How are cacao and cocoa different? Which is healthier, cocoa or cacao? Do cocoa and cacao taste the same? As a chocolate writer, I get these questions all the time, and the answer is quite simple: cacao and cocoa are the same word, in different languages. It’s a bit of a debate in the craft …
Bar: Dominican Republic 72% Recipe 212 Maker: Fresco Chocolate (Lynden, WA, USA) Price: $8/50g (Chocolopolis in Seattle, USA) Munch Factor: 2.5/10 Ingredients: Cocoa Beans, Cane Sugar, Cocoa Butter. Appearance: hunter green-brown, squat rectangular packaging with swirly cacao pod logo & company name centered. Information on the cacao & processing choices are on the back. Thin gold aluminum …
The end of the year is when most of us spend extra time with our families and relax after a long year. We look forward to the events the new year will bring, and enjoy life while it’s slow for a change. In celebration of coming together and looking towards the future, I’ve compiled a …
Bar: Sea Salt 62% Maker: Brasstown Chocolate (Winston-Salem, NC, USA) Price: $10/60g (Direct From Maker) Munch Factor: 6/10 Ingredients: Certified Organic Cacao Beans, Raw Sugar, Certified Organic Cocoa Butter, Chardonnay Oak Smoked Sea Salt. Appearance: deep blue rectangular packaging with the heavyhanded “BRASSTOWN” printed across the front and a blacked-out bottom underlining a boat in shadow. The …
Bar: Kardamom 77% Maker: Rózsavölgyi Csokoládé (Budapest, Hungary) Price: $14/70g (Summit & Spice in Anchorage, AK) Munch Factor: 4.5/10 Ingredients: Cocoa beans, organic cane sugar, organic cocoa butter, cardamom. Appearance: square black & white packaging with illustrations that recall the Aztecs, including cacao pods & trees, gourds, and birds. This is covered by a paper that …
To whomever actually reads the introduction, in many ways this is a list of places I want to travel to in the near future (a few of which I’ve already been to). But this is mostly an article for you, the reader, who visits this site for insight into how the research I’ve done has …
Bar: Camino Verde Ecuador 73% Maker: Cloudforest Chocolate (Portland, OR, USA) Price: $6.75/35g (Sugar Pill in Seattle, USA) Munch Factor: 8/10 Ingredients: cacao beans, organic cane sugar, organic cacao butter. Appearance: small square white packaging with a real dried cacao tree leaf seen through a large hole cut into the center of the packaging. It’s quite lovely. The inner …
Bar: Lemon Milk Chocolate 45% Maker: Theo’s Chocolate (Seattle, WA, USA) Price: $4/85g (Direct From Maker) Munch Factor: 7.5/10 Ingredients: Organic Fair Trade Cane Sugar, Organic Fair Trade Cacao Beans, Organic Fair Trade Cacao Butter, Organic Milk Powder, Organic Lemon Essential Oil, Organic Fair Trade Ground Vanilla Bean. Appearance: like all Theo bars, this one is rectangular with the circular …
Bar: Esmeraldas 70% Maker: The Roasting Masters (Seoul, South Korea) Price: $7.50/35g (Direct From Maker) Munch Factor: 3/10 Ingredients: Cocoa beans, cane sugar, soy lecithin (0.5%). Appearance: first thing that catches your eye is the teal & pink squares that make up the bulk of the art deco-like packaging, then the shiny gold name, and finally …
Craft chocolate is on the way up, and it’s not even close to plateauing. Almost anyone in the industry even just half a decade ago would have described craft chocolate, often called “bean to bar chocolate,” as a small but growing segment of the market; slowly but surely we were changing the way people consume chocolate. …
Hello & Welcome!
I’m Max, and I’m unabashedly in love with food. Hi, Max. A chocolate aficionado from the USA, I’m passionate about helping you find & eat better chocolate, on the road or at home! I recognize chocolate bars like most people recognize Kardashians. Currently social distancing at home.
