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Four for One Paul A. Young Post

 

 

Dark Chocolate Fudge Brownie

It's that time of year again. The time my best friend in London, sweeps through the city bringing me back some requested gems from across the pond. This post is dedicated solely to Paul A. Young. It's been a while since I have sat down with some of his products. I requested a brownie this time. Snuck in were a few extra bars including one filled with Caramel. Let's get right to it, shall we?

 

 

I requested brownies because I have spent years hearing about the famous Paul A. Young brownies. His caramel brownie inspired me to make my own. I figured if I couldn't get to London, I would have to make my own. They were amazingly good. I tried to see if they had a baking mix. Not yet. But hopefully that will come.

Thick cocoa-y brownies. Nice buttery aroma and very fudgy texture. Super rich and velvety. Nice and sweet and buttery. This is a very decadent brownie. I would prefer to be a little bit more well done, but it's flavor trumps the slightly underdone texture. It's pretty much a chewy piece of rich fudge. I would send a couple of these to someone very special you know that might be having a bad a day. This would cure even the deepest depressions.

 

 

 

 

Sea-Salted Caramel Bar

Madagascar bar with 64% cacao filled with rich salted caramel.

Rich cocoa-y aroma with all the Madagascar hallmarks. Citrus, wood, berries, pen ink, cream and butter. When I say cocoa-y, I am referring to a richer dry cocoa aroma. Like the way chocolate powders smell. So that aroma is very similar to what the aroma of the brownie had. This was all rich Madagascar aromas with added cream and butter aromas from the caramel.

This bar was a total mess to look at. Molding marks on the surface either due to the plastic or from it's molding case. Ritual Chocolate recently explained how their molds leave an unintended thumb print to their bars. This might be the same thing. A little bit of separating on this bar but it's a filled bar that sits up vertically. The center is a very soft and runny service. It won't take much to disturb this bar. But luckily it's thick enough to contain it. On one hand I love the simplicity of the packaging. But on the other hand it leaves it so susceptible to any kind of topical damage.

I cut the bar in half at first to see if it was a mou or a runny caramel. I am happy to report that it is a runny caramel bar!

The ingredients list two chocolates in it. I am not sure if there is a touch of milk chocolate in the caramel or blended into the Madagascar. He used Valrhona's Jivara Milk. I am sure the base is also Valrhona. Not sure if it's exactly the Manjari but I am sure it's Valrhona. He uses them and Amedei for his base chocolate or couverture.

Nice buttery caramel. Perfect balance with the sea salt and the cream and butters. I love the caramel. The chocolate is very rich and sharp. It's soft and sweet up front so it gives the caramel time to shine, but overall it's a bit too much for the delicacy of the caramel. The caramel is the best part. Perhaps a softer cacao origin next time. The Madagascar leaves a sharp finish of berries and acidity. Usually I suggest and acid to compete with rich creams, butters, or caramels. But in this case I found it to be too sharp and acidic for the caramel. It dominates the palate as soon it begins to open up and by the time you have swallowed it, your taste for the caramel is all but forgotten.

Verdict: I want to see a different base for this bar, but the caramel in it is perfection. It's unblanaced and a mess with it's appearance. But I want to stress how perfect the caramel is in the center. Perfectly balanced with the salt. Look at the pictures above and click on the caramel ones. It's gorgeous.

   score
  C+

 

 

 

Votesiperifrey pepper

 

Wild Madagascar black pepper with Ecuador base 66%.

This is all black pepper on the aroma. The cacao aroma is really so faint compared to the very dominating black pepper.

Same thumb print on the surface. Some surface scuffs but not as matted as the caramel filled bar. Very thick bar. Hard snap, but very clean break lines.

Up front it's all pepper, sweet sugars in the chocolate, some slight floral notes on the chocolate gives way to an almost cologne-like flavor. A little bit like aftershave. That might not sound appealing but it's odd, funky and interesting. This is the reverse of the caramel bar. The Ecuador should be used for the caramel and the bigger Madagascar should be used for this big bold black pepper. The Ecuador is lost underneath this huge pepper. It does leave some floral notes, that adds to that clean, soapy, aftershave taste. But there is not much left after that. It is fairly fruity, but it's hard to keep track of those flavors with the pepper. Some of the chocolate flavors become more apparent on the second and third taste and the pepper does seem to tame itself, but it is still too dominating in the end.

Verdict: It's a cool bar of chocolate because of that funky strong black pepper. But overall I think the base needed to be Madagascar. Something stronger to stand up to the pepper.

   score
    B

 

 

Brick House Sourdough Bar

A collaboration bar made with Brick House Artisan Sourdough Bakery from London using their Peckham Sourdough Rye. Also with blended Madagascar and Dominican Republic cacao.

Molding thumbprint and my own thumb print. Good fat snap again due to the shape and thickness of the bar.

It smelled like bold Madagascar right out of the package. Very strong with citrus, wood, and pen ink.  It mellows out a lot and softens on the aroma once it's breathed a bit. Bold pen ink and berries with faint traces of the citrus. A good balance of both cacaos.

Very fruity and a little bitter, a tiny bit tangy at first, crispy bits of bread, strong but balanced cacao blend. Very woody and bright with red fruits and berries. Not acidic but for a tiny bit of tartness up front. The bread doesn't impart too much flavor. I thought it would be a little bit more yeasty or bread-y. But I like that it's crispy bits of bread. Adds a fun texture.

Verdict: This was awesome. Good blend of cacaos and the bread acts a little bit like Rice Krispies. Not to diminish the fine bread that went into this bar. But it's crispiness is fun. Paul should consider this a signature blend and roll with it for more bars. Loved it.

   score
  B+

Mast Brothers ~ La Red de Guaconejo 74%

 

 

**Archived Notes

 

Organic Dominican Republic beans sourced from La Red de Guaconejo cooperative in the northern tropical part of the country.

