20°N & 20°S

Chocolate Truffles And Other Noshes

 

 

Looking at my inventory of chocolate to be reviewed, I asked that if anyone had anything to bring me by way of chocolate that it not be be bars, but rather truffles or other chocolates to be eaten right away. I have a library of over 50 bars. All in due time for those reviews. For now it's nice to break up the reviews with fun things.

 

Angelo Scarnera brought me a nice little collection from London again. If you will remember, he is the person responsible for the British Chocolate Invasion. This time he came through with specific requests. One of those requests were more Milk Chocolate Bars with Welsh Sea Salt from Rococo. With it were two truffle bites.

 

Rococo has become a favorite of mine. That milk seas salt bar is ridiculously good. It snapped me out of this constant string of dark chocolate reviews and reminded me how good milk chocolate can be.

These truffle were lovely and rich raspberry truffle. Really clean finish. It opens up bright, bold and full of tangy raspberry. Follows through with some coffee notes of the rich chocolate but finishes clean. I am not sure of the cocoa percentage but it is a Valrhona single origin chocolate. I would be impressed with myself if I could identify the region, but the raspberry is the dominating factor. Tasty little treats.

 

Ahh Liddabits. Fun makers from Brooklyn, Ny. After having previously tried their pate de fruits and chocolate bar "The Snacker," which is sort of their version of a Snickers, I was given a bar of "Chocolate Doom." These are adult candy bars. Handmade, super rich, and super good.

"Chocolate Doom" is a chocolate sable cookie, milk chocolate ganache, white chocolate ganache, and dipped in chocolate. The cookie is a lot saltier than anticipated but is actually a nice break up to what would be an overly sweet candy bar. It ends up tasting like an Oreo cookie candy bar. Very rich. I could have done without the white chocolate, but that's just me being overly picky about white chocolate. The white chocolate gives off a weird artificial flavor. Again, this is just me being weird about white chocolate. I have never really liked white chocolate all that much except in obligatory things like white chocolate chunk macadamia nut cookies.

 

I liked this bar quite a bit. But I didn't think it was as good as "The Snacker." The peanuts in "The Snacker" end up being a more natural salty break up to the sweet handmade nougat in the bar. Still, anything called "Chocolate Doom" is worth having a go at.

 

 

Another William Curley truffle collection courtesy of Angelo. Can't ever be without a William Curley product within my reach. I've previously reviewed this truffle collection. I had a great time going through these truffles. They were very sophisticated. I had reviewed most of these but there were a few new ones in the box I hadn't tried before. The hand rolled collection.

The House Dark, Cassis and Hibiscus, House Milk, Framboise, Rothschild Champagne, and Yamazaki Malt Whiskey.

"Our fresh chocolates are made without additives or preservatives and have a shelf life of 14 days."

 

 







House Dark: Fairly intense truffle. Handrolled chocolate shell, with a deeply rich, creamy, and bittersweet ganache filling. Dusted in unsweetened cocoa powder.

"William Curley's Classic Truffles are made with a blend of Amedei's 9 and Toscano 70%. It has a fresh soft intense ganache, with a light coating of chocolate and cocoa. The House Dark has won Gold for Best Dark Truffle in 2006, 2007 and 2008."

Cassis and Hibiscus: Very tangy! The coating has a tangy cassis powder with a bump of rich and also tangy ganche right in the center, and finishes with a delicate hibiscus flowery finish. This isn't my favorite truffle, but I thought it was pretty cool. Certainly wakes your palate up.

I don't have the ingredient list for this one but I am pretty sure Amedei Toscano is one of the chocolates used.

House Milk: Much softer center and delicate flavors but still a fairly rich chocolate shell and unsweetened cocoa powder coating the truffle. This is still a very rich truffle it just has a creamier and milkier ganache filling. I liked this one much better than the house dark.

"The House Milk Truffle is another classic, rich and creamy made with a 32% Toscano chocolate. Enrobed in dark couverture and cocoa, this compliments the sweeter ganache creating a perfect balance. The House Milk has won Silver for Best Milk Truffle in 2007 and 2008."

Framboise: Tastes similar to the house dark with a delicate raspberry ganache filling. Mostly you find super tangy and overly flavored raspberry flavors. This is a lot softer and allows for more chocolate interaction.

"Fresh raspberry puree has been blended with Toscano 63% complimenting the acidity of the raspberry, coated with dark chocolate and cocoa. The Framboise has won Gold in 2008."

Rothschild Champagne: Very sweet with powdered sugar coating, and lightly flavored with champagne. You can taste classic champagne flavors but it's so subtle the sugars and chocolate over take it quickly. Still very nice though because of how sweet it is.

"Our Champagne truffles are made with Champagne Moutard which only uses the pinot noir grapes. It is an elegant and subtle light ganache dusted with icing sugar."

Yamazaki Malt Whiskey: Single malt whiskey from Japan. Very subtle. I am not sure what this whiskey is supposed to taste like though it's website mentions honey flavors. It doesn't taste like scotch or American whiskeys. I also don't know exactly what it's coated in but it's a clean tasting powder but a bit chalky.

It's interesting and soft. But perhaps if I knew the flavors better, I would understand what I was tasting. I could taste the Amedei flavors coming through but the the whiskey was so subtle I wish it were more bold.

 

Then Emily Shartin of Formaggio Kitchen, came through with some little noshes. She also brought the Liddabits candy bar. She likes the local Brooklyn food scene as much as do. She brought me a chocolate cluster, a small turtle, and two little truffles. I am not sure of the sources of these bits, but I will be sure to add an update to this post when I find out. Again, keeping with my theme of no more bars for the time being but bringing me small things I can eat and enjoy without deeper reviews.

 

Buttery pecan turtles with candied pecans. Soft chewy caramel with a slight bit of chocolate. This thing is all butter and it's all good. I am usually not a fan of turtles, but these are fantastic. I would love to cut these up in large chunks for the ultimate butter pecan ice cream.

 

The Cluster is chocolate covered nuts and corn flakes!! Simple yet so delicious. I should have saved it for breakfast. Pretty salty and barely sweet at all. This is something for someone who professes they don't have a sweet tooth. I think Jacques Torres had some of these clusters in his DUMBO store.

 

The polka dotted truffle turns out not to be a truffle at all but a chocolate shell filled with the softest, gooiest caramel. Nice little surprise. I almost ended up wearing it. But managed to recover it. The chocolate added some nice rich coffee notes. Sweet, sticky, and delicious. Nice little treat.

 

The dark purple lustered truffle was super rich and made with something from South America, possibly a Rio Caribe or something equally bold and deeply complex. Something coastal of Venezuela. At first I thought it was Madagascar cocoa with the strong wood characters, but it has to be something else based on the big tar, berries, and pen ink characters. I will be curious to see if I was in the right direction when Emily tells me what it is. Sweet caramel center but more of a creamed truffle texture instead of the runny and gooey caramel. The Center isn't the main attraction of this little nosh. It's the strength of the chocolate flavors carrying through to be the last thing you focus on as it lingers on the palate.

 

Update: Emily has advised me that these treats came from Elaine Hsieh in Somerville, Ma. Now I know where to buy in bulk, the Pecan Clusters. (Fresh pecans roasted in maple syrup and a touch of sea salt surrounded with soft Knob Creek Bourbon caramel and topped with E. Guittard’s 65% dark chocolate and a sprinkle of fleur de sel. Each box is 6.5 oz and contains approximately 12 pieces.) I want to large chop them and toss them into an ultra exquisite batch of butter pecan ice cream. It would be dope yo!

