Surprisingly “K” was an elusive alcohol letter to find paired with chocolate; I thought for sure that a Kahlúa chocolate would be available, but no luck 😲
When a subscriber to this blog commented on my Honey Brandy post and mentioned Hawaiian maker Manoa, I discovered that they made a bar called KōHana Rum. Woo hoo, problem solved! Luckily, I was able to contact Manoa before they traveled to Seattle for the Northwest Chocolate Festival in November and I sourced this bar without paying for shipping – then again, even overnight mail from Hawaii would have been MUCH less expensive than my trip to Seattle, but I digress.
From the inside of the packaging: “We teamed up with local rum distiller KōHana to create this bar. KōHana Agricole Rum is meticulously crafted from farm to bottle. They grow single varietal sugar canes that are hand harvested, pressed to juice and then distilled to perfection – resulting in one of the world’s finest pure cane rums. Our Hawaiian cacao nibs are soaked in their rum, which we then process into chocolate.”
I’m not much of a rum drinker, so I wasn’t familiar with all the types of rum out there. That’s where this VinePair article came in super handy.
Classic rum is distilled from fermented sugarcane products, usually molasses, a syrupy byproduct of refining cane or beet sugar.
Rhum agricole differs from [classic] rum in that it’s distilled directly from pressed cane sugar instead of fermented juice or cane byproducts like molasses…
“Agricole” means “agricultural” in French. Because it’s so pure, drinkers can really taste the terroir. In rhum agricole’s case, this generally means a grassy, slightly funky taste.
It was great to read that last description, because this chocolate bar is indeed funky; though I would describe the flavor as leather rather than grassy – maybe the rum itself is grassy?!
Love the deep, rich, dark brown color to this nearly pristine bar with a detailed mould design. The aroma reminded me of wet tea leaves or used (already steeped?) coffee grounds. The bar segmented easily with a medium to soft snap. Super smooth & creamy during the slow even melt. As mentioned earlier, there was a unique flavor to this bar & I struggled with descriptors until I read someone else mention that Agricole Rum can sometimes taste leathery. Bingo! That’s it!
A fellow chocolate blogger recently posted about pairing this bar WITH the rum that was used to impart the distinct flavor. Take a look at her post, if you’re curious about it.
To find out more about KōHana rum, please visit their website: https://www.kohanarum.com/home
For Manoa Chocolate, here’s their website: https://manoachocolate.com/
As a side note, you’re probably thinking: Hey, did I miss the letter “J”? Well, truth be told, over the last year I’ve lost enthusiasm for this round of Eating the Chocolate Alphabet. After some soul searching, I’ve decided to feature only the bars that were already set aside for this project, but won’t be fulfilling every letter or filling in the gaps. My apologies for those completionists out there & thanks for your understanding!