20°N & 20°S

Ritual Chocolate ~ Costa Rica 75%

 

 

After spending a lovely afternoon back in October with Robbie Stout of Ritual Chocolate, and Steve DeVries, they sent me home with some goodies to review.

While I was there, I toured their factory, saw the vintage equipment they use, and really marveled at the super small operations churning some of my favorite chocolate. Newish producers on the scene, the are already winning awards and I have listed them in a recent interview as a up and coming name to look out for. I believe in them even more after I met Robbie and Anna in person. Super laid back, down to Earth, hard working, and they are not doing this for the money.

I still have dreams about their Ecuador beans being grinded. We were handed spoonfuls of cacao "butter" right out of the rollers and it was like pure floral jasmine chocolate butter. I wanted to take a bath in. I begged and pleaded for a jar of it.

Instead they kindly and most generously sent me on my way with some bars as a parting gift. And Steve sent me off with some 85% chocolate buttons for the red eye plane ride home. I selfishly saved them and melted them down for hot chocolate when I got home. It was amazing.

 

 

Costa Rica 75% 2009 Harvest

 

Type: Bittersweet, 75%

Bean Varietal: Forestaro, hybrid.

Ingredients: Cacao and cane sugar.

Sample size: 1.5oz or 42.5g

Batch #: 19

 

Appearance: Simple flat tablet with wide, long tablets. Non-monogrammed, amber medium-brown color, subdued surface.

Score: 89

Snap: Nice clean and crisp snap with a decent snapping sound.

Score: 93

Aroma: Medium roasted cacao aroma, wood and berries, and little musty with some citrus notes.

Score: 92

Taste: Cocoa-y, very bitter, woody, tart and slightly acidic, softer brown sugar notes and molasses, soft hidden floral notes, fruity berries.

Score: 91

Texture: Smooth, creamy, medium melt-time, a slightly silky texture once it opens up.

Score: 92

 

First thing I want to mention is the appearance. While visiting, they showed me their molds and how they remove the bars. Something about these molds always leaves a sort of thumb print if you will, on the top surface. You can see it in the first picture. Knowing that makes it very superficial in my scoring since they know it's an issue and are actively working to change that. It's not too shiny but then again I have held on to this bar since October. The real points for the appearance is the richness of the amber, medium-dark color on the bar.

This bar really did have a funky earthy quality to it on the aroma. It had a musty moldy tinge to it on top of bright berries and full wood notes. I know that doesn't particularly sound very appealing and the bar is not moldy. It's cool in my opinion because it lends a good balanced earthy note on top of sweet fruity citrus and berries. It makes it weird and interesting. I dig it.

Ritual uses cane sugars, and on the first bar I reviewed from them, all I could taste was big molasses flavors. Black strap molasses. I detected that a little bit on this bar but definitely not in the same capacity. It's a mild flavor hidden underneath the cacao this time and not as up front.

It's fairly bitter chocolate, slightly tangy with some citrus notes and berries. The berries are fruity and definitely present, but not dominating or overwhelming. There is a good balance of fruits and sugars, wood and earthy notes. The sugars were well balanced and not overdone with the molasses taste as mentioned above. But I will say the bitterness is a bit much. It takes over more than it should. I found a nice floral hint in the middle of this tasting and I think it would have been more dominate or more noticeable without the excessive bitterness. Clean finish despite the lingering bitters. 

Nice and bold chocolate. Big and robust, good balanced sugars and fruits. Too much bitterness for me personally in then end, but still very worthy chocolate. I think Ritual are very talented people and are the up and comers to keep watching. If you are ever in the Denver area, please contact them and visit their factory. You will learn a lot from them and be amazed at some vintage equipment and just how small their production really is. Anna is an absolute joy, and Robbie is very generous and thorough in explaining his process and passion. 

 

Final Score: 91.4

   score
  B+

Dandelion Chocolate ~ Ocumare 70%

 

 

I have been waiting to get my hands on some Dandelion for a little while now. All my hardcore chocolate fans and fellow reviews have been on to them for a little while now. They would all ask me if I have tried it yet. Finally it's my turn. My turn with a northern Venezuela bar. 

 

Small batch chocolate producers from San Francisco. Bean-to-bar to everything in between producers run by Cameron Ring and Todd Masonis. I recommend reading their blog about getting their factory opening. It's pretty detailed and cool to see how it all came together.A quick blurb here won't do it any justice.

Currently you can't shop on their site. They have had some machine issues and will be back online soon with fresh bars to order. By the looks on their Facebook, it should be any day now.

And most recently in the news, they just won a 2013 Good Food Award in the Chocolate Category for their Madagascar 70% bar.

Spied this video clip on their blog from Cat Trick Films showing handmade chocolate production at their factory in reverse.

Click to enlarge images.

 

Ocumare 70% 2011 Harvest

 

Type: Bittersweet, 70%

Bean Varietal: probably Criollo or Trinitario

Ingredients: Cocoa beans and cane sugar.

Sample Size: 2.56oz

Batch #: 3

 

Appearance: Simple, non-monogrammed molding with individual tabs. Medium dark brown color, a little bit ashy surface with some slight sugar bloom perhaps, but still has a relatively shiny surface.