She also made those incredible Rochers. (A "haystack" of crunchy caramelized flakes, roasted and candied almonds, covered in dark and milk chocolate. Each box is 6 oz and contains approximately 8 pieces.)

The polka dotted caramel was a Bourbon Caramel. I feel way off the mark with that because I didn't notice the bourbon in it at all. It just means they are getting another day in court. (Bourbon Caramel - Bourbon Caramel - Buttery soft caramel with a touch of Knob Creek bourbon.)

 

Hot chocolate spoons seems to be all the rage in the UK. Large chocolate squares on stir spoons from Melt, and now these chocolate cups with spoons for easy stirring into a hot mug of steamed milk. Angelo, knowing that I wanted more drinking chocolate this time around, spotted this little gem at L'Artisan du Chocolat.

It's called First Crush. Dark chocolate with salted caramel spoon.

 

I scaled a cup of vanilla almond milk for this cup. Scalded vanilla almond milk smells like toasted marshmallows when coming off the stove. Stirring in the chocolate cup, it took a while to melt it all down but it made a nice rich brew. I licked the spoon at the end like advised on the package. It was really good rich dark chocolate and sugary just like the UK likes it.

I didn't get much of a salt caramel taste until the finish of one sip. The almond milk made it taste like I had stirred a peanut butter cup into hot milk. Very tasty. Super rich brew too.The almond milk is sweet already and flavored with vanilla so it added more sweetness to the drink as did the dark chocolate.

After not have a good introduction with L'Artisan du Chocolat's Jamaican bar, I was very impressed with this cup of hot chocolate. Nice and rich and sugary. I am kicking myself however, I should have had this in the morning and not after 5pm. I am going to be jacked for the rest of the night.

One thing I didn't like was the wooden spoon. I had to be very careful licking the rest of the chocolate off. I have a serious aversion to wooden spoons. It's cringe worthy and gag inducing for me like nails on a chalk board. Teeth scraping wooden spoons is a horrible thing and makes my teeth ache just thinking of it. I am not the only one with a reaction like this. My husband has it too. We both cannot deal with doctors office tongue depressors, flat wooden sticks for Italian icees, or Popsicle sticks. I freely admit that this is not their fault but my own weirdo aversions.

 

Just look at that thing. You can tell that sucker is rich and I am in for a long night of being awake. I didn't taste all of this in one day either. Okay, two days is still pretty gluttoness. But these are items with a very short shelf life. I HAD to do it, right?

Chocolate Facial Masks

 

I have been reading about how healthy dark chocolate is for your body, but now I am seeing an awful lot on how good it is for your skin as a facial mask. Dark chocolate is loaded with antioxidants and caffeine for brightening, so it makes sense to use them as a mask.

Originally I had intended to do a post about a cheap little chocolate mud mask that I frequently use myself from a UK company called Montagne Jeunesse. I found them in CVS and gave them a shot because they were super cheap. I bought a few different kinds of their mud masks and all seem to work really well. The Chocolate Masque however, seems to work the best. Boasting in the ingredients that it uses Theobroma cacao seed butter and shell powder (cocoa butter) and Shea butter, along with Dead Sea salt and Mediterranean clay, it really does do wonders for my skin. It's only $1.99 too! It seems too good to be true but it really does work nicely. Follow this mask with one of their pore tightening peel mask Passion Peel Off. A peel mask with passion fruit extracts. Smells awesome and really tightens the skin.

They now offer a White Chocolate Masque, a Fudge Sauna Masque, and a special Dark Chocolate Mud Masque.

They also have a huge range of other products like sugar crystal scrubs, and fruit smoothie masks. If you live in the UK, I imagine you can find this stuff every where. They have their products here in the US as well, but I am only finding it for now at CVS. Also, the ranges are very limited. The Chocolate Masque seems to me, to be the most available. It sells out very quickly too. At least at my CVS. I know I am personally part of the problem. I buy about 20 at a time. Someone else, you know who you are, seems to be buying up all the Passion Peels.

As an added bonus this stuff feels like you are smathering chocolate frosting all over your face. Come on think about it. How many times have you want to mash your own face in a big cake? This is what that feels like. The only drawback is that you can't lick this "frosting" off your face or fingers.

 

Looking up online, there does seem to be a trend with chocolate body scrubs and expensive jars of chocolate masks. Some as high as $69. If you are like me and have a serious chocolate addiction, you are probably left with scraps of chocolate bars all over the house like I am. I used to divvy the leftover out to friends. It make me look like a drug dealer slipping them plastic baggies of chocolate saying things like "This one is very rare. Comes from Venezuela. You really can't go wrong." Or "This is from Madagascar. It's all the rage these days." What makes this even more funny, is that I usually pass them out while at some beer event or gathering at a popular beer bar. Those who aren't "in-the-know" are probably scoffing at the audacity to openly "conduct business" in such a public display.

Back to those leftovers. I sample a lot of chocolate and have tons left over. I can't eat whole bars of chocolate at a time. I hoard the really good ones selfishly for myself to nosh on later, but the rest go into baggies and either get made into exquisite batches of chocolate mousse. Or it gets melted down in scaled cups of hot almond milk for hot chocolates.

Now I have a new way to deal with those samples and that is making your own homemade chocolate masks. The internet is chock full'o'recipes to explore and play with.

 

I found this rather simple recipe for a chocolate, yogurt, oatmeal mask.

¼ cup cocoa powder, sifted
¼ cup honey
¼ cup natural yoghurt – not flavoured
¼ cup oats, finely chopped

Mix all the ingredients together to form a smooth paste.

Let it stand for 5 minutes to thicken slightly.

Apply the chocolate face mask generously to your clean and dry face and neck areas.

Lightly massage in avoiding the eye and lip areas. Leave on for 15 minutes then rinse with warm water. Pat dry and apply a moisturiser.

You may find that as this chocolate mask is so good at cleansing your skin it will absorb your moisturiser easily and you may need a second application.

It goes without saying that if you feel any irritation on your skin to wash the chocolate mask off immediately.

Although you can not eat this recipe this site is filled with delicious chocolate recipes of mine that you can indulge in. This slide show is just a taste of what you will find.

 

Chocolate bar mask by Natasha Levitan

You will need:

• 1 bar dark chocolate
• 3 tbsp salt
• 1 cup milk

Mix the Milk and Salt

Into a small bowl, pour in your cup of milk. Add in three tablespoons of salt and mix everything together so the salt dissolves.

Melt the Chocolate

Set up double boiler. Fill the saucepan quarter full and place a small bowl on top so it doesn't touch the water. Set the heat to medium. Break chocolate into pieces so the chocolate melts faster and place it into the bowl. Stir it with a whisk so it melts more evenly. When it is completely melted, take it off the heat

Mix the Face Mask Ingredients

Add milk-salt mixture to the melted chocolate and stir it together so everything combines. Cool the mixture until the room temperature.

Apply to the Chocolate Face Mask

Cover yourself with a towel so the melted chocolate doesn't ruin your clothes. Apply to your face with a wooden stick or your hand. Make sure that the mask is not hot so it doesn't burn your face. Let it stay for about 15-20 minutes while you read, lay down, or relax. Then wash it off with a mild cleanser and water. Be thorough so you don't end up smelling like dessert for the rest of the day.

