20°N & 20°S

Justin's Organic Peanut Butter Cups

 

Justin's organic nut butters and peanut butter cups. Happily found at Whole Foods and a special little treat it is. My husband is the shopper in my household. I give him the list, and he forages all of one block away to Whole Foods and he likes to pick up little nick knacks for me. This time he brought back these peanut butter cups.

A Colorado based company that's an environmentally sound, organic, and green company that makes nut butters, chocolate nut spreads, and peanut butter chocolate cups. They work on squeezable packs for environmentally safe packaging and for easy transport while hiking or bike riding.

 

We at Justin's Nut Butter hereby decree that all of our nut butters will be made in small batches to preserve premium quality standards and our fresh taste.

We will only use the highest quality natural and organic ingredients that are sustainably harvested and found as locally as possible.

We will be mindful with all of our business practices by working toward reducing our environmental footprint on the natural environment. We will remain excellent community and global citizens and will only do business with those who pledge to do the same.

We will continue to produce and promote fresh nut butters that will always be simple, delicious and nutritious.

Consumer packaged goods are tough on the environment. Period. Everything, from sourcing raw materials to manufacturing and distributing final products, has an environmental consequence. I like to think of our business as a part of an ecosystem with every decision and action interdependent and connected to the rest of the world.

We are on a journey towards sustainability. The 14er we are currently climbing is sourcing Sustainable Squeeze Pack Film. Right now, the technology does not exist for a fully sustainable film. Our goal is to source at least 33% renewable squeeze pack film by April 2012.

 

They even discuss on their website the carbon footprints their products make.  

 

 

 

Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

Ingredients: Organic Milk Chocolate (Organic Evaporated Cane Sugar, Organic Cocoa Butter*, Organic Whole Milk Powder, Organic Chocolate Liquor*, Organic Soy Lecithin, Organic Vanilla), Organic Peanut Butter (Organic Dry Roasted Peanuts, Organic Palm Fruit Oil), Organic Evaporated Cane Sugar, Organic Cocoa Butter, Organic Vanilla Flavor, Sea Salt.

 

Nice shiny surface and big roasted peanut aroma. I have no information about the chocolate they use, but it has a nice aroma. Not as full or fruity as the dark chocolate though. But that's usually the case with milk chocolate.

It's nice and salty. Really full tasting and sweet but a good balance with the salt. The peanut butter was a little dry though and a little texturally rough with large peanut particles. As much as I love organic and green companies, natural is always better for you, when it comes to peanut butter, I don't like the natual stuff as much. Either they are too runny, greasy, oily, or to dry. Flavor wise this is a really good peanut butter cup. And It's not that big of a deal about the grittiness of the peanut butter, but I do wish it was smoother and creamier. But the best part about this cup is that nothing about it tastes artificial. Not even the milk chocolate tastes overly processed. So again, despite it's texture, the taste is incredibly good.

**This product is Kosher, Gluten-Free, works with the Rainforest Alliance, and uses sustainable palm oil from Brazil.

 

Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

Ingredients: Organic Dark Chocolate (Organic Evaporated Cane Sugar, Organic Chocolate Liquor*, Organic Cocoa Butter*, Organic Soy Lecithin, Organic Vanilla), Organic Peanut Butter (Organic Dry Roasted Peanuts, Organic Palm Fruit Oil), Organic Evaporated Cane Sugar, Organic Cocoa Butter, Organic Vanilla Flavor, Sea Salt.

 

A little bit of a fruity aroma from the chocolate with rich robust roasted peanuts. Again, I am not sure what kind of chocolate they use, but it carries a good aroma. It almost tasted like cookie dough at first. Same balance with the milk chocolate but a lot more rich with the chocolate. Good and rich bitter dark chocolate with a good sweet, sugary balance. But a nice balance with the salty peanut butter.

Really good peanut butter cup! It's nice and rich. The peanut butter has the same issues as the milk chocolate cups, with a dry and gritty texture, but again the flavor is really good. Nice lingering chocolate notes from the dark chocolate that I didn't expect. Usually the focus with products like this isn't quality chocolate. This was surprisingly good.

**This product is Kosher, Gluten-Free, works with the Rainforest Alliance, uses sustainable Palm Oil from Brazil, vegan, and dairy free.

 

This is a nice organic alternative to Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. An ethical and conscious company that makes a damn fine and tasty product. If there was just some way to make that peanut butter a bit more silky and creamier, they'd be on top of the world.

 

Dick Taylor Craft Chocolate ~ Black Fig

 

 

The joys of being surprised by the hospitality in the chocolate industry. What started out as a joke, ended up with the actual product in my hands ready for review. 

I casually saw the folks at Dick Taylor tweeting about this new bar they just packed up and that it had black mission figs in it. Well, you know I love chocolate, but I also love figs. So, I jokingly said you need to send some of that to me ASAP. To my surprise they said they would! I said my eternal words to live by, "I am just kidding if you're just kidding. But I am serious if you're serious." 

They were serious and it was delivered to me a short while later. I actually forgot I gave them my address and to see it arrive was a really nice surprise. It also came at a good time after that hectic Pralus Chuao review that shall now remain in infamy. Nice gestures that end up smoothing out your day.

It's important for me to point this out because I am eternally grateful to anyone who views this blog or my opinions worthy enough to send their products to review or just to try.

 

The name Dick Taylor comes from a blend of both the owners and chocolate makers names. Adam Dick and Dustin Taylor. Two craft furniture and boat makers who took some of the same basic principles of creating and crafting woodwork into creating and crafting chocolate. That explains the gorgeous packaging. 

 

As most of you already know, several months ago, we completely re-tooled our whole entire package from bar mold to wrapper. We slipped this in under the radar and have never really explained the concept, so here goes. 