Score: 83

Snap: Crumbly snap, weak at the mold lines, but strong and firm when broken from the center of a small tab.

Score: 70

Aroma: Very deep and complicated aroma. Deeply roasted cacao, berries, inky, woody, a little earthy mold aromas, note book paper aromas.

Score: 94

Taste: Bold berries and pen ink, deeply bitter, perfect balance of sugars but still intensely bitter, wood, cinnamon toast, clean finish.

Score: 95

Texture: Hard wax at first, dry, chalky and a little bit grainy, once it opens it it does have a medium melt-time, drying finish. 

Score: 65

 

What a mixed bag for my first go with Dandelion. Technically this bar is a mess. Terrible snap, the presence of slight sugar bloom, and a not so great texture. But then the aroma and flavor are fantastic. Clearly they know the flavors they want the drive out of these beans, but I am afraid they need a little help on everything else.

For now, let me just stick to the aroma and flavor. The aroma is quite complex from bold and strong berries and ink, to earthy mustiness and wood. Good hallmarks and signs from coastal Venezuelan beans. The flavor is deeply bitter, it encompasses the entire palate, but the bold berry flavors stand out and mix in with pen ink flavors and wood. There is a nice cinnamon toast flavor towards the end. Although it's incredibly bitter, it's not astringent or acidic. I liked the balance of sugars in this bar too. Not overly sweet. They really nailed the flavor and aroma.

The texture does not do this bar justice. It's drying to the palate, chalky, and starts off really hard. It does open up and have a medium creamy texture but it's sort of a little too late by the time you get there. I would rather melt down the rest of this chocolate and drink it than eat it. Say what you want, but some bars need cocoa butter in there. I would much rather have a soft waxy texture than a hard, surf wax-like texture with excessive dryness. 

I feel really bad about this review for some reason. I am really interested in these guys and I loved scrolling through the back logs of their blog to see how they got their factory together and how they got all the working pieces in place. I am just not in love with this bar. Luckily they have different offerings and I will do my best to seek out the Madagascar 70% that they just won an award for. I haven't lost faith, just a very rocky introduction.

 

Final Score: 81.4

   score
    C

Chocolat Stella ~ Organic By Nature 72% Dark Chocolate with Chili

 

 

 

***Archived notes.

 

These are notes I have been meaning to get posted for a while. I picked this chocolate up two Christmas' ago in Quebec City. Reviewed, notes taken, and then I took a break from reviewing for a while. Let's get back into it.

Chocolat Stella is Swiss chocolate company operating as part of Chocolat Bernrain. Manufactured in Giubiasco, Switzerland. A large Swiss chocolate company but with ranges focusing on bio and eco-friendly bars as part of their line up.

 

History via their website:

 

The God Quetzalcóatl, brought the cocoa to the world. That was his gift to the Aztecs.

About three thousand years later, in the year 1947, a lover of the "food of Gods" - Xocolatl - started to write a page of the Swiss chocolate history. Years of hard work in various chocolate plants taught Walter Müller to become a specialist in fine chocolate production. He decided to follow his chocolate dream and together with his wife Karin he started to produce chocolate in the 300 year old house of his parents. That particular type of chocolate was used to enrobe the typical Swiss whipes (chocolate coated egg-white mousse), which was a real consolation for the soul after a long deprivation period due to the war. It was a great success! The creative chocolatier became a businessman and posed the basis of the actual Chocolat Bernrain Group.

His eldest son Adalbert took over enthusiasm of the family. His father gave him full trust very soon and accompanied him actively for many years. In 1980 Chocolat Stella, a company based in canton Ticino, became part of the Chocolat Bernrain group.

Under Adalbert Müller the Chocolat Bernrain Group was able to build a reputation to be a reliable and a high quality manufacturer of creative chocolate specialties and sold them all over the world. 

In recent decades organic, Fair-Trade, functional and Kosher chocolate specialties completed the group assortment.

Today Monica Müller, granddaughter of the founder, runs the company into the third generation.

 

This is a dark chocolate bar with chili from their organic chocolate line.

We started producing organic chocolate more than 15 years ago, when only few raw materials were organic certified. Today we can proudly say that our competence in this field is well known world-wide. Our beautiful line "Organic by Nature" is an example of the quality level and orginality we can achieve.

Our customers can benefit of the many advantages of working with us:

• GMO free
• No soy lecithin
• Wide range of 100% certified organic recipes
• Various formats, shapes and weights
• OPP foil bars wrapping
• Full assistance on your Private Label projects
• Various certification possibilities: USDA-NOP, Soil Association, Bio inspecta, Biosuisse, Ecocert, etc.
• Small production lots and great flexibility
• Possibility of having Fair-Trade added value
• Traditional manufacturing systems
• Environment friendly production facilities and packaging

 

No indication on their website and pdf pages about what cacao they are using for these bars or what kind of red chili's they are using. Just stamps on the label of certified organic ingredients.They are a fair trade company working with various plantations and I believe they work with El Ceibo as listed on their fair trade page.

