Advent Calendar
Day 06… or 05…sorry for this confusion. Tasting Alto Bení, Bloivia. HCP designee #01.
Day 18 - Further explorations of chocolate with David’s amateur videos. Themes in this video, roasting content and sugar percentages.
Cocoa beans are roasted before being ground into paste. How does roasting affect flavor? Compare roasting coffee to roasting cocoa. We are exploring chocolate made of flash roasted cocoa.
What do those percentages on the package mean? The number expressed defines the amount of cocoa beans and cocoa fat in the chocolate.
This chocolate is phenomenal, flash roasted, 85% and 70%, by Conexion Chocoaltes.
Day 20 - Explore one cocoa made into chocolate by two different makers.
Two makers based in California, both important to the culture of this Craft Chocolate movement, Dandelion and Dick Taylor.
The cocoa is from Maya Mountain Cooperative, Toledo Belize, HCP Heirloom designee #7. Cocoa imported by Uncommon Cacao.
I explore several aspects here, the terms ‘two ingredient chocolate’ and ‘three ingredient chocolate’; and the role of cocoa butter and lecithin in ‘couverture’ chocolate.
Just to note, neither company has endorsed or supported this tasting. If you tell them about it then they will know. I have provided these chocolates to you for fun. Also to be clear, Dick Taylor makes couverture chocolate for professionals while the bars we find in retail are two-ingredient. That is another tasting that is very interesting… go to it.
Day 04, Juliet Davey is with me to discuss Costa Rica, all things cacao and chocolate, and the Heirloom Cacao Preservation Fund. @mamacacao
Day 12, video 1- Pâte de Fruit, tasting with folks at the farmers market, Kathy, Allen, Jim and Emie, l and Moopa too.
Emie offers fantastic chai and lassis at the market as Lakshmi Lassi and Chai.
Please forgive my amateur iPhone video skills.
Day 12, video 2- Pâte de Fruit, Just me going on about some background and contemporary aspects of pâte de fruit. Why? It seems that we in the US of A know little about this confection. Well enough, it is from the Old World but I am on jag to change that.
Credit to Christine Ferber, jam maker based in Strasbourg, France.
Day 19 - An unusual cocoa product offered as a pâte de fruit. There are many waste products of the cocoa pod in production of the beans ( or seeds ) into cocoa. The ‘baba’ is one of these. With improving resources near cacao farms, producers are able to create from the fruit, new products for the market. This is a win for the farmer and us.
Pasteurized cacao baba from Ecuador, provided by Cocoa Supply, is the base of this confection.
At the Craft Chocolate Experience, April 2024, in SF, I offered this confection for the first time. I received some very nice compliments from folks I hold in high regard. So this game is worth exploring further.
tasting notes - up front- acidity and lime -middle- sweet, acidity, fermentation aromas- then fruit. The fruit is an unusual flavor to most, unless you have tasted it at a cacao farm. It is tropical, floral, it is unique, it is not chocolatey in any way. Enjoy.
Day 01 How to taste and Conexion 81%
Hello and welcome to the videos for the Advent Calendar. I hope you will enjoy the videos and take away some tidbits of experience to enhance your pleasure with chocolate.
NOTES ON UNDERSTANDING FLAVOR AND HOW I TASTE CHOCOLATE, AND ANYTHING ELSE...
Flavor is composed, in a nutshell, of two elements, the five tastes and aroma. The tastes are physiological. We are concerned with - sweet, acidic, bitter, astringent. Aroma is complex. It comes through the nose and it involves all of our personal biases, our cultural background and any professional training. :o) Flavor is the combination of all of that, the tastes and aroma. This is why tasting is personal. I encourage you to ‘do you’ and practice tasting awareness. Talk about what you taste and enjoy it.
day by day, the 24 days
Day 01, 81% Manbí, Ecuador by Conexion Chocolates, Fortaleza del Valle Cooperative, a surprising dark chocolate.
Video with me on how I taste.
Day 02, My Grandmothers’ Gardens, Memories of Childhood, Figs and Pecans, Cocoa Nibs, 65% Venezuela
Day 03, 70% Esmeraldas, Ecuador, Cherries, Pistachios
Day 04, Coto Brus, Costa Rica, by Whole Craft, heirloom designation #06. A VERY rare chocolate.
Video on tasting this chocolate.
Day 05, Bení, Boliva, heirloom designation #01.
Video on tasting this chocolate.
Day 06, Praliné of Pistachio, Cardamom, 64% Ecuador. St Nicholas Day.
My apologies for the confusion here - 05 and 06 were switched in many calendars.
Day 07, 43% Dark Milk, by Conexión, Pecan and Cranberry
Day 08, A California Mission Fig dipped in 70% Los Rios, Apricot powder
Day 09, Crunchy Coffee, Almonds, Glaze of 64% Ecuador, Freshly Ground Coffee, Sea Salt.
Day 10, Classic Caramel, Buttery, Bitter Chocolates 65% Venezuela and 72% Ecuador.
Day 11, Praliné of Almond and Pecan, Kumquat, 65% Venezuela
Day 12, Pâte de Fruit (fruit paste), California Zinfandel, Plum, Spice.
Video on tasting PDF
Day 13, Praliné of Walnuts, Ras al Hanout, 65% Venezuela
Day 14, Peppermint Bark, 65% Venezuela, Candy Cane, 36% White Swirl.