Our idea is to have a continuing series of sketches highlighting different crafts.  We chose our first illustration to highlight a craft that is near and dear to us, the craft of a Shipwright.  In our minds the pinnacle of wood-craft is boat building.  The complex, and constantly changing curves of a boat hull represent the greatest challenge to the woodworker.  It is amazing, that even to this day, most wooden boats are built almost entirely by hand.  Even the most complicated of machines can't shape the changing bevel on the edge of a plank or the face of a sawn frame.  Patience and care must be taken to fit all joints water tight.  It is not a fast process.  We feel like much of the patience required to build a boat carries over to the chocolate making process.  We don't rush the process, often repeating steps if they are not done right the first time, scrapping an entire batch if we are not proud of the product.

We also selected the ship yard illustration because of the rich and complex history of ship-building in Humboldt Bay. It ties us to this place we call home. In San Francisco, the lumber schooner the C.A. Thayer, was built here on Humboldt Bay, along with countless other great ships used to carry lumber up and down the west coast.  It is one of the last remaining west coast lumber schooners.

Our idea is to roll our new illustrations every so often to continue to highlight this idea of craftsmanship that we hold so dear.

 

Their website and style reminds me of the Mast Brothers in Brooklyn. I hope they don't mind the comparison as they are artisan chocolate makers and hipsters that I happen like very much. 

 

 

Black Fig

70% Ecuador Chocolate with Dried Black Figs

 

Type: Filled, Bittersweet, 70%

Bean Varietal: Nacional or Hybrid

Ingredients: Cacao, cane sugar, black fig. All organic.

Sample Size: 2oz

 

Appearance: Nice signature custom molding with a monogram. Very detailed and fine. Shiny glossy finish, dried figs on the backside with a little bit of superficial chocolate crumbles or remnants from molding. 

Score: 93 

Snap: Firm, crisp snap, nice and audible. Crumbly break lines. 

Score: 91

Aroma: Bold aroma, Smelled a bit like beer right out of the package, pen ink, slightly medicinal, tar, smoky, sweet, earthy, very mild fig. 

Score: 92

Taste: Bold flavors of tar and pen ink, berries, cocoa, sweet, tangy, sweet dried figs and wine-like flavors from the figs, bitter, wood, biscuit, toast, very mild and slight hints of cinnamon from retro-olfaction.

Score: 93

Texture: A little hard at first, but overall good smooth texture, quick melt time, creamy once it opens up, and nice chewy dried figs.

Score: 91

 

This is very strong chocolate from start to finish. From it's design, packaging, flavors, and aroma. 

It's design is awesome. I love the signature molding and how intricate it is. But I do think that's what gave way to all the left over bits on the backside of the bar. That's really insignificant though. The finish was glossy and a nice deep dark color. The figs were gorgeous to look at on the back. You could stare at either side and be happy. I do think the molding might be why the snap was a little crumbly too. But the snap was firm and crisp. 

The aroma was very big. It smelled like beer right out of the package which is good for a beer lover like myself, but the chocolate's original aromas were so big that the dried figs barely influenced it at all. Just a little bit if you really head this bar to your nose and inhaled for a little while. 

The flavors were also very robust and big. Like the aroma, there was huge pen and tar aromas. It opens up sweet and then gets tangy and bitter and has big wood flavor. Once the chocolate has melted away a bit, you get lovely biscuit or buttered toast flavors and very subtle hints of cinnamon. The figs adds a nice dried wood flavor of their own and some wine-like flavors. But I have to say, the figs very much get lost on this robust chocolate unless you have a good piece that you get to chew on long after the chocolate has melted. Perhaps some stickier dried Turkish figs might be a bit more appropriate for the strength of this chocolate. 

The chocolate is so full on flavor and aroma that the figs add very little to interact of marry well. Unless you prefer a smaller fig taste, I think they need to be a bit bolder or the chocolate needs to be tamed a tad bit more. It does leave some nice lingering fig tastes on the finish, but that's after the chocolate has melted away. 

The chocolate to me is like beer. It's funky, it's bold, and it's very complicated. It has a lot of descriptors that some might not find exactly appealing, but after awhile you come to appreciate them. It teaches you a lot about roasting and fermentation and sometimes regional hallmarks.

 

Final Score: 92

  score
 B+

 

Leonidas ~ 54% Dark Chocolate with Nibs

 

 

The obvious missed joke from the previous Leonidas post as pointed out by my best friend, Gavin.

THIS IS CHOCOLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE!!!!!!!

 

Hey, it's not my fault that the movie 300 and Gerard Butler for ever changed the landscape of Spartans and the name Leonidas. Perhaps Urban Dictionary can help put things in to perspective. Sparta. Maybe not 3 and 4. But definitely 1 and 2. 

Tonight we review in Hell! 

 

 

Tablette with Nibs

 

Type: Filled, Semisweet, 54%

Bean Varitetal: Unknown

Ingredients: cocoa paste, sugar, cocoa nibs, cocoa butter, and soya lecithin. 

Sample size: 50g or 1.76oz

Lot #: 041511101

 

Appearance: Thin bar, Greek monogrammed tablets, mild scuffing on the surface, bumpy nibs on the underside of the bar with some air bubbles on the surface and a slight wavy pattern from filling on the back surface. 

Score: 89

Snap: Good snap, medium firm with a medium snap sound. Slightly crumble break lines. 

Score: 89

Aroma: Dry, chalky, citrus/lemons, mildly floral, very subtle aroma with some very slight hints of coffee.

Score: 89

Taste: Sweet, lemony, very subtle and soft cocoa flavors. Some lingering wood flavors from the cocoa nibs.

Score: 82

Texture: Very smooth texture, creamy chocolate, medium melt time, nice crunchy and crispy nibs. 