 

 

La Red de Guaconejo 74%

 

Type: Bittersweet, 74%

Bean Varietal: Hispanola (Forastero/Criollo blend)

Ingredients: Cacao and cane sugar.

Sample Size: 2.5 oz

Batch #: 11091211

 

Appearance: Dark brown color, non-monogrammed molding, slightly dry looking, but not ashy, slight scuff marks on the top surface, shiny top surface, minor air bubbles on the back surface.

Score: 89

Snap: Mild snap, slightly firm with lightly crisp snap sound. Crumbly break lines.

Score: 90

Aroma: Soft aroma of bright acidic red cherries, pipe tobacco, and soft wood.

Score: 93

Taste: Deeply bitter, inky, sour and acidic, slight medicinal notes, earthy, cherries, pipe tobacco, buttery toast, soft wood, lingering bitterness.

Score: 84

Texture: Smooth, medium melt-time, creamy and a little chalky.

Score: 92

 

This was okay chocolate. Good but far from great. Though there are some flaws in it, I didn't seem to mind them as much for this bar. It has notes that I am usually not that fond of, but in this case, they work well on this bar. The medicinal notes worked. The acidity would have been fine along with the bright cherry flavors but it's the bitterness that left his bar unbalanced. So much bitterness it overtakes the whole bar.

Toast and jam. Those were the best flavors on this bar. I tried to not to be influenced by the package description indicating notes of pipe tobacco and cherries, but that is exactly what is all over this bar. Aroma and taste. It has good earthy medicinal tastes along with ink upfront and then bright cherries, toast, and tobacco. But the flavors were disjointed by the acidity and bitterness. It's almost like a dual bar. It really detracts from some of the richness in the flavors. You have to really burrough through bitterness before the lovely cherry, toast, and tobacco flavors come through. And then your palate is left with more lingering bitterness. If it were tamed a bit more, this would be lovely chocolate.

 

Final Score: 89.6

   score
  B+

Three Origin Chocolate Pudding

 

 

If you are a chocolate advocate like me, when you get a hankering for something chocolate it can't just be plain old chocolate. So, when I got a craving for chocolate pudding, one so strong I could have taken someone's arm off for it, I decided to make some real pudding. Real chocolate that is. I gathered up some scraps of previously reviewed chocolate and melted it down.

Please excuse my iPhone pics. I didn't initially intend on blogging about this pudding, but after some choc-gasmic reflecting, I thought I should share it anyway.

I followed a simple recipe from Smitten Kitchen. I melted down Pralus Cuba 75%, Rogue Piura 75%, Mast Brothers Dominican Republic 81%.

 

Silky Chocolate Pudding
Adapted from John Scharffenberger, via Wednesday Chef

Serves 6

1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 cups whole milk
6 ounces 62% semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (I used good quality semisweet chocolate chips; use 70% bittersweet if you want more of a dark chocolate kick)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

 

1. Combine the cornstarch, sugar and salt in the top of a double boiler. Slowly whisk in the milk, scraping the bottom and sides with a heatproof spatula to incorporate the dry ingredients. Place over gently simmering water and stir occasionally, scraping the bottom and sides. Use a whisk as necessary should lumps begin to form. After 15 to 20 minutes, when the mixture begins to thicken and coats the back of the spoon, add the chocolate. Continue stirring for about 2 to 4 minutes, or until the pudding is smooth and thickened. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla.

 

2. Strain through a fine-mesh strainer (or skip this step if you’re a slacker like me who is absolutely certain that there is nary a lump her puddin’) into a serving bowl or into a large measuring cup with a spout and pour into individual serving dishes.

3. If you like pudding skin, pull plastic wrap over the top of the serving dish(es) before refrigerating. If you dislike pudding skin, place plastic wrap on top of the pudding and smooth it gently against the surface before refrigerating. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to 3 days (ahem, good luck with that).

I spent 3 glorious days eating this miracle of chocolate. They were the best days of my life.

L.A. Burdick ~ Dominican 72-74%

 

 

I had always maintained that L.A. Burdick makes exceptionally amazing chocolate bars. I knew that they weren't a bean-to-bar company and that they used Swiss chocolate making techniques and Swiss couverture chocolate as they like to boast on their Facebook page and website. But it wasn't until recently I found out that they sourced their beans from Felchlin and Valrhona. They also source from Venezuela, and more recently Grenada.

Mostly known for having the best cup of hot chocolate in all of New England, their truffles happen to be some of my favorite from the area as well. It wasn't until I started writing this blog, that I got into their bars. Again, it's couverture chocolate, but for cases like this it's how they blend their chocolate and how they tweak the finished product that counts. They continue to be top notch to me.

The only thing frustrating is not knowing exactly where they source their beans from for the bars. They mention Europe for blocks and liquors, but South America for the bars. They are not a bean-to-bar so I don't know if they are doing direct sourcing now or brokering the beans. They are working with Grenada for sourcing directly with farmers, but there is little information about the rest of the South American beans. Their website has little information about the bars.

Designed for true "Chocophiles", Burdick single source bars allow a sampling of six distinctive regional beans. From the fruity acidic notes of Madagascar Beans, to the earthy flavors of the Dominican and the nutty, deep, and spicy tastes of Grenada, Burdick single source bars provide a world tour of regional chocolate tastes; i.e., "terroir" amplified. The single source offerings reflect our recent discoveries. Try all 6 bars with our complete set, a "Burdick Choice" 3-pack, or buy each single source bar individually.

