over the natural chocolate flavors of their creations. This particular 71% dark chocolate bar is made from Porcelana Criollo beans grown by the Franceschi family in Venezuela.

There is so much to look at and notice on the outer packaging; from every inch of the sturdy cream colored paper decorated with gold foil birds, insects and flowers to the anthropomorphized logo of a single-eyed heart with outstretched arms, wearing a bowler hat.

That endearing logo was intriguing to me, so it was disappointing to read that Katalin (a former graphic designer) had simply drawn this, but no significance was attributed to the image’s various elements.

Removing the informational band from the outer wrapper allows the graphics to be better seen/appreciated.

Another eye-catching item on the packaging is a sticker celebrating their 2015 Bronze Award from the Academy of Chocolate for the best dark chocolate bean-to-bar under 80%.

Gently removing the clear & black logo sticker keeping the paper closed and carefully undoing the precise origami-like folds, another cheerful heart-logo sticker greets you from the inside, keeping the parchment paper inner wrapper closed.

Now for the moment of truth…would the gorgeous mold that reminds me of Batchelder fireplace tiles from the American Arts and Crafts movement era be intact or would the square bar be split into multiple pieces?!

Ta da…the glossy, symmetrically decorated reddish-brown bar was pristine, aside from some minor scuff marks and evidence of air bubbles.

My initial impressions of the aroma ranged from floral, fruity, reminiscent of raisins to lightly baked rye bread. It seemed like such a shame to break into such a beautiful mold…but it had to be done! The chocolate itself seemed to flex under the pressure of the knife instead of breaking sharply; I attribute that to the current heat wave, though I’ve seen other Rózsavölgyi Csokoládé bars also described as “bendy.”

Time and temperature certainly make a difference. This morning, after taking several photos of the bar, the snap was dull/soft…however, revisiting the bar just now, after keeping the chocolate in a wine fridge at 65 degrees for several hours, the snap is sharp and well-defined.

The mouthfeel is smooth and the segments melt evenly in the mouth. Porcelana is known to be mild and subtle, but to me the initial taste was tangy and mildly acidic/tart. My second taste was more earthy and dry. Both tastes had a long, almost woody aftertaste/finish.

Now I’m on a mission to find more of their offerings, especially their hot Hungarian paprika inclusion bar, which Matt Caputo from A Priori (a specialty food importer & distributor) said reminded him of “goulash-meets-chocolate” around 2:23 of this YouTube video!

To read more about this award winning Hungarian success story, check out this link. Another informative article from 2013 can be found here.

In addition to single-origin tablets and flavored bars, Rózsavölgyi Csokoládé also sells hot chocolate mixes, bonbons, truffles, dragees and more. Hopefully a location near you carries their products, so check out: http://www.rozsavolgyi.com/en/index.php

Chocolate Q or Q Chocolate…does translation matter?

Sometimes it takes a village! The quest to locate a chocolate bar from a company that starts with the letter “Q” for the Eating the Chocolate Alphabet project has been daunting. For a while, I thought that it was an impossible mission. Over the last nine months, I’ve been very fortunate to find kindred spirits and genuinely supportive camaraderie within the chocolate community! Just last week, Sophia from Projet Chocolat generously overnighted me a bar from her stash in the nick of time to ensure that this letter of the alphabet would be covered!

So, a few days ago, at the beginning of “Q” week, I excitedly pulled the bar from my wine fridge storage & started my Monday morning routine. The filtered light was perfect for taking pictures of the packaging. There I was happily taking photos, getting on the internet to locate the company’s website + other articles that I could use to further research their backstory and then…WAIT a minute…am I seeing things correctly? Both the company URL and their Instagram account referred to the company name as “Chocolate Q” instead of “Q Chocolate.” I immediate sent my boyfriend a couple of panicked text messages. He tried to assure me that it’s just the translation from Portuguese to English…I wasn’t convinced. Maybe I’m the only one that’s really concerned (“obsessed” might be the better word) with strict adherence to the alphabet. In my mind, this was “Naive Chocolate” vs. “Chocolate Naive” all over again…so it was with a heavy heart that I had to return this bar to wine fridge storage until today.

