Dark Bar
by Chocolate Conspiracy
Impact
The cocoa-doodle-gurus, lecturing in their Theory of Rheology class, said it couldn't be done.
That the AWC (or Available Water Capacity, a misapplication of the concept since this ain't water stored in soil for growing crops) & aw (for Water Activity, another misapplication with respect to chocolate-making specifically), that they absolutely cause a batch of chocolate in the processing phase to inevitably seize. Thus, liquid based sweeteners are supposedly verboten.
Let them tell that to AJ Wentworth from The Chocolate Conspiracy who, after conducting experiments in anti-theory, just pours on the honey into this bar to prove the doodlers are coming up with scribble designs for equations.
Busted.
That the AWC (or Available Water Capacity, a misapplication of the concept since this ain't water stored in soil for growing crops) & aw (for Water Activity, another misapplication with respect to chocolate-making specifically), that they absolutely cause a batch of chocolate in the processing phase to inevitably seize. Thus, liquid based sweeteners are supposedly verboten.
Let them tell that to AJ Wentworth from The Chocolate Conspiracy who, after conducting experiments in anti-theory, just pours on the honey into this bar to prove the doodlers are coming up with scribble designs for equations.
Busted.
Appearance 4 / 5
Humpty Dumpty put back together again
Humpty Dumpty put back together again
| Color: | "purpletrator" -- purple perpetrator |
| Surface: | derailed severely in transit, into bits & pieces of shards with holy writ of the raw tribe (see photo below) as if the Dead Sea Scrolls or Moses' tablets, to let the flock literally bite their virtues |
| Temper: | what can be gleaned thru the wreckage glistens |
| Snap: |
pre-Snapped (see Surface above) |
Aroma 7.2 / 10
semi-promising
PBP (peanut butter paste) on coconut shells
slides around granny's cupboard -- paint / spackle / asbestos + some benzines / lacquer (the latters varnish the "raw" factors)
hits the skids for good on some tar flats
PBP (peanut butter paste) on coconut shells
slides around granny's cupboard -- paint / spackle / asbestos + some benzines / lacquer (the latters varnish the "raw" factors)
hits the skids for good on some tar flats
Mouthfeel 10.8 / 15
| Texture: | ropey |
| Melt: | frays apart quickly |
Flavor 38.6 / 50
plain cocoa, strong but of thin depth -> passing raisin plume -> coconut -> twine & sisal (in keeping with its Texture) -> coconut predominates -> goes off leguminous
Quality 15.3 / 20
Avoids the recurring mishaps of "raw chocolate" (the dry wall / sheet rock plaster FXs that draw terminates to those bars). In that aspect The Chocolate Conspiracy controls & contains an unroasted cocoa pre-ground at the source to specifications & lifted from a small single property in northern Peru.
Chief Chocolate Conspirator AJ Wentworth candidly acknowledges the canard of so-called "raw" chocolate. How refreshing next to all the dodges among the raw tribalists. His chocolate undergoes temperatures exceeding 118ºF, 125ºF, or even 140ºF. The next chocolate show, if it has any balls, will award this brave soul a medal for his courage in calling out the charlatans while still brandishing the label because it sells.
This Dark Bar projects a fairly convincing chocolate note of some considerable CQ (Chocolate Quotient of baseline cocoa flavor free of any interference or nuances) at the opening lip. In fact it has one of the few true chocolate notes of any bar in the "raw" category. Quite unexpected for a "raw" bar since those compounds responsible for core chocolate flavor are oft developed under the pressures of heat. For that alone it deserves recognition & points. The CQ compliments of a seed selection inhered with solid backbone. Alas, as expected for "raw", this bar fails to sustain them.
Per that honey anomaly: as noted several times before on this site, the all-important staging of ingredients matters as much as the ingredients themselves. (Shhhhh, proprietary secrets.) A wrong move & honey would gum up the works, pulling bits out of the stone-grinder that would end up in the finished bar to elicit 'oohs' & 'ahhhs' from the alpha-tasters of "hmmm, this chocolate, so redolent of its terroir, OMG, I literally can taste the cacáo growing between the cracks in the cement" (sorry, alpha-crackheads, cacáo typically grows in loamy soil).
Remarkably, the honey hardly intrudes, playing it relatively neutral throughout, though it probably absorbs like an odor-eater in vacuuming up the detritus of "raw" flotsam, turning them into string / rope tones. Indeed the residual liquid contributed by the honey may, over time thru the aging process, contribute to bacteria buildup creating those off notes in the mid section onward.
Otherwise, in that & the other mentionables, this bar fakes it pretty well.
INGREDIENTS: cocoa mass, wildflower honey, cocoa butter
Reviewed January 28, 2014
Chief Chocolate Conspirator AJ Wentworth candidly acknowledges the canard of so-called "raw" chocolate. How refreshing next to all the dodges among the raw tribalists. His chocolate undergoes temperatures exceeding 118ºF, 125ºF, or even 140ºF. The next chocolate show, if it has any balls, will award this brave soul a medal for his courage in calling out the charlatans while still brandishing the label because it sells.
This Dark Bar projects a fairly convincing chocolate note of some considerable CQ (Chocolate Quotient of baseline cocoa flavor free of any interference or nuances) at the opening lip. In fact it has one of the few true chocolate notes of any bar in the "raw" category. Quite unexpected for a "raw" bar since those compounds responsible for core chocolate flavor are oft developed under the pressures of heat. For that alone it deserves recognition & points. The CQ compliments of a seed selection inhered with solid backbone. Alas, as expected for "raw", this bar fails to sustain them.
Per that honey anomaly: as noted several times before on this site, the all-important staging of ingredients matters as much as the ingredients themselves. (Shhhhh, proprietary secrets.) A wrong move & honey would gum up the works, pulling bits out of the stone-grinder that would end up in the finished bar to elicit 'oohs' & 'ahhhs' from the alpha-tasters of "hmmm, this chocolate, so redolent of its terroir, OMG, I literally can taste the cacáo growing between the cracks in the cement" (sorry, alpha-crackheads, cacáo typically grows in loamy soil).
Remarkably, the honey hardly intrudes, playing it relatively neutral throughout, though it probably absorbs like an odor-eater in vacuuming up the detritus of "raw" flotsam, turning them into string / rope tones. Indeed the residual liquid contributed by the honey may, over time thru the aging process, contribute to bacteria buildup creating those off notes in the mid section onward.
Otherwise, in that & the other mentionables, this bar fakes it pretty well.
INGREDIENTS: cocoa mass, wildflower honey, cocoa butter
Reviewed January 28, 2014