 

I have one pet peeve about chocolate, and that's not having a more detailed website for information about your products. It might not have always mattered as much as to where companies source their ingredients from, but these days it is important. Fair trading, locally sourced ingredients, child labor issues, and ethical corporate or business practices are extremely important. With just about everyone having access to the web and being more interested in where their food comes from, there should be no reason for sparse information. Also, after recently having a poor customer service issue with Burdick's, I really do not want to call them and speak to them directly about their chocolate details. While that's just me and my own issues with them, it's still a pain in the ass regardless of my own experiences with their company.

Having a website that offers details about chocolate such as how to store it, what kinds of varietals are out there, ect., to having piss poor information about the bars and chocolate being used itself, is rather lame.

 

Dominican Single Source 72-74%

 

Type: Bittersweet,  between 72-74%

Bean Varietal: Trinitario

Ingredients: Cocoa beans, sugar, and cocoa butter.

Sample Size: 100g or 3.5oz

 

Appearance: Simple, non-monogrammed small square molded tablet, shiny, smooth, barely a blemish, deep rich brown color.

Score: 94

Snap: Firm snap, clean break lines, dull thud snapping sound.

Score: 90

Aroma: Wood notes, tobacco, almonds, vanilla, mild cinnamon notes, and lightly smoky.

Score: 93

Taste: Sweet, sugar, acidic, tobacco, rich, bold wood, small hints of tar and pen ink, earthy, unripened bananas and cream, mild cinnamon and toast on the finish.

Score: 95

Texture: Smooth, creamy, medium melt time.

Score: 93

Simple molding, pristine condition, a couple of nicks here and there but in fantastic shape. A medium snap of firmness and dull snapping sound. Still, it was firm and had clean break lines.

The aroma was fairly simple. Big wood, roasted cacao, tobacco, and some slight cinnamon characters. It was pretty straight forward and not overly complicated. 

I tried not to let the packaging influence my palate or tastes when reviewing but it did have the notes it mentioned on it's package. "Notes of tea, banana, roasted cocoa, and high acidity." It was sweet upfront with sugar, then it opens with big wood and earthy flavors. Slight hints of tar and pen ink. I tasted more tobacco leaves than tea leaves. There is a banana flavor but it's like green, unripened bananas and cream. And a little bit of buttered cinnamon toast on the finish.

Very bold chocolate, but fairly straight forward on it's taste and aroma. Just nice and rich. This would be great for baking and drinking too. You could make the most decadent chocolate cake with a bar or two of this chocolate.

 

Final Score: 93

   score
   A-

 

Amano Truffles

 

 

 

This was a nice surprise. I was contacted by the awesome Amano people about tasting the Chuao bar. I told them I actually had it already for review They sent me chocolate anyway. And with that was a bar of Cuyagua and a box of their 12 piece truffles using various spices and different chocolates such as Ocumare, Dos Rios, Guayas, and Madagascar.

I love this life.

 

 

Amano Chocolate:
Cocoa Beans, Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Whole Milk Powder (Ocumare Milk and White), and Whole Vanilla Beans

Centers:
Cream, Whole Milk, Glucose, Butter, Honey, Raspberries, Lime, Tangerine, Vanilla, Salt, Cardamom, Black Pepper, Pecans, Yuzu, Lemon Juice, Morello cherries, Morello cherry juice, Citric acid, Sugar, Invertase.

Click this entry to view the reviews and details of these truffles.

 

Mast Brothers ~ Dark Chocolate + Serrano Peppers 70%

 

 

My allies in the craft world. Craft beer drinker and chocolate eater, they are American Craft Chocolate makers. Once again coming through with stellar packaging. I LOVE skulls and this entire wrapping is just bad ass. It makes me want to say Suprasternal Notch. If anyone has seen the English Patient then you will know how amazing that word is and what it means. It's in my top five of all time for packaging.

 

 

Dark Chocolate + Serrano Peppers 70%

Type: Bittersweet, 70%

Ingredients: Organically farmed  Dominican Republic beans, organic cane sugar, stone ground Mexican hot chilies, Serrano peppers.

Sample size: 2.5oz or 70g

 

Unfortunately I can't fully review this bar. It was broken up inside. I didn't have anything to do with that since it was gift chocolate. Probably banged up a bit in shipping. Normally I would just eat the bar and move on, but I have been wanting to talk about this one for a while.

I have had it a bit longer than I should have as well for Mast Brothers which is another reason why I can't review it in good conscious. Mast Brothers is one of the few chocolates that doesn't have a very good shelf life. Get it and eat it right then. Normally chocolate can go about a year or so depending upon it's wrappings. Mast brothers cannot. As you will notice in the pictures aside from being broken up, the bar is quite ashy.

I am happy that they chose the Dominican Republic for the cocoa beans for this bar. It's a much deeper and richer chocolate. They have been using Madagascar as their base lately for chocolate and I haven't been 100% sold on that. They need a little bit more time to perfect their Madagascar. They are right there on that cusp of greatness though. I liked their chocolate much more when Venezuela was the base. And by base I mean their base for most of their flavored bars, like almonds and sea salt or cranberries.

It tasted sweet and spicy right off the bat. A little waxy, at first bu then it opened up nicely. The heat was a slow building heat. I prefer this. I am a major wuss about spicy foods. If it builds slowly, I can take it. My palate is so sensitive I can barely tolerate medium salsas.

The chocolate flavor is robust and bitter, but not acidic or astringent. Nice sugar balance and the heat is just holding on the background. The peppers also add a nice flavor to the chocolate. Chocolate and chilies are made for each other. The spices help bring out a bit of a dried tart cherry taste on the chocolate which was an unexpected delight. Cherry pie filling lingering on the palate with tingling hot spice left remaining on the tongue. Fantastic.

