Labooko 90% Bolivia by Zotter, & Ritual Chocolate 75% Peru Maranon Dark Chocolate Bar Reviews by Victoria Cooksey

Halloween 2016 is almost here.  Time for adults to indulge in the dark side, the dark chocolate bar dark side that is.   The higher the percentage, the more skill the chocolate maker needs for the bar to come out tasting right.  

Be sure to click on my Halloween comedy chocolate bar review video at the end of this post which also features these two bars.  

Labooko Bolivia 90% made by Zotter.  Zotter manufactures their bars in Austria.  I find their packaging to be both beautiful, and a bit cheeky, depending on the bar.

Color:  Dark Brown.

Nose:  Hint of sweetness, grain, cinnamon, and vanilla.

Texture:  Very snappy, melts quickly.

Taste:  Butter, coffee, gooseberry.  This bar has salt in the ingredients list.  You don’t taste the salt, but I know salt decreases the taste of bitterness, and acidity, so I think it’s why this high percentage bar is much easier to eat then some.

Finish:  Medium finish.

I definitely want to try Zotter’s 100% bar.  

Ritual Chocolate 75% Peru Maranon bar.  Ritual Chocolate is a bean to bar maker located in Park City, Utah. 

Color:  Light/medium brown with a touch of red.

Nose:  Raspberry.

Texture:  Good snap, melts fairly quickly.

Taste:  Astringent at first, some bitterness, red fruit, coffee, citrus.  To me, this 75% bar tastes closer to 80%.

Finish:  Medium/long.

Happy Halloween!  Eat plenty of chocolate, and be sure to click on my comedy, chocolate bar review video below!

Zotter Chocolate:
https://www.zotterusa.com/
https://www.instagram.com/zotterchocolates/?hl=en

Ritual Chocolate:
http://www.ritualchocolate.com/
https://www.instagram.com/ritualchocolate/?hl=en

Victoria Cooksey:
https://www.instagram.com/victoria.cooksey/?hl=en
https://www.facebook.com/victoriacookseysrandomdish/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel
My Youtube cooking videos, and chocolate reviews:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCm-lp-lF_wB2oX_592jK9UQ

Dandelion Chocolate Mantuano, Venezuela 70% Dark Chocolate Bar Review with Victoria Cooksey

A Journey.  This bar takes me on a journey, and that is exactly the kind of sensory experience I'm looking for out of a chocolate bar.  All the way from the start to the finish this bar is a treat.  Bravo Dandelion Chocolate!  

Dandelion Chocolate bars are made in San Francisco, CA.  The beans is this particular bar come from a cooperative run by women in Flor de Mantuano,Venezuela.  

Color:  Dark brown.

Nose:  Floral, pollen, sweet.

Texture:  Nice snap, slightly chalky, but pleasant. 

Taste:  Starts out with red fruit notes, and a touch bitter, which turns into red bell pepper, followed by cream, and caramel right at the end.

Finish:  A long finish with a touch of caramel as the last flavor note.  The bar lists dulce de leche as one of the flavor notes in this bar, and I can see why.  I don't often get the same notes listed when I taste bars, but I can see where they are coming from on that one!

Here is my review video of this bar:

Have you had any Dandelion Chocolate bars?  What chocolate are you eating this weekend?

Check out Dandelion Chocolate at:  

http://www.dandelionchocolate.com/

https://www.instagram.com/dandelionchocolate/?hl=en

Victoria Cooksey:

Watch all my cooking videos, and chocolate review videos:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCm-lp-lF_wB2oX_592jK9UQ

Follow me on Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/victoria.cooksey/?hl=en

Interview with Hazel Lee, Bean to Bar Maker & Consultant, NW Chocolate Festival, Chocolate Ecstasy Tours with Victoria Cooksey

I'm so pleased to bring you this interview with Hazel Lee!  Hazel is a bean to bar chocolate maker, chocolate consultant, social media director for the NW Chocolate Festival, is a tour guide with Chocolate Ecstasy Tours in England, a judge for both the Academy of Chocolate, and Quality Food Awards, and more!  Wow!  She is clearly a very busy lady, so I'm very grateful she made time to answer questions for my blog.  Thank you Hazel!  (She also gets my vote for best smile in the chocolate industry! Her smile will make you smile too, and it's so clear she loves what she does). 

Hazel Lee

Victoria Cooksey:  What was your first experience with fine chocolate?

Hazel Lee:  I walked into a Hotel Chocolat store in 2008 and tried a free sample of chocolate-enrobed rum-soaked raisins and instantly tasted the difference in their chocolate compared with high street confectionery. The quality was a whole new level and from that moment I was hooked! 