Just looking at the copper stamped logo and the Claudio Novaes artwork that graces the outside of the packaging, you can almost feel the shimmering heat and hear the sounds from the fauna that dwell at the Fazenda Leolinda in the Amazonian rainforest in Brazil where the Trinitario and Forasteiro cacao beans are grown. The Aquim family is passionate about chocolate and has a very hands-on approach to all aspects of “the Q process.”

Despite Brazil being one of the top growers of cacao, there was a time when Brazilian chocolates were not note-worthy, since local tastes tended toward mass-produced chocolates. Since 2011, the Aquims’ goal has been to preserve the true taste of cacao (their tagline translates to “chocolate in its essence”), so their bars are made with just 3 ingredients: cocoa liquor, cocoa butter and a pinch of sugar. The Q Collection includes 6 dark chocolate bars of successively intense cacao content, starting with 55% and increasing by increments of 5% to 85% (interestingly, 70% is not one of the percentages offered).

In addition to the chocolate itself, I received a bar-sized piece of wood imprinted with the phrase that translates roughly to “sublime and revealing experience.” I’m not quite sure of the board’s true purpose, since I certainly wouldn’t want to get it dirty with chocolate stains! Nevertheless, I’m sure that it helped keep the bar intact during shipping between Nashville, TN and Southern California.

The simple design of the outer packaging has a notch to help keep the box closed after being opened.

Once you open the outer cardboard packaging, you see the bar wrapped in a sealed shiny gold foil pouch. Since the bar is slightly smaller than the outer packaging, I wonder if this contributed to the blemishes and chocolate “dust” that appeared on the unwrapped chocolate bar.

This bar may have been my first encounter with Brazilian chocolate. Upon opening the foil wrapping, the aroma of olives was surprising. The bar’s mold is comprised of several rectangle sizes – all the better to choose how much you want to enjoy in a given sitting. While there was a medium to dull snap to the bar, I was surprised to see some “striation”: part of the piece looked smooth, then there was a dividing line and then the rest of the piece looked a little gritty.

The visual textural appearance seemed to vary a bit from piece to piece, yet this did not affect the taste; each morsel was smooth, creamy and melted relatively quickly.

What started off as a bitter taste (earthy/woody/leathery), changed to fruity with hints of peppercorns. After trying the 65% bar, this makes me curious to try the other percentages as well.

Honestly, I’m still not clear if the company name is “Q Chocolate” or “Chocolate Q.” Regardless, this has definitely been a revelatory experience, just like the wooden board predicted.

To learn more about the various chocolates available + exclusive collections, check out: http://chocolateq.com/

Bonus “P” bar – Pump Street Bakery

What does your ideal breakfast look like? Mine is a warm piece of fresh bread with unsalted butter + a milky, rich sipping hot chocolate! Seems that I just found that winning combination in a chocolate bar made in England!!

Family-run Pump Street Bakery might best be known for their delicious breads and pastries that are made with minimal machinery use; but in 2013, they decided to take their obsessive attention to detail and start producing small batches of single origin chocolate bars in their shop between baking loaves of bread. Here is the link to a recent article about what happens when a baker decides to start making chocolate.

Their bean-to-bar production process has been tailored to achieve unique flavor profiles depending on the carefully sourced and selected single-origin beans which are imported from different farms around the world. These beans are roasted in their bread oven, then the ground nibs are conched (refined) for up to five days and the chocolate is matured for a month before being tempered.

Below, is the second in their “Bakery Series” of chocolate bars:

Rye Crumb, Milk & Sea Salt (60%) – made with Ecuadorian beans from the Hacienda Limon farm

As you can see, there is minimal packaging involved…just a flat, re-sealable, foil lined zip lock Kraft paper pouch with a lot number sticker keeping the pouch closed and nothing else. Upon opening the pouch, I stuck my nose into the bag’s opening and immediately thought of fresh-baked pumpernickel bread! That aroma shouldn’t be a surprise since this bar is made with dried 100% rye loaf bread which was ground into fine bread crumbs and added to the chocolate with a pinch of sea salt.