I am very impressed that they kept the balance of the heat in check. Serrano Peppers is a no no for a wuss like myself, and I could handle this chocolate. The only issue I have with it, is that the heat is a bit distracting from trying to taste any nuances with the chocolate. But then again, that's not the point of something like this. And that cherry flavor is an unexpected bonus thanks to the heat. But that's all I am really picking up through the heat.

It's not a real review, but still fun to taste and talk about. If I were to give this a grade, I would give an A- or a B+.

 

Taza Chocolate ~ 70% Dark

 

 

Oh Taza! What am I to do with you? You are my favorite company of all for chocolate ethics, and detailed information. As I have written about you before, I think you set the standards for what all chocolate companies should be like. But why oh why do your products suck so badly? I take that back. They don't suck that badly or else you wouldn't be that popular, but you have ruined the landscape for what people know to be good chocolate. Your novelty act, and flooding of the market has made it impossible to have rational discussions about what good chocolate is. Your local philosophy has struck a nerve with the purists in this town who buy your chocolate like trendy zombies who seem desperate to be in the loop of what is fashionable in the local/organic scenery. They recite your walking tour talking points as if they fully understand the process and willfully except a mediocre product as if they were given pure Porcelana beans.

You could be so much more than you are. You could be so much better. This stone ground idea should have been a small concept in your arsenal of artisanal chocolate bars. You could be making much more refined bars and really putting out stellar products that make the whole world sit up and take notice. It's not easy being a true bean-to-bar producer and being as dedicated as you are. You have high quality beans that are being wasted, in my god's honest opinion, on these rough, sandpaper, less than enjoyable textured, over-aromatic chocolate bars. You have destroyed what is pretty about chocolate.

I know you think this is beautiful and these products are exactly what you hoped for based on your process. And you have your army behind you to defend you and keep buying your products. But it won't work with me. Not because I am defiant and bullheaded, but because I have never jumped on this bandwagon. It wasn't good the first time I tried it and it still isn't good.

I know, a lot of people will vehemently disagree with this post, but they don't get to taste what I taste. They don't know what I know is out there. Yes, yes, taste is subjective, but you are getting away with it because of the fact that good chocolate hasn't permeated the landscape... yet.

All the power to you as you continue your dominance as one of the few actual bean-to-bar producers in this country. Your success is ultimately good for chocolate no mater what I think. But you and I know the truth. You could be so much better.

*People need to know that as harsh as this is, it's not exactly easy to write. Those who know me, know I have never been a big fan of this chocolate, but I do respect greatly the people behind this company. They are very generous and fun people to hang around as they love beer and are a constant supporter of BeerAdvocate. Their commitment isn't what is in question with me. It's why aren't they better than this? It's been a long time coming however, for me to fully express my dissatisfaction with Taza. And as I go further and further into my own explorations and journeys with chocolate, I grow further and further apart from them.

 

 

Taza 70% Dominican Republic

 

Type: Bittersweet

Bean Varital: Mostly Trinitario with some Criollo.

Ingredients: Cocoa beans, cane sugar, cocoa butter, whole vanilla beans.

Sample Size: 3oz or 85g

Batch #: 369

 

Via their batch number identifcation on their website:

 

Batch #369 - 70% Dark Bar - Taza Chocolate

Batch Information
Variety: 70% Stone Ground Dark Bar
Made On: September 9 2010
Ingredients: Organic roasted cacao, cane sugar, cocoa butter, vanilla bean.
Last Made: August 6 2010

Cacao Origin:
Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
Provincia: María Trinidad Sánchez
Municipality: El Factor (El Pozo)
Area: Reserva Científica Loma Guacanejo
Fermentery Location: Lat. 19.293363, Long. -69.904128
Varietal: Mostly Trinitario; Some Criollo.

 

Growers & Farm:
Cooperative: Red de Comercializacion Loma Guacanejo
Grower: Hilario Rosario
Farm: El Higuero

 

Additional Ingredients:
Pure Cane Sugar - Jalles Machado
Origin: Sertãozinho (São Paulo), Brazil
Whole Biodynamic Vanilla Bean - Villa Vanilla
Origin: Villanueva (Puntarenas), Costa Rica
Organic Cocoa Butter, Natural
Origin: La Red Guacanejo, Dominican Republic

Roast Profile:
Lot Received On: May 21 2010
Lot #: LR19
Bean Bill: Single Origin Hispaniola Cacao
Roast Date: September 1 2010
Roaster Model: Barth Scirocco 200
Max Temp: 237° F
Roasted For: 48 minutes

Production Info:
Grind Date: September 2 2010
Made By: Mike Schechter , Kellie Silsby, & Greg Lashoto
Total # of Bars Made: 3,482 Bars
Wrapped On: September 6 2010

 

 

Appearance: Simple lined molding with a little thicker squares than a standard chocolate bar molding. Slightly shiny, but over all dull and lackluster.

Score: 90

Snap: Firm snap, loud with clean break lines. It should be noted that the way their molding is leading to fatter squares or chocolate and thicker lines to break in the molding give way to a much firmer snap. But still strong and clean.

Score: 92

Aroma: Huge aroma of pen ink, berries, roasted cocoa, with a big stinky perfume-y floral nose dominating and overwhelming. I could smell this across the room.

Score: 65

Taste:  Sweet for one second then it opens up to a huge bitter, acidic taste, huge floral taste and berries and sugar interacting with acidic, sour notes. Too much competition for the attention on your palate. Sour, bitter, acidic after taste with zero hint of flowers or berries that were so vivid in the center of this chocolate opening.

Score: 35

Texture: Waxy, sandpaper, gritty, but an overall a fast melt time.

Score: 45

 

Okay, I am really not trying to be over dramatic here but this was awful chocolate. Just gross to eat. I struggled to get through this review. I ate one piece and really didn't want to have to eat another one.

