Tag: Dominican Republic

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? 🥃

Z is for Zorzal

In the northern mountains of the Dominican Republic, there is a 1019-acre bird sanctuary where about 70% of the land is set aside to remain forever wild! On the rest of the acreage, they grow macadamias, bananas and grafted varietals of shade-grown cacao trees that have been carefully selected for their nuanced flavors and intense aromas. What is this place? It’s Reserva Zorzal, the Dominican Republic’s first private preserve which acts as a model for other landowners to create conservation solutions!

Chocolate makers who buy the meticulously fermented and sundried Reserva Zorzal cacao beans are willing to pay an additional value for each pound to invest in “Plan Vivo,” a project which focuses on habitat restoration and climate change mitigation. Reserva Zorzal strives to create a better habitat for their signature bird species, Bicknell’s Thrush (or Zorzal de Bicknell in Spanish), a rare migratory songbird which spends the winter at the preserve and then breeds in the northeastern United States and parts of Canada. In partnership with a couple of other Dominican organizations, there is a 50-year goal to increase the Bicknell Thrush population by 25%. Additionally (from the Reserva Zorzal website), by planting trees in the Dominican Republic, they aim to offset carbon emissions from chocolate producers and other manufacturers in North America.

One of the chocolate makers using Zorzal beans is Madison Butler from Piedmont Bleus in North Carolina.

Like the unassuming Bicknell’s Thrush which has a complex flute-like song, this relatively plain looking three-ingredient chocolate bar hides nuanced flavors and aromas.

The 12-rectange bar is medium to dark brown in color and sports a glossy shine. As always, I enjoy flipping a bar over to see if there are any interesting drip patterns. This did not disappoint! Hopefully the filter I applied to the photo below helps the image “pop” more! What do YOU see?

It’s easy to segment tasting morsels along the bar’s score lines with a sharp snap, revealing some nooks/crannies, as well as a textured shear pattern and a pleasant roasted nut aroma at the break point.

Popping a piece in my mouth, I encountered a smooth/creamy mouthfeel during the slow/even melt, vibrantly tart fruit flavors that reminded me of cherries or cranberries and little to no astringency on the finish.

Like the back of the label says (“Goes down smooth”), this bar certainly didn’t last long as there only 2 pieces remaining! I’m setting one of the pieces aside to pair with a mezcal as recommended!

Now I want to get my hands on their “Hot Minute” bar which is spicy & Mexican-inspired! Have YOU tried that yet?!

If you’d like to get bars for yourself, check out Piedmont Bleus’ website: http://piedmontbleus.com/

Can you believe that I’ve reached the end of another Alphabet series? Where does the time go?! I’ll be taking a short break from blog posts while thinking about the theme for “Round 4” – I have some ideas, but welcome hearing your suggestions too! Leave me a comment here or check out my Instagram page in the meantime! Have a delicious weekend!

L is for Loma Quita Espuela

Originally I was going to avoid inclusion bars this round (unless absolutely necessary) since “Round 2” was dedicated to them. However, once I saw this bar as part of Chocswap 2.0 with Lilla from Little Beetle Chocolates, I knew I couldn’t find a better (or more unique sounding) “L” origin!

The highest elevation within the city of San Francisco de Macorís in the North Region of the Dominican Republic is at Loma Quita Espuela. In case you’re curious about the name, here is what I found on Wikipedia:

“This name allegedly comes from the time when the Spaniards were exploring the island, since the hill was too steep to ride their horses, they had to dismount and remove their spurs and undertake the ascent on foot.”

It certainly sounds like an amazing place to experience nature, based on what I’ve seen from this website!

Now for the chocolate itself: Kilian & Close 52% D.R. with Périgord walnuts

Love the simplicity of this sturdy cardboard packaging with interlocking folds that remind me of a modified “dovetail joint” or “tongue and groove” assembly. There is a single triangular notched tab keeping the box closed and the plastic-wrapped bar tightly nestled within. In retrospect, the bar might have been too secure since the inner wrapper clung to the chocolate in places, leaving several shiny spots.

Honestly, I was NOT expecting there to be several candied walnut halves adhered to the back of the bar, though I should have guessed there might be visible inclusions when the package felt thick in my hand.

As if to alleviate my conscience (about only using non-inclusion, single origin bars for this round of the Alphabet), there were several spots sans walnuts so that I could taste the chocolate on its own!! 💕

The bar segmented easily with a sharp snap and there were hardly any air bubbles at the breaking point.