VC:  Through your experience as a chocolate judge do you have any tips on tasting chocolate that would work for people doing a fine chocolate tasting at home? 

HL:  The main tips would be to eat the chocolate slowly and to use all of your senses. Fine chocolate is not just about the taste. First, take a good look at the chocolate, notice the colour and if it has a shine. Then listen to the chocolate as you snap a piece in half, what sound does it make? Then place a piece on your tongue and allow it to melt without chewing. Notice the speed at which it melts and the texture of the chocolate; what does it feel like? Creamy or maybe sandy? Then, as the chocolate melts, the flavours will slowly release from the chocolate. What flavours do you find? I believe that a truly great chocolate will tell you a story; different flavours will be released at different stages of the eating from beginning to end and even in the aftertaste. It's always fun to taste chocolate with friends and share your thoughts. We all taste things differently and other people's thoughts may help you discover more from your chocolate!

VC:  Is the single variety approach towards chocolate by makers important, why/why not?

HL:   I think that it is important for makers to promote direct trade with farmers for ethical reasons and to help educate consumers about where cacao comes from and the amount of work that goes into making a bar of chocolate, starting from the cocoa farm. From a taste perspective, I enjoy comparing different origins because each origin has a unique flavour and different chocolate makers will bring out different flavours from each bean. This is what I find truly fascinating, like wine(different origins = different flavours, amongst many other factors which can influence the final flavour of a bar).

VC:   What trends did you notice during the Specialty Chocolate Fair in London this year?  Do you think similar trends will be occurring at the upcoming NW Chocolate Festival in Seattle? 

HL:  One trend that I noticed in particular at the Speciality Chocolate Fair was the use of the word "raw". Quite a few chocolate companies were using this word in very large font on their advertising materials. I personally feel that the word raw is misleading to consumers for a product which has gone through various processes with various temperatures (with minimal temperature control), and it was disappointing to see this continue as a big trend. An emerging trend that I noticed is incorporating new flavours into the bars by infusing the cocoa butter with herbs or spices and adding other ingredients into the grinder for flavour too. Chocolatiers are also experimenting a lot with sweet and savoury. I'm a bit of a purist so I usually go for single origin, but I do enjoy tasting innovative flavoured bars and chocolates as well!

I think that the term raw is decreasing in the US as opposed to Europe (with makers using the terms unroasted or virgin instead) which is great! I think that many trends in the chocolate world become global (ageing chocolate in whisky barrels for example, from Fruition and Raaka to Damson in London!), so I expect to see some similar trends at the Northwest Chocolate Festival. I very much look forward to seeing what’s on offer this year!

VC:   How important is it for a chocolate maker to have a strong social media presence, and why?

HL:   I think that it’s important to have at least some presence because social media is becoming a huge part of everyday life for consumers. It’s basically a free marketing tool and it gives consumers a chance to get to know the maker and the chocolate more and build trust with the brand.

VC:   When you give a tour with Chocolate Ecstasy Tours how have you seen people’s opinions/ideas towards chocolate change by the end of a tour? 

HL:   Most guests come with a love for chocolate but actually have no idea about where cacao is grown or how chocolate is made. As we progress through the tour and I share more information with them, they get more and more curious and I can see their appreciation for chocolate develop! This is my favourite part of the tours. I’ve had a few guests email me after the tours just to find out more and get advice on where they can discover more fine chocolate, which is wonderful.

VC:   How have your experiences of travel, chocolate tasting, and judging chocolate changed the way you approach your own experiments with making bean to bar chocolate?  

HL:   It’s kept me very open minded; there’s certainly never one way of doing things. And everyone has a different palate and different preferences, so there is no “perfect” chocolate either. There are the main processes: roasting, winnowing, grinding, conching, tempering and moulding. But there are many different ways of doing these processes and other processes in between which can influence the final bar.

VC:   When you are eating chocolate at home do you typically eat chocolate on its own, or do you like to pair it with cheese, tea, port, scotch, etc., and if so, what is your favorite pairing?  

HL:   95% of the time I eat chocolate on its own, but I quite like a weekend morning with some fresh black coffee and a few chunks of chocolate. I’ve attended a few pairing events and I’ve found them really fun and interesting. I think that my favourite pairing would have to be cheese. Together they can create some incredible new flavour experiences and, for me, cheese helps balance a large consumption of chocolate (somehow I feel less sick!). Cheese is a close second on my list of my favourite foods, with a fascinating variety in flavour.

 Hazel Lee

Thanks for reading!  Keep an eye out for Hazel at the next NW Chocolate Festival in Seattle, WA this coming November.  I can't wait to be around that much chocolate again!  See you there, and thank you again Hazel Lee!