The aroma was way too big. From afar you can really smell the flowery perfume of this chocolate with lovely berries, and roasted cocoa. But that's from across the room. Up close, it stank like sitting next to someone on a bus who happened to drown themselves in perfume.

The taste has way too much going on and leaves you with no time to appreciate or fully understand it's complexities. There is a sweet sugary taste with the berries, wood flavors, and floral notes, but they  are in a fierce battle for dominance on your tongue with acid, bitterness, and astringency. And the sour notes win leaving a foul aftertaste that lingers for a while.

As if it couldn't get any worse, that goddamn sandpaper texture destroys your tongue leaving it raw and sensitive while it's being pummeled by the hugely unbalanced flavor profile. To add insult to your injured tongue, you have every asshole who just found Taza or just left one of their tours saying "Oh no but I like that texture. It's supposed to be gritty, That's what they said anyway. It's fun saying the word gritty... Lalalalala." They are regurgitating what they heard on the tour or what they learned in passing. "It's supposed to be gritty." I am sorry but I don't like having my tongue destroyed. I was supposed to review more chocolate after this but ended up having to call it a night so my scratched up tongue could recover.

This is what they want from chocolate? This technique of stone grinding that is supposed to be what all chocolate tasted like before a godsend by the name of Lindt came along and invented conching? I understand that leaving larger granules allows for bigger bolder tastes and more raw chocolate tastes. But this was the reason chocolate became more refined. Chocolate on it's own is very bitter and hard to understand right away and by conching it and grinding it to finer molecules you are releasing some of the acidity that happens during fermentation of the beans. You are blending and balancing the flavors and subtleties in such a way that you can identify them more easily, and get more of an understanding of the chocolate you just consumed.

This chocolate is like having a wrestling match in your mouth. It's unbalanced and it's chaotic to the palate. All the pretty things about this chocolate are slammed in your face and then disappear by acidity and astringency. It's quite frankly too big.

If you don't believe me or think I am being over dramatic, take any fine chocolate at 70%, break off a square and let it sit on your tongue and melt away. Analyze it and really understand it's flavors. Then take a piece of Taza 70% and do the same. You will never look at Taza the same again. And I can promise that no matter how different palates can be.

As I said before, Taza should have made the stone grinding a novelty and a small part of their overall collection. They should use this chocolate to teach classes with about the transformations from raw and unrefined chocolate to the gorgeous bars out there now. This being the raw and unrefined bars. And they should really focus on making refined bars that can compete on a world level. I have no doubt that they are more than capable of that. But sadly these products are not doing Dominican Republic beans any justice. Maybe monetarily wise, but I guess bullshit walks and money talks.

 

Final Score: 65.4

    score
     F

American Heritage Chocolate

 

 

 

Lovely samples of a traditional colonial chocolate recipe sent to me by the Historical Division of the Mars company. A new line, American Heritage Chocolate, featuring old 18th century traditions of chocolate making and old Pennsylvania colonial-style recipes.

Handcrafted chocolate with natural ingredients with no additives or preservatives. Historians, chefs, food historians, and their chocolate makers collaborated to use only ingredients and spices available in that era. Recipes adapted and tested from Hannah Glasse and John Nott as well as others.

The blend of spices used for this chocolate are cinnamon, star anise, nutmeg, red pepper, orange, vanilla, salt, and annatto.

The hand made techniques are detailed as:

-Imported beans from Ecuador and the Dominican Republic.

-Cocoa beans roasted over an open flame, and shells were removed by hand.

-Mortars and Pestles ground the nibs. Often leaving behind traces of other spices and chili peppers. Grinding was also done in mills that ground ginger and mustard which would also influence some of the chocolate's taste.

-Heated stones or metate, was used to grind the nibs in to a chocolate paste.

-Then the hardened chocolate was grated into water or milk.

Watch a chocolate demonstration here: 18th Century Chocolate Making

 

 

I love the presentation of it all. From the wooden box it was sent in and the cloth bag the chocolate sticks were presented in. It's very fun.

 

Single Chocolate stick, pack of four chocolate sticks, and a block of chocolate.

 

 

 

I took one stick for one normal coffee cup and steamed *almond milk. I did take a small nibble off the end of the stick to see what the texture and chocolate tasted like on it's own. Naturally it was very spicy, but the texture was fairly waxy. One of only two issues I had overall with the chocolate.

It smelled fantastic. The spices were a good mix for the chocolate. It did however leave a bit of a cloying taste at the end though due to the spices. But I didn't care about that because it was very soothing and comforting to drink.

 

 

I do think one stick for the cup wasn't rich enough. Though I don't know how it will effect the spiciness with added sticks. After using all of my leftover chocolate scraps from reviewing chocolate and making hot chocolate out of them, I prefer a robust and bold hot chocolate. That's also from being spoiled from the richness of L.A. Burdick's insanely rich hot chocolate. I would try it with one stick for a normal coffee cup, and then gradually add more if you think it needs it.

I haven't baked with it yet, but as the holidays roll around, I will certainly find something to do with the block. For now, I am left with four sticks of the drinking chocolate. That means about 2 more cups. I will make sure I save them for an especially frigid night.

Even with this being a product of a "Macro" chocolate company, this is fun chocolate. This cool little experiment in history and recipe searching. You can find it at historical sites for now to purchase, such as Williamsburg, Va., Mount Vernon, The Smithsonian, Monticello and the Fortress of Louisbourg in Canada. And even better for me being in Massachusetts, I can get this in Deerfield, Ma. The also have teas and coffees.