Handling the tasting morsels with my fingers, I noticed that the chocolate had an ultra-smooth, plastic-like texture to the touch. Perhaps this explains why it was difficult to melt on the tongue? Switching to chewing, creamy, nutty, caramel notes emerged. The flavor remained consistent throughout the tasting, until I got to a piece with the candied walnuts. Chomping on a walnut, there were earthy and lightly bitter notes relegating the slow roasted Dominican Republic cocoa beans to “second fiddle.”

Speaking of the walnuts, these come from Périgord (the old name for the former province in southwestern France) which, as of September 30, 2016, has a new name: Nouvelle-Aquitaine. In 2002, these walnuts were awarded PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) status even though they have been in the area since the Middle Ages!

Since Lilla purchased this bar in Germany during her summer road trip, the label is entirely in German.

It wasn’t until AFTER my tasting that I decided to translate the ingredient list. I was surprised to see coconut blossom sugar as the first ingredient and that there was also coconut milk powder at the end of the list! The flavor notes all make much more sense now! Not sure why I didn’t originally make the connection that there would be an alternate milk to retain its vegan certification! 😲

I’m slowly learning to embrace serendipity since not knowing all the information in advance allows you to taste without prejudice and pre-conceptions. 🙂 This was certainly a delicious journey of discovery!

To learn more about Kilian & Close, please visit their website: http://www.kilian-close.com/en.htm

Y is for Yacon Root

OK…is it just me, or have you noticed that as I near the end of the alphabet, it’s getting harder and harder to find viable inclusion ingredients that start with my featured letter?! ?

For “Y” I could have potentially found yams, yeast, yogurt, yuca or yuzu…but I chose yacón root instead!

According to Wikipedia, yacón is an Andean tuberous root composed mostly of water that is a close botanical relative of Jerusalem artichokes or sunflowers. While the root can be red, orange, yellow or even purple, it seems like most pictures online remind me of a slender yam with cream-colored flesh reminiscent of jicama. Upon reading things further, Ecuadorians refer to yacón as “jicama” (wow, talk about confusing!) Speaking of names, it’s also called a “Peruvian ground apple” which makes sense since the French call potatoes pomme de terre (literally translated as earth or ground apples). Yacón is known to have a flavor that is slightly sweet & resinous with floral undertones. I was fascinated to discover that until the early 2000s, yacón wasn’t widely available outside of its native growing areas and that companies have since developed new products like syrup and tea from this root due to its extremely low glycemic index (1 on a scale of 0 to 100), making it popular among people watching their sugar intake (like diabetics or those on a diet).

After all that, I was really curious about how this bar would taste!

Raaka 79% Dominican Republic sweetened with Yacón Root

Raaka leaves their cacao beans unroasted (aka “virgin”) to allow the flavors to come through. For this bar, they are using Dominican Republic beans from the Öko Caribe Cooperative.

I love the simplicity of the micro fine point black ink lines on thick white paper. I see bamboo through mini blinds or plantation shutters. Though, I wonder if the front packaging is really an autostereogram (also called a “magic eye” picture) that needs to be viewed from a distance (or by squinting) for the image to finally emerge.

Removing the rectangular bar from the wax-lined silver foil that was folded with the outer paper like a hiyoku (inner kimono layer), you immediately see abstract art embossed into the chocolate (despite the jagged edge splitting the bar into two pieces; a transit-caused “casualty”).

There was a sharp brittle snap when segmenting pieces and the “breaking point” looked a little dry.

The tasting morsel melted slowly in my mouth (and with a bit of effort), yielding a chalky, powdery, not smooth mouthfeel and a mouth-puckering bitter flavor. There was a starchy, filmy residue that clung to my tongue, teeth and palate long after the piece was gone from my mouth. When “chomped” the chocolate tasted fruity…maybe this was the Dominican Republic terroir coming through?

Overall, this bar was extremely photogenic, but sadly the “acquired” taste of the unrefined sweetener did not win me over. I like earthy bars, but this one was a little too astringent for my taste. Maybe it was the unroasted beans? Maybe it was the 79% cacao content? Maybe I just need to find the right “pairing.” Have you tried this bar? Let me know what you think!

For more information on Raaka, please see their website: https://www.raakachocolate.com/

X is for Xoconostle

Every chocolate has a story! I just hope to do adequate justice to its narration since this one touched not only my heart, but also my soul ❤️

You know the phrase “it takes a village”? Well, this bar would not have come into being without the inspiration, ingenuity, creativity, tenacity, talent, care and support of so many people!