 

Chocolate chips mask recipe via Soleil Robins, Yahoo

1 package of dark chocolate chips

1 tsp vitamin E oil

1 tbls solid cocoa butter

1/4 cup of cocoa powder

2 tsp almond oil

Mix all ingredients in a microwave safe bowl, Microwave for 30 seconds or until chips have melted enough to melt as mixing together and blended in. Allow mixture to cool and thicken a bit and then apply to clean face and let it sit for 20 minutes. Rinse face with warm water and moisturize face after.

 

Green tea and chocolate mask from Wise She.

1 tbls of green tea (or matcha green tea powder)

1 tbls of cocoa powder

2 tbls honey

Mix until a smooth paste. Apply to face and neck for 20 minutes and rinse with luke warm water.

 

Honeyed Wine and Chocolate Facial Mask by Crunchy Betty

• 2 Tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 Tbsp red wine
• 1 Tbsp honey
• 1 egg white
• Clean small paintbrush or makeup brush for application

Mix the red wine, honey, and egg white together well until completely blended. Add the cocoa powder and continue to whisk with a small fork until smooth. The consistency will be a little jelly-like. This is good. With your clean paintbrush or other applicator (you could use your hands, it’s just kind of messy), apply a thick layer to a clean face, avoiding the lips, so you can drink a glass of while while you let it dry for 15-20 minutes. Wash well with a warm, damp washcloth. Finish with a moisturizer.

 

All of these homemade masks can be bulked up with tropical fruits like papayas and bananas. Avocados and blueberries will also add some beneficial nutrients to the skin. Adding course sugar crystals will double these recipes as facial scrubs for exfoliation. Or you could be cheeky and just take Taza Chocolate and scrub your face with that rough and over bearing texture. God knows it's not good to eat but at least you can do something with it. And of course health stores or organic grocery stores all have skin care sections where you can buy essential oils to add to any of these recipes.

Chocolove ~ Extra Strong Dark 77%

 

 

 

Chocolove from Boulder, Colorado. Ecclectic packaging that looks like a mailed letter with a love letter enclosed inside the wrapper. Inside was a poem from Shakespeare.

 

from Venus and Adonis

Venus: '[Darling],' she saith, 'since I have hemm'd thee here
           Within the circuit of this ivory pale,
           I'll be a park, and thou shalt be my deer;
           Feed where thou wilt, on mountain or in dale:
           Graze on my lips, and if those hills be dry.
           Stray lower, where the pleasant fountains lie.

          'Within this limit is relief enough,
          Sweet bottom-grass and high delightful plain,
          Round rising hillocks, brakes obscure and rough,
          To shelter thee from tempest and rain:
          Then be my deer, since I am such a park;
          No dog shall rouse thee, though a thousand bark.'

 

If only the chocolate were good enough for the cute packaging and romantic poems. Sadly it's not.

 

Via Chocolove's website, the about page and history of Timothy Moley:

History of Chocolove

Tucked away in Boulder, Colorado sits an unassuming building where a little magic takes place... Every day, decadent chocolate bars are carefully crafted using the timeless combination of chocolate and love.

Chocolove chocolate bars are available in ten distinct flavors that range from a sweet, creamy Milk Chocolate with a 33% cocoa content, up to an Extra Strong Dark with an impressively strong yet smooth 77% cocoa content. Tied to chocolate's natural counterpart, love, each bar resembles a love letter, complete with a romantic poem.

For the past ten years, Chocolove has been quietly developing a loyal consumer following in natural and organic food stores around the country, including Whole Foods and Wild Oats. In 2005, Chocolove began its expansion into gourmet and conventional grocers, such as King Soopers, Gelson’s, HEB and Bristol Farms, making this delightful treat more readily available to its ever-growing fan base.

Chocolove started as the classic entrepreneur story – a dream, a garage, extended credit card debt and loans from friends and family. With its visionary chocolatier, and a solid concept, Chocolove became, and continues to be, a pioneer in the chocolate industry.

Timothy Moley is the founder, owner and chocolatier at Chocolove. A tall and slightly eccentric man, he reminds you a little of Willy Wonka. His laid-back attitude, wry grin, and lanky physique would never lead you to believe he is a man who lives and breathes chocolate, and has been consuming two chocolate bars, every day, for the past ten years. Seriously.

It all began in a cocoa field in Indonesia… Timothy was chewing on some cocoa beans doing volunteer work for USAID, a government program that promotes agricultural and technical education in developing countries. He had been living abroad on and off for two years, visiting over 28 countries, developing his palate with spices, teas and wines. And, like most of us, he had always dreamed of being his own boss, dedicated to something he loved. The idea of a career in chocolate inspired him and an idea began to form -  to create a premium chocolate bar, paired with the romance of love.

When he returned to the States, he began his chocolate education and quickly discovered a few key facts about the U.S. chocolate market: the average consumer could tell the difference between cheap chocolate and premium chocolate and they preferred premium chocolate; the available premium chocolate bar choices were limited, expensive and intimidating; no U.S. company was indicating the cocoa content on their wrappers; and flavors were boring.

Chocolove was born. The idea was simple - a selection of distinctly flavored chocolate bars made with all-natural ingredients and the classic techniques of Europe's finest chocolatiers. The package design would resemble a love letter sent from a distant land, and inside each wrapper - a classic romantic poem. The cocoa content would be clearly indicated on the front of each wrapper, the tasting notes would be simple and approachable, and the price, affordable.

Initially, bars were manufactured at a U.S. co-packer, but in late 2003, Timothy completed building his custom-designed chocolate factory in Boulder, CO, and by mid-2004, the factory was in full swing, running as smooth as melted cocoa butter. Today, Chocolove bars are made in small batches and shipped around the country, delivering a little bit of “chocolate–love” to discerning chocolate lovers everywhere.

 

Coverture chocolate bars made with Belgian chocolate, though Belgian source not listed. Cocoa beans from Africa and South America, 77% is the strongest bar in the Chocolove collection. Boasting extra cocoa butter and "Made especially for the dedicated chocolate enthusiast."

 

Click to enlarge images.

 

Extra Strong 77%

 

Type: Bittersweet, 77%

Bean Varietal: Blend

Ingredients: Cocoa liquor, sugar, cocoa butter, soy lecithin.

Sample Size: 3.2oz or 90g

Lot #: 030209

 

Appearance: Ashy! Ashy! Ashy! Looked dried up from sugar bloom. Different molding but still simple with small hearts in the center of each square. 

Score: 79

Snap: Good, very firm snap. Clean break lines.

Score: 94

Aroma: Delicate, soft roasted cocoa, wood, and almonds.

Score: 91

Taste: Boring! For such a robust cocoa percentage this has virtually no flavor at all. It took so long for any of it's flavors to present itself. Wax is the first thing noticed. Not just texture but taste. When it finally does open up there are hints of almonds and woody cocoa flavors, fairly sweet for a 77%. There are berries detected but they are so subdued it's almost not worth mentioning.

Score: 73

Texture: Very hard, waxy, extremely long melt time.

Score: 70

 

Once again I am pushing it with this review. It's Jan. and this bar has a March exp. Still, I am willfully admitting to pushing it with this bar. However, the appearance shouldn't look this ashy and dried up. The review before this bar of the Pralus Ghana 75%, is very similar to this review as far as pushing it with reviews. The Pralus bar held up and didn't appear to be THIS ashy. And the Pralus bar still had flavor to it.This is the difference between a skilled chocolatier and dabbler. Forgive me for being insulting here to Timothy Moley.