Unfortunately, this small 16-rectangle bar was broken in half during transit, but that just made it easier to start tasting!

As a quick side note, this was the single most cooperative bar, so far, in terms of “posing” for photographs!

There was a medium snap to the bar, but I was surprised that mini chocolate “crumbs” went flying everywhere while segmenting the rectangles for tasting. Though many suggest “melting” chocolate in your mouth for a tasting, I challenge you not to “chomp” this bar! Each bite is a crunchy delight. It was like eating a freshly toasted slice of bread that had been lightly buttered. For me, the creamy smooth dark milk chocolate was secondary to the texture and flavor of the rye bread crumbs.

Originally I was concerned when I noticed that this bar was about 2 months past the “best by” date, but it didn’t seem to adversely affect the taste at all…I can only imagine what it would be like “fresh”! It’s no wonder that this bar won Gold in 2015 at the Academy of Chocolate in London for the Best Flavoured Milk Chocolate Bar category.

Looks like I’ll soon need to visit some of the shops that carry their bars locally so that I can try more from their “Bakery Series”: the sourdough bar which started it all + their Honduras Bread & Butter bar which won multiple awards at the 2016 Academy of Chocolate.

To learn more about this multi-talented bakery & café, as well as see their full line-up of bars, check out: http://www.pumpstreetbakery.com/

P is for Patric Chocolate

Alan “Patric” McClure started his bean-to-bar chocolate company just a decade ago after spending a year in France. Since 2011, his chocolates have annually garnered prestigious Good Food Awards; and since 2013, he has received three or more Awards each year! With 15 Good Food Awards in total, sources say that “this makes Patric Chocolate the all-time winner of more Good Food Awards than any other company nationwide, in any category.”

With a pedigree like that, it’s no wonder that his chocolates are elusive! When you finally find one at a local store, there is no question about whether or not to purchase it, you just do. Then you notice that the label says “Limited Edition” – well, now you feel that you should go out & buy lottery tickets…there’s no stopping your winning streak! 🙂

If you’ll allow me the “artistic license” of re-ordering the words slightly, this bar’s name becomes a bit of an alliterative tongue twister: Patric Peru Piura (I wish I could figure out a few more appropriate words to add so that we can complete the Pa, Pe, Pi syllabic series!) But I digress…

The easy-to-open cream colored packaging made from 30% recycled post-consumer fiber & printed with soy ink sports a large eye-catching fleur de lis on the front.

Ingeniously, this packaging can be used for multiple bars since the specific bar’s information is simply added with a clear sticker in the appropriate spot on the front.

Before getting to the bar itself, you can read some history about the company, as well as the 10 steps that were taken to produce each bar.

The first thing you see when opening the outer packaging, is a pristine matte rectangle wrapped in plastic, with a stylized embossed “signature” facing you. For a 67% bar, the color is a deep, rich brown.

Maybe it’s me, but the “P” almost looks like a ballet dancer or an ice skater in an arabesque position.

Unwrapping the bar, there was no mistaking that the carefully selected, rare Criollo beans from the high-altitude Piura region of Peru had been roasted. After precise roasting at a low temperature to bring out the fruity notes, the ground nibs underwent a long conching (refining) time to ensure a smooth mouth feel. Instead of breaking a bar apart with my fingers (since fingerprints tend to make the bar less photogenic), I generally use a knife. I was surprised that slicing through the bar proved to be a bit difficult since it was denser than I expected.

Despite this, there was a satisfying sharp snap when creating bite sized tasting morsels. The slow melting, not-too-sweet chocolate started out with bright fruit notes that made me think of both citrus and berries. During the melt, it was as if there were little effervescent bursts of flavor and it finished like a warming port or dessert wine for me.

You can be sure that the next time I find Patric Chocolates in a local store, I’ll be stocking up on more flavors…especially the Triple-Ginger and Red Coconut Curry which won awards in 2016!

Even though the online store is closed until the next chocolate bar release, check out http://patric-chocolate.com/ for more information about the 10 year history of the company + their philosophy on sustainability practices. As a respected leader in the burgeoning craft chocolate movement, Alan also provides chocolate consultation services!

