Chocolate of the Day: Just Another One in 300 of Zotter Chocolates

I am trying something new this week. I am planning to tell you about my favourite chocolate from each of my daily tastings. Yup, that's right: I eat chocolate every day. No shocker here. I start every day with a tasting, before eating anything that can affect my palate. I choose the daily tasting by pairing them up into categories, like 70% dark, 85% dark, dark-milk chocolate, same origin, etc. And since I do this every day, I have a lot of chocolate bars piling up that I haven't had the time to write about on the blog. So this week, and possibly next, I am planning to tell you about these chocolate bars each day. Or at least my most beloved chocolate of the morning. 

Today, I've chosen one of Zotter Chocolate's pairing pack of bars. I started out heading for the box of very dark chocolate bars this morning, and then quickly realized that I truly wanted something a little creamier. So I pulled out Zotter's 2-pack of dark-milk chocolate bars with 50% cocoa solids.  Inside was one Nicaragua origin chocolate bar, and one Ecuador origin chocolate bar. These both were made with the same ingredients (raw cane sugar, cocoa mass, cocoa butter, full cream powder, salt, vanilla), except the cocoa beans came from different origins. Because of this, the taste and colour of the chocolate had very different results.

The Nicaragua had a darker shade, much like a 'dark chocolate' might with just a slightly milky, and to me, a taste of light liquor and a little spice, likely from a slightly more acidic bean and perhaps a little fresh fruit flavour. It was very creamy, full of cocoa butter texture. And this morning, I found an aftertaste of lemon liquor.

The Ecuador 50% looked like a milk chocolate and had an upfront creaminess that was heavenly. It also reminded me of the taste of real-cream milk chocolate truffles, like the ones I often make with a 45% dark rich milk chocolate. There was no acidity or spice-like texture, and just a wonderful flavour of cream and chocolate.

So which did I like better? I suppose the Nicaragua was very interesting for its perkier spice and fruit flavours, but the Ecuador dark-milk was absolutely decadent. If I had to go back to just one for more, it would be the Ecuador 50%. But overall, I loved the concept applied by Zotter: two bars in one box, enabling me to choose, to compare, and to learn all at once.

What a treat to start off a cold Monday on Manitoulin Island. Have a great day everyone!

Join me tomorrow to see what chocolate will perk up the Tuesday blues.