Late last year, as I was finishing “round 1” of the Eating the Chocolate Alphabet project, I wracked my brain for another unique alphabetical adventure. During the NW Chocolate Festival in Seattle in November, I decided that A through Z inclusions would be perfect…though I couldn’t figure out what to do about “X” since I didn’t want to feature xylitol or xanthan gum and after tasting XO sauce (a spicy seafood paste originating from Hong Kong) I knew that would NOT work with chocolate AT ALL!

When I posted “A is for Amaranth” on January 4th, I added a plea to my Instagram followers for suggestions on how to handle that elusive letter. Fellow chocolate lover, Janice, promptly responded xoconostle; but heck if I knew what that was?! After a quick Google search, I discovered that this was a cactus fruit, smaller than a prickly pear; but the chances of finding that in chocolate were slim to none!

Fast forward a month later to Map Chocolate’s Indiegogo campaign. One of the perks was to design “the Map of your dreams”! Unbeknownst to me, though I had my suspicions, my boyfriend anonymously purchased that option in the hopes of partnering with Mackenzie Rivers to create a custom chocolate bar on my behalf! In the week that followed, my BF started researching foods that started with the letter “X” and found a company online that sold dried xoconostle – but they were currently out of stock. When the Indiegogo campaign was nearing the end and it was looking like Map would not reach their $25K fixed goal, my “I’m an engineer and problem-solver” BF decided that HE would obtain all the ingredients needed to home-craft a chocolate on the sly. He purchased a polycarbonate mold, a bag of Rancho Gordo xoconostle (as soon as it came back in stock) and some Valhrona couverture chocolate, which he would temper with a sous vide machine. At some point, he just could no longer keep the secret to himself. As we munched on a couple of rings of dried xoconostle together (imagine a cross between jerky and a tart “Sour Patch Kids” candy!), he recounted his endearing scheme and revealed the perfect bar name! It was then that it dawned on us…how would two neophytes like us possibly utilize and sweeten this shriveled fruit AND come up with a decent looking chocolate bar?!

Lucky for us, Mackenzie generously offered some of the Indiegogo perks even though the campaign had not been successful and I LEAPT at the chance that had previously eluded my grasp! My only request was that this bar include xoconostle and I left the rest of the details up to Mackenzie. If you heard squeals of joy in late May, know that was when these magical bars were delivered to me and they exceeded even my wildest dreams. Thanks for indulging me to endure this long story to finally see:

X MARKS THE SPOT

As you can see, there was care and attention to detail every step of the way: from the strips of map forming an X on the envelope, to the cacti paper wrapping the bars and even the inner liner note (which makes reference to a brief chance encounter that we unknowingly shared while both visiting a chocolate shop in Portland one afternoon):

Even though Map’s mold is super unique and distinctive, it’s all about the inclusions for me…so I’ll only be showing you the “back” side of the bar! However, if you head to my Instagram account, you’ll see a quick “unwrapping” video which highlights both the front and the back!

Just look at how the rehydrated translucent xoconostle glistens and the chili lime shimmers in the light! Chocolate topography at its finest! <swoon>

The aroma was fruity and jam-like with citrus and pepper undertones. Tasting the xoconostle on its own reminded me of a lightly sweet, crisp Asian pear or strawberry rhubarb. Upon handling the square bar to segment it into tasting morsels, my fingertips became stained with bright red chili dust and I certainly couldn’t let any of that go to waste! It was just like licking the rim of a tequila shot, followed by a short-lived, back-of-the-throat burn from the spice.

Now I could concentrate on the inclusion that was nestled within the 65% Dominican Republic Reserva Zorzal chocolate which was not completely smooth on the tongue, but not gritty either. It’s hard to articulate the sensation of teeth meeting the panela glazed peanuts which had just the right amount of “give” to add texture and a mellow crunch.

Leading up to the delivery of the bars, there were a couple of posts on Map’s Instagram account that probably made sense only to me:

Like a proud new parent, I took dozens upon dozens of photos of this photogenic bar and despaired over which ones to include in this post! After actively blogging for a little more than a year now, it’s getting harder and harder to find chocolates that other bloggers haven’t already written about! I think it’s safe to say that this is truly a one-of-a-kind bar and that no one else has ever tasted anything like it. While I might be biased, I think this was a delicious combination of ingredients and I can only hope (please, please, please) that Mackenzie considers adding this bar to her seasonal repertoire 🙂

And with that exhortation, I certainly DID!

From the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU to everyone who made this bar possible!!! xoxo

For more information on Map Chocolate, please see her website: http://www.mapchocolate.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:

Antidote Chocolate

Bronx Grrl Chocolate

Cacao Prieto

Dalloway Chocolate

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!