The “N” bar that wasn’t…

Let me begin by saying that this hasn’t been the first time that I’ve been fooled by packaging (and it probably won’t be the last time either)!

When I started putting together the “lineup” for the Eating the Chocolate Alphabet project, I wanted to feature both new-to-me bars as well as chocolates with unusual ingredients. This particular 62% Tanzanian dark milk chocolate Porcini bar made in Lithuania seemed to fit those requirements perfectly, so I was super enthusiastic when I found & purchased the bar in anticipation of “N” week!

However, imagine my dismay right around the letter “G” (early July), when I discovered that this was actually a “C” bar! Darn those European chocolate makers with confusing company names! (Naive vs. Chocolate Naive…really, I don’t think I’m entirely to blame!)

Since I still really wanted to feature this bar, I’m hoping you’ll indulge me in a little diversion from the proper alphabetical order!

There is an elegant simplicity to the cream colored box with minimalist taupe lettering. In a flat lay, the logo of a penny farthing (or is it a unicycle?) riding gentleman can “read” as black, but shift your perspective just a little bit & you’ll be rewarded with the shiny copper foil stamping. This philosophy can also apply to life in general! Nothing is exactly as you first see it, you’ll often be surprised when making subtle changes in your point of view.

Even before removing the bar from the pouch, I could tell that the bar was not completely flat in the middle – this is due to the delicate 3D logo.

Upon cutting open the sealed Mylar pouch, the distinct musty/earthy aroma of mushrooms was intense. Perhaps this is the right time for me to confess that I’m NOT fond of mushrooms (although, maybe it’s raw mushrooms that I dislike since a Vosges Reishi Mushroom & Walnut bar is among my favorites).

Carefully removing the chocolate bar onto a plate for further photographs, I took the opportunity to stick my nose fully into the empty pouch – almost like a wine or whiskey connoisseur would do before enjoying a poured glass. This transported me back to what it must be like to forage for mushrooms in a lush, damp forest! Did you know that mushroom hunting is Lithuania’s second favorite sport, after basketball?! The packaging says that “Each September, mushroom-hungry folks return to their super-secret spots where all the best ones grow.”

With as much mushroom as I was smelling, I was expecting the bar itself to be flecked and/or gritty due to the freeze dried porcini mushrooms, but that was not the case!

The bar was creamy and velvety smooth. There was definitely the umami mushroom taste – which was better when “melted” rather than “chomped” (this bar just might provide me with enough inspiration to acquire the patience needed to “melt” a piece of chocolate in order to better savor all the nuances).

Like many other chocolate makers, Chocolate Naive has a fascinating and inspiring backstory. Check out this link to a 2012 interview: http://chocolateandzucchini.com/interviews/artisans/chocolate-naive-a-qa-with-domantas-uzpalis/

I leave you with this quote from the back of the packaging: “Chocolate is like my own life – both bitter and sweet. It has been a constant companion that has seen me grow from a carefree youth to a quixotic adult. Chocolate is as luxuriant as my most vivid dream and as humble as my simple reality.”

For more information about other delectable chocolate options, visit: http://chocolatenaive.com/

Bonus “M” bar – Marou Faiseurs De Chocolat

Up until now there hasn’t been an opportunity for me to taste chocolates made from Vietnamese cacao beans, I had to content myself with drooling over photos posted on other people’s Instagram feeds and reading articles about them. So, imagine my delight when I found a nice selection of Marou bars at a local chocolate shop!

It was so hard to choose just one, so these are the two that ended up following me home (two is better than one for comparing & contrasting…at least that’s my story & I’m sticking to it!) 🙂 It finally “clicked” this morning that the company name is a combination of the last names of the owners (Sam Maruta and Vincent Mourou) rather than a foreign word that needed to be translated!