 

We are pioneers of the Fair-Trade concept. We started working on the first projects with our partner claro AG (at that time OS3) in the year 1991.
At that time only few visionaries dared to believe in the dream of a better life for thousands of communities around the world.

The success of the Fair-Trade concept is due to the fact that more and more consumers finally realize that Fair-Trade means equity, but also sustainability and environment preservation, resulting in a better life quality for the raw material producers, which also ends in a better quality of the products. Fair-Trade products are good for the conscience, good for the world and good for the palate.

Today, we are proud of our long-lasting partnership with different Fair-Trade and organic cooperatives in South-America, Africa and Asia. Together with them, we work on nurseries for new plantations, fermenting and drying process units for the beans, education for their personnel by teaching them quality improvement systems locally and in Switzerland. We also organize educational workshops in the fields for and with the cooperatives members.

The direct cooperation with Fair-Trade raw material producers and a close partnership with our customers, ensure us a short and clean supply chain and an accurate control on the products quality to the advantage of customers and consumers.

At the end it is a win-win situation, whereby all actors actively participate in achieving the dream of a fair World.

www.elceibo.com

 

I am curious about two of their products. Bars of chocolate using Indian grown cacao and Baobab Tree fruit chocolate bars. Interesting concepts but still mass produced Swiss chocolate.I have my reservations about a lot of long standing Swiss chocolate companies. While the bio and organic ethics are to be admired, there is a flavor that I find on most European chocolate that tends to be creamy and milky even on dark chocolate. Especially from the larger, mass produced chocolates. It's very same-y and tends to lend to a hallmark of a region or country. This is a personal observation and a larger generalization about Swiss chocolate, but it still holds true for me after all these years of learning about chocolate.I wonder what that would do to impact the flavors of such interesting creations.

 

 

Organic by Nature Dark Chocolate with Chili

 

Type: Flavored bittersweet, 72%

Bean Varietal: Unknown

Ingredients: Cocoa mass, cane sugar, cocoa butter, vanilla, chili.

Sample Size: 100g or 3.5oz

 

Appearance: Medium thick tablet with individual non-monogrammed tabs. Lined tabs. Deep dark brown color, slight surface matting, muted and slightly shiny surface.

Score: 85

Snap: Nice firm snap, clean break lines, and an audible crisp snap sound.

Score: 92

Aroma: Almonds, lightly roasted, cream, cocoa butter, vanilla, and lightly smoky.

Score: 90

Taste: Almonds, sugars, a little fruity, creamy vanilla, then bitterness right up front, and mild tingle from the chili pepper heat, opens up into a nice spicier taste, roasted cacao and wood, a little earthy and musty, but very sweet at the same time.

Score: 92

Texture: Smooth texture, a little creamy, medium melt-time, nice thickness of the bar.

Score: 92

 

Kind of a boring surface. Dark chocolate color, a little flat and not too shiny, non-monogrammed surface, but great snap. Good thickness for the snap and clean break lines.

It smelled pretty good, but I thought it would not be as dynamic as it was on the flavor based on it's fairly basic aroma. Good, but basic.

Nice and spicy heat from the chili peppers. The sugars and chili pepper heat did interfere with it's cacao taste. It was very sugary for a 72%. Had a creamy vanilla taste and a little fruity up front from the sugars but I was most happy with it's heat level. Sometimes they can be too spicy, or barely any spice in it at all. For someone with a sensitive palate, I found it very spicy, yet perfectly tolerable. I am such a wuss about spicy food. But I liked this.

From what I could taste on the cacao, it's a little woody, and earthy with musty flavors. It tells me they used a South American cacao for this, but I can't pinpoint from where. The cacao flavors only lasted for a minute before the spice over takes the palate. It was pretty rich and sweet but not anything too spectacular. It had a nice bitterness and a creamy vanilla flavor, but not at all typical of a Swiss chocolate like I noted above. Definitely better than I would have expected.

They do a good job of spelling out who they are online with their company and bio ethics, I just wish there was a touch more information about this bar in particular. Where is the cacao from, and what kind of chili did they use. More and more companies needs to list the details of their ingredients.

This is easily getting melted down for drinking chocolate. Spicy and sugary. Will make for a lovely spicy hot chocolate with nothing added but scaled milk. (I haven't melted it yet. This sentiment is from my notes, but I still have the scraps and it's still holding up remarkably well.)

 

Final Score: 90.2

   score
  B+

Chocolate Advocate's 2013 Valentine's Day Picks

 

Image Source

 

As of now, you have plenty of time to think about a well thought out chocolate gift for your loved one. Chocolate is loved by everyone. EVERYONE! Valentine's Day is obviously the day for chocolate gifts of love. So why not be creative about your choices? Don't just do a generic box of chocolates and flowers. These are my picks for cool Valentine's day chocolate gifts.

