I’d never heard of today’s chocolate indulgence, Dandelion Chocolates, before happening on their booth at the Northwest Chocolate Festival. I went straight for their Ambanja, Madagascar (of course and always). The chocolate was exceedingly smooth and bursting with fruit notes; the raspberry almost overwhelming. Though perhaps I shouldn’t have eaten so many pieces in such a short period of time [aka a matter of minutes].
The tasting notes they’ve printed on the bar (see picture) were exceedingly accurate.
Today’s chocolate indulgence is brought to me by TCHO via the Northwest Chocolate Festival.
I was lucky enough to attend the Northwest Chocolate Festival this year [Saturday, October 3, 2015]. The event was overwhelming but completely fun. Chocolatiers from all over the world had tasting booths spread over two floors of the convention centre.
Today’s chocolate indulgence – TCHO – was on the top floor. And, even though I was in the first wave of eager tasters chocoholics, there was already a line at their booth when we approached it during our first pass. So I skipped. I hadn’t heard of them before. I didn’t know why they had so much hype [turns out they’ve won a bunch of awards]. And I’m not one for standing in lines when there is so much other chocolate to be discovered.
Michael and I – rather overwhelmed halfway through the second floor – took a break for a late lunch and a walk around sunny lovely Seattle. We went back to the festival for another hour in the late afternoon. There was still a line at TCHO’s booth. So now I had to wait because what could be SO amazing, right?
Well, probably needless to say, this is some excellent chocolate. The booth had sold out of the bars I wanted, of course. So I bought the taste teasers pictured above.
The Madagascar (yellow wrapping) is right in my wheelhouse at 67% Cacao. It is lovely. Dark, yet sweet. Smooth and filled with bright citrus notes.
The Peruvian was the surprise (for me at least) (orange wrapping). 68% Cacao. Smooth, creamy, yet dark and really fruity. But without any annoying perfume. Lovely, lovely chocolate.
I would not be surprised to see these bars pop up in a Dowser novel. They get a definite recommend from me!
I’ve had a few requests to post a list of the chocolate eaten or mentioned in the Dowser books, so I thought I would dash off this blog post so if you wanted to get your hands on any of this chocolate before the release date for Dowser 5 (July 23, 2015) then you would have a bit of time to do so.
Inaya chocolate discs from Cacao Barry — a 65 percent blend of intense but balanced cocoa. Purchased at Chocolate Arts in Vancouver along with chocolate for my stash (in the bag) and a seriously yummy bittersweet hot chocolate (in the pig mug).
Lindt’s 70 percent Madagascar – I wanted to add a bar that I thought most of the Dowser readers might be able to get their hands on. This was a gift from my sis-in-law, Cindy. 🙂
^^^ And a little something it’s good for all of us to remember! ^^^
<3 <3 <3
The Dowser 5 ebook will be available THURSDAY, JULY 23, 2015 on Amazon, Kobo, iTunes, B&N, and Smashwords. The paperback will follow about two weeks later. The preorders should start going live around July 9 or 10th.
To help celebrate there will be two large giveaways. One the week before (July 15 – 18) and one the week of the release (July 20 – 23).
Every morning Michael and I have a ‘decisive meeting’ in the garden. This gives the chickens a bit of time to free range and us a moment to chat about our upcoming day. Being foodies, we talk about meals mostly, then share our to-do lists. Usually both of these lists are filled with work related duties, but every now and then Michael does something (errands/chores/etc) to keep our life in order and I try not to feel guilty about focusing on writing while he does so.
make notes on Oracle 1 and blog for Author Read-A-Long
plant tomatoes
test taste two new chocolate bars so I can finish Dowser 5 and get it off to the editor
Michael sweetly – and not at all laughing his ass off that I had added it to my things to-do – offered to take over #4 for me, since his list only has three ‘light duty’ chores on it and it’s a terrible hardship that I have to eat TWO chocolate bars just so I can finish my work.
Kind of him, yes?
The next three chocolates in the queue for testing. Will two of them be worthy of a place in Dowser 5?
Or, as Jade will undoubtedly refer to them in Dowser 5, ‘the holy trinity of chocolate bars,’ which will be terribly sacrilegious. However, we will probably excuse her because she’s had a really bad day. I know this because I’ve written the bad day part, but not the chocolate bar part.
Tested from right to left.
I teased my Facebook page that I was going to test all of these bars in a single afternoon, but then only managed to taste two. I lost track of the Venezuelan bar through the reconfiguring of my office and just happened upon it in my filing cabinet this afternoon, so I decided to crack it while I wrote about Jade and Warner … and Kett … somewhere high up in the mountains …
Valrhona rarely goes wrong with their delicious creations, and they went all sorts of right with these 64% cacoa limited editions.
I tested the Loma Sotavento from the Dominican Republic first, and funnily enough it was my least favourite of the trio.
Valrhona’s tasting notes declare the Loma to be balanced and chocolatey, with round and light ripe fruits that gently give way to a delicate touch of toasted almond.
I picked up the fruit notes right away … yellow plum, maybe (and yum!) I found the chocolate more sweet than balanced, though with the lovely smoothness that seems to accompany all of Valrhona’s chocolate. And yes, I totally picked up the toasted almond finish as well. It came with a lingering aftertaste of sweet almond, which stuck around a bit too long for my taste.
Side note: Interestingly, this was Michael’s favourite of the three. He said he got caramel from it, right off the top.
According to the notes printed on the back of the bar, Valrhona feels that the Gran Couva offers subtle aromas of dried mint and fresh spices.
I picked up the mint even when simply smelling the first square – lovely! Upon tasting, I found the chocolate smooth, creamy, and subtly sweet. Followed by exceedingly subtle hints of mint with a tiny taste of spice at the very back of my throat – almost like an aroma rather than a flavour. Very, very fun! A fresh aftertaste followed, but light and not the least bit mungy.
Last, but certainly not least, I tried the El Pedregal from Venezuela.
Valrhona’s tasting notes: subtle notes of honey and ripe fruit.
I thought the smell of this bar was divine. A rich, deep cocoa scent that filled my nasal cavities (which doesn’t sound very elegant but I enjoyed it nonetheless – ha!). The first square was smooth and very chocolatey. A consistent, well-balanced flavour. I picked up an exceeding subtle hint of honey on my third piece. Not too sweet, and not at all bitter. It finished with a slight lingering aftertaste, but light, not unpleasant. Very, very tasty chocolate!
I declare all three of these bars very enjoyable and worth ‘investing’ in! 😀
FYI – I purchased these bars from Xoxolat in Vancouver last September, but I waited a little too long to try them (the expiration date was 12/31/14). I didn’t notice any issues in this regard, other than the chocolate didn’t snap as cleanly as fine chocolate usually does. Perhaps the taste of each was diminished as well (?) but they tasted just fine to me!
I’ve been conducting an exceedingly scientific series of chocolate tastings for the next Dowser Series trilogy over on my Facebook page. However, I promised myself that I would blog more this year, so I will now be posting any tastings I do here – YAY FOR ME!!
Yes, this is my version of research.
To the tasting!
I loaded the latest version of Dowser 4 on my iPad yesterday afternoon in order to read it once more before I do final tweaks. Then, it will be off to the proof reader! It was a crazy rainy day – perfect for a book and a new chocolate bar. I dug around in my stash drawer and opted for a favourite maker but a new chocolate.
According to the packaging: acid yellow fruit freshness and roasted notes.
My thoughts: smooth, creamy, with hints of citrus. Very balanced. All the quality I’ve come to expect from Valrhona, though slightly on the sweet side. Everything I love in a bean from Madagascar.