Score: 93

 

This was fun to eat. It's very sweet without being too cloying from the sugars. It's a semisweet chocolate, but the sugars do hold back a lot of it's potential. The interesting flavor is all of the lemons. Not sure where that is coming from, but it's big. It's really only flavor characters. Sugar, lemons, and cocoa. 

Again, the texture is good. Very smooth and silky, and nice crunchy nibs to break it all up. Not bad for basic commerical Belgian chocolate bar. It gets points for excellent nibs and good crunch. I am curious about the strong lemon flavor. But overall this is just basic commercial semisweet chocolate that scores a little bit above average for it's techinical marks.  

 

Final Score: 88.4

  score
 B

 

Leonidas ~ 70% Dark Chocolate

 

 

Leonidas

 

Belgian chocolate makers since 1913, with nearly 100 years under their belt. I found them on just about every corner while I was in Brussels, and a location in Bruges. It's hard to tell what exactly might be good quality Belgian chocolate in these cities as they are completely inundated with bad tourist chocolate every where. But most of the recommendations I sought online, mentioned Leonidas more than once. Leonidas is a truffle/bon bon/praline shop who happened to carry bars of chocolate. And the shop I stopped in was very clean and pristine. You would be surprised at how many shops are overly kitchy and the truffles in the display cases are poorly attended to. That was not the case with Leonidas. 

 

 

A preemptive fingers crossed moment:

I am hoping that this is fairly good for bar chocolate. Their specialties are pralines. Also it's a long standing Belgian chocolate maker that commercialized. This happens quite a bit with a lot of old Euro chocolate makers. It doesn't have to be head-over-heels amazing, I am just hopping for really good. As a personal admission for the sake of reviewing, I haven't been all that thrilled with Belgian chocolate. There are some shining aces in a sea of tourist chocolate like Laurent Gerbaud and Pierre Marcolini. But a lot of what you find is mass produced garbage. I would like to find some gems in the middle of the commercialized chocolate of Belgium. Neuhaus has some single origin bars that are actually quite fantastic. I am hoping for something along those lines. 

 

Let's find out if the recommedations were right.

 

Tablette Noir 70%

 

Type: Bittersweet, 70%

Bean Varietal: Unknown

Ingredients: cocoa paste, sugar, low-fat cocoa powder, soya lecithin.

Sample Size: 50g or 1.76oz

Lot #: 051311101

 

Appearance: Thin bar, 6 squared, Greek monogrammed tablet, very slightly muted surface but an over all shiny surface, very slight surface scratches, deep dark brown color, and some swirling patterns on the back of the bar. 

Score: 90

Snap: Nice firm snap, medium snap sound, very clean break lines. 

Score: 92

Aroma: Soft and subtle aroma. Very smoky and rich with almonds and tobacco. 

Score: 84

Taste: Cocoa-y, sweet, almonds, coconuts, buttery, no astringency and very slight lingering bitterness on the finish. 

Score: 85

Texture: Very smooth, creamy, medium-soft, quick melt time. 

Score: 94

 

This is really not bad at all. I got exactly what I was hoping for. A nice rich and cocoa-y bar of chocolate. Really great texture. Silky smooth and fast melt time. Nice coconut and smoky tobacco flavors and lovely almonds. This is melting chocolate I think. I am thinking this is what you'll want to break up into a mug and pour scalded milk over. This could also be great middle of the work day chocolate. When you are not having a hard day, but you really could use a chocolate break. Save the more exotic chocolate's when your facing a deadline.

The only gripes I have about this bar is that they could have used less sugars. It's pretty sweet and really tones down some of the natural flavors. Without having an origin to work from, I am guessing this is Ivory Coast or Ghana chocolate. It has a lot of the hallmarks I have come to recognize on African origins. Not to mention they're common origins for commercial Belgian chocolate makers. 

Final Score: 89

 

  score
 B

 

Pralus ~ Chuao 75%

 

 

This review comes with great regret. Great regret that I bought something this expensive without some background information and great regret that I was let down by it when it comes from a chocolate maker with huge respect in the industry. Maybe it's a fluke, maybe it's a one off with my bar, maybe it's just me because I find Chuao to be largely overrated. But regardless of the reasoning, this was a major disappointment for technical marks. 

Francois Pralus has a very long standing history in the chocolate industry as being one of the best chocolate makers in the world. I have been meaning to get more reviews on to this blog of their products. Consistently they have been making world class chocolate and have been leaders in the single origin lines of chocolate. This is one of the few times I have felt actually duped by a brand name of chocolate. That's saying a lot with Pralus' reputation.

I think chocolate makers are really pushing the limits of "rarity," regions, and packaging. These prices are just unreal and the quality simply doesn't match the price. Sometimes I don't care how far you had to trek into the wild jungles to forage for that rare bean/genetic varietal that no one else is using. I just want it to taste good and not cost me my first born child.

Chuao beans of Venezuela, porcelana beans, criollo beans, cut-the-head-off-6000-snakes-in-the-jugle-to-get-to-these-beans..... Most of it is bullshit, and I think we're really wearing out Chuao beans and holding them up in high regards that it may not necessarily deserve. I am not saying it's all for naught and that we should throw in a towel for this region. There are people who have done the region justice with some amazing bars. But overall, I just think it's over done now and 100% overrated and over priced. Maybe it's just me, but I haven't been that impressed. I think there are other regions of Venezuela that deserve much deeper exploration and attention. I am sure many chocolate makers will dismiss this with convoluted facts about the Chuao region, but as a consumer I am here to tell you that so far, I think it's overrated. 

 

Via their website:

To the west of Caracas, Venezuela, accessible only by boat, and after several miles of winding road and uncertain is a mythical place: Chuao.