 

1. The first and most obvious choice for an awesome Valentine's day gift is Alma Chocolate's (Portland, Oregon), Chocolate Icons. These are the coolest edible chocolate art out there. They have chocolate Jesus, Guadalupe, Sacred Hearts, Swallows, Buddha, Ganesh..... It's awesome. My personal favorite is the anatomically correct heart. But the rock-a-billy designs are fantastic too. Nothing says I love you like handing someone your heart. And then they can eat it! It's ill, trust me.

 

   

 

2. For a little less conventional chocolate treat, try EH Chocolatier (Somerville, Massachusetts) Caramel Box. It's a set of 9 pieces with 3 different flavors. Bourbon Caramel, Honey Caramel, and Salted Caramel. These are delicious caramels beautifully decorated and well balanced with flavor. These would be fun to pair with cocktails instead of traditional wine pairings. Get a classic cocktail book and whip up something bourbon and fun and then share this caramel collection for something a little unconventional but sexy and fun.

 

 

 

3. For the hipster in your life, go with a 4 pack collection from Dick Taylor Craft Chocolate (Arcata, California) 4 Bar gift set. Two origin bars and two flavored bars. It comes artfully wrapped and is very hip. Their chocolate is bean-to-bar and fantastic and it will introduce your loved one into a new American craft chocolate brand. This is a very unisex gift. If you are from Brooklyn, then you already know about Mast Brothers. Surprise your hipster partner with Dick Taylor instead. They probably hate that I often describe them as hipster chocolate, but they make craft furniture and boats and oh yeah they happen to be chocolate makers too. Their website has old time-y wime-y photos of them too. Como se Dice "hipster" en Espanol? Their packaging is great which is why I suggest the 4 pack. You will get a variety and nice gift wrapping with it.

 

 

4. Something a little more classic in the same line of bars of chocolates as gifts, try Valrhona's (France) Vintage Origin Box. It's a little pricy, but you can't go wrong with Valrhona. Their vintage box set contains Single origin bars from rare and old plantations from around the world. Beyond single origin, this single estate sourced cacao. Some of the finest cacao from Venezuela, Madagascar, and Trinidad. This is for real chocolate lovers who like to sit and take their time with chocolate. Valrhona offers wine and beer pairings for these chocolate's on their website. You can send a personalized message with your order, and it comes a black wooden box. Very elegant and sophisticated.

 

 

5. In my house, no Valentine's Day is complete without L.A. Burdick's (NH, MA, and NY) hot chocolate. In this city, their hot chocolate is the best thing in the world on cold days. Believe me, Boston knows cold days. Pick up a hot chocolate kit from them and some famous Burdick's mice or penguin truffles in a wooden box for a lovely gift. The hot chocolate can be bought solely or with a mug and saucer for a complete gift. They offer single origin hot chocolate's but it's only sold in store. If you are in store to pick up hot chocolate, their pastries and cakes are fantastic. If cute animal truffles aren't your bag, go with the pastries instead.

 

 

Images for Burdick's via Spilling The Beans, Waterside Plaza, and Serious Eats.

 

6. This can be as gluttonous or as sexy as you wish to make it. The Meadow (NY) sells a Chocolate Fondue Starter Set with a pink Himalayan sea salt bowl. It includes a pink salt bowl, orange bitters, and Felchlin Cru Savage 68% chips. This is a fantastically cool and a different way to go on Valentine's day. A way for both parties to be interactive with chocolate and have a little fun.

 

 

 

7. You could always bake something nice. I would recommend trying Vosges' Caramel Toffee Chocolate Chunk Brownie kit. Or if you are more adventurous and know your way around a kitchen, try Joanne Chang of Flour Bakery's Milky Way Tart recipe.

 

Both of these are out of this world good. I had the Milky Way tart from Flour Bakery for Thanksgiving and it's just awesome. Light mousse filling, yet super rich caramel filling anchoring the tart. Everything you need after a super filling turkey dinner. I ordered and made the brownies and they were some of the best brownies I have had from a box. You melt caramel toffee pieces on top of the brownies and you mix in chocolate chunks through out the batter. It's fabulously and disgustingly rich and oh so good.

Get the Milky Way Tart recipe here: Leite's Culinaria

Milky Way Tart Image via Leite's Culinaria.

 

8. Soma Chocolate (Toronto) Single Origin Truffles. This one I am going blind on. I have not tried Soma yet, but according to all my chocolate pals, cronies, and nerds they swear this is some of the best chocolate makers in the world. I promise to order them and get a review up soon. But if my friends are telling me this is some of the world's finest, I trust them. The origin truffles are Madagascar, Papua New Guinea, Tanzania, Santo Domingo, and Venezuela.

 

Image via Doreen Pendegracs for Travel + Escape.

 

9. Chocolate books. Along with fine chocolate, perhaps a book about chocolate history might be a good accompaniment to the chocolate. Why not learn about origin chocolate and the history of the beans while eating it? 

  1. The True History of Chocolate by Sophie D. Coe and Michael D. Coe.

  2. The New Taste of Chocolate: A Cultural & Natural History of Cacao with Recipes (2009) By Maricel E. Presilla.

  3. Couture Chocolate by William Curley.

 

Enjoy your Valentine's Day. Please feel free to post comments about what you are planning on buying for your special someone.

