CHOCOLATES

Venezuelan Black is a unsweetened chocolate containing 100% cacao solids. It s made with top quality cacao beans from Venezuela, and roasted, conched and packed in England. It is sold in 180 gram solid chocolate bars. The owner, Willie Harcourt-Cooze, is the only small cacao grower-producer in the UK. He has been farming cacao for more than a decade at the Hacienda El Tesoro, his beautiful farm in Venezuela. For more information about the chocolate farm and his production of chocolate, see Report on Channel 4.

We have tried the “Rio Caribe Superior”, and it is the best 100% cacao chocolate bar we have ever tested! The flavor is rich, fruity like citrus, and the taste is rich, fruity and bitter. After melting some chocolate and mixing with powdered sugar the flavor is similar to the best Venezuelan bittersweet chocolate bars, except that the fruity notes are citrus-like, while other Venezuelan chocolates may have more raisin-like fruity notes.

We will use the Venezual Black chocolate for chocolate recipes that need lots of high-quality chocolate, like chocolate mousse, chocolate souffle, flourless chocolate cakes, and rich chocolate cake recipes.

The price is fairly high, however, when comparing with the price for Amedei Chuao you must remember that the Venezuelan Black does not contain any sugar, so a high price per weight is therefore acceptable.

Please note that this chocolate can also be purchased online on www.venezuelan-black.co.uk.

Editor’s rating:
Type: Unsweetened chocolate.
Flavor:

Hal Chocolate brands, Chocolate tasting, Specialty chocolates uk, venezuela

Amano Artisan Chocolate was started by Art Pollard in 2006 and is located in Orem, Utah, USA. Amano is one of the best chocolate manufacturers in the USA and has won a number of gold and silver medals for excellent chocolate bars. Amano obtain top quality cacao beans from different regions, and by using their optimized manufacturing process they are able to manufacture chocolate bars of the same quality as the best European manufacturers. Amano only add pure cane sugar, cocoa butter and whole Tahitian vanilla pods when making their chocolates, no lecithin. The 2 oz (56 g) bars are wrapped in golden foil and packed in elegant black cardboard boxes which are similar to Amedei’s Chuao.

The Madagascar Premium Dark Chocolate contains a minimum of 70% cacao and has a fruity flavor with hints of citrus and berries, typical for good quality chocolate made with cacao from Madagascar. When comparing with Michel Cluizel’s Madagascar chocolate, Amano’s had a less smooth texture but similar flavor.

The Ocumare Grand Cru Dark Chocolate also contains 70% cacao, and is made with cacao beans from the Ocumare Valley in Venezuela. The flavor is extremely rich and aromatic, with hints of plums, red fruits, tobacco, wood, and coffee. This chocolate is in my opinion one of the best in the world!

Editor’s Rating:
Type: Bittersweet premium chocolate bars.
Flavor:

Hal Chocolate brands, Chocolate tasting, Specialty chocolates madagascar, usa, venezuela

Chocovic is a high-quality chocolate manufacturer located in the Barcelona city of Vic, Spain. Originally, the company was started in 1872 under the name Chocolates Arumi, and got its present name after being purchased by a Dutch group in 1977. They are producing a series of single origin chocolate bars (see photos), in addition to couverture chocolate series, primarily intended for professionals.

The Guyave is made with trinitario cacao beans fram Grenada and has a delicious fruity flavor with slightly bitter aftertaste. The Ocumare is made with criollo beans from Venezuela and has a stronger flavor of dried fruits like plums and raisins. The Guaranda is made with forastero beans from Ecuador, and has also a nice, somewhat fruity flavor, although weaker than the two others.

Editor’s rating:
Type: Bittersweet premium chocolate bars.
Flavor:

Personally I prefer the Guyave and Ocumare chocolates. [Photo: Hal]

Hal Chocolate brands, Chocolate tasting, Specialty chocolates ecuador, grenada, spain, venezuela

Anthon Berg is in Europe well-known for filled chocolates and marzipan chocolate bars. They recently introduced a series of single origin chocolate bars: New Guinea, Ecuador, Ghana, and the latest one: Venezuela. The three first ones are dark chocolates, while the latter one is a milk chocolate. The New Guinea bar is made with Criollo and Forastero cacao beans and contains 72% cacao solids. It has a weak fruityness and smokey flavor like Scotch Whisky. The Ecuador bar is also made with Criollo cacao beans and contains 72% cacao solids. This one has a more flowery flavor with notes of spices, particularly cinnamon. The Ghana bar is made with Forastero beans and contains 60% cacao solids, and it has pieces of cacao nibs. It has a marked vanilla flavor and very weak fruityness. I have not tried the Venezuela bar yet. To me these chocolate bars are OK, but they do not match the quality of chocolate bars from Amedei or Michel Cluizel. [Photo: Hal]

Editor’s Rating:
Type: Bittersweet or semisweet premium chocolate bars.
Flavor:

Hal Chocolate brands, Chocolate tasting, Specialty chocolates denmark, ecuador, ghana, papua new guinea, venezuela

Domori is a fairly young chocolate manufacturer in Italy, the company started in 1993. Their aim is to produce top quality chocolates. Domori works solely with fine cacao beans of the most aromatic varieties (criollo, trinitario and nacional) from a number of countries. In most of their chocolates they add only cane sugar to the cacao liquor, no vanilla, lecithin or other ingredients.

The Granella is made with a blend of Venezuelan cacao beans of the trinitario variety and contains pieces of cacao nibs. No vanilla or lecithin is added. It is smooth with a fruity flavor, aromas of brown sugar and raisins, with a slight bitterness in the end.

The Sur del Lago chocolate is less sweet due to higher cacao content. It is made with trinitario-type cacaos with a high content of criollo genotype. No vanilla or lecithin is added. It has mild notes of almond and coffee, excellent finesse, smoothness and finish.  [Photo: Hal]

Editor’s Rating:
Type: Bittersweet premium chocolate bars.
Flavor:

Hal Chocolate brands, Chocolate tasting, Specialty chocolates italy, venezuela