This small village is famous for generations for the purity and quality of the cocoa growing there.Bordered on the north by dense tropical forests to the south by the Caribbean Sea, this isolation ensures a pure criollo hybrids and some unique. An exceptional, ancestral knowledge, a traditional drying ground before the front of the church have made this the most sought after cocoa in the world and the best. The tiny production makes it a rare product that we are proud to present. 

This chocolate is balanced by acidity and bitterness, woody, robust.

 

I rolled my eyes at, "accessible only by boat," part. While I am sure that's true, I bring back my orginial point. Who bloody cares if it's not all that? 

Click to enlarge images.

 

 

Chuao 75%

 

Type: Bittersweet, 75%

Bean Varietal: Criollo hybrids.

Ingredients: 75% cocoa, sugar, pure cocoa butter, GMO-free soya lecithin.

Sample Size: 50g or 1.476oz

 

Appearance: Lighter brown color, rich and orange-ish hues, square tablet with monogrammed molding. Very scratched and scuffed surface with no indication why. The package was not damaged and it was flawless wrapping inside the package. It would have had a nice shiny surface if not for the major scuffing. Also, very sloppy manufacturing marks on the underside of the bar. 

Score: 55

Snap: Good, deep firm snap. Excellent snapping sound. Crumbly break lines. 

Score: 87

Aroma: Virtually no aroma whatsoever. Nothing but dried raisins and a slight bit of dried wood that barely hangs on as soon as it's exposed to air. There was literally nothing else. 

Score: 65

Taste: Sweet sugars, very bitter, berries, astringent, tart, lemony, bold and dominating wood flavors, slight hints of lingering passion fruit. Longer lingering finises of tar and roasted cacao.

Score: 89

Texture: Very smooth texture, medium melt time, creamy texture. 

Score: 93

 

I know why people revere this region. It's flavors are immensely bold and complex. But everything else about the total package with Chuao beans is a total let down. Especially with this bar. 

The appearance is simply unacceptable. There is no visible reason for those scuffs. They pretty much packaged it like that. It's beat up and it totally takes away from it's gorgeous color and what would have been a shiny surface. Not to mention the very sloppy fill lines on the back of the bar. It's just not good quality for the price, reputation, and the excessive packaging. 

The snap quality was great. Good sound, and very firm snap. Just some crumbling with the break lines but a very minor issue there.

I am really surprised at the absence of an aroma. Too bold to too faint, it's not a good thing for me. I want to smell it's richness. This smelled like an old wooden box that had dried raisins in it for the last 5 years. Two notes and that was it. Nothing else came through and I was disappointed. 

Flavor wise it's huge but it's all over the place. It had some complicated notes to it, most intriguingly were the passion fruit notes. But all of it is completely dominated by wood flavors. Anything remotely interesting that comes up is dominated by tree and wood flavors. While it's hugely rich on it's flavor, it's not very well balanced. It's also astringent and deeply bitter. The bitterness and sugars seem more like they're fighting. Good berry flavors get annihilated very quickly as well. You're left with lingering char flavors and very little nuanced retro-olfaction flavors. 

The last remaining factor was it's texture, which I found to be great. Really nice and smooth. Creamy with a nice medium melt time that allowed the flavors to hang on and not quickly melt away or disapate. Texture and flavor are the only thing holding up this particular bar. And while some may say that's the only thing that matter, it's not in this case. This bar suffered from so many technical flaws it's a little embarrassing.

Again, it's with great regret to write so strongly against a major chocolatier. But this bar was truly absurd. The boasting of the rare region, the gorgeous albeit gratuitous packaging, the horrible scuffing, the complete lack of aroma, the almost single note flavor..... It's time to stop touting Chuao as this coveted region and really work these flavors to find a better balance. Otherwise, I will just go take a tree branch and chew on that for free instead of paying $12.95 for 50 measly grams of overrated chocolate. 

The price, however, is something to talk about. It's not Pralus' fault how retailers mark up their products. One store in particular is notorious for putting an outrageous mark up on their products. I am sorry Formaggio Kitchen. This isn't about railing you guys, but you know $12.95 is absurd pricing. Other retailers are charging $8.95. Even that is excessive for only 50g. Now you see why I am being extremely critical of the conditions this bar of chocolate. For $13 or $9, this thing should have been covered in gold or made to look like it was. Having said that, no one twisted my arm into buying this bar. I bought it based on Pralus' name alone. I should have done more research for a blind purchase. But with an excellent track record, how could I have known this bar would have been so grossly overrated?

 

Final Score: 77.8

 

  score
 C-

 

B.T. McElrath ~ Salty Dog Chocolate Bar

 

 

B.T. McElrath, Minneapolis, MN.

I used to sell B.T. McElrath products while working for Formaggio Kitchen a few years ago. I haven't seen their products in a while so it was nice stumbling upon them at Beacon Hill Chocolates. The Salty Dog sounded like just right thing too. Butter Toffee pieces in dark chocolate with with salt. God bless sweet and salty products. 

This is a really cute about page they have set up on their website.

 

A beautiful innocent 19 year-old server caught the eye of the chef de cuisine at a country inn on the Mississippi River. So he tossed a few peas and carrots at her. Stunned, she retaliated with ice cubes. Duly impressed by her quick response and sure aim, the chef married her. And together, they started a thriving artisanal chocolate company in 1996.

Meet Christine: Wife, Partner, Visual Designer, and Chief Taster.
“Brian opened my eyes to the world of cuisine, and fine chocolates. He’s a true artist in every sense of the word. From the freshest whole ingredients, he blends and balances flavors and colors with natural finesse.”

Meet Brian: Meticulous Artisan Chocolatier, Visionary, (still impishly young and doesn’t care about age; a Libra through and through, balance is his watchword in taste and in Life). A graduate of the California Culinary Academy, Brian worked fastidiously as a chef for 18 years at nationally recognized restaurants, bistros, hotels and clubs in the Midwest including the Nicollet Island Inn and Interlachen Country Club.