50 States Collaboration – Washington DC / Harper Macaw & Chocotenango

The cross-country chocolate swap and collaboration project continues! Sometimes you can get complacent about things that are familiar to you; so, from the start, Lori & I thought it would be fun for each of us to review chocolates from the other’s hometown to get a “fresh perspective” on them. She reviewed three chocolate makers from the Southern California area yesterday, so today I’m writing about two chocolate makers from the Washington, D.C. area.

Harper Macaw Chocolate Makers has been on my “wish list” for a while now, so I’m very grateful to Lori for choosing these 3 bars from the Rainforest Origin series for me. Check out this link from their website to learn more about the Brazilian cacao sources and conservation efforts to turn chocolate into a force for tropical reforestation.

Each of the thick white cardboard boxes is decorated with a brightly colored kaleidoscope imagery featuring a different endangered animal. Additionally, there are thin gold foil stamped & embossed lines accenting the box and these are repeated again on the chocolate bars themselves. One of my favorite gold accents is the company logo, which looks to be a stylized face of a macaw parrot, with plumage framing its beak and eyes.

Each of these chocolate bars was made with just three ingredients: cocoa beans, cane sugar and cocoa butter. Instead of utilizing the perforated “tear strip” on the back panel of the box, I decided to keep the packaging intact by easily lifting the flap from the double stick tape, which could then be used to “re-seal” the envelope-like closure.

Though not pictured, each bar was wrapped in a crimped heat sealed, metallic plastic pouch. Additionally, each bar of chocolate had a dull matte finish with varying degrees of chocolate “dust” marring the surface. I’m surprised that none of the boxes had any tasting notes listed, though the company website does mention the flavor notes there. I didn’t consult the website until just now, so we’ll see how “close” I was able to get during my “unbiased” tastings 😉

First up is the 74% Atlantic Forest / Single Estate Vale do Juliana bar, featuring a Golden Lion Tamarin Monkey.

Removing the bar from the inner packaging, the aroma reminded me of dark roasted coffee.

There was a brittle, dry snap to the bar which revealed some air bubbles and a few unusual white flecks at one section of the tasting morsel (see the upper left corner of the photo below):

Initially, the piece tasted like mocha and then evolved into an earthy flavor during the smooth and even, slow melt. This did not have a creamy mouthfeel and was lightly astringent on the finish. According to the website, the tasting notes are listed as: Toffee, licorice, peppercorn… This one’s a bit of a mystery

Next up is the 77% Amazon Rainforest / Single Estate Tomé Açu bar, featuring poison dart frogs.

This bar had a grassy, hay-like aroma which then transitioned to a dark roasted smell once it had a chance to “breathe” a bit. I’m always fascinated by the “shear pattern” upon creating a tasting morsel.

However, subsequent pieces looked completely different / no “shear”!

This one was the darkest in color and had a sharp snap with an earthy, herbal, almost black licorice flavor. The mouthfeel was more “juicy” than the last bar and also had a smooth, slow, even melt. The website’s tasting notes describe the bar as: Earthy with dried fruit such as raisins

You can also read about Lori’s impressions about this bar here.

Originally I was only going to try two of the three Harper Macaw bars that Lori had sent me, but I just couldn’t resist trying all of them!

Next up is the 75% Atlantic Forest / Single Estate M. Libânio, featuring Agrias claudina butterflies.

Sadly, this bar had the most chocolate “dust” marring the surface.

The aroma reminded me of dried figs and had a brittle, almost hollow sounding snap.

Surprisingly, there were sour, tangy notes to the chocolate and a chalky astringent aftertaste despite the smooth and even, slow melt. The website lists the flavor as: Malt, tart cherries, white fruit

Here is a photo of all three bars side-by-side to show the differences in colors even through the cacao used only varied by a few percentage points. Some of my descriptions were close to the tasting notes, but I still have a long way to go in perfecting my palate!

To learn more about Harper Macaw and see even more colorful packaging, including their political collection, visit their website: https://harpermacaw.com/

But wait, there’s more…I also had the opportunity to taste a bar from Chocotenango! Lori just recently wrote about this company, so check out her blog post to learn more about how they got started.

Cardamom is one of my favorite flavors, so I was thrilled when Lori was able to obtain this 73% Dominican Republic dark chocolate Arabian Nights bar on my behalf!

The royal blue foil doesn’t really go with the cream and green colored outer packaging, but I was fascinated by the way they wrapped the bar on the diagonal, which reminds me of the Japanese Furoshiki technique.

