Fresco Dominican Republic Öko Caribe Recipes 212 and 224

This review will do a comparison of two Fresco bars manufactured with different recipes. Recipe 212 is "Light Roast" and "Subtle Conche." Recipe 224 is "Medium Roast" and "Medium Conche." The label for these bars explain the effect of varying the roast and conche.

Roast

"We slow drum roast cocoa beans for each chocolate batch to develop unique chocolate flavors. LIGHT - just enough to soften the cocoa's raw acidic edge. MEDIUM - cocoa flavors develop to be balanced and flavorful."

The third roasting option is "DARK" which is not used for these two bars.

Conche

"Heat, motion, aeration & time produce chocolate's final flavor; this is conching. Adjusting these variables can produce dramatically different flavors. SUBTLE - softens primitive edge while retaining aggressive flavor notes. MEDIUM - balance between aggressive and subdued, mellow."

The other conching techniques are "NONE" and "LONG."

Recipe 212, Light Roast and Subtle Conche

This bar has a sharper edge, with a bitter taste at the front. The flavor leans to the earthy side of the palette due to a toasty note, but there is also an element of fig in the mix. The aftertaste is long as a result of the bitter taste. 7.9

Recipe 224, Medium Roast and Medium Conche

The descriptions above for moving from light roast and subtle conche to medium roast and medium conche imply a softer taste for the resulting chocolate. This comes through clearly with Recipe 224. The front taste is softer, but still has a strong cacao note. The flavor palette moves to buttery with a butterscotch note. The secondary flavor is reminiscent of olive.  The aftertaste is strong but softer, with a less bitter tail. 8.6

Fresco Peru Marañón Recipe 229 70% cacao

This bar has a very fruity profile, with raspberry and concord flavors. It is also very smooth with a clean aftertaste. 9.0

The previous bar from Madagascar is 74% cacao bar which was produced with light roast and medium conche. This bar from Peru is 70% cacao produced with medium roast and long conche. I like this Peru bar considerably better -- but it it not clear whether it is the cacao percentage, the roast or the conche which has produced that result. The remaining bars from Fresco may help clarify these differences.

Fresco Madagascar Sambirano Recipe 214 74% cacao

In 2012 I tasted a selection of bars from Fresco Chocolate. The company uses different manufacturing processes with the same cacao, resulting in different tastes and flavors. I enjoyed those tastings and it is time for another round. I purchased a variety of bars from Fresco for a 2020 tasting:

The first bar to taste is Recipe 214, Madagascar 74% cacao with a light roast and medium conche.

The bar has a rich cacao flavor, tinged with charcoal and burnt sugar. The aftertaste is strong and has a long tail. 7.7