 

 

*I have recently had to give up milk. It's one of two reasons, either the amount of hormones added to milk here in the United States, or the pasteurization of milk causes a make reaction with my skin. It's been the most devastating thing to ever have to give up. But in Europe, I had raw milk and nothing happened to my skin. Adding milk to my coffee, nothing happened. I still have yet to talk to a doctor about the matter, but my findings so far are leading to me to think it's the pasteurization. When milk is pasteurized a crucial enzyme in milk that helps human bodies process it is destroyed. This could be the reason it's taking it's toll on me. However as a life long milk drinker, this is first time I have ever noticed such damaging effects.

But not all is lost. Almond milk has really come through and saved the day. Vanilla Almond Milk to be more precise. It has vanilla in it, it's sweeter, very thick and creamy. It's like going through the process of making homemade hot chocolate but cutting out all the steps. It's very tasty. And despite being made from almonds, the nuttiness doesn't interfere as much as you would think. It's there mildly, but over all it enhances the richness of the chocolate being added to it. Without Almond milk, I might have considered tossing myself off a bridge if I had to live without milk.

Montezuma's ~ Very Dark Chocolate 73%, Dominican Republic

 

 

 

73% dark chocolate using beans from the Dominican Republic. As in previous reviews of Montezuma's, they use all organic ingredients, and do well to highlight all the proper stamps for their products.

 

 

Traces of nuts.

Genetically Modified Free.

Additive and Coloring Free.

Soy Free.

British Made.

Preservative Free.

Vegetarian.

Organic.

Vegan.

Gluten Free

May contain traces of milk.

 

I always laugh at the conundrum of the Vegan stamp, but the possibility of milk stamp at the end. This is also fair trade chocolate.

 

Click to emlarge images.

 

 

 

 

Very Dark Chocolate 73%

 

Type: Bittersweet

Bean Varietal: Trinitario

Ingredients: Organic cocoa solids (73%), Organic sugar (26%), Organic Vanilla (less than 1%).

Sample Size: 100g or 3.5oz

 

Appearance: Smooth and simple non-monogrammed molding. A few matted spots from the plastic wrap, a tiny bit ashy, but still very shiny and smooth. Thick bar, simple lined pattern for the molding. It's also very dark brown in color.

Score: 89

Snap: Very firm snap, loud hard snap sound, clean break lines.

Score: 97

Aroma: Big roasted cocoa aromas, smoky, rich roasted coffee notes, nutty almonds, coconut, lightly floral.

Score: 94

Taste: Bitter right up front, a little inky, slow to open up, roasted cocoa, rich wood flavors especially new wood flavors and cedar wood, very subdued berry flavors hidden underneath the big wood flavors, lingering nutty flavors on the finish. Long flavor experience. Due to the medium-long melt time it took it's time to open up giving more than enough time to think about this chocolate and it's flavor profiles.

Score: 94

Texture: Smooth and creamy, but medium-long melt time.

Score: 95

 

This is fairly straight forward chocolate. It takes it's time to open up allowing you to get the full impact of it's flavors. There is nothing exactly exotic about the flavors, but the wood and nuttiness of this chocolate is fantastic. It's wonderfully rich, very bitter right up front but it doesn't discourage any of the other rich flavors to come through. There is an inky, berry flavor in this chocolate but it's very slight and hidden underneath all the nutty flavors and wood. Still fun to try and find it.

I almost want to melt it down for hot chocolate because of the rich woody and nutty flavors on it. Add some sugar, vanilla, and steamed milk, and maybe some cayenne or a smoky chili pepper to it.

The matted appearance from the plastic drags this score down a bit, but I need to say that I love this kind of protection for the chocolate. It keeps the aromas and flavors sealed for a longer shelf life. Most people don't know that chocolate can last for a very long period of time. The purists will tell you to consume in a few weeks after it was molded to a few months for optimum flavor profile. They are absolutely right, but chocolate can keep for a while.

 

Final Score: 93.8

 

    score
     A-

 

American Craft Beer (Fest) Dinner @ Green Street 6/16/10

Easily the best beer dinner I have ever hosted. Easily.

For those who are regular followers of this chocolate blog and may not realize, my day job is working for my husband Todd, who is the co-founder with his brother Jason, of BeerAdvocate.com. I manage and organize all the beer festivals we host in around Boston, and I set up tastings and dinners around the city as well.

The American Craft Beer festival was just last weekend. The week leading up to the festival was Boston Beer Week. Our official event was hosted on the Wednesday before the festival at Green Street in Cambridge with our good friend Dylan Black, the owner of Green Street.

We called it the American Craft Beer (Fest) Dinner not only because it was the official event for the American Craft Beer Festival, but because we included all aspects of American craft featuring beer, cheese, chocolate and cooking. All of which are in the same boat in this journey of making quality foods and drinks using the best ingredients all by fine American producers.

With chocolate being a passion of mine, and beer being the main event for the week we decided to host a beer and chocolate dinner including American craft cheese from New England. Emily Shartin, the chocolate buyer of Formaggio Kitchen, worked closely with me to help make this dinner come together. She helped bring in Jasper Hill Farm, one of my favorite cheese makers in the US and helped us secure our orders for the chocolate. She also regularly brings me chocolate to sample and try of some of her favorites and has been a hero to this blog.

We invited my good personal friend and founder of Sixpoint Craft Ales, Shane Welch to come be apart of the dinner. Sixpoint being from Brooklyn and working closely with artisan chocolate makers Rick and Michael Mast of the Mast Brothers Chocolate from Brooklyn, naturally we invited them to be paired together for the dinner.

I also invited a new friend to the Boston area, Alan McClure of Patric Chocolate in Columbia, Mo. to come and be apart of the dinner. He stayed for the whole weekend to check out the beer festival. Hopefully more beers on the market will be made with his products. Pairing beers for his chocolate was the tricky part. With the Mast and Sixpoint, they already have a good working relationship, Alan sells cocoa to Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales, but since Jolly Pumpkin hasn't been available to attend one of our beer festivals for a while, and Patric makes some very serious, and amazing chocolate, I had to find a brewery worthy of the match.