Read more about them here. 

 

At first when looking up their products, there wasn't much listed on the product pages about the chocolate being use. But luckily they have a pretty good FAQ page. 

 

Are B.T. McElrath Chocolatier products organic?

Cacao trees, grown only in the tropical rainforests, are part of a wide variety of plants, animals, and insects which provide a complex, natural pest-management system. On family farms, pesticides are expensive to buy and difficult to apply to cacao trees, making most cacao farms inherently organic.

While organic certification verifies farming practices, it does not ensure the quality of the cacao and/or the fermentation of the beans, two factors that fundamentally affect the flavor of chocolate. We are ensured of the quality of our chocolate ingredients through the well established relationships with our trusted suppliers, which go back for generations.

What kind of chocolate do you use?

Our chocolate products are sourced from premier chocolate makers in the U.S., Europe, and South America.

Our proprietary 70% dark chocolate blend is made exclusively for B.T. McElrath Chocolatier by Guittard Chocolate Company of Burlingame, California, under their E. Guittard family of products. We find this relationship forwards our mutual commitment to innovation, tradition, and a sustainable global community.

Our proprietary 40% milk chocolate blend is created in our kitchens with chocolate sourced from Wilbur Chocolate Company of Lititz, PA, one of America’s oldest manufacturers of fine chocolate, as well as several European manufacturers.

What is your policy regarding socially responsible sourcing?

Our commitment to quality extends to supporting global efforts towards sustainability and partnering with suppliers who are pioneers of socially responsible business practices which match those of B.T. McElrath Chocolatier.

Our chocolate suppliers are members of the World Chocolate Foundation (WCF), Cocoa Livelihoods Program (CLP), UTZ certified, Rainforest Alliance, and are licensed by Fairtrade Labeling Organization.

Our suppliers are actively involved at origin and purchase through agents selected by the farmers and in some cases bought through direct relationships with the farmers. A premium price well over market value is paid. These are long standing relationships and we are proud to be a part of that global supply chain.

 

 

Salty Dog Chocolate Bar

 

Type: Bittersweet, 70% filled.

Varietal: Unknown

Ingredients: Dark Chocolate (chocolate liquor, sugar, cocoa butter, soy lecithin), toffee (pure cane sugar, butter, soy lecithin, bicarbonate of soda, salt, natural flavor), sea salt.

Sample Size: 3oz or 85g. 

 

Big chocolate-y aroma of almonds, butter, smoke, berries, tobacco and hints of nuts. Nice deep dark brown chocolate color, shiny surface on a simple molded tablet with fat tabs. Simple monogrammed molding with some minor scratches on the surface. 

Salty and rich dark chocolate. Smoky flavors on the chocolate with a little bit of char, pen ink, and berries, that comes through even with the salt. Virtually no toffee to speak of, however. Pretty disappointed with that since that sweet and salty combo was what I was really looking for. Small, skimpy specks of it scattered throughout the bar.

I was hoping for that crunch factor with the toffee, but it came from the waxy chocolate. While it was smooth chocolate once it sat on the tongue and began to open, it was way too hard to bite into. The molding has everything to do with that leaving overly large and fat tabs. The salt lent for some nice crunch for a second until it dissolves on the tongue. 

Despite the disappointing lack of toffee bits, the chocolates flavor and aroma was good and strong. Lot's of good flavor characters in it and a good balance with the salt. The only issue here is lack of toffee and a hard texture. 

This could have been so much more had the Toffee been actually present. The chocolate was good and rich, and the salt was a good balance. I really need chocolate makers to start putting put products that are what they say they are on the packaging. If it's toffee, then there needs to be significant toffee in it. This is my main issue with Vosges skimping people on the bacon in their bacon products. You don't put it in there, or you go really skimpy on it, then you get a low score for misrepresentation.

I've never had this problem before with B.T. McElrath. I don't know what's changed. Hopefully this was just a fluke. It's been known to happen. But for now, C-. 

 

  score
 C-

 

Seattle Chocolates ~ Birthday Cake

 

 

Seattle Chocolates 

Birthday Cake filled truffle bar in milk chocolate. Yellow cake mix with confetti bits wrapped in milk chocolate. 

 

Birthday Cake

Type: Filled, truffle/candy bar.

Bean Varietal: N/A

Ingredients: White Chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, whole milk powder, whey powder, soya lecithin, pure vanillia), Milk Chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, whole milk powder, chocolate liquor, soya lecithin, pure vanilla), Confetti cake mix (unbleached wheat flour, sugar, colored bits [sugar, corn syrup, corn, palm oil, modified food starch, colors {elderberry juice, spinach extract, paprika, tumeric, citric acid}, baking soda, natural vanilla flavor, cream of tartar, salt, carob bean gum, guar gum), palm kernal oil. 

Sample Size: 2.5oz or 70g

 

Milk chocolate surface with Seattle Chocolates signature wavy patterned surface. Four large tablets. Shiny surface and creamy milk chocolate color with some slight surface marks. 

Smelled a bit artificial out of the package. The milk chocolate gives off a bit of a smoky and creamy aroma. Once spilt open, the center gives way to a creamy milk chocolate aroma. 

Nice and fully filled center. The center was a blend of white chocolate with cake mix and confetti's. The center was a little hard at first with crispy crunchy confetti bits. It melts away to a softer creamier texture. 

The white chocolate is a big distraction. If you are a white chocolate fan than this will be good, but if you were expecting cake flavor, it's dominated by the white chocolate. The milk chocolate was artificial tasting too and ends up being more distracting to the cake idea too. There is nothing really cake-like about this bar at all. Except with it's appearance when you break into the bar. It looks like a layer of cake covered in chocolate but the confetti's barely pop out. 

