Curry Spice Chocolate

While home in Newfoundland this summer, I purchased a number of chocolate bars by Jacobean Craft Chocolate, a bean-to-bar chocolate maker located in Mount Pearl. Recently, I tried one of their white chocolate creations -- a Curry Spice bar. 

I have to say that I find the packaging of Jacobean Craft Chocolate to be very appealing. I love the colours and the graphic design.

I will admit that when I purchased this bar, I didn't realize it was white chocolate, despite the fact that it says "golden white" on the label. You see, when I arrived in Woody Point, the only store on the west coast selling Jacobean had four bars left. So I did what any self-respecting chocolatier would do -- I bought them all without giving it a second thought!

Opening the wrapper, I was surprised first by the scent of the bar. I could smell curry. Not something similar to or reminiscent of curry, but actual curry. And then I saw the colour of the bar. It almost looked like one of the curry roux preparations that I buy in the local Asian grocery store. It had the characteristic yellow colour with flecks of spice throughout. It was unusual and unexpected. 

The packaging describes the bar as follows: "The bar has BOLD flavours, a very pronounced beginning and end, the cumin | ginger | turmeric provide the base profile while the chili flakes and black peppercorn add the tingle." These tasting notes are accurate.

The earthy flavour of the cumin and the warmth of the ginger come through first. Then the peppercorn and chili flakes take the lead, providing more than a little tingle on the tongue. Finally, that tingle fades and what remains is, once again, the warmth of the ginger. And it lingers.

This is an incredible flavour experience.

Now, let me be clear: this isn't your everyday bar. You aren't going to snack on this while watching a movie or even mindfully enjoy it while sipping a coffee. I don't think it's possible to eat more than a single square at once (which perhaps makes it the ideal chocolate bar for anyone who is counting calories...). But it's entirely worth trying for the flavour profile and sensation on the tongue. It's perfect for a chocolate tasting experience or as fun chocolate course at a themed dinner party. (The chocolate course is a thing, right?)

For someone studying chocolate, this is a masterclass. 

 

Exclusions and Chocolate

In recent years, there has been a movement toward "naked" chocolate bars. That is, the fruit and nuts that traditionally were mixed into the chocolate before molding (referred to as "inclusions") instead are only partially mixed into the chocolate or sprinkled over the top (similar to bark). (Does that make them "exclusions"?) This gives a particular aesthetic to the chocolate, which reads to many as handmade or artisanal, and plays well in the current marketing context where consumers increasingly want transparency about the ingredients in their food and the health benefits of particular ingredients, like nuts, are being used to sell products whether they are "healthy" or not. Given that nuts in particular can be finicky to work with in chocolate, this approach to working with them in chocolate does address the issue of fat migration in the chocolate, but it probably lessens the keeping limit of the bars because the nuts themselves are exposed (and not enrobed in chocolate). It also fundamentally changes the experience of the bar.

A few weeks ago, I purchased a chocolate bar made by Chocolate Voyageur at the Fête du Chocolat at the Fortress of Louisbourg. When I read the label, which stated that it was 76% dark chocolate with candied sunflower seeds, I made the assumption that the sunflower seeds would be mixed into the chocolate. It came as a bit of a surprise when I opened the package and found they had been sprinkled over the top of the chocolate. 

The candied sunflower seeds (roasted with maple syrup) was said in the tasting notes to "balance the citrus notes" of the chocolate. I'm not sure that I got the citrus notes. Instead, the chocolate was more fruity to me. While the sunflower seeds added crunch and a little sweetness to the Papua New Guinea chocolate, the bar wasn't as balanced as I might have hoped (a touch more salt might have done the trick). The "exclusions" were sprinkled over the chocolate and not pressed into it, so the seeds didn't adhere to the chocolate and fell off as I snapped off a piece of the perfectly tempered bar. Consequently, I didn't experience the components of the bar in an integrated way where they enhanced each other, but rather as two separate components that played well together.

This flavour combination, however, does have me thinking. Recently, I've gotten into making my own nut and seed butters. Roasted sunflower seeds combined with sea salt and honey is having a moment in my life right now. And after trying this bar, it occurs to me that a sunflower seed gianduja could make for a delicious centre. Enrobed in chocolate and decorated with a roasted sunflower seed or two on top? Sounds good to me!

How about you? Do you prefer your chocolate to have inclusions or "exclusions"? 

Newfoundland Bean-to-Bar Chocolate

When people think of Newfoundland and chocolate these days, their minds automatically go to Newfoundland Chocolate Company, which reached the height of its popularity and brand visibility just before the Covid-19 pandemic started. They had expanded into Nova Scotia and became known in particular for the colourful sayings that they printed on their bars, as well as a line of row house bars. Far fewer people will know that there is a bean-to-bar chocolate company in Newfoundland called Jacobean. Indeed, a few of my closest friends in Corner Brook had never heard of them before. I discovered them two summers ago while visiting Rocky Harbour, though the company is based in Mount Pearl. This summer, I made a pilgrimage to Woody Point to buy a few bars to try.

Jacobean is, dare I say, a more sophisticated chocolate company. This is not "industrial chocolate." They don't trade on sterotypes; rather, they meld local ingredients and flavours with chocolate in small batches. For example, the first bar I tried combined Newfoundland juniper berries with 70% dark chocolate. 

(Side note: This is the type of direction that I proposed in my business plan during my professional chocolatier program, though I had no intention of getting into bear-to-bar production.) 

Tonight we decided to try the limited edition English Oats Breakfast milk chocolate bar, with oats, maple sugar, and cinnamon. At only 8.79%, it's possibly the "blondest" milk chocolate I've ever tasted. The bar was in perfect temper, with a beautiful, smooth surface. Check out that sheen in the photo below! 

This is a subtle chocolate bar. It's warm and gentle, with the cinnamon lingering on the palate. If you "crunch" through the bar, the flavour is easily missed, but if you let it melt on your tongue, the complexity comes through. And the milk chocolate is so "milky" that it is reminiscent of breakfast cereal.

There's no question that this is a delicious bar. Personally, I would have liked a slightly more robust chocolate flavour in the mix, but I entirely understand what they were going for and achieved with this bar. It was a pleasure to try such a unique flavour profile in chocolate. 

And so I highly recommend seeking out some Jacobean chocolate to try! This is truly craft chocolate and worth the extra effort. (Says the girl who convinced her father to drive 120km to purchase it...)

Is there a chocolate that you'd drive 120km for? Comment below!