Another reviewer of the Pralus bar wrote and complained that there was too much cocoa butter and it diminished the integrity of the chocolate bar. I didn't find that was the case. I found for the Pralus bar, it toned down the boldness but didn't cut any of the flavor out. In this bar, all the flavor is virtually gone. No flavor and nothing but a hard waxy texture. No aroma either. Whatever aroma it had was very slight. However, there were the hallmarks of African beans with the distinctive almond aroma. It should have been much richer though.

It's not horrendous chocolate, but it's not good either. It probably should have a lower grade but it had great snap and the aroma wasn't bad. Those key factors are holding up it's score otherwise this should be graded at a D level. And they claim on their packaging that this is for the "dedicated chocolate enthusiast." I don't think so. Having said all that, I am not completely done with this company nor am I writing them off just yet. I will need to try fresher samples before I can fully make an informed enough decision about Chocolove. Not a good first impression though.

 

Final Score: 81.4

   score
     C

Chocolat Moderne ~ Red Fruits

 

 

I won! I won! I won! I won this bar of chocolate through twitter. I just started my new Chocolate Advocate twitter page and these fine folks, Chocolat Moderne began following me. They run a weekly contest about art. Guess the answer correctly from a series of tweets they send out as clues and you just might win. Granted when I won, it took me about 20 guesses. I am a total dunce about anything related to art. But needless to say their patience made it fun to guess and the very next day they sent me this fun bar of chocolate.

Chocolat Moderne is located in New York with Joan Coukos at the helm. Her biography:

Joan Coukos, Chocolatier & CEO of CHOCOLAT MODERNE, is a Native New Yorker. She graduated magna cum laude from Duke University with a degree in French and Russian, and received an MBA from UNC Chapel Hill before entering the New York banking scene. Her extensive career included six years in Moscow during the rough and tumble days of Russia’s transition to a market economy, after which she returned to New York and Wall Street in 1999.

Open to new inspiration and challenge, in December 2000, on a trip to Brussels, she fell under the spell of old world, hand made chocolates and began creating recipes back in her tiny Manhattan kitchen. Her co-workers became the first enthusiastic guinea pigs, and upon receiving repeated accolades, she began taking formal steps to becoming a chocolatier.

Since that memorable day on the Place du Grand Sablon, she has studied chocolate and confectionery arts with a coterie of world-class French, Belgian, American and Swiss chocolatiers in NY and at The World Pastry Forum in Las Vegas. She is also a member of the New York Women’s Culinary Alliance. Now, after five years of honing her craft, Joan is creating sumptuous assortments of luxury gift boxed chocolates in her own chocolate laboratory on West 20th Street.

 

Chocolat Moderne has a lot going on with the products they sell. From Salt Caramels, to truffles, and hot chocolates. But more importantly they have Bistro Bars. Bars with fillings such as Banane Flambe which is caramel with bananas and cognac.

They are a courverture shop using Valrhona blends as their base for their chocolate creations.

 

 

So what exactly have I won? It's called Red Fruits. It's one of their chocolate and toffee bars. Butter toffee infused with cherry, raspberry, and strawberry and crumbled into dark chocolate, 65%. I am totally ready for this.

Ingredients: Dark chocolate (cocoa beans, sugar, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, natural vanilla), butter, cane sugar, salt, cherry, raspberry, strawberry.

 

Click images to enlarge.

 

One thing to note about this bar, it was sweating a little bit when I opened it. My apartment is a very dry place so it was interesting to see the bar sweating. Because of this, it had a messy appearance. However, it smelled wonderful. Like flowers, fruits, and butter. That's a winning combination for sure.

Very soft bar. No snap sound whatsoever. A little acidic and sharp at first taste, a combination of the chocolate and the fruits. Nice consistency throughout the bar of soft flavorful chocolate and crispy yet chewy toffee bits. Extremely tasty and not dominated by the fruit like the title suggests.

Really nice bar. Fun, flavorful, and a mixture of textures. Very enjoyable.

I will look forward to trying their Bistro Bars and their Hot Chocolate collection soon. Their hot chocolates are called Cocoa Casbah and they have some really interesting flavors. I hope they expand on it and make more combinations.

Montezuma's ~ Peru 70%

 

 

 

 

Peru is the new hot origin for single origin chocolate bars these days. Peruvian beans are being sought after by all the high end chocolate makers from around the world.

Earlier this summer, Art Pollard of Amano Chocolates, Stephane Bonnat of Bonnat Chocolatier, Alan McClure of Patric Chocolates, and Colin Gasko of Rogue Chocolatier all took a trek to Peru to source beans and discover the region. Now their origin bars are coming out. 

Although cacao has been growing in the region for centuries, this bandwagon for new origin regions or newly discovered cacao varieties is certainly exciting for the chocophiles.

 

Via Rueters:

"It's truly the year of Peru," said Stephane Bonnat, the director of commercial relations for Bonnat chocolates of France and the descendant of a long line of chocolatiers."

UNDISCOVERED VARIETIES

The genetic diversity of Peruvian cocoa has protected crops from pests and disease that have hindered production in neighboring Ecuador and Brazil, according to a 2006 Annals of Botany report.

Numerous varieties also entice those in constant search for exotic new flavor profiles.

"There are types of cocoa plants in Peru whose flavor is not yet known. I feel like Christopher Columbus discovering a new world," said Valentine Tibere, an ambassador from the Salon du Chocolat, a Paris-based trade group.

 

So with that new varieties, new tastes, new flavor profiles to discover and Montezuma's has a pure organic version.

Via Montezuma's website:

Peru has everything you would expect from an ancient and sophisticated South american civilisation; fortunately for us, this includes some of the world's finest cocoa. The organic cocoa we use is a blend of Trinitario and Criolla beans, best described as Ariba quality: that means the best of the very best! Our cocoa from Peru comes from a cooperative made up of many tiny plantations in the San martin and Huanuco region to the east of the Andes in the tropical lowlands. That description just wants you to dive in and experience the mystery of Peru. 
 
This chocolate contrasts interestingly to our 73% cocoa Dominican Republic chocolate, in that it has a distinctively fruity flavour with a hint of tropical fowers. We don't even add vanilla to this chocolate because of the naturally fruity overtones. This is a mild and natural rich chocolate which is simply brilliant!

And of course comes Montezuma's stamps of various approvals.

 

 

 

 

Montezuma's Peru 70%

 

Type: Bittersweet

Bean Varietal: Blend, Criollo and Trinitario

Ingredients: Cocoa solids (70%), Sugar.

Sample Size: 100g or 3.5oz

 

Appearance: Simple lined moldings, shiny and smooth with a few minor nicks and matted marks on the surface, deep brown color.

Score: 90

Snap: Deep robust snap, frim crisp snap sound, clean break lines with a few crumbles.

Score: 93

Aroma: Delicate, lightly sweet nose, light roasted cocoa, mild hints of spice, creamy and nutty, a little floral.

Score: 94

Taste: Slow opening, sweet and lightly flowery, big cedar wood and tangerine characters up front, inky and lightly bitter, spicy, nice bold fruit characters, some lingering bitterness and floral notes on the finish. Also a little spiciness like black pepper on the finish. Very slight though.

Score: 96

Texture: A little hard at first, smooth, and creamy once it opens up on the palate. Medium-long melt time.

Score: 92

This chocolate took it's sweet time to open up. It was a little hard in texture but did eventually open up a creamy and smooth texture.

It's sweet chocolate with lingering bitterness and flowers on the finish, but opens up with sugar and light flowery taste. There is a big, beautiful cedar wood taste as soon as the chocolate opens up on the palate. A little spiciness to go along with big wood and tangerine flavors.

