Ombar dark, mylk, and centres

Ombar, what is its purpose? You would think that Ombar is selling itself on being raw, "RAW CACAO" being defiantly stated. Sure, people must buy Ombar for its raw-ness. But its differentiation is its live cultures. I mean, there are a few "raw" chocolate makers out there, using low GI sugars too, but none that enrich their chocolate with live cultures

I like live cultures

The chocolate is made with unroasted Ecuadorian cacao, cocoa butter, coconut sugar and Lactobacillus acidophilus. The occasional bar has vanilla, creamed coconut, and also the eponymous additions. Ingredients are organic, obviously; it would be super weird if this wasn't stocked in Planet Organic

The 90%, was drying, bubblegum-like in flavour, whereas the 72% was way more satisfying. Both were earthy, but the 72% tasted like raw and roasted cocoa nibs I've dealt with, which suggested high quality cacao to me. The flavour of the 72% was somewhat tannic, and unconched (by which I mean the flavour hadn't appeared to have developed beyond the raw nib)

Post-review, I read that Ombar do not conch their chocolate. Conching is a flavour and aroma developmental process in chocolate making; if a chocolate is conched, its flavour should be more dimensional

The Coconut 60% had a bitterness to it, which was very nice actually. It was chocolatey and coconut, warmingly so. The melt was silky smooth

The Cranberry + Mandarin, this one didn't have the Lactobacillus acidophilus live culture, oops. The mandarin was the dominating flavour, a sweet zest! You subtly get the cranberry, that comes as a cranberry-mixer vibe. The texture was sandy. The flavour of this combination was odd at first, but soon sophisticated; it worked nicely

The Coco Mylk smelt good, tasted good. The Strawberry Mylk was a little flawed, in that it didn't really taste like strawberries, it was an odd mix 

Coconut & Vanilla, and Raspberry & Coconut Centres, I liked these. The truffle centre was made with coconut oil, not palm, and the ingredients were all good, no nasties. The truffle-centre concept is a good extension, which makes me wonder what Ombar will do next

I like Ombar for its health-orientation, they are great bar sizes too at a mini 35g, i.e. great to take to class. It's evident that I liked some bars more than others. Ombar's blog is worth reading if you're interested in health, nutritious recipes, mindfulness, and anything along those lines!

I think Ombar has a few misconceptions of non-raw chocolate, but with Ombar, the health benefits of the chocolate is the main goal, not a bonus. Make of that what you will. It suggests flavour is the bonus, and honestly, as I'm not classing this as 'craft chocolate', that is alright with me