Co-founder Dom sparked my keen interest in chocolate (via Chocablog) and has encouraged my blogging, making and overall interest ever since. To see him making bean to bar and winning awards for it is truly inspiring and just plain admirable! Unlike many other makers, he had immense passion for chocolate prior to making it. Some people say not to mix work with pleasure, but truly I think it's make your passion your profession. And Dom has seriously proved the latter to be one hell of a life!!!
The cocoa beans are from Robson Estate in Trinidad, the buffalo whole milk from Laverstoke Park Farm in Hampshire and there's a touch of Halen Môn Anglesey vanilla sea salt. This transparency of ingredients is something I love, because it shows the makers' reverence but also because it adds a story and character to the chocolate, enhancing the sensory and overall cognitive experience (this goes for anything not-chocolate too!) The chocolate contains added cocoa butter and sunflower lecithin too
A creamy texture and great snap. One would never suspect that there were issues with the tempering of this bad boy. Overall, a rich and interesting chocolate! (and probably irresistible fresh out the wet stone grinder ... *heart-eye emoji*)
Ha ha. This is great. A blog about chocolate.....could there be a better subject?
ReplyDeleteI personally like Lindt chocolate where on your scale would you rate Lindt?
Marcel - Lindt is a confusing mix of commercial chocolate, and a long tradition of quality processing. In some bars, they have used artificial flavourings, and in their dark bars they will add cocoa powder to increase their intensity (which can make it very bitter and dry). Recently they dropped soy lecithin, which is a good thing for those allergic to soy, but there is always an overwhelming vanilla flavour added to the chocolate. The origin Lindt Excellence bars are good, but the vanilla always mutes the natural origin flavours of the bars - for instance, if you took a Madagascar bar by a craft chocolate maker like Damson chocolate, you would probably fully taste the red berry and citrus fruit flavour naturally in the Madagascar chocolate. But with Lindt, you will first taste vanilla, then perhaps a little fruit flavour beyond that.
DeleteOn the upside, Lindt always has wonderfully smooth chocolate (they were the inventors of the conche, after all) with a nice balance of cocoa butter to cocoa solids. They also use a nice fine mould, which breaks off easily and makes the 'melt' a little nicer in the mouth. So it is understandable that they are appreciated worldwide. But once you convert to craft chocolate, you might never turn back! :-)
Lovely review Harmony! Maybe someone will be reviewing yours in the future :)
ReplyDeleteI'm itching to try this chocolate bar! Wish I didn't live so darn far away. :-( I should get it added to my dark-milk chocolate list on the blog.
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