Interesting that they compare this to their Dominican Republic bar. Both are extremely woody in character. Though they are right, the Peru is distinctly more fruity and floral with no vanilla added to it. Also the cedar wood on the Peru is distinctly bigger. With the Dominican Republic bar I wanted to melt it down and drink it. It had savory wood characters that I wanted to add spices and chillies to. With this bar I wanted to savor it tiny bit by tiny bit. It's sweet, floral, fruity, with bright cedar woods.

You will need to take your time with this chocolate. You will get the wood characters right away, but you will need to savor a few squares before you fully understand all the nuances on the chocolate. It's pretty complex chocolate. Despite having only a few descriptors in the review for taste and aroma, I am still thinking about this chocolate.

 

Final Score: 93

 

    score
     A-

Laurent Gerbaud, Belgium

Image via Station Gourmande

I recently got back from a quick trip to Belgium. The point of the trip was to witness my husband Todd and his brother Jason, get knighted by the Knighthood of the Brewers' Mash Staff (Belgian Brewers' Guild). Yes, it was a trip all about beer. But the beer helped me with a good tip on chocolate.

While visiting Moeder Lambic (probably one of the best beer bars in the world), Jean Hummler of Moeder Lambic recommended Laurent Gerbaud to me. We were discussing side hobbies and passions outside of beer. I told him I write about chocolate and that I am staying the most touristy part of Brussels, the chocolate shops were plentiful and equally touristy. A couple of saving graces for the serious chocolate fan were Valrhona, Galler, and of course the famed Pierre Marcolini. 

Jean told me Laurent's shop was very close to the bar. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to make it over there in time. I also, wasn't able to make it to Pierre Marcolini. This is okay with me because it just means I HAVE to go back now and maybe I will be back for Christmas. Imagine all the special treats at Christmas time. Nothing is more special than a gaudy European chocolate shop at Christmas time.

Not to worry. On one of our hardcore drinking nights, we naturally ended up back at the Moeder Lambic and amazingly, Jean took time out of his own personal day to get me a few noshes from Laurent Gerbaud. 

Since I wasn't able to visit his shop or speak with him directly, here are some blurbs about Laurent, his concept, and his special blend of couverture chocolate via his website:

LAURENT GERBAUD, chocolatier in Brussels marries chocolate, fruit and spices for 7 years. During a prolonged stay in China, he discovers the rich realm of Asian tastes and smells and begins to coat delicious kumquats (small candied oranges) with dark chocolate: an unexpected delicacy. Back in Belgium he passionately continues to create tasty combinations : "I do only what I like. When I am developing products, my only guide is my personal taste". The ingredients that compose each of his creations are all selected among the best ones in their league, and each delicacy is hand-made: " The chocolate and every ingredient we use are noble and precious: their character can be preserved only through a hand-made treatment."

These jewels are presented in a sophisticated packaging that visually enhances each product and turns them into irresistible temptations: precious gifts or a personal treat. The very distinctive LAURENT GERBAUD's logo features a red seal with the word 'chocolate' in Chinese. The deep and bright colours help create a distinctive identity to the range and contribute to evoke the world of tastes and travels in store.

LAURENT GERBAUD's chocolates are currently sold in more than fifty delicacy stores and specialized tea shops in Brussels, Paris, Berlin, London and other main cities in Europe.

The new range of LAURENT GERBAUD Dark Chocolate 70% is built around an exceptional chocolate couverture prepared by Domori according to an exclusive recipe. Domori, one of the best luxury couverture chocolate makers in Europe, works only with the best cocoa beans in very small quantities, using a manufacturing process that allows the expression of all aromas of the chocolate. This philosophy met exactly LAURENT GERBAUD's own objectives, and so began a very nice partnership. This exclusive Chocolate is to be compared with vintage wines: these wines are made of specific types of grapes which develop special aromas according to their growing soil. The same happens with chocolates: they are made of specific cocoa beans selected for their aromatic and tasting qualities. LAURENT GERBAUD's exclusive mix is composed of Trinitario beans (5% of global cocoa production) originating from the Sambirano Valley in Madagascar and of Nacional beans (2% of global production), a Forastero unique of its kind, exclusively grown in Ecuador. The Trinitario beans give the chocolate its richness and aromatic intensity whilst the Nacional beans care for its exceptional length.

Treatment of small quantities of beans as well as low temperatures during the whole manufacturing process are essential factors to the preservation of the subtle and unique aromas of those noble cocoas. Not using soy lecithin ensures the mix is closer to the original chocolate recipe. This Dark Chocolate with intense and powerful taste has been developed especially to fit perfectly with the fruits used by LAURENT GERBAUD in his compositions.

The Milk Chocolate 50% designed by Domori for LAURENT GERBAUD is also a mix of rare Nacional beans from Ecuador. It holds 50% of cocoa, has exceptional sweetness and softness. A touch of Guérande salt completes this subtle picture. The Milk Chocolate contains a very small percentage of soy lecithin.

Now, these got back to the States in the best condition I could manage. They were stashed in my carry on, kept close to me without a lot of bumping. But being loosely packed, don't expect shining displays of glory. I was meant to eat these in Belgium, but selfishly, I stowed them away to write about when I got home. 

 

 

The plain disks were loaded with the aromas from the candied orange peels and candied ginger. But you can taste the cedar wood notes from the Madagascar beans and the drying effect and rounded edges from the Nacional beans. Hints of cinnamon, cherries, cedar wood, and some hidden berries.

Excellent quality. Rich, bittersweet, not heavily sweetened. With the salted cashews, this is the prefect blend. I like that the salt and cashew oils tone down a lot of that cinnamon flavor.

**Todd loved cashews. Too bad for Todd, he was Knighted in Belgium. He got a medal and all the attention he could handle. I am not sharing my Belgian prize of these cashew chocolate disks with him. 

 

Prunes dipped in chocolate. Again this blend works wonderfully with dried fruits. Sweet, prunes, but not overly sweet, and rich dominating chocolate.

However, the dried fruits draw out more of the cinnamon notes. I like the salted cashews which tame the cinnamon notes and allow for more of the raw cocoa taste to come through while being blended with the cashew flavors.

The second picture are chocolate balls filled with a gorgeous hazelnut paste of butter. Lightly sweetened and naturally oily. Like a chunky peanut butter filling but better because it's delicious hazelnuts. Simply fantastic.

The candied ginger and orange peel I passed on to my husband. I am not a fan of candied peels, and I really don't like ginger all that much. I did take a nibble into the ginger, and I can say it did work with really well with the chocolate blend. If I can recognize a good match in something I don't even like, then that is worth noting. Again, not my favorite so I passed it to my husband.

And the other are assorted truffles or bonbons. Again, using the house blended cocoa. Lovely flavors with that awesome finishing touch of Madagascar cedar wood flavors, cherries, and that clean drying finish of the Nacional beans. 

I am so glad this was recommended to me. In a sea of tourist chocolate like Godiva and Neuhaus, this comes a great treat and a shining beacon for Belgian chocolate. 

Next time I am in Belgium, I will have this chocolate with Jean, and take his beer list and do a real comprehensive Belgian beer and chocolate tasting. Those will be true notes to look forward to.

Montezuma's ~ Venezuela Milk 43%

As I wind down the last few bars of the British Chocolate Invasion, I draw close to the end with an organic chocolate producer from London called Montezuma's. Luckily I have five bars to go through from Montezuma's.