Cacao trees were first introduced to Vietnam in the late 1800s by the French during their colonial rule, however less than 20 years later they rescinded paying the farmers to grow the crops since they felt that the cacao was “completely useless” and had “not yielded any satisfying result.” Many of those trees are still in the Mekong Delta provinces. About a decade ago, cacao covered less than 2,000 hectares (equivalent to about 5,000 acres); now that quantity has increased by almost 1000% to more than 54,000 acres. Marou was founded in 2011 by two expatriate Frenchmen from non-food backgrounds who had the ambition to create the first bean-to-bar and single-origin chocolate company in Vietnam, using only local ingredients from that country. This article provides more information about Marou’s beginnings.

In addition to the attention to detail in terms of ingredients, each one of the labels is stunning and eye-catching. In this 5-6 minute video you can see the multi-step, labor intensive process to silk-screen the hand-drawn images onto the hand-printed outer wrappers and then emboss each label individually (packaging design by Rice Creative). Additionally, the main color of the wrapper pays homage to the color of the cacao pods that the chocolate was made from.

74% Lâm Đong

This turquoise/teal outer wrapper has images of clouds, a cacao pod, flowers and leaves among a golden trellis/lattice background. From the label, this is a rare and delicate chocolate made in micro batches from beans cultivated in hilly woodlands at the edge of the Vietnamese Central Highlands between Madagui and Bao Loc. I’ve seen the picture of the cacao pod rainbow, but I still can’t believe that there is a pod that is naturally a light blue.

Unwrapping this chocolate from the gold foil inner wrapper sealed with the Marou label, was a beautifully shiny, deep brown bar with only a few air bubbles marring the surface.

The aroma was earthy and woody and reminded me a little of leather. Although some might consider it “cheating,” I like to refer to tasting notes before, during and after tasting. This is partly to know what to expect, as well as to see how close I could get to the description. Some tasting notes that I’ve seen refer to this bar as “intense” and “roasted”…I didn’t get that. The taste, to me, was more mild and subtle: starting buttery (like caramel), continuing as light sweet fruit (like raisins) and ending with a wine or tannic note. While I know that taste is subjective, I’m a little disappointed that my palate & the tasting notes didn’t match.

For another person’s perspective, check out these tasting notes.

80% Tien Giang

Maybe it’s because I went to a baseball game last night, but the lines on this light green outer packaging remind me of the lawnmower patterns that can be seen in the outfield. However, the true story is that these stripes are extensions of the asterisk logo from the lifestyle, travel and design magazine Wallpaper*.

Don’t blink or you might miss the asterisk that appears on the “spine” of the chocolate bar.

First impressions are important, so I really like that Marou packages their bars with the logo facing up so that this is the first thing you see after unwrapping the outer layers. Their logo reminds me the molten candle wax seal and stamp that have been used on important documents since the Middle Ages. It almost looks like the M is wearing a tiara, so I’m curious about the significance of the small emblem that looks like a truncated fleur de lis.

Generally the Tien Giang bar is made of 70% cacao from the Cho Gao & Mekong Delta, but since this is a special edition bar for Wallpaper*: The Handmade Issue, the percentage was increased to 80% – the darkest of the Marou bars in terms of percentage of cacao. Surprisingly, though, the color of the chocolate itself is slightly lighter than the 74% bar that I tasted earlier (in the picture below, the top is the 80% bar & the partially consumed one on the bottom is the 74%).

From the tasting notes, this is full-bodied with notes of spices, fruits and honey. It certainly was the more complex of the two bars, with a scent that wavered between a delicate sandalwood perfume and a freshly made gourmet hot chocolate. What I tasted was tangy, tart and acidic (while also a little metallic), with cherries and apples coming to mind. Maybe as I continue with my sensory experiences, one day I too can detect the earthy, grassy, woody, banana and citrus fruit notes mentioned in other reviews.

If you’ve tried Marou’s chocolates, I’d love to hear your impressions!

In the meantime, please visit the company’s website to learn more about the rest of their product line: http://marouchocolate.com/

M is for Map Chocolate Co.

Maps are multi-faceted. They can evoke memories of journeys from the past, they can open up a whole new world of places you have yet to explore and can also serve as a guide to help you find your way while on your present path.

