Cacao Market by MarieBelle New York

I recently received a chocolate bar from a traveling friend. It was dark, delectable and full of small pieces of crunchy, caramelized almonds. I loved it.

This chocolate was by Cacao Market, a MarieBelle New York brand.  In the bean-to-bar world, I have not heard much about MarieBelle or Cacao Market bean-to-bar chocolates. Perhaps because they operate in a large city with foot traffic sales and thus, have less need to ship their chocolate worldwide, like so many craft chocolate makers operating in smaller cities and towns in North America.

I admit, I am not a person who gets excited about inclusions in the bean-to-bar chocolate that I buy, including almonds, even though I eat them on a daily basis. I also stay away from any inclusions sprinkled on the back of a chocolate bar, including seeds, dried fruit, salt and other nuts. I know many people love it, but I am just not a fan. But of course, I'm occasionally surprised. The Dick Taylor Black Fig bar certainly turned me, and encouraged me to taste more chocolate with inclusions. That is also th case with this Cacao Market 70% Dark Chocolate with Almonds bar.

The almonds were in small pieces and caramelized, which added a lightly sweet crunch. They were also incorporated directly into the chocolate, rather than sprinkled on the back, which I think offered a fuller flavour experience. The overall effect of the light crunch and the taste of the delicious Honduras Trinitarion cacao was a perfect combination and quite enjoyable. So enjoyable, in fact, that I finished eating this bar while writing the first paragraph of this post.

So if you are in New York, or looking to order some delicious chocolate online (in the U.S.), check out MarieBelle's Cacao Market and the delicious 70% Dark Chocolate with Almonds bar: http://mariebelle.com/shop-online/cacao-market-40g-bar-dark-almonds/.

The chocolate was also purchased for me from Xoxolat in Vancouver.