Alas, a chocolate website after my own heart. Chock full of information. I hate it when I don't know much about a producer and have to go digging for information further than I need to go which should be the very source of the product it self. It's not about lazy blogging, but sometimes you have to read 20 pages or more of other sources just to gather up enough information for one post here.


About Montzuma's:

Ex-lawyers turned chocolate entrepreneurs, Helen and Simon Pattinson, founded Montezuma’s in 2000 hand making their chocolate with one little machine and one shop in Brighton.

"It seems incredible that just a few years ago the smell of chocolate was one of the things that made Simon and I want to abandon our careers in the law despite the fact we had spent many years studying to become well paid solicitors in a large law firm in London.

Having become totally disillusioned with London, law and all the trappings of a money dominated life, we resigned from our jobs, sold our Putney house and put all our possessions into storage, leaving for South America virtually on the next plane.

We cannot remember why South America attracted us but I think it was probably the huge diversity of climates, cultures and landscapes . . . we were not disappointed.

Read more about their story here. 

Ideals and Fair Trade:

We have founding principles that we shout about and aren’t shy to thrust into the limelight.  We call this Trading Fairly.

These principles haven’t been bolted on or constructed to join a bandwagon, and for us that means working in harmony with the environment, our partners, our customers, and of course the societies we touch. 

It’s fair to say our ideals run deeper than our pockets and always will do.   Even if you’re mad and don’t want to buy any chocolate, please, please, read some of this stuff about what we actually do and think; including why we are not always comfortable with “Fairtrade”.  Shock horror!

Our Mission

Our World

Our Trade

Only Natural Ingredients:

The difference between good, bad and ugly foods depends largely on the quality of the constituent ingredients and chocolate is certainly no exception. 

We take great pride in sourcing and using only the finest ingredients; from Dominican Republic cocoa beans we consider to be the world’s best to fine and dark Madagascan vanilla.

The only thing missing from the website is the region of Venezuela the beans come from. Just a vague description of a "Lost World" type of environment some where in Venezuela. But there is a definite answer on bean varietals using Trinitario and Criollo blends. The beans were probably sourced from the northeast coastal regions of Venezuela.

But they do make up for it with the tags for this chocolate on their website indicated extensively what is and what isn't in this product and who this product is suitable for.

Traces of nuts.
Free of Genetically Modified ingredients.
Additive & coloring free.
Soya free.
Preservative free.
Suitable for vegetarians.
Gluten free.
Contains dairy.
British made.

Venezuela Milk

Type: Milk, 43%

Bean Varietal: Trinitario and Criollo

Ingredients: Cocoa solids 43%, milk solids 19% whole milk and powder, sugar, and vanilla.

Sample Size: 100g or 3.5 oz



Appearance: Smooth and shiny bar with basic non-monogrammed molding. Virtually blemish free and gorgeous light caramel coloring.

Score: 98

Snap: Fairly good snap for a milk chocolate, but still rather dull with a low thud versus a crisp snap. Clean break lines.

Score: 92

Aroma: Butter, cream, caramel, soft roasted cocoa.

Score: 95

Taste: Sweet, huge caramel taste, lovely light roasted cocoa. Tastes like a rich hot chocolate made with milk in bar form.

Score: 96

Texture: Smooth, creamy, fast melt time.

Score: 94

This was fantastic milk chocolate. It tasted exactly the way a rich hot chocolate made with steamed milk tastes. It also had wonderful, rich caramel notes. Soft roasted cocoa aromas with a lovely roasted cocoa taste. With 43% cocoa for a milk chocolate, it's borderline on a dark-milk giving way to much richer cocoa flavors that interacted well with the milky and caramel tastes.

It was a touch sweet, but balanced by rich butter caramel flavors. It had a creamy smooth texture with long lingering cocoa and caramel flavors. But interestingly enough it finished fairly dry on the palate.

Sometimes I don't need to go into a lot of detail to explain why something tastes so good. It is what it is and I say it's great. It's as simple as that. Given what I have said about butter, caramel, creamy hot chocolate flavors, that should be enough to let you know that you should buy this product. And buy a lot of it.

Final Score: 95

score
A

Truffles and Wine

My husband was wrapping up a meeting in Boston yesterday, when he stopped by Au Chocolat and picked up a wine sampler box of mixed truffles from Belgian Chocolatiers Neuhaus.

He found a collection of truffles meant for pairing with wine. The "sommelier" collection. Maxim de Muynck voted Sommelier of the Year in 2009 by Gault & Milau has designed this collection.

There is some good news for beer lovers. Two beer selections made into the booklet for a pairing recommendations.

He chose Lindemans Framboise for the Suzanne. It makes sense being a Belgian beer paired with Belgian chocolate truffles. Also raspberry on raspberry flavor profiles for both the chocolate and the beer.

However, to many beer lovers Lindemans is like "Kool-Aid." While it tastes awesome and is perfect for desserts and is very interesting for what can be done with beer, it tastes nothing like what we would consider traditional beer. However, for chocolate this is not the wrong way to go as it is very much like a dessert on it's own.

Lambics are a style of beer classic to Belgium made by a process called spontaneous open air fermentation. I am sure many beer geeks can break this process down better than I can, so I will spare you all the geek talk, but it's basically beer fermented by wild yeast in the air and other funky bacterias. This particular beer is then dosed with 500 lbs or more of various fruits and sugar. These are known as lambics which are wild ales. Many different styles have similar processes such as geueze, and other Belgian sours or unsweetened lambics. Lindemans happens to be the fruitiest, sweetest, and most palatable to the average person.

The other beer recommendation was Mc Chouffe from Brasserie d' Achouffe in Belgium. This is a spectacular Belgian-style brown ale which is unfiltered and then re-fermented in the bottles or a process known as bottle conditioning. It's an 8% abv beer with big sweet malts, a bit roasted, and fruity. Perfect for desserts and chocolate.

When Maxim chose this beer for the 1875, this made perfect sense with the cinnamon biscuit center of the truffle. The cinnamon and the toasted biscuit flavors.
 

I chose Heron Pinot Noir Vin de Pays de la Mediteranée to go through the truffles with. Next time I will take a collection like this and take to a wine bar and work out various combinations with wines. Otherwise it's unrealistic to sit here on my own and crack open various wines to fit the suggestions of the sommelier.
 



The Suzanne; Infused chocolate ganache with raspberries.

Light subtle flavors of raspberries on the  soft centered ganache, waxy chocolate shell, dried bits of tart raspberries on top.

Works lovely with the Heron Pinot Noir. Allows some drier woody, and more tart notes to come out on the wine. Tames it makes it a little earthy.






Maxim de Muynck Suggestions:

Cuvee Sakura 2003 raspberry and cherry wines from Roisin, Belgium

Lindemans Framboise Raspberry Lambic, Belgium

Zéro Pointé Rosé, Loire, France

Bugey-Balivery Cerdon Sparkling wine, Bugey, France




Grand Place; Dark chocolate shell coated with sugar with a soft ganached hinted with nigella.

Nigella is a spice that is mainly used when cooking Indian flat breads, such as naan, and vegetarian dishes.

The spice has a strong taste that is similar to oregano.

The Nigella spice is the seeds of the plant called Nigella Sativa. The seeds are tiny and black in colour. The seeds themselves don’t have much of an aroma but the oregano aroma is released when the seeds are fried or crushed. The taste is a bit like cracked pepper and is bitter.