And then it came to me, Cambridge Brewing Co. Local and long time friends Will Meyers and Megan Parisi, both Head Brewer and brewer for CBC. I couldn't have been more right to have chosen them for this dinner and you will see why as I get into this dinner.

This dinner despite all the planning, discussions, and tastings with brewers, really belongs to head chef Greg Reeves. I worked with Greg once before to host the Ithaca Beer Dinner, Green Street's first beer dinner as well as hosting various tastings with Greg for special beer releases paired with Green Street's infamous tacos. Simply put Greg is masterful. If there is a beer he hasn't tried, he just needs a few key descriptors of the beer to knock it out of the park. Most chefs worth their salt can do this, but after having worked with a lot of amazing chefs, I don't think anyone is better at it than Greg Reeves. I do have to honorably mention Steve Brand from Upstairs on The Square who is also very masterful at beer pairings and truly loves beer.

I should preface that this had a very strange sounding menu. Things that sounded odd, and seemed strange ended up being some of the best pairings I have ever had.

I also have to preface that my old, outdated camera that has done me well for so long doesn't like beer apparently. It loves food and gets wonderful shots of food, but never seems to do me any justice on beer pictures. So please don't mind my shoddy photography on the beer.

Welcoming: The Audacity of Hops from Cambridge Brewing Co. A Belgian IPA. From Will's notes, Audacity of Hops (Belgian Double I.P.A., 8.8%): grass/fruit/floral nose, hints of phenol/sulphur yeast Belgian notes, funky. Quick pale malt notes and floral hop finish, medium hop bitterness.

We then opened with some of Green Street's famous tacos. We wanted to get the expected out of the way early. Molé is to be expected with chocolate pairings. Savory and classic. So we introduced a chicken molé taco and the Mast Brothers placed some cocoa nibs on each table which we loaded up inside the taco as well. It wasn't a deep brown mole taco, more of an essence to the taco. This ended up being the perfect match to the Audacity of Hops. It was a little spicy, and the hop flavors from the Belgian IPA interacted nicely. The chicken and the sweet malts enhanced one and other.

[The Audacity of Hops on the right in first pic.]



First Course: Cured & cooked hams with mint, basil, melon, cocoa nibs, and a chocolate aioli. Patric Chocolate Madagascar cocoa nibs, and Patric Chocolate 70% Madagascar Bar with nibs.

Beer: CBC's Spring Training IPA, (Will's Notes) American IPA, 6.3%: fruity/floral/grassy nose, low bitterness, clean malt palate.

[My bad pictures of the beer.]

This pairing came together on one request, that we definitely use Patric's Madagascar cocoa nibs. It was the first thing I sat down with Will Meyers and Megan Parisi to taste. Interestingly enough it worked out really well with the Spring Training IPA. Normally I wouldn't have gone this route haven't had little or no success with pairing chocolate and IPA's together. But with these nibs from Madagascar and the hallmark flavor profiles being woody, cedar wood, cherries, and a tart base, it ended up being a natural fit for the grassy and fresh IPA which isn't hop heavy.

Chocolate aioli? What? When Greg mentioned he wanted to make this, I think all of us at the planning meeting were a little curious. It sounded weird, and being paired with melons and ham it really didn't sounds like it would work. I have learned to trust Greg, and I went with it. Mainly because I was curious as to how we would pull this off. It more than worked.

The Sambirano Delta River Valley at the top Northwest of this map. Just barely inside the parallel of 20N and 20S. This is where Patric sources his Madagascar beans. Read my original reviews for the 70% with nibs to get a full understanding of this chocolate.

70% with Nibs review.



The flavors were all in perfect balance. The light floral, grassy IPA being balanced with the salty hams and sweet melons. The basil added the right herbal pop to the dish. The chocolate aioli made with the melted down 70% Madagascar bar with nibs was salty, buttery, rich with roasted cocoa, and savory adding more of a balance in bringing out the ham's flavors and more of a sweetness to the IPA. This course was fresh, light, and extremely flavorful. A great way to get started.



Second Course: Warm handmade pretzels sandwiches with melted Cabot clothbound cheddar (aged at Jasper Hill Farm cellars) with Mast Brothers Patanemo Grand Cru bar 75% (Ocumare de la Costa, Venezuela) melted for dipping.

Beer: Sixpoint's Righteous Ale, 7.2% Rye Ale

Handmade pretzels with kosher salt, and salty cheddar cheese balanced by sweet malty rye beer, and an amazing new grand cru chocolate from the Mast Brothers. This is the one course I couldn't stop dipping my finger in the chocolate until it was all gone.


A new bar for the Mast Bros. from the Ocumare de la Costa region of Venezuela. This is going back to their roots a bit. Originally the base for their bars was made with Venezuelan beans. Not the same region, but still Venezuelan. They have switched to Madagascar, but I didn't think was entirely the right move. While their Madagascar bars taste good, it tastes a bit unbalanced to me. I found their Venezuelan bars more more balanced and refined.

[Source: travelmarcelo.com]

Ocumare de la Costa is in the northern coastal region in the Aragua State of Venezuela.

Via: The Nibble

•Criollo & Trinitario •Darker, robust •Cashews, peanuts •Spice, pepper

Ocumare 67. Originally from the Ocumare de la Costa valley, a Criollo and Trinitario hybridized blend. Interesting flavors of cashews, peanuts, spice, pepper, and sometimes dairy. The tone is a little darker than Ocumare 61 and it does not possess 61’s sharpness. It is more robust than 61 in overall character, with a heavier body.