I wanted to like this bar because it sounded like fun and it sounded like a good idea. They ruined it with white chocolate in the center and the white and milk chocolate tasted completely artificial which ruined the taste for me completely. I don't mind white chocolate that much but it overpowered this bar and left no yellow cake taste. The confetti's added a fun crunchy texture, but the rest of it was hard and waxy at first until it began to open up and melt on the palate. 

Playful? Yes. Tasty? Disappointed. 

 

  score
 D-

 

Vintage Plantations ~ 65% Dark

 

 

Vintage Plantations

New product alert for me. And thank god it's a company who likes to include all the information. I can't tell you how amazing it is to be able to click on a product and have all of the information there. No one has beaten the level of information Taza Chocolate provides, but this is pretty good information here. 

 

About: 

Unlike most chocolates made in Ecuador, Columbia, or Venezuela that tout themselves as “Farmer’s chocolates,” Vintage Plantations is an independent company. Not having to satisfy outside investors allows us to prioritize the quality of our products over the size of the bottom line.

The Mission: To support the small chocolate industry in countries where the chocolate originates by re-designing the cocoa commodity chain, thereby aiding farmers to adopt better farm management practices, protect the environment, ensure crops are free of harmful chemicals, and maximize their income in order to encourage the farmers’ optimal re-investment in the development of high-quality chocolate. The post-harvest cocoa processing is done in the country of origin, hence our seal (P.I.C.O. – Produced In Country of Origin) and we minimize the carbon footprint by eliminating unnecessary shipping.

The Challenge: We make chocolate in cooperation only with entities willing to follow the Rainforest Alliance Guidelines, and we train them to achieve very high standards of quality. We only support small farmers and league with local small enterprises in both Ecuador and the USA for all services needed to run our company.

We selected among three roasters to find the Ecuadorian partner which had the finest equipment to convert all the work we had done on fermentation into a ground liquor without losing any of the organoleptic qualities we had so carefully developed during cocoa bean fermentations. Since we have established this process for creating very high quality chocolates, we are proud to say that 17 new chocolate companies have sprung up in Ecuador, Venezuela, and Columbia following our footsteps. Vintage Plantations pioneered the renewal of artisan, batch chocolate making.

We have reconfigured chocolate making — from beans to bars — by requiring best farming and business practices in accordance with the Rainforest Alliance Guidelines. Moreover, we strive to balance the profit at every stage of the commodity chain between farmer and consumer, in order to make it more sustainable for all actors, thereby bringing added value to the chocolate in your hand.

The Result: Our model aims to protect you, the consumer, from the degradation of chocolate quality that is often the consequence of the single-minded pursuit of meeting “profit benchmarks” in major confectionery and chocolate industrial groups. Our products are made only from fermented, native original Vintage cocoa beans and honor the local flavor of the plantations, each harvest, and the distinctiveness of beans from one farm to another.

In order to get back to the vintage chocolate process of yesteryears, we had to design a new commodity chain, where only parties contributing to enhancing the quality of the end product were invited to join; those merely seeking profit from the current market imbalances were left out. The savings derived from circumventing the usual players were passed along to the farmer and re-invested in the development of the farms.

At Vintage Plantations, we have the unique perspective of having forged this standard of chocolate making from beginning, including several trials and unsuccessful partnerships from which we have been able to perfect and further develop our process. The end result, we are proud to say, is the first chocolate made with the farmer, offering you a“Vintage” chocolate of the highest quality.

 

Click the About link to find out more about their history and the Rainforest Alliance.

 

Product details: 

65% Vintage Plantations Dark Chocolate Bar (3.5oz/100g), Rainforest Alliance Certified, Sustainable Cocoa Program.

Made of 100% shaded Ecuadorian cocoa varietal "Nacional" – a classified "fine flavor cocoa". Its flavor is smooth, nutty, with a long dominant chocolate note and no bitterness or acidity. To transmit the purest flavor, we did not add any vegetable fat nor vanilla covering aroma. Our chocolate bars have a high content of cocoa solids, less cocoa butter fat and a lower glycemic index. The cocoa beans are roasted slowly to preserve the high antioxidant levels of pure cocoa.

Vintage Plantations' mission is to safeguard heirloom cocoa varietals, encourage sustainable shade cocoa cultivation methods preserving the rain forest, and guarantee a fair price for cacao farmers.

This project is the coordinated effort of Vintage Plantations with the Rainforest Alliance, a conservation organization dedicated to implement better business practices for biodiversity, conservation and sustainability and “Conservacion y Desarrollo,” the Rainforest Alliance’s partner in Ecuador which audits the sustainable cocoa certification program. Vintage Plantations develops the chocolate and guarantees heirloom traceability from the farmer to you. Together we plan to protect the shaded Cocoa plantations.

By buying our bars, you support the farmers directly, help preserve shaded native cocoa varietal in Ecuador and safeguard the Ecuadorian rain forest.

Additional Information

Product Weight	3.5 oz. / 100 g
Sugar-Free	No
Vegan	Yes
Gluten-Free	Yes
No Added Aroma(s)	Yes
Soy Lecithin Free	No
Certified by the Rainforest Alliance	Yes
Chemical-Free	Yes

 

 

As mentioned in another review, I have to preface this review with the unusual circumstances this bar found itself in. I reviewed this last year, or took pictures and notes on it and put the notes away until now. This bar has a very slight appearance of bloom appearance because I found this bar hiding in a drawer. While it was far from expired or past it's prime, the storage conditions were not exactly optimal. Having said that, this bar has held up remarkably well. Stored in plastic, it has upheld an amazing aroma and still has a very glossy surface. Just some slight beginnings of dusting and some superficial plastic matting marks. For the sake of honest reviewing I am informing my readers of a mistake in storage. Although it really hasn't effected this bar in any serious sort of way, I will not be deducting points for the presence of slight bloom. 