Via Curry Focus


Deep rich chocolate shell, once again waxy mass produced taste, but extremely soft ganache center with big sweet caramel notes and a peppery nigella taste, sweet lingering sugar notes from the chocolate.

Works fairly good with the Pinot Noir. A bit borderline meaning there was almost too much alcohol overbearing on the palate. The major indications that you have a wrong pairing with wine and food. Same rules apply for beer. But still fairly good pairing.






Maxim de Muynck Suggestions:

Ojai Santa Barabra 2006 Syrah California.

5 year old Malmsey Blandy Madeira, Portugal.

Commandaria Ekto or Keo Sweet dessert wines, Cyprus

Marsala Vecchio Samperi de Bartoli, Italy




Criollo; Bitter dark chocolate with a fresh butter cream center.

Bitter, sweet, dry, soft center, still has a waxy taste that so far all of the truffles have had. Roasted cocoa and coffee notes underneath this trademark waxy taste.

Works very well with the Pinot Noir. Enhances the wine to be more earthy, but the bittersweet chocolate lingers on the palate to be fairly dominant.








Maxim de Muynck Suggestions:

Darroze Bas Armagnac, France

Ojai Santa Barbra Syrah, California

A generic recommendation of Bordeaux wines from the left bank.



Ganache Amère; "A happy marriage of the sweetness of créme fraîche and the magic power of chocolate, with a sublime, pure bitter flavour."


Sweet, rich, same waxy taste, roasted cocoa, slightly spicy in the beginning.

So far it works the best with the Pinot Noir. They tame each other. The rich sweet chocolate is toned down by the earthy wine, but the creaminess allows them the marry instead of contrast. The earthy notes on the wine tone down and let spicy characters come out.

Maxim de Muynck Suggestions:

Monastrell Dulce, Alceno

Pedro Ximénez, Toro Albala, Spain

Monastrell Dulce, Alceno, Spain

Maury Vintage, Dessert wine, France



1857; Milk praline with cinnamon biscuit-y center known as speculoos.

Light, milky creamy taste coupled with the same waxy taste, crunchy center, light cinnamon hints.

Works okay with the wine. It's borderline. The crunchy center wants to clash with the wine, but the creamy, milky chocolate taste recovers it and rounds out the wine stopping it from being a wrong pairing. It's not exact, but it's not bad either.






Maxim de Muynck Suggestions:


Mc Chouffe, Brown, strong ale, Belgium

10 year old Grant Burge Tawney, dessert wine, Australia

Domaine des Rosiers, Confidence 2005 vintage, France




Sapho; Milk chocolate with almond praline center.

Basically a milk chocolate shell with a super soft almond-chocolate center. Kind of like giandja made with hazelnuts. Same waxy taste, but a hit of pepper up front. The waxy taste makes it practically no different than gianduja since this waxy hallmarks has hazelnuts. It's just a bit butterier than gianduja.

This works really well with the Pinot Noir. It's all about the nuttiness playing off the earthiness, and creamy texture smoothing out the alcohol edges of the wine. This was pretty good. Not exact, but very close.







Maxim de Muynck Suggestions:

Neipoort or Burmester tawny port, Both from Portugal.

Chȃteauneuf du Pape or a Domaine Gremenon La Mémé 2006, France




Galerie; Caramel center, with chocolate center in a chocolate shell.


Salty and very gooey caramel with a thin layer of a chocolate ganache in the center gives off sweet and salty contrast, but that same damn waxy chocolate taste overtakes the lingering palate.. This would have been the best balanced truffle if it wasn't coated with this generic chocolate shell. That waxy taste ruins the balance.

The wine works well with the pairing based on all other descriptions from the previous truffles. It's creamy and salty and the butters work well with the earthiness of the wine. The sweet chocolate brings out more of the earthy flavors.








Maxim de Muynck Suggestions:

East India Solera de Lustau, Sherry, Spain

Neisson Rhum Agricole, Rum,  Martinque

Rivesaltes Ambré, Domaine de Rancy, France

Domaine des Rosiers, Confidence 2005 Vintage, France

Generic recommendation of Red Bordeaux from the left bank, France

Le Chȃteau La Rame, Cuvee La Charmille, I ères Cȏtes de Bordeaux, France



Passion Amande; White chocolate shell, cocoa butter, sugar, and caramlized salted almonds.

This is basically a white chocolate shell with soft chocolate and minced almond center. Barely salty, barely noticeable almonds, and it tastes like gianduja more than it does almonds.

Having said that, it's creamy, and the white chocolate is not over powering with a dominate milky or cocoa fat taste. It is like all other truffles in the collection, waxy and nutty. I wish the almonds were not minced to a finite crunch. There is no sense of caramelized anything let alone being barely salty enough to handle the chocolate.






Maxim de Muynck Suggestions:

Bartoli Moscato del panteliria, Italy

Chȃteauneuf du Pape or a Domaine Gremenon La Mémé 2006, France

Le Chȃteau La Rame, appelation Sainte Croix du Mont, France



More specific wine pairings:


Elysium Black Muscat

Suzanne

Grand Place

Criollo

Passion Amère



Oloroso Sherry

Sapho

Passion Amande

1857

Galerie


Overall this is a decent collection to share with friends. But you might have noticed my impatience with this collection. It's all same-y, and mass produced. The trademark waxy quality on these truffles leaves little to be desired. It's an odd milky, waxy, and nutty (hazelnut) flavor that permeated all of the truffles. This is a hallmark I have noticed on other Belgian chocolates as well. I am not sure if it's because it's mass produced with additives and preservatives or if it's just from blending chocolates. The single origin bars from Neuhaus are spared of this effect.

I am wondering if it's just a Belgian hallmark in general. I have been noticing regional hallmarks lately. England chocolate bars tend to be a lot sweeter than the American, French, and Italian versions. European chocolate in general tends to be milky, and creamier Especially with Swiss, German, and Belgian chocolates.

It also could be because these came in a sealed mass produced collection box. I am willing to bet if these truffles were made fresh and bought from a tiny shop in Belgium it would taste worlds different. It's always different when you are traveling and in the moment.

Still fun none the less trying to figure out which one of these truffles would end up clashing with the wine I chose. Interestingly enough none of them did clash, though a few came close to not working.

Get some wine, get some friends and crack open a box of truffles. Even if you don't choose Neuhaus, there are plenty of truffle makers locally you can chose from and go from there.

Tonight's focus was all about wine, and while I will always worship wine and chocolate, I am going to say that beer and chocolate is much cooler to work with and much more interesting finding out why things work and why they may not have worked. I love vino, but I am always going to be a beer girl at heart.

Fine & Raw ~ Bonbon Bar

Oh yes! A bar of chocolate made with all natural ingredients and filled with a truffle center.  The Bonbon bar. Word to your moms!

This bar was given to me by my friend Emily Shartin, the chocolate buyer of Formaggio Kitchen. She wanted me to try a very flavorful bar of chocolate from a solid chocolate maker in Brooklyn, NY.

Fine & Raw is a chocolate company out of Brooklyn using natural ingredients and green methods of sustainability.

FINE & RAW is a fresh new company that believes the future is beautiful. To help bring this thought to life we strive to be green and sustainable where ever possible.

We'll be the first to admit we're not perfect. From the big issues, like fairtrade and carbon foot prints, down to using energy efficient light bulbs, we're learning to be greener all the time.