Coco-Bananas Preacher Cookies

 

 

Realizing I was sitting on some samples of awesome organic flavored peanut butter from PB Crave, I decided to empty a whole jar practically into a double batch of Preacher Cookies also known as No-Bake Peanut Butter Oatmeal cookies. An experiment well worth trying.

Apparently there is some debate about the origins of the name of these cookies reading up on other blogs. I grew up with them just being called no-bake peanut butter oatmeal cookies. I have heard on more than one occasion that the Preacher part of the name came from housewives being able to quickly whip up a batch for their preachers who paid house calls. They can be made quickly and served during a visit. According to The Revivalist, other names include cow patties. I think have heard that one too. Preacher cookies are the simplest thing to say, so I go with that.

For this recipe I used Coco-Bananas. PB Crave is the best organic peanut butter I have ever had. I am usually into purer, natural foods. This does not count for my addiction to McRibs, but peanut butter is the worst natural product out there in my opinion. They are always too dry, separated oils, not salty enough, not creamy enough, not enough sugars. I am so hopelessly used to processed crap peanut butter. But then PB Carve sent me their samples and it's smooth delicious natural peanut butter with flavors added in. I have written about their Razzle Dazzle (Raspberry, white chocolate and dark chocolate) peanut butter and it was my morning routine to toast an English muffing and smather copious amounts of that peanut butter on it. You don't need anything else except for a cup of hot tea. I like the flavors but hopefully they will put out a plain version so I can buy it regularly. I make one crazy savory dish with peanut butter called Peanut Butter Pork Chops. It's delicious but I need regular peanut butter for that kind of thing.

My next experiment will be to make these Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Bars with PB Crave Choco Choco.

 

Following the recipe from The Revivalist:

½ cup butter

4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa (I went all fancy and used Erico Unsweetened cocoa powder from Quebec City)

2 cups sugar

½ cup milk

1/8 teaspoon salt

3 cups quick cooking oatmeal

¼ cup peanut butter (PB Crave Coco-Bananas Peanut Butter)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix the cocoa powder, butter, sugar, milk, and salt in a double boiler. (Don’t tell Mother, but I just use a regular pot.) Bring to a rolling boil and boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat. Add the peanut butter, vanilla, and oatmeal—not the new, instant kind, Mother emphasizes, just quick oats. Slop it all together. Drop them on a plate. (Wax paper is even better if you have it.) Pop in the fridge for a few hours and enjoy.

 

I don't refrigerate mine. I just let them cool on the counter tops and them pop them in a storage container. My cookies are a mixture of generic 365 Quick Oats and Quaker Quick Oats. I need to say that the Quaker Quick oats are very different from what I remember. They used to be more chopped. Now they are very solid and hard even for quick oats. I like them in these cookies but in small doses to add a little more fiber to the cookies.

Luxx Chocolat ~ Cinnful Hot Choxx

 

 

One of the marvels of technology is the fine art of Tweeting. After expressing a bit of disappointment in some powdered hot chocolate I recently bought and reviewed, another chocolate company, Luxx Chocolat, saw my tweets and offered to send me some of theirs. Who can say no to that? I still can't believe that this happens. That someone cares enough about what little old me thinks to send me their products. It's always welcomed and appreciated here.

About Luxx Chocolat.

A few days later, I got a cute set up of their Cinnful Hot Choxx with a mug that has a slot in the handle for a spoon and two stir sticks of Valrhona 72% dark chocolate cinnamon ganache with it's own cinnamon marshmallow.

 

It's painted in edible copper luster and is very fragrant with cinnamon. I thought it might be a cinnamon bomb at first. But after I stirred it up into some scalded milk, it blended in nicely. The nose is full of cinnamon because of the marshmallow but the taste is a nice rich flavor of Valrhona's 72% dark chocolate and cinnamon. It's not cloying with cinnamon and as I mentioned, blended in nicely for a comforting mug of hot chocolate. The quality of Valrhona really added some good rich depth to it.

I liked it. I think the mug is cute with the spoon and slot for the spoon in the handle. The hot chocolate was good and hit the spot. You can't go wrong with Valrhona as your base but the blended in cinnamon was done right. Hopefully if they expand their hot chocolate line, they will make this cinnamon ganache with hot chilies in it too.

 

   score
    B

 

Hotel Chocolat ~ Purist Super Boosters (Cacao Nibs)

 

 

Feeling a little under the weather? Or want to avoid getting sick this winter? Carry some of these Super Boosters chocolate covered cacao nibs from St. Lucia with you for a boost and a pick me up of theobromine and antioxidants.

It's a well known fact that cacao is a super food and carries more antioxidants than red wine and green tea. Eating dark chocolate with lower amounts of sugars and cacao butters and higher percentages of cacao solids is good for you.

Here is a good how to with dark chocolate for health by Web MD. Health By Chocolate. I would skip their recommendations at the end though. Skip the more commercialized brands and go for the quality and ethics of small-batch or bean-to-bar chocolate.