Day 15, Pinecones of Peanut Butter, a favorite praline filling in a festive outfit. 65% Venezuela
Day 16, 70% Esmeraldas, Candied Pecans, Candied Ginger, Holiday Spice
Day 17, 70% Esmeraldas, Ecuador by Conexión, a classic taste of Ecuador.
Day 18, Pairing, 70% and 85% Los Rios by Conexión
Video with me on this pairing.
Day 19, Pâte de Fruit of Baba and French Wine, a taste of a unique tropical fruit.
Day 20, Paring, Maya Mountain Cocoa, two chocolates with one source of cacao. Dandelion and Dick Taylor
Video with me on these two chocolates.
Day 21, Lux Ecuador, an Elegant BonBon of Ecuador Chocolates. Solstice Day. 64% and 70% Ecuador
Day 22, Pâte de Fruit, Raspberry, rustic texture and bright flavor.
Day 23, Classic Caramel dressed for a party. 65% Venezuela
Day 24, Feast of Fishes, a souvenir of a Christmas Eve Feast, 65% Venezuela.
Ingredients and sources, the whole bunch of them.
Allergens: MILK, TREE NUTS, PEANUTS, SOY as lecithin, contains alcohol less than 0.5% by weight
Chocolate Sources:
Conexión, Quito, Ecuador, Specialty Chocolate made at origin.
Felchlin, Schwyz, Switzerland, ‘Fair Direct’ chocolate for over 100 years.
Dandelion Chocolate, California, USA
Dancing Lion Chocolates, New Hampshire, USA
Dick Taylor Craft Chocolate, California, USA
Whole Craft Chocolate, California, USa
heirloom designations by HEIRLOOM PRESERVATION FUND, hcpcacao.org
Chocolates and Cocao Products:
36% White Chocolate, Felchlin, (sugar, cocoa butter, whole and cream MILK powders, vanilla bean, SOY lecithin);
43% Dark Milk Ecuador (cocoa bean*, cane sugar, MILK powder*, cocoa butter, vanilla bean*, sunflower lecithin*);
60% Coto Brus, Costa Rica, Whole Craft, (cocoa bean, cane sugar*, cocoa butter, Heirloom Designee #06 );
64% Ecuador (cocoa bean*, cane sugar, cocoa butter*, sunflower lecithin*);
65% Venezuela, Felchlin, (cocoa bean, cane sugar, cocoa butter, vanilla bean, SOY lecithin);
70% Esmeraldas Ecuador, Conexión, (cocoa bean*, cane sugar, cocoa butter*, sunflower lecithin*);
70% Los Rios, Ecuador, Conexión, (cocoa bean*, cane sugar, cocoa butter,* sunflower lecithin*, Heirloom Designee #10);
70% Maya Mountain, Belize, Dick Taylor, (cocoa bean*, cane sugar*, cocoa butter*, sunflower lecithin*, Heirloom Designee #07);
70% Maya Mountain, Belize, Dandelion, (cocoa bean*, cane sugar*, Heirloom Designee #07);
70% Alto Bení, Bolivia, Dancing Lion, (cocoa bean, cane sugar*, cocoa butter, sunflower lecithin*, Heirloom Designee #01);
72% Ecuador, Felchlin, (cocoa bean, cane sugar, cocoa butter, vanilla bean, SOY lecithin);
81% Manabí, Ecuador, Conexión, (cocoa bean*, cane sugar, cocoa butter*, sunflower lecithin*, Heirloom Designated);
85% Los Rios, Ecuador, Conexión, (cocoa bean*, cane sugar, cocoa butter*, sunflower lecithin*, Heirloom Designee #10);
Cocoa Butter*, Conexión;
Baba (Cocoa Fruit), Cocoa Supply, Ecuador
Cocoa Nibs, Conexión
Confection Ingredients:
Fruit purees (fig*, plum*, cacao fruit, raspberry*, baba (cocoa fruit)); Cherries; Cranberries* (cranberry*, apple juice concentrate*); Pistachio Glazed* (PISTACHIO*, cane sugar*, brandy, sea salt), Pistachio Paste (PISTACHIOS*); ALMONDS*, Almonds Glazed* (ALMONDS, cane sugar, brandy, sea salt); PECANS; WALNUTS; PEANUTS; Cane Sugar; Cream (MILK); Glucose; Butter (MILK); Cassava; Sea salt; Tartaric Acid; Pectin; Wine, California Zinfandel (sulfites); Wine, French Gascogne White Blend (sulfites); Cognac; Raspberry Liqueur; Flower petals, Candied Kumquat (kumquat, cane sugar, glucose); Candied Ginger (ginger root, cane sugar*); Apricot* and Lime* Powder; Spices; Chilies; Cocoa Nibs*, Peppermint Essential Oil*; Candy Cane (sugar, corn syrup, peppermint oil, red 40, red 40 lake); *Organically Grown or Certified Organic.
Decoration:
Colors by Chef Rubber (cocoa butter, natural colorants), Gold Leaf, Milk Chocolate (43% as above), Art Transfers by Chef Rubber (pinecones).
Suppliers of quality food products in these confections:
Inzana Ranch; Winters Fruit Tree; Ponce Farms; Rodrigues Brothers Berries; Saint George Spirits; Noe Valley Wines and Spirits; Sam’s Adventure Nut Pastes, Santa Cruz Organics; Clover Dairy, Cypress Grove Nursery, Sofra Bakery, Diaspora, Oak-Dar Ethiopian Coffees
Featured Product
Featured Product
24 WINDOWS FILLED WITH ENCHANTMENT AND DELIGHT.