Travel the World Through Craft Chocolate

New Canadian Bean-to-Bar Chocolate Maker Makes it Possible

 

Have you ever travelled the world through chocolate?  You can, you know. Simply try a range of single origin chocolates and you can experience the world through your taste buds. That's right, cacao (or 'cocoa') beans grown from specific regions take on the flavours of the place where they grow, so when you eat chocolate made from single-origin beans, you can essentially do a taste tour of different regions of the world.


If you are new to the chocolate-tasters scene, you might be wondering where to start. The best way to sample singe origin chocolate is to find a craft, bean-to-bar chocolate maker near you (or online) and check out their range of chocolate bars.  Usually craft chocolate makers focus on making single origin chocolate.  Most of them offer a range of about five chocolate bars made from beans grown in specific and different regions of the world. For instance, you could buy a chocolate bar made from beans grown in Madagascar and another made from beans grown in the Dominican Republic.

In fact, I just discovered a new Canadian chocolate maker a few weeks ago called Ambrosia Pastry Co.  They are making chocolate from 'bean to bar' in Waterloo, Ontario and offer more than four different chocolates made from beans grown in: Venezuela, Peru, Papua New Guinea and Ghana. They also make a wonderful spiced drinking chocolate from Peruvian Criollo Beans.  So you can take your chocolate addiction to a whole new international level just by trying Ambrosia's range of chocolate bars.


Although I am a dark chocolate lover, my favourite chocolate of Ambrosia's is their 55% Milk Origin Ghana bar.  It was quite possibly the best dark-milk chocolate that I have ever tasted. My husband, who only likes really sweet chocolate, also loved it and said "this might be the best chocolate that I have ever eaten". Of the dark chocolate bars, my favourite was the 63% Papua New Guinea bar.

Ambrosia is owned by Tim Simpson and Aura Hertzog, who met in cooking school in 1999. They have turned their years of experience in the food industry into a passion for chocolate.  You can learn more about them and where Ambrosia is located in Waterloo here.

You can order Ambrosia's bean-to-bar chocolate range online! Check it out: http://ambrosiapastry.com/online-ordering-for-bean-to-bar-chocolate/. They just released a 70% Venezuelan chocolate and they also rotate their origin chocolate, so be sure to check back frequently or contact them for information on chocolate made from other origin beans.

For other Canadian bean-to-bar chocolate makers who may be in your area, go to my "Canadian Chocolate Gift-Giving Guide" for a list. And an updated list is coming soon!

For a list of American bean-to-bar chocolate makers, Wikipedia has a great list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bean-to-bar_chocolate_manufacturers. The Chocolate Life also has a great list on a forum discussion - you will have to scroll through a few pages to hit the full list, but it is there: http://www.thechocolatelife.com/forum/topic/show?id=1978963%3ATopic%3A7700.