 

 

These are tasty 70% dark chocolate covered Trinitario nibs that taste a little sweet at first, and carry some cinnamon notes and then deep rich cacao flavors of the raw nibs which are bitter and nutty that gives you a good balance of flavors.

The only negative to eating cacao nibs is that they're gritty and will leave a mess in your teeth. So rinse before you talk to people or it could look like you've been eating coffee grinds. And be mindful of the theobromine which is a stimulant like caffeine. Depending on how much you eat it can jack you up a bit if you are not ready for it. If you are a seasoned pro with chocolate or coffee, have at it.

This is the way to fight cold and flu season!

Valrhona ~ El Pedregal 64%

 

 

 

** Archived Notes

This is my first time with Valrhona's vintage plantation series. I took these notes a while ago, but wanted to get them posted anyway.

El Pedregal is a vintage single estate cacao plantation in Venezuela with rare Criollo and Porcelana beans being cultivated and revived.

Via their website:

In order to further progress with our knowledge of the cocoa, Valrhona bought its first plantation El Pedregal in Venezuela 20 years ago, followed more recently in 2011 by Loma Sotavento in the Dominican Republic. For Valrhona, these company-owned plantations are living laboratories for research and exploration on several levels; they contribute to significant progress in certain crucial stages of the development of aromatic characteristics, such as fermentation and drying.

They help us in our experiments into responsible and sustainable farming. Valrhona works together with local experts to convert plantations into natural botanic gardens that create a new balance between the flora and its ecosystem.

El Pedregal plantation has enabled us to develop a vintage estate grown chocolate, with unrivaled delicacy: Porcelana El Pedregal (available November 2011)

Just like a fine vintage wine, the estate grown chocolates are the fruit of the yearly harvest of a single plantation, and the passion of a cocoa farmer. Each vintage thus offers you the opportunity to discover new facets of its personality. Valrhona also invites you to taste these vintage chocolates with unique and outstanding aromatic characteristics, Palmira from Venezuela, Gran Couva from Trinidad and Ampamakia from Madagascar.

Three years ago, an ambitious and highly innovative project was founded in Venezuela, called the Cambios project. It focuses on the principles of sustainable, quality cocoa farming, respectful both of the environment and people, focused on the preservation of a dying variety, Porcelana. It involves, among other things, the creation of biodiversity corridors within the plantation itself, up keeping the cocoa plantations in the manner of forests, and planting other crops so that the local population has another income and training.

 

El Pedregal 64%

 

Type: Bittersweet, 64%

Bean Varietal: Criollo, Porcelana

Ingredients: Cacao beans, brown sugar, cocoa butter, soya lecithin, vanilla.

Sample Size: 75g or 2.6oz

Lot #: LP7511245

 

Appearance: Ignore the scratch mark on one of the tablets. I scratched it by accident opening out of it's foil wrapper but there was some long line surface marks I didn't cause. Long tablet with wide, fat tablets, monogrammed molding, shiny surface, medium dark brown color, not too dark, superficial fill lines on the back surface.

Score: 89

Snap: Good clean snap with nice crisp snap sound. Firm with clean break lines.

Score: 93

Aroma: Slightly floral out of the package, roasted with a slight char aroma, savory, inky, cocoa-y.

Score: 91

Taste: Sweet, slight spicy note, very delicate flavor at first, brown sugar molasses, inky, bready, cereal grains, slight hints of leather, dried fruits and tiny bit of resin or rubber from retro-olfaction. Clean finish. Very complex.

Score: 93

Texture: Hard at first, opens up with a medium-slow melt time, creamy texture but also a bit drying.

Score: 90

 

Very interesting chocolate. Delicate and simple aroma. Nothing too crazy going on there but a deeply complex flavor albeit not as strong as I would have liked. It opens up really soft and sweet. Very soft and almost boring. At first I thought this would be incredibly weak chocolate. But then it opens up a bit more and some deeper flavors come through. The brown sugar's molasses does interfere a bit. It wasn't overwhelming but definitely noticeable. Bready and yeasty with cereal grains, pen ink and dried fruits.

It's almost like this cacao wants to be bigger. But you can't drag out the flavors with more sugars or brown sugars. Sugars tend to bring out more fruits, but these beans apparently are so soft that the sugars ended up interfering with with it. There is a boldness to this chocolate and a deep richness. But also layered with soft floral notes and subtle inky flavors.

I don't know what to make of it honestly. I appreciate it for it's softness and hidden aggressiveness. But I doubt it would be this rich without the sugars. It tastes great, but in my honest opinion it's fairly boring and some of the flavors feel forced. The emphasis on these rare beans is very important. Criollo is the true original cacao bean. But I tend to like more richer, and bolder flavors. I want to be kicked in the face with raw flavors. Not so raw like Taza flavors, but a bit more bold than this. 

This will sound very rude but I am going to be completely honest and say that this is over hyped chocolate. Sold for it's rarity and labeling of Procelana beans but there really isn't anything too spectacular about this. Perhaps it's different right after it's been molded and packaged and eaten when it's no older than one month. But for now, as cool as this single estate chocolate is, it's just not all that for what it's supposed to be.

