Fresco Chocolate

Rounding out the bars I picked up during my visit to Cocova in July are two bars by Fresco Chocolate. What caught my eye about them was information on the bar about how they were made. Both bars are from Madagascar, and they were made in December of last year. The label also shows the type of roast and conche of the beans. Roasting was "medium" for both bars, but the coaching was "medium" for bar 215 and "long" for bar 216.  This will allow me to see what the different conching levels make to the taste of the bars.

What is "roasting" and "conching"? Visit the Fresco Chocolate website for a lot of great information on the chocolate making process: www.frescochocolate.com: Making Chocolate

After returning to San Francisco, I made a visit to my go-to store, Chocolate Covered, and found four more bars from Fresco. This will give me additional dimensions on which to compare and experience how these bars were made. I'm looking forward to it!

Chocolat Bonnat Madagascar 75% Cacao

Some citrus flavors underlie the taste, quite typical for a Madagascar origin chocolate. The bitterness is well balanced, with a mild aftertaste. Pleasant, though not exceptional. 7.7

This is another bar that I acquired during my visit to Cocova in D.C. There were several bars from this brand there, so I selected the Madagascar origin bar, a favorite of mine.

$11.50 / 100 Grams

www.bonnat-chocolatier.com (French)

I brought up the manufacturer's site in my Chrome browser, and it offered to translate it from French to English. Agreeing, the page came up with the text translated -- pretty well. It's a good option when a site does not have an English translation of its own.

Vestri I Classici Amargo 81% cocoa

Rich in cocoa, and a resulting bitter start, middle and end. The aftertaste is long and bitter. There is some cherry underneath this most prominent thrust. 7.0

In early July I visited Washington, DC for the Atlas Summit. During my stay I found a chocolate store that appeared to have some interesting products, Cocova. It is located near DuPont Circle, so I took Metro over and walked the few blocks to the store. It was hot! I was slightly concerned about the product I might buy, that it might succumb to the heat. Fortunately, my focus is on dark chocolate, which stands up pretty well to high temperatures.

The store was a nice relief for the heat. It is small, and located below ground level and well air-conditioned. There was good variety in the store, though not as extensive as my favorite stores in San Francisco.

The Vestri bar was by far the nicest packaged of the bars on display, but the price was high! $15.25 for 75 grams (2.6 ounces). I had not heard of this brand, but I had great experience with other Italian brands, so I thought it would be worth a try. My evaluation is that it is not worth the price.

www.vestri.it

Recchiuti Chocolate Art Piece

On one of my occasional (okay, regular) visits to the Recchiuti store in the Ferry Building, I noticed something different -- they called this a Chocolate Art Piece.  Which made me wonder, was the goal a delicious work of culinary art with a fresh aesthetic? Or was the visual impact the real focus, with the chocolate serving only as the convenient substrate?

You can judge the visual impact for yourself from the picture.  There were many available for purchase, all unique.  They reminded me of tie-dye clothing, but I imagine that they were made by spinning the chocolate and dripping the colored material on it.

As for the culinary part, my conclusion was that it was secondary.  The taste was okay, but not outstanding. I felt a little odd eating an artwork.  I would think that you would need to at some point, unless your plan is to frame it. Just don't hang it on a wall that gets sun!