The salty pretzel and salty cheddar were nearly too dominating, until you dipped it into the chocolate and took a sip of the rye beer. Then it was magic. Originally I thought the chocolate would be melted into the pretzel together with the sandwich, but the chocolate was so rich, it was better to have dipped each bit in the chocolate.

The chocolate was rich, fruity, and bold. Awesome roasted cocoa flavors which helped soften the cheese and pretzel. I wasn't able to fully get the range of this chocolate with everything going on for this pairing, but the rye was a spot on match for the chocolate. The rye actually stood out on the beer and the sweet malts softened the bitter edges of the chocolate allowing more robust fruity notes to come out and helped tame the salt and bitterness of the cheddar.

Once again something no one quite expected and wasn't sure how would be based on the way it sounded. Salty, big, robust cheddar on a pretzel with melted chocolate. And of all things paired with a rye beer. This dinner just kept getting better and better.


Third Course: Pan Roasted Duck breast, Patric Chocolates Rio Caribe (Venezuelan) 70% Chocolate Rissotto, Cherries, chocolate gastrique.

Beer: CBC's The Colonel. Will's notes: Tart barrel aged Porter with Brettanomyces, 6.5%. Complex fruity nose, tart bright acidity, a little funk/barnyard. palate hits tart and fruity first, then roast characters come out with mellow American oak - hints of vanilla and char - in the finish.

 

This is the chocolate I reviewed like a beer geek might review a lambic or a guezue. Very funky, deep, rich chocolate from the North Eastern coastal region of Venezuela. I ended my review of this chocolate with "I am not even sure if I really like this chocolate, I think I just like how raw and aggressive it is. This is not a beginners chocolate."

Rio Caribe 70% review.


Of course both Greg Reeves and Will Meyers loved it as it isn't even remotely close to what you might expect chocolate to taste like. The funkier and more different it is, the bigger the challenge and the more fun it is to pair is how they both looked at it.

The duck breast was cooked perfectly. Soft and game-y and a little steel-y tasting which I happened to love. The cherries and cherry gastrique added the right pop of sweetness to the dish and interacted extremely well with the beer. The sour Brett notes of the beer along with it's roasted porter notes worked so well with the chocolate risotto.

The chocolate risotto was expected to be slightly bitter due to the chocolate, but ended up being amazing. There was no bitterness, only rich, savory, roasted chocolate notes. Lovely chicken stock added a glossy shine to the perfectly cooked rice, and a hint of a spicy character to the risotto.

The beer was something I was slightly concerned about as I am not personally a big fan of Brettanomyces beers. But this was fantastic. The tartness, was not overbearing and the oak flavors added a lovely richness to the steel-y game taste of the duck breast. Naturally the cherries and the the roasted porter notes were a hit. It was extremely drinkable and delicious.

I have never had anything as odd as this before, yet so right.


Fourth Course: Bayley Hazen blue cheese on toasted brioche with a Mast Brothers Madagascar 72% chocolate-strawberry confiture with Mast Brothers Nibs.

Beer: Sixpoint's Old Krusher, 9.8% Barleywine made with farmed Amish Maple Syrup.

A huge way to end the already super-flavorful night. Sixpoint's new barleywine made with Amish maple syrup and Bayley Hazen blue cheese was a big hit.

This blue cheese is a personal favorite of mine with big Earthy notes, salty, bold, and big steel notes from the blue veins. This can be considered a more rustic blue cheese, but don't let anyone fool you and say it's mild. I usually pair this cheese with Double IPA's for the same reasons behind pairing it with an American-style barleywine. Lot's of hops with alpha acids to cut through the cheese, and sweet malts to help mingle with the steel-y blue veins. It's a no-brainer, natural, and amazing pairing.

The strawberries added the right balance of tart to the course with the sweet brioche that had the consistency of an English muffin and it helped round everything out. I didn't notice much of the cocoa except for a few hints with the nibs. I think the cheese was frankly too big to notice the subtitles of the chocolate, but it still managed to work incredibly well with the beer.

Sadly, I didn't get a picture of the beer and I didn't do the right thing by taking a sip of the beer first to try and get an understanding of it before the pairing. I do know I liked it a lot with this course and am anxiously looking forward to finding more of it. 

We finished our night with more beer from CBC and samples of Mast Brothers bars and Patric Chocolate bars. I was able to taste that Patanemo Grand Cru from the Mast Brothers in bar form. All I can say is that I can't wait to review it.

It only took 3 cocktails after the dinner to tone down the effects of the chocolate. I heard from several people that it took a long time to finally unwind and sleep after that dinner.

I had a wonderful time meeting the Rick and Michael Mast of Mast Brothers Chocolate and Alan McClure of Patric Chocolate. It was a very big deal to me that they would travel all that way to come to my beer dinner. And of course it was great to hang out with Will and Megan both of whom I have known for years and absolutely love. And I can't forget my close friend Shane Welch, whom helped me convince those hipsters at Mast that coming up for one of my events would be more than worth it. Dylan Black of Green Street really did a great job of hosting this event and making it all possible for us.

A big thank you to Valerie Conyngham of Vianne Chocolat for coming to attend the dinner and David Goldstein of Boston Chocolate Tours for attending as well. Also on hand were the chocolate makers of Taza Chocolate. 

I am sure a lot of this dinner sounds interesting, bizarre, weird, strange, amazing, fantastic. It was all of the above. If you missed it, I can't say I feel sorry for you unless you live out of town. It was truly an amazing dinner and Greg Reeves is amazing. Everyone had a lot of fun and left very happy and full.

Look for more events of this nature from me through BeerAdvocate as I launch a new series of beer dinners called "Things We Love." I have no doubt chocolate will come up again.