 

65% Dark

 

Type: Bittersweet, 65%

Bean Varietal: Nacional

Ingredients: Cocoa mass, raw cane sugar, soy lecithin.

Sample Size: 100g or 3.5oz

 

Appearance: Simple non-monogrammed tablet, glossy finish, deep rich brown color, almost a hint of particle detection in the surface, minor scuffs and plastic wrapper matting on the surface and some slight beginnings of sugar bloom. 

Score: 89

Snap: Good firm snap, dull and low thud snapping sound, moderately clean break lines. 

Score: 90

Aroma: Big full robust aroma, very perfume-y. Right out of the package it smelled like rich cream and butter, almonds, coconuts, and deep red wine aromas. After it aired out a bit it still maintained a big aroma and became more floral and soft. The snap gave way to some added red wine aromas. 

Score: 94

Taste: Sweet, earthy, flowery, fruity, coconuts, nutty, wood, deep bitters, no astringency, a little bit oak-y and flowery jasmine at the same time on the finish through retro-olfaction, some clean laundry-like flavors, hints of coffee, lingering pen ink and wood flavors.

Score: 96

Texture: Smooth and glossy surface, a little chewy, creamy, medium melt-time, drying effect on the palate.

Score: 91

 

A lot to think about with this chocolate. Some minor surface issues, and a medium snap quality aside, the aroma was huge and so was the flavor on this bar. The ingredients claim no added aromas or vanilla. Very complex aroma with deep red wine aromas, and a creamy butter aroma right out of the package. Hugely floral, with some coconut and almonds and nicely roasted cacao.

But the taste was complex. So much going there. Deep, rich wood flavors, complexly bitter, no astringency, and wonderful earthy coconut and nutty flavors mixed with clean flowery jasmine and perfumed clean laundry flavors. I know that sounds weird, but if you have ever smelled your dryer exhaust with big scented dryer sheets in there, then you know what I am talking about. Some interesting hints at the end of coffee and pen ink to round it out and complete a bizarre range of almost all flavors of South American Beans. All that's missing is the overly charred coastal region flavors. 

Very complex and complicated flavors. I liked this quite a bit. The only thing I didn't care for was that drying effect once again. It's becoming a hallmark of Nacional beans. I don't know if anyone else notices it, but I am really not a fan of it. The other textures of the chocolate were just fine though. It wasn't rock hard, it wasn't waxy and it wasn't too soft. It melted just slow enough to really sit back and think about this chocolate and allow each one of it's bold characters to come out. 

 

Final Score: 92

  score
B+

 

Artisan du Chocolat ~ Vietnam 72% Limited Edition

 

 

 

**Archived Notes

 

Finally an origin that I am not that familiar with. Sometimes there is a game to find new regions or unexploited regions for cocoa growing and be different or a step ahead of the curve. I am not against this race. It's a win win for chocolate lovers. "Why no, I haven't had a bar of chocolate with beans grown in Vietnam. Do tell." 

 

[Image Via Infoplease]

 

Via their website:

In Vietnam, small entrepreneurial farmers are remaking cocoa history by successfully farming fine cocoa commercially for the first time since the French period (late 19th century), making this batch of ground cocoa beans a precious and rare find. We chose well fermented and dried beans that morph into a silky chocolate with notes of raisin and oats. Surprisingly mellow at the start, this chocolate melts with a long and slightly peppery bitter finish. We meticulously select our raw ingredients for their flavour and wholesomeness: carefully fermented ground criollo and trinitario beans from chosen regions, pure cocoa butter and cane sugar. We mix, conche and refine each batch in our production in Kent. We make our own chocolate with love, devotion and the sole intent to bring you great chocolate
• Weight (e) 45g
• Shelf life 3 months
• Cocoa beans, cane sugar, cocoa butter, soya lecithin
• Contains soya. May contain traces of nuts, sesame, milk and gluten.

 

 

 

I have to preface this review with the unusual circumstances this bar found itself in. I reviewed this last year, or took pictures and notes on it and put the notes away until now. This bar has a dusty, dry sugar bloom appearance because I found this bar hiding in a drawer. While it was far from expired or past it's prime, the storage conditions were not exactly optimal. Having said that, this bar has held up remarkably well. Just some light dusting but a really great surface despite that. And being stored in plastic, it retained and held on to an insanely good aroma. But for the sake of fairness to anyone reading this, I must note at all times when the mistake was mine. The mistake here was not knowing a few bars got left in a drawer and I won't be deducting points on the appearance for that.

 

Vietnam 72%

 

Type: Bittersweet, 72%

Bean Varietal: Criollo and Trinitario blend.

Ingredients: Cocoa beans, cane sugar, cocoa butter, and soy lecithin. 

Sample size: 45g or 1.59oz

 

Appearance: Deep dark brown color, simple and light non-monogrammed molding, slight surface particles, relatively smooth surface, sugar bloom. 

Score: 91

Snap: Light but very firm snap, crisp snapping sound, moderately clean break lines. 

Score: 91

Aroma: Big full aroma of coconuts, roasted cacao, coffee, very creamy and nutty, and very slight hints of cinnamon.

Score: 95

Taste: Sweet, lightly tangy and acidic, small hints of cinnamon, cereal grains, raisins, slight hints of strawberries, pepper on the finish.

Score: 94

Texture: Smooth, creamy, medium melt-time, slightly drying finish.

Score: 92

 

Really nice bar of chocolate. Very fun and interesting. Aside from the bloom, the bar of chocolate was in really great shape. The aroma was amazing. Not overly complicated just straight forward and full. Good snap quality too for a relatively light or thin bar of chocolate on the molding. 