Victoria Cooksey

Victoria Cooksey & Hazel Lee hanging out at the NW Chocolate Festival 2016 in Seattle, WA

Learn more about Hazel Lee:  

http://hazeljlee.com/

https://www.instagram.com/hazel_choc/?hl=en

https://twitter.com/hazel_choc

NW Chocolate Festival:

https://www.instagram.com/nwchocolate/?hl=en

http://www.nwchocolate.com/

Chocolate Ecstasy Tours;  

http://www.chocolateecstasytours.com/

Victoria Cooksey:

https://www.instagram.com/victoria.cooksey/?hl=en

Catch all my chocolate bar review videos, and cooking videos at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCm-lp-lF_wB2oX_592jK9UQ

The Grenada Chocolate Company 71% Organic Dark Chocolate Bar Review by Victoria Cooksey

The Grenada Chocolate Company was started in 1999, and is well known for being a tree to bar chocolate maker.  Tree to bar means the chocolate is made where it is grown, so the makers have wonderful quality control over the whole process from picking the pods, fermentation, drying, roasting, storage, etc of the beans.

I personally love that they press their own cocoa butter, and the lovely snap of their chocolate bars. Often cocoa butter is "deodorized", but by pressing their own cocoa butter the cocoa flavors remain, and then becomes part of the flavor of the finished product.  

This 71% dark chocolate bar is made with Trinitario cocoa beans. 

Color:  Dark brown.

Nose:  Cocoa powder, more the smell of unsweetened chocolate.

Texture:  Extra snap to this bar when you break, or bite into it. 

Taste:  Red fruit, some acidity, subtle gooseberry notes. The flavor builds for awhile.

Finish:  Medium, a few bitter notes at the end.

Find out more about The Grenada Chocolate Company at:

The Grenada Chocolate Company:  https://www.grenadachocolate.com/

Victoria Cooksey on Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/victoria.cooksey/?hl=en
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/victoriacookseysrandomdish/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel
Follow my YouTube channel for chocolate bar reviews, and cooking/baking videos:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCm-lp-lF_wB2oX_592jK9UQ

Marou Chocolate & Dick Taylor Chocolate Vietnam Dark Chocolate Bar Reviews with Victoria Cooksey

Today's blog post features reviews of two different dark chocolate bars from Vietnam.  One made at the source, and one made in the USA.  I've also included my YouTube video reviewing both bars at the bottom of this post, so be sure to check it out along with my other chocolate bar reviews on YouTube.

1st up is Marou's Dong Nai 72% dark chocolate bar single origin from Vietnam.  This bar is their "pod to bar".  Often the term bean to bar is used, but this one is called a pod to bar because it is made so near the source of where the cacao trees are grown.  Sometimes you will also see the term tree to bar which is pretty much the same thing.  This means the maker has control over every step of the process from the time the cacao pod is picked, the fermentation process, drying, roasting, etc.  So much of a chocolate bars flavor actual starts with the fermentation process, and further develops during the roasting of the beans, so it's important to know what is going on with the beans from the start.

Color:  Medium/Dark brown.
Nose:  Raspberries.

Texture:  Perfectly smooth, makes mouth water, light bodied.

Taste:  Lightly acidic, subtle notes of dark cherries dipped in a cocoa powdered lightly whipped cream.

I get the "I've got a golden ticket" feeling whenever I open a Marou chocolate bar.

Finish:  A long finish, but with light flavors.  Definitely lots of red fruit notes in this bar.   

Next up is Dick Taylor Craft Chocolate 78% Vietnam dark chocolate bar.  While Marou is made in Vietnam, Dick Taylor bars are made in California. This bar is a limited release, so hopefully you can still find it.  I bought this one a couple weeks ago at The Chocolate Project in Victora, B.C. 

Color:  Dark brown.

Nose:  Peaches, black coffee.

Texture:  Full bodied, very nice snap when you bite into it, smooth, melts quickly in the mouth.

Taste:  Lots of acidity that keeps building, and then a little bitterness at the end.  Cocoa powder, raisins, peaches. 

I love the design on Dick Taylor chocolate bars.

Finish:  Very long, a hint of cinnamon in the finish, long lasting acidity with a bit of bitterness.  

Check out my YouTube video where I review these two bars here in Port Townsend, WA.

Have you tried any chocolate from Vietnam?  What are your thoughts on them?   Would you buy them again?  

Victoria Cooksey

Catch all my YouTube chocolate reviews videos, and cooking videos at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCm-lp-lF_wB2oX_592jK9UQ

Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/victoria.cooksey/?hl=en

Dick Taylor chocolate:  http://www.dicktaylorchocolate.com/

Marou chocolate:  http://marouchocolate.com/