“M” week is finally here! This is one of the bars that I have been eagerly awaiting for MONTHS! When I first started using Instagram at the beginning of the year, I was mesmerized by gorgeous photos of Map Chocolate’s square bars. If I’m honest with myself, I might have designed the whole Eating the Chocolate Alphabet project simply as an excuse to try this chocolate brand for myself!

Since this chocolate wasn’t available locally, my only viable option was to visit Map’s website to make my selection. It was such a treat to scroll through more mouth-watering pictures and smile while reading each bar’s unusual and unique name. In the end, I selected one inclusion bar (Still Life with Pi: a renaissance of candied orange peel & vanilla seeds / Belize 65%) + one bag of hot chocolate mix. (Let me tell you, it’s been such a challenge not to indulge in a cup of cocoa, I’m so glad that the self-imposed moratorium is finally over…stay tuned on Instagram for that!)

It’s evident that much care and thought have been put into each small detail, including the packaging. Rather than revealing itself too quickly, this chocolate bar arrived packaged like a small gift to be unwrapped.

The simply folded plain brown tissue paper, adorned with a bit of gold ribbon, was kept closed with a small black sticker emblazoned with an “M” in gold calligraphy amongst a cloud of decorative curlicues.

I was especially touched by a personalized, handwritten note on the back of a small map square tucked into the ribbon at the back of the package.

Once that layer was removed, an old world style map peeked out from the sides of a simple, yet elegant outer sleeve providing ingredient information.

The clear sticker used to keep the sleeve closed exhorts you to “find open roads” and begin an exciting adventure! 🙂

Sliding the map-wrapped bar from the sleeve, I saw a familiar sight! An aerial view featuring the colonnade and piazza of St. Peter’s Basilica, an Italian Renaissance church in the Vatican City, the papal enclave within the city of Rome. This map transported me back to my 2009 trip to Italy and a treasured photo that a friend took from the top of the dome, overlooking the city below.

As I peeled away each layer of protective packaging, the heady chocolate aroma was both enticing and intoxicating. After months of waiting and worrying, would the square be broken into pieces or perfectly intact? Now came the moment of truth! I delicately unwrapped the final layer of coated white paper to reveal a pristine shiny square which brings back memories of the Moorish tiles I saw at the Alhambra in Spain during my first European trip as a teenager.

Maybe it’s me…but from within the 12-pointed star (which is said to depict completeness), I can almost see the outline of the Castel Sant’Angelo, which was also on the map of Rome.

In an interview, Mackenzie Rivers (Map Chocolate owner and chocolate maker) revealed that this Belgian-made mold is called “Scheherazade” – as in the storyteller of “One Thousand and One Nights.” This seems to go well with a quote that was included as part of the non-traditional tasting notes page: “…chocolate carries an amazing story of cultivation, travel, wild places, people, birds landing amongst its leaves, rain falling, farmers tending it, and mouths tasting it. every bite the story unfolds.”

The reverse (or inclusion) side is equally complex with the combination of slightly chewy vanilla seeds, crunchy candied orange peel and tiny perfectly shaped sugar crystals.

It seemed like such a shame to break the bar into pieces, but it had to be done! Not surprisingly, the same adjectives can be used for both the mold and the chocolate itself: overlapping, interlaced and intricate. Biting into the smooth & creamy chunks, there were long lasting layers of flavor as well as bright/tart fruit notes.

In the words of Mackenzie: “this bar is about coming full circle, by way of the meandering tangent.”

With my apologies, here are some of my thoughts on the reason for choosing “Pi” as part of the bar’s name (with help from an online article from wonderopolis.org):

“Pi is an irrational number, which means that its value cannot be expressed exactly as a simple fraction.” Since taste is very subjective, it would be impossible to create a definitive, one-size-fits-all description for any chocolate bar. Therefore, just like there is no end to Pi’s decimal places, there is an infinite number of ways to encapsulate the experience of tasting chocolates.
“Since circles can vary in size, yet they all retain the same shape, ancient mathematicians knew there had to be a special relationship amongst the elements of a circle. That special relationship turns out to be the mathematical constant known as pi.” I’d like to think that, regardless of each person’s history/backstory, chocolate can be the connection that unifies us all.