Having said that, this could be good for people with sensitive palates. But again it's true nature is clouded a bit with the brown sugars and the molasses in it.

And just for fun, I just found out that Valrhona has taken the time to do some beer pairings with their chocolate and not just wine. Craft beer is often better paired with chocolate than wine. Especially with the American craft beer scene with the amount of new styles. They had different flavor profiles in their tasting but I agree with the recommendations.

EL PEDREGAL Dark Chocolate 64% (Venezuela) - This chocolate has soft, earthy flavors of mocha and coffee bean that are complex, yet mellow, with a dusty texture and slight bitterness on the palate. For a taste to complement these characteristics of the chocolate, an Irish Stout would offer texture and rich, hearty, aromatics without overwhelming the palate. The slight bitterness of the chocolate would match with an Extra Special Bitter which, despite the name is mildly aggressive, but not overpowering and will balance with the taste of the chocolate.

FInal Score: 91.2

   score
  B+

Rabot Estate ~ Chuao 70%

 

 

I think I owe Angus Thirlwell an apology. When I originally wrote about Rabot Estate, I am ashamed to admit I let others influences cloud my judgement about their products. Others with opinions I respect greatly, but whom do not share the same palate as me. Whatever their dealings are and/or snobbery's are, I shouldn't have let that impact my point of view in such a way. I am afraid I wrote with a bias and an attitude about their company before ever having spoken with Angus. And I was partially caught up in the lack of understanding about the Chuao region and what is happening to the region itself vs. the famed Chuao farm where the most prized beans come from. I will stand by the previous reviews by taste, but I didn't give nearly enough credit or time to Rabot Estate. This is what my site is all about. Learning, growing, and possibly having to amend myself.

I met with Angus a few weeks ago while he was briefly in town. I demanded his time and took him to my favorite bar for some beers and chocolate talk. Not only is Angus the nicest man on the planet, but he was deeply knowledgeable, warm, and patient with my lack of understanding on various topics with chocolate growing and genetics. I could have easily talked chocolate all night. Sadly he had a plane to catch to NY. It's not every day chocolate lovers with a deep passion like this get to meet and sit and chat. He taught me a lot in our brief meeting and I owe him a bit of gratitude and respect for my previous reviews. I look forward to getting back to London one day and meeting with him again to talk chocolate.

Thank you for meeting with me that day Mr. Thirlwell. Your generosity and knowledge really made for a fantastic meeting. I will look forward to meeting with you again and hopefully traveling to St. Lucia for further explorations into chocolate.

 

Rabot Estate is a small cacao plantation in St. Lucia that has been revived and restored back to production by Angus Thirlwell and Peter Harris.

Via their website:

Our Story

The Rabot Estate is Saint Lucia’s oldest cocoa estate, and was first established as an agricultural estate around 1745.

It was bought 5 years ago by two UK based entrepreneurs, Angus Thirlwell and Peter Harris, the original founders of Hotel Chocolat . At that stage cacao growing on Saint Lucia was on its knees; no future, no investment, no pride and no quality.

Angus grew up in the Caribbean and always wanted to connect chocolate and cacao. A customer sent him an old book published in 1920 about cacao growing, which he read while he was visiting his father who lives in Barbados. This was a moment of serendipity which inspired him to get into cacao growing. Peter always wanted to have a farm, so although he is a Chartered Accountant and naturally quite cautious, he was game on too!

Since then, Angus and Peter have invested heavily, re-planting thousands of new cacao trees, raising the quality of the fermentation to get a fantastic quality bean and putting together a team of local talent led by Phil Buckley – a resourceful cacao tree hugging eco-engineer. His wife Judy is an expert on team building and quality control. They have reached out to the other cacao growers on the island to stimulate a Cocoa Renaissance as part of their Engaged Ethics programme.

There are now 80 growers who have formally joined the scheme.

They get a commitment
- all the beans they grow will be bought, giving a secure and guaranteed market
- they will be paid about 30% above world cocoa prices
- will be paid 1 week after delivery
- free technical help
- subsidised cocoa tree seedlings to plant out

Now there is a thriving cocoa growing sector and an estimated 300 new jobs have been created amongst these growers. Sustainable benefits brought about by making investments of time, money and passion.

 

Generally Rabot Estate is about the cacao grown on the island. But this is a Venezuelan bar using the famed Chuao beans from the famed Chuao Hacienda. It is my understanding that they have expanded the region of Chuao past this small farm and into a much larger region. The beans are blends and hybrids and can be very different than what is grown and cultivated on the small estate in Venezuela. Now anyone can call their bars Chuao but it's not necessarily from the specific farm where the beans have been genetically tested as Criollo or similarly close genetic varieties. I am not an expert on how to taste or spot those differences. However, there is a lack of transparency with producers these days about what kind of cacao is being used. This is where my frustrations began with Hotel Chocolat because I was under the impression that they were another company just using buzz words to sell more chocolate. I was wrong about that.

It's easy to be confused these days however. The rules of cacao are changing daily, each chocolate maker I talk to has a very different set of rules and understanding about regions and definitions. Expanding the region really changes a lot for fans of Chuao. And not mentioning it on packaging really makes it difficult to know what is going on with the chocolate.

