It was the best of chocolate, it was the worst of chocolate.
Ok, it wasn’t the worst but the Korkunov chocolate was bad. It was quite dark, but in a bitter and not flavorful way. Bland bitter. Boring. Awful. I’m not sure what went wrong with their chocolate from the tree to the bar, but somewhere along the line, the Russians destroyed it.
Alot of flavor in chocolate comes from where the beans originate and which type of tree they come from. I think I already said that chocolate grows on trees, but I’ll say it again. It does. The pods grow out of the trunk of the tree and from the thick bases of the branches.
The cocoa beans are taken out of the pods and dried and processed to make your chocolate. More on this on another friday.
Cacao grows in a thin strip of area on the planet along the equator. I understand they have grown some trees in Hawaii now, but you are mostly restricted to South America and Africa. Africa began growing cacao as trees were brought there from SA. The “flavor” beans come from South America and your bulk beans come mostly from Ghana and Ivory coast . The bulk beans are of a variety called Forestero which, for the most part, are not so flavorful but are very resitant to disease. They are also cheaper because they are easier to grow. So, if you buy mostly these beans, your chocolate is cheaper and may not be so flavorful. Adding South American beans will improve the flavor but raise your prices. Chocolates El Rey chocolate is made exclusively from South American beans.
In fact, there is a chocolate made exclusively from Forestero beans in Ghana, and it is actually manufacturered in Ghana. It is Omanhene chocolate. The guy who created this company had spent years working there in the Peace Corps and wanted to continue working there. No other chocolate is made in Ghana, even though they are the second largest producer of cocoa beans in the world, next to the Ivory Coast.
And how does Omanhene chocolate taste? Well, its terrible. I tried some at a talk given by the founder of Omanhene. It was gritty and flavorless and the worst chocolate I ever ate. Its a very interesting story about the company and how they built it, but the chocolate is bad. Quite. They forgot why Forestero beans from Africa are used for the bulk of the chocolate and not the flavor.
I also ate a bar of the Dagoba dark chocolate this week. (I know that’s a pic of the milk chocolate but I don’t have one of the dark). This chocolate is heaven. Very flavorful, smooth, and dark. When I eat the very best dark, I can taste a tart overtone. Like fruit almost. This didn’t have it very strong but it was there. Like I said before, I have had organic chocolate and it has always tasted like dirt. This was very good and just a marvelous joy to eat. The last ingredient on their ingredient list? Love. :)
I feel like I really learned something here today. With as much chocolate as I’ve put into this body in my lifetime, I had *never* seen a picture of how the beans grow from the trunk of a tree. Soooo cool! Thanks for sharing this!
NPR had a piece on chocolate this morning, talking about the rise in folk actually tasting chocolate. I thought of you. Then I thought of chocolate, and the fact that I still have a few bars of Bournville sitting at home (basic dark, but impossible to find in the US and its what I grew up eating).
Then I had a craving for a chocolate sandwich. Good hearty bread, lots of real butter, and squares of dark chocolate. Ever try one?
I like your chocolate Fridays.
A chocolate sandwich, Richard, and I was thinking you sounded way too normal.
My Father-in law eats chocolate sandwichs on farmer’s rye bread with cold butter slices on it. (ew).
You are always a plethora of information…and, with chocolate being somewhat off limits too be at the moment, I live vicariously through you.
Very interesting pic of chocolate tree! Loved it! Your blog just moved *way* up on my list!
Have you tried Lindt chocolate? Besides their marvelous dark chocolate truffles, they also make one bar that’s called “Swiss Bittersweet chocolate” that I *love*!
The comments remind me of when I attended school in France (when my dad was in the armny way back in 1969!) Every day they we would have a break at 10am and the teachers would hand out bread and chocolate as the snack. Yum, yum, yum.
Lynne – that pic was taken inside a botanical garden. We have a garden near us that has a tree in it as well. I wanted to get some pics of my own but I don’t have a really good digital.
Richard – Thankyou very much for giving me one more thing that I shouldn’t be eating for lunch, and now will HAVE to try. Meany. ;)
Deene – Thanks, Deene, and ditto Richard.
Pamalamaramadama – Rye bread? See that’s really strange. But I wonder if I used those little rye loaves for party snacks if they would be good. And what is up with no chocolate? You need your antioxidants you know.
Hi Caroline! – Thankyou for visiting my blog. :) And YES! I have tried Lindt’s Swiss Bittersweet but my all time favorite of thiers is the 70% or 85% Cocoa Dark Chocolate. Check it out! Its the very best to me. And yes, I would exchange a bar for a legitimate lunch with vegetables. :)
Susan – See? I knew the French had some good ideas about many things. I wonder if it was German chocolate.
Chocolate sandwiches huh? Sounds pretty good. Just don’t make the same mistake that I made when in Australia. There was this dark stuff on the table at breakfast and I thought “Wow, they eat chocolate on their toast at breakfast!” and put it on my toast and took a great big bite. Oh, to my surprise it was a substance called vegimite. Gross!!
Oh good heavens. Chocolate sandwiches? Richard, what a ruckus you have started. This changes my life. This changes everything.
the girl has a name. it is kim. she is from dallas.
$1 fund! you are one of my favorite readers.
Marshall – that’s the mistake you make for trying Vegimite instead of Marmite, the good ol’ British version. For newbies, the correct application is to spread it on a piece of buttered toast, then use the knife and try really hard to scrape it all off again. Confirmed anglos like myself just eat it straight out of the jar, on in thick gobs.
Jon, there’s some good news for Chocolate Lovers today. From Reuters.
Marshall – I’ve never had vegimite but I have heard it is dreadful. I can only imagine its the Aussie’s form of Spam (food-like Spam, not the email Spam).
Tracy – My thoughts exactly!
Leah – The check’s in the mail! ;)
Richard – Theobromine is a close alkaloid cousin to caffiene. In fact, I have read that there actually is no naturally occurring caffeine in chocolate and that early researchers assumed the alkaloid was that and not theobromine. Theobromine has a much lower effect on you than caffeine does (about 1/10 the potency). Even so, I’m not surprised that patients didn’t experience drowsiness while taking it! So get out your chili peppers and eat your chocolate, because you won’t be coughing this time. :D