The taste was layered and deep. it was sweet with some slight hints of cinnamon and depp raisins with a light strawberry taste. I loved the cereal grains in the middle of the taste, and the finish was just as the package describes with a long finish of pepper. There was also a slight soapy perfume taste in the finish but very faint. Nice and complicated. 

So, even though I inadvertently ruined it's appearance, this bar held up so well. I enjoyed it's complexities in its flavors but bluntness in it's aroma. This would be a fun bar of chocolate to take to some friends and sit around and talk about it. Chocolate geek chocolate. The kind that sit there with a pad and pen and write notes while they preform retro-olfaction and nod their heads at one and other and furrow their eyebrows in silent agreement as if they figured out some long lost secret. 

 

Final Score: 92.6

  score
B+

 

The Grenada Chocolate Co. ~ Nib-A-Licious 60%

 

 

 

**Archived Notes

 

The Grenada Chocolate Co.

The Grenada Chocolate Company Ltd. was founded in 1999 with the idea of creating an Organic Cocoa Farmers' and Chocolate-Makers' Cooperative. We produce high quality Organic dark chocolate in Grenada with our world famous cocoa beans. Our factory is nestled in lush cocoa groves in Grenada's pristine rainforest.

Our award-winning organic dark chocolate has the wonderful complex flavor of Grenada's fine-flavored organic cocoa beans, processed carefully in small batches. Producing chocolate right where the cocoa grows allows us to do our own fermenting which gives us a real advantage in creating the finest, most complex taste from the beans.  We use our own extracted cocoa butter in our chocolate also from Grenada's fine-flavored cocoa. This brings in a luxurious extra richness and chocolaty flavor.  Our chocolate has a truly deep and rich flavor.

We now have over 150 acres of organic cocoa farms in our cooperative and operate our own cocoa fermentry, located one mile from our little factory. This assures that we perform every activity involved in the production of our chocolate, from the planting and growing of the cocoa trees to the fermenting of the fresh cocoa beans to the processing of our fine dark chocolate. We grow our cocoa totally naturally without the use of any chemical pesticides, herbicides or fertilizers and have been Certified Organic.

Our sugar is a fine organic raw sugar produced and milled by an organic growers' cooperative in Paraguy.

Whole organic vanilla beans grown biodynamically in Costa Rica provide our "dash" of vanilla.

Organic soy lecithin is used as emulsifier in extremely small amounts.

We are one of the only small-scale chocolate-makers producing fine chocolate where the cocoa grows.   Because small batch chocolate-making is very rare, we had to create our own processing methods, desigining our own machines and refurbishing antique equipment to meet the requirements of our unique situation. Most of our machines are based in design on those of the early 1900's, a time when quality had precedence over quantity in chocolate-making. Because we care about our environment, we use solar-electric energy to power our machines.

The original impetus and principle of our cooperative company is to revolutionize the cocoa-chocolate system that typically keeps cocoa production separate from chocolate-making and therefore takes advantage of cocoa farmers.We believe that the cocoa farmers should benefit as much as the chocolate-makers. 

 

Nib-A-Licious 60%

 

Type: Filled Semisweet

Bean Varietal: Trinitario

Ingredients: Cocoa beans, cane sugar, cocoa butter, cocoa nibs, soy lecithin, vanilla beans. All Organic.

Sample Size: 85g or 3oz

 

Appearance: Nice shiny surface, deep dark chocolate color, pretty cocoa nibs sprinkled on top and through out the bar, signature molding with air bubbles on the top of the molded surface.

Score: 92

Snap: Good, deep firm snap, light crisp snapping sound, clean break lines. 

Score: 93

Aroma: All tar and rubber. very robust and charred smelling. Big pen ink aroma right out of the package, smoky, tobacco, and a little funky. 

Score: 78

Taste: Sweet and sugary, very slightly astringent, berries, inky, tar, hints of melon, wood, complex fruits.

Score: 90

Texture: Good cripsy and crunchy nibs. Not ovelry dried and not soft and limp. Perfectly crunchy, Smooth creamy chocolate texture with a medium melt-time. 

Score: 95

 

I didn't get a picture of the top surface of this bar. I thought I had but it was only the underside with the nibs. It had a nice glossy finish on the bar but there were a lot of air bubbles on the top surface of the molded side. The nibs were not just sprinkled on top, they were mixed through out. So the top surface does appear skimpy on the nibs, but it wasn't. It was better the top wasn't fully coated so you can see the nice shiny surface. 

This was very different from the first bar of Grenada I had. I remember that bar being super bright, and green tasting like fresh cut or new wood. But this bar was charred to hell on it's aroma. It was all tar and rubber. I didn't find that pleasing at all. But it's taste was complex and fun. This was due to a lot of sugars helping tone down that roasted char taste. There was an awesome fruity character underneath the sugars and pen ink flavors. I had a hard time telling exactly what it was though. It wasn't the sweet berries originally detected but something deeper. The cocoa nibs were awesome. Nice and crunchy and a good dried wood flavor. That added some depth to this chocolate. 

I am on the fence about this bar. I hated the aroma, but I liked the way it tasted. It's pretty funky chocolate with the huge tar and burnt characters, but those sugars really help keep this in check. 

This is one of those moments where I am saying that even though I didn't like the aroma and it's not scoring as high as some would like or expect, I think this is still good chocolate. This is for funk lovers. I mention this all the time about chocolate and remind people that certain funky beers don't always have the most pleasant sounding descriptors. But once you understand those beers there becomes a developed palate and love for the not so pleasant. What I am basically saying is that this wasn't my favorite but it's still pretty worthy and I think there is a niche out there for people who like these funky things. 

 

Final Score: 89.6

 

   score
  B