Consider it like beer. The water where the beer is brewed has a direct impact on it's flavor. Although water can be treated and is often treated, it impacts the beer. The different kinds of hops definitely has an impact on flavor. Malts and grains too. You can test this with Budweiser brewed around the world. In the US, it's ultra controlled and tastes the same everywhere you buy it. But it's different in China, London, and Russia. That's because the factories have different waters and different grain sources. The recipes are the same and they do a lot scientifically to make it taste generally the same, but these factors do change it. Chocolate is the same when it comes to it's beans, terroir, and genetics. I am not even close to understanding taste variances with genetic varieties. Mostly because there is too much going on. 10 new genetic varieties from Forastero were identified in 2008, and there is still unknown hybrids and new discoveries being made all the time.

Not every person buying chocolate needs to know these kinds of specifics. But I don't see why mentions of these beans can't be made on packaging about what kind of chocolate it is. Or designing websites to further explain like Taza Chocolate's website.

This cacao was obtained from the famed hacienda in Chuao. It is labeled as Criollo, but I think it's safe to say it's a Criollo hybrid and not true Criollo. Most of what is consumed is a form of a hybrid. But the quality is still incredible which is why these beans are prized. I am sure I am missing a lot more detail here, but I think you get the drift.

 

Rabot Estate Chuao Venezuela 70%

 

Type: Bittersweet, 70%

Bean Varietal: Criollo

Ingredients: Cocoa solids, sugar, soya lecithin.

Sample Size: 35g or 1.2oz

Lot #: 12166

 

Appearance: Flat, unlined tablet, monogrammed, Slight waviness on the top surface with fill lines and particles on the back surface. Deep dark brown color, shiny, but with a matted molded surface.

Score: 90

Snap: Big hard snap. Nice and loud, very firm and crisp snap with clean break lines.

Score: 96

Aroma: Coconuts, smoky, sugary, slightly acidic, fudgy, dried fruits, deep inky aromas, malty and slight cereal grains (as described on the package, but only upfront right out of the package and didn't hang on for long).

Score: 92

Taste: Raisins, slight whiskey tastes up front but very faint, complex flowery note up front, sugary, slightly bitter up front but not acidic or astringent, cereal grains, and pen ink. Raisin-y lingering after taste.

Score: 92

Texture: A little hard at first, medium-slow melt time, smooth, a little chewy.

Score: 91

Just a little bit of some surface issues. This happens with loosely packaged bars of chocolate. Still, not a lot of surface blemishes. No molding lines, just a straight monogrammed tablet. Fantastic snap.

Nice full aroma too. Coconuts and smoke right out of the package, and then it becomes very fudgy and cocoa-y.

Very nice taste. Raisins and dried fruits right up front. An interesting tiny hint of whiskey on the first taste. It's so small and nearly undetectable though. A lovely soft floral taste in the beginning and some bitterness. No astringency or acidity. Cereal grains and ink flavors. But it was really sugary. Very sweet. I find sugars tend to bring out great fruit flavors in chocolate and it helps round out some of the bitterness. This probably didn't need to be that sweet though. However, it's not overbearing. Just a tiny bit cloying. I can see nibbling this bar with a hot cup of coffee in the morning. A very decadent way to start out your morning, but still, like beer, there is a time and a place for every chocolate.

 

Final Score: 92.2

   score
  B+

Silly Cow Hot Chocolate ~ Marshmallow Swirl

 

 

Silly Cow Marshmallow Swirl Hot Chocolate

All natural and organic hot chocolate mix spied at Whole Foods on special for $4.99. I am a hot chocolate lover and drink it consistently all year long even when it's hot outside. I like finding new brands to try. Whole Food's does pretty good with fun options to try that aren't too risky or expensive like some of the chocolate bar producer versions. I discovered Allegro Single Origin hot chocolate last year or earlier this year, and the Peru 68% made my top ten list for best hot cocoa's.

From the Bread and Chocolate Inc. in Wells River, Vermont, Silly Cow comes in a cute milk bottle and filled exactly all the way to the top. Be careful opening it as it sort of popped due to it's fullness. A very full 16.9 oz.

 

I prepped my evening hot chocolate with scaled vanilla almond milk. This hot chocolate tastes like classic powdered hot chocolate but a bit more rich. I always do more scoops than the recommended. It's fairly sweet with the natural marshmallow flavoring, but the marshmallow flavor is definitely there and noticeable. As I said, it makes it a lot sweeter but in a good way.

It's like the Swiss Miss hot chocolate packets, but all natural. Definitely richer, and more creamier, but that classic hot chocolate taste is the same. I liked it, but I will say it's not as rich or good as the Allegro brands. This is a hot chocolate you buy for your kids and have fun with the classic milk bottles. Might not be that uncommon for Vermont folks, but city kids will get a kick out of it.

 

Ingredients: Natural cane sugar, Dutch processed cocoa (with alkali), natural marshmallow flavor (vanilla, dextrose and silicon dioxide [to prevent caking]).

   score
  C+