To find the chocolate bar that “speaks to you” and begin your own adventure, check out: http://www.mapchocolate.com/

L is for Lillie Belle Farms

Call it the “hand of fate” or serendipity…sometimes plans fall perfectly into place in the most unexpected ways!

Lillie Belle Farms Handmade Chocolates was on my “short list” of chocolates since the very beginning stages of the Eating the Chocolate Alphabet project. When it proved difficult to locate their chocolate locally, I decided to substitute them with another “L” chocolate (check back later in the week for that bar!) Recently on Facebook, there was a funny exchange between Estelle Tracy of 37 Chocolates and David Menkes from LetterPress Chocolates as they joked about what might be featured for this particular letter. Being from the Los Angeles area, it would make sense for me to select LetterPress; but alas, I wanted to concentrate only on new-to-me bars! (Sorry 🙁 ) However, after reading David’s comments, my enthusiasm for Lillie Belle Farms was renewed…but I didn’t really want to deal with summertime shipping issues. Then, an unexpected opportunity presented itself when I discovered that a friend would soon be driving back to Southern California from Oregon! What would I do without supportive friends willing to act as “chocolate couriers” for me?! 🙂

So, that is the story about how it came to be that I could share this Limited Edition, Hand Crafted Stella Blue bar with you!

Initially, I assumed that this chocolate bar was named for one of the primary ingredients. It surprised me to discover that, like several of their other chocolate bars, Stella Blue was inspired by a Grateful Dead song. In fact, when you visit the Lillie Belle Farms website, you will find that the descriptions of many bars include a YouTube link to a Grateful Dead performance of their namesake.

As a rule, I generally avoid blue (or veined) cheeses because of their overwhelming pungent flavor and, whenever possible, I choose to indulge in dark chocolate…so what am I doing with a milk chocolate (50% cacao) that has been flavored with Rogue Creamery Blue Heaven powdered blue cheese?! All I can say is that while this flavor combination might not sound good on paper, keep an open mind – your taste buds will definitely thank you for taking a risk! Besides, who could resist the eye-catching, psychedelically colored packaging?

The outer packaging looks like a cross between an envelope and a box with corners that can be tucked in so that it stays closed. To me, it always feels like I’m unwrapping a special present when the chocolate bar is meticulously wrapped with shiny foil.

Inside the inner foil wrapper was a slender rectangle adorned with their company name and two flowers on either end. After reading about how Jeff Shepherd started Lillie Belle Farms, I wanted the flowers to be hibiscus or plumeria to honor his time living in Hawaii; but I believe that these are lilies, which echo the company name (which happens to be a combination of his daughter’s and wife’s names).

Unwrapping the gold foil, there was a faint tangy buttermilk aroma, but there wasn’t the telltale smell of blue cheese. Given my dislike of blue cheeses, I braced myself before biting into the chocolate chunk, but really there was no need for that! Blue Heaven is a proprietary blend of powdered Oregon Blue, Oregonzola, Crater Lake Blue + special reserve blues which imparts the pure essence of all the Rogue Creamy blue recipes combined while having a milder/dialed back intensity of flavor. Paired with naturally fruity Madagascar cacao beans, these ingredients produced a super creamy and smooth mouthfeel as well as a flavor rich in umami. Had this been a “blind tasting,” I would have said that cheese was a component, but I definitely wouldn’t have been able to pinpoint blue cheese.

While accolades are great (Jeff Shepherd was chosen as one of the inaugural top 10 chocolatiers in the United States by the Dessert Professional magazine in 2009), I really like this quote from the now-defunct CocoAroma magazine:

“Artists don’t really care if you think they’re good (although I’m sure compliments don’t hurt). I think what artists—especially fiercely individualistic artisans like Jeff who create truly original work—are really searching for is a connection, a shared experience, with their audience.”

Once you try their chocolates, you’ll agree with this line from another Grateful Dead song lyric which appears on the side of the outer packaging: “Life may be sweeter for this…”

To plan a visit to their factory or to learn more about their various chocolate delights, check out: http://www.lilliebellefarms.com/

Tag: bean to bar