Our cacao is fairtrade and comes from a small cacao farmers co-op that practices sustainable farming. Cacao is a shade grown plant requiring a foliage canopy to grow. Our cacao farmers maintain the rainforests which provide natural symbiotic canopies for the plant. The farmers also grow an heirloom variety of cacao, which promotes bio-diversity of plant species within the rainforest ecosystem.

All our ingredients are organic, which means no unnecessary toxins, chemicals or pollutants are pumped into the environment. Our packaging is recycled and the inks we use are non-toxic and vegetable based.

We want the planet to be strong so it can grow more chocolate.

I have only had one previous experience with Fine & Raw. I reviewed their Mesquite bar. A strange bar that one was. Funky flavors mixed with chocolate. Bizarre yet fun. It's one of those bars that you have to try at least once and you might not enjoy it just as a bar. I found it kind of odd but then I started to think about melting it down and making variants of Mole sauces with it. It was only after thinking about what could be done with it that I fully began to appreciate it. 

I am not going to lie though. I was mostly excited for the Mesquite bar because of the wrapper. A vintage cowgirl with a lasso. It's pretty bad ass. 

Type: Filled bar.

Bean Varietal: Unknown, beans from Ecuador.

Ingredients: Raw cacao paste, cacao butter, blue agave, virgin coconut oil, cacao powder, himalayan sea salt.

Sample Size: 2oz or 54g

Description:

Dark raw chocolate bar with a thin line of bonbon truffle running down the inside center (2oz).

Appearance: Very damaged. This could come from a number of reasons, but it had a very oily and greasy feel to the bar. The oils in this bar began to separate from the cocoa. The foil wrapper was completely saturated with oils. It has a soft truffle center but the shell of the filled bar was very soft. This gave way to a poor snap character. I doubt there would have been a viable snap character anyway with the soft truffle center. But there would have been a small sound with a crisp chocolate shell. I don't know if this bar is always supposed to be this soft or if some how there was an issue along the way with heat exposure or any other reasons. 

I have had a similar experience with a set of truffles that came to me from Patric. They were Elbow truffles made with Patric chocolate. They tasted so fantastic, but they got damaged along the way some how. They had a matted appearance and a bit of a sunken in effect from super soft truffle centers. It's a hard call when things like this happen. They might look messed up, but still they tasted like heaven. This bar was no exception.

Because of this I am not reviewing this chocolate like a standard bar. I am going to talk about the taste, texture, and aroma. I will give it one overall score.

Aroma: Huge coconuts, almonds, and rich roasted cocoa. Once again, a bar of chocolate that smells like a deeply rich Almond Joy. Obviously the coconut oils impact the aroma. I was hoping that the coconut was a natural aroma based on other chocolates I have reviewed with a robust coconut and almond aroma. But none the less, this aroma is unbelievably good. The bar was so fragrant that my entire living room smelled like rich coconut and almonds.

Taste: Coconuts, lovely hits of sea salt, rich roasted cocoa, nice bitter notes blended with sweet cocoa notes, and slight bit of astringency on the first taste.

Balanced flavors with the sea salt, richly roasted cocoa, and coconut make for a fantastic tasting bar. It's delicious and robust. It has a good balance of sweet salty, and bitter cocoa.

Texture: Soft chocolate shell, a bit oily on the surface, smooth soft center, creamy, melts fast.

The taste, creamy texture, and aroma completely save the day for this bar. I just wanted to eat more and more of it. The sea salt gave this bar a perfect balance. Rich cocoa notes big coconut taste and aroma, bittersweet and sweet cocoa tastes where rounded out by the contrasting sea salt taste. Excellent flavors and tastes.

It may not be totally fair to not score this bar based on appearance and snap, but this is an unusual bar of chocolate as it's filled with a truffle center. I am not sure where the issue happened with it's appearance, but it deserves a solid letter grade based on how good it smells and tastes. It's quite a fantastic bar of chocolate overall.

score
A

Rococo ~ Sea Salt Organic Milk

Once again that pretty eye catching packaging from Rococo takes all the attention. This bar had more details on the inside flap about the molding for the chocolate bars.

These highly acclaimed bars are made using our own special blend of organic chocolate with recipes developed over the last twenty years. These moulds are an antique design, reflecting the bar wrapper which is made up of motifs from Letang Fils' 19th Century catalogue of chocolate moulds.

The organic dark chocolate has a 65% cocoa content and a particularly high percentage of cocoa butter (the only fat used) which gives the bars their silky texture and crisp snap. The flavor of the chocolate is robust enough to compliment the botanical flavours without overpowering them. Only the finest and where possible organic ingredients are added to flavour the chocolate.

I really adore the packaging, the moldings, and classic styles all a fitting theme with the name Rococo. It's classic and cute.

Speaking of cute, I want to get my hands on this cute box of truffles! It's called The Cat Who Got The Cream. I love it. I am a crazy cat lady and obviously I am crazy about chocolate, so this is perfect for me.

Flavours include jasmine tea, Manjari Madagascar, lychee rose and raspberry, Irish coffee, sour cherry with dark chocolate, and Jivara marc de champagne, passionfruit and mango, crushed lemon praline with milk chocolate.

I am also proud to say that Rococo highlighted my first review of their chocolate on their blog. That is very exciting news for me. That means they see what I am doing, and they cared enough to highlight it.

Valrhona Grand Cru No. 1 Manjari 93% rating.

Rococo Sea Salt Organic Milk Chocolate

Type: Flavored Milk Chocolate, 37%

Bean Varietal: Blend

Ingredients: Organic cane sugar, organic cocoa butter, organic full cream milk powder, organic cocoa mass, organic Halen Mon (Welsh) sea salt, soya lecithin.

Sample Size: 70g or 2.4oz




Appearance: Shiny, classic 18th century molding, a little bit matted markings on the bar but overall very shiny and smooth. Light, soft brown color.

Score: 93

Snap: Rubbery, dull sounding snap, but still fairly firm.

Score: 90

Aroma: Soft nutty aroma with creamy and milky aromas. A little bit of a floral character but mostly what is dominating is a buttery and caramel nose.

Score: 94

Taste: Blended in sea salt, perfect balance of sweet and salty, nutty, creamy, sweet honey tones, caramel, some fruity notes do come through, but the milky finish really erases all traces of any subtleties.

Score: 96

Texture: Super smooth, soft, creamy, medium melt time.

Score: 95

Usually when I am tasting chocolate, I sample a few small squares of chocolate from the bar, enough to get a good feel for the chocolate or enough until I completely understand it. Then I wrap up the rest to be eaten at another time or share with friends. I ate nearly half of this bar! Not because I didn't understand it, but because it was to satisfy the glutton in me. It was wonderful.

This bar made me miss milk chocolate for the first time. I noticed this feeling before with Vosges' Mo's Milk Chocolate Bacon bar, but I thought maybe the sweet milk chocolate and bacon were working because of the bacon. Everything is better with bacon. So shall it be written, so shall it be! I don't dislike milk chocolate by any means. But when you eat dark chocolate nearly 99.9% of the time, and then you try a fantastic bite of milk chocolate, it makes you wake up to what was missing in your life.

The salt was mixed through out the bar which I liked. It's usually coated on one side of the bar for appearance to and say see look this is a salt chocolate bar. The blending was great because it gave each bite the right balance of sweet and salty. Honey and caramel notes from the sweet chocolate balanced with lovely salt.

I think I hate you Rococo Chocolates! I hate you because I think I found sinful new treat that is going to end up costing me limbs to have shipped over to the U.S. frequently.


Final Score: 93.6

score
A-