The twelve rectangle bar with a matte finish sustained some damage in transit, possibly because the bar is much more narrow than the outer cardboard sleeve packaging. There was a sharp snap and a creamy, smooth mouthfeel with the occasional crunch from a citrusy cardamom seed.

Overall, I loved the strong green cardamom flavor and aroma! It will be hard not to eat this entire bar within the next few days. To learn more about Chocotenango and see their other flavors, please check out their website: https://www.chocotenango.com/

Remember to follow the Time to Eat Chocolate blog to hear about the next stop in the “50 States” project!

Other chocolate makers in Washington, D.C.:

Undone Chocolate

NOTE: If you know of any other bean-to-bar makers in Washington, D.C. 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!

H is for Hemp Seeds

Are you trying to eat healthy and include “super foods” in your diet? Well, here is a chocolate bar that includes three different super foods: goji berries, cacao nibs and hemp seeds (since it’s “H” week on Eating the Chocolate Alphabet)!

Don’t worry, I won’t go into the health benefits or discuss super foods here since you can conduct your own research on the topic. I just want to introduce you to one of the most photogenic chocolate bars that I’ve seen in a while (and I’ve seen quite a few as part of this inclusion project)!

I don’t know about you, but my eye is immediately drawn to the lightly shriveled elongated reddish orange goji berries and the generous sprinkling of tiny white and greenish hemp seeds. The cracked cacao nibs almost blend into the 72% Dominican Republic dark chocolate base that you might forget they are there until you take that first crunchy bite!

But, let’s start from the beginning of the tasting process! If you’ve been following along for a while, you’ll know that I like using an “EAT” approach: E for exterior (which refers to the packaging), A for aroma and appearance and T for taste 🙂

Chequessett Chocolate is the third bean-to-bar chocolate maker in Massachusetts (Taza was the first & Rogue was the second). Self-taught co-founders, Katherine Reed and Josiah Mayo, handcraft their minimally processed chocolate bars in small batches in a workshop on Cape Cod, at a shop location that once stood abandoned for two years, but now thrives as a café, production room and office. From what I’ve seen on their website, each of the small button and string tie dark blue envelopes sport a distinctive map motif with silver lines and numbers.

After reading that Josiah had 20+ years’ experience working in commercial fishing, I figured that these were topographical maps of some sort, but couldn’t for the life of me figure out the “proper” term to describe them. After several fruitless Google image searches, I finally broke down and called Chequessett to get the information “from the source.” Thanks for confirming my hunch that these were bathymetric maps that show the shape, size and distribution of underwater features as well as the terrain and contours of the ocean floor.

Removing the foil wrapped bar from the outer packaging & peeling back the folds, the inclusion side of the bar “greeted” me with a nutty, roasted aroma. I was almost afraid to turn the bar over for fear of dropping ingredients everywhere, but amazingly everything stayed pretty well-adhered to the 20-rectangle chocolate bar (I’d love to learn the technique that was used to achieve this)!

The “top” side of the bar was a reddish brown color and only had some slight scuffing from the transit to Southern California (I had purchased this bar after Thanksgiving last year to take advantage of their free shipping “Black Friday” deal & also indulged myself in an order of caramel cashew turtles with Wellfleet sea salt…which were DELICIOUS, by the way! Still kicking myself for not buying more than one container!)

When segmenting rectangles from the main bar, there was a soft snap since the chewy, lightly sweet goji berries would hang on to their spot tenaciously and then tear to reveal the tiny seeds hidden inside.

The shelled hemp seeds (sometimes called hemp “hearts”) are softer and nutty, though I’m not sure why some have a greenish tinge to them. With all this texture to the bar, it was pretty much impossible for me to “melt” a piece in my mouth…I made several valiant attempts to do so, but always succumbed to “chomping” after 15-20 seconds 😉 I wanted to isolate the chocolate by itself, so I tried slicing off the raised “hump” from the top side of several rectangles. Even though it was very messy to do so (wish I knew a better way of doing this), now I could taste the citrusy notes of the evaporated cane juice sweetened chocolate.

It will come as no surprise that this bar is almost gone now, so I’ll leave you with this one parting photo:

You can bet that the Blueberry Ginger or Cranberry bars will be next on my wish list!! Or maybe the Farrago confection, though the Mexican hot chocolate mix is calling to me too 🙂

To learn more about Chequessett Chocolate & their Cape Cod products, please visit: http://www.chequessettchocolate.com/

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/