Complete Chocolate Lover’s Guide for the San Francisco Bay Area

Bread & cacao

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Thinking outside the bean — but staying inside the pod

As more people get into making chocolate there’s also been an expansion of products incorporating a wider range of cacao ingredients beyond beans and cocoa butter. For instance this year I came across 2 locally made cacao jams which used the pulp that surrounds the seeds/beans inside cacao pods.

The pulp or baba — the term I learned at the Craft Chocolate Experience this past April — can be used to make all sorts of chocolate adjacent items including pâte de fruit and jam. Dandelion Chocolate also has a Cacao Fruit Smoothie and a Cacao Fruit Agua Fresca that use the pulp which you can find at some of their locations.

The 2 jams I tried were very different from each other — one was what I would call a jelly instead of jam, the other was something entirely different.

The Xocolate Bar’s Cacao Fruit Jam

Cacao Jam
Cacao Fruit Jam

The first cacao jam I encountered was a small jar of dark amber colored jelly made by the East Bay’s always creative The Xocolate Bar. It seemed a little pricy to me at $15 until I realized that with only 2 ingredients as listed on the label — cacao fruit pulp and organic cane sugar — it probably takes a lot of that exotic pulp to fill a jar once it’s reduced down jam-wise.

The Xocolate Bar’s Cacao Fruit Jam had a raisiny/dried fruit aroma that Cacaopod compared to fig or date. It was a clear jelly with no mashed up fruit bits like a jam usually has — and definitely no seeds.

The cacao jam’s label included serving suggestions: on a slice of manchego cheese or a buttered scone. I couldn’t find manchego cheese at the store so I substituted Monterey Jack and bought some plain scones from local Sconehenge Bakery.

The jam’s texture was thicker than a jelly — it reminded me of the fruit pastes that sometimes accompany a cheese platter. In fact it had the same thickness and color as a pear paste we happened to have, so I ended up comparing this jam to the paste first.

cacao jam on cheese
Cacao Fruit Jam on cheese

The pear paste on cheese was a little savory — which I think was mostly the cheese — the paste itself was tasteless until the end then it definitely tasted like pear.

The cacao jam on the other hand was immediately flavorful. I was surprised though — it wasn’t a tropical taste but more like a mild fig taste. It made a better pairing with the cheese than the pear paste because I could taste the flavors contrasting and complimenting each other. Cacaopod said it tasted like a seedless fig paste. We both liked that it was fruity but not too sweet.

The Xocolate Bar’s Cacao Fruit Jam would definitely be a good addition to a charcuterie plate — something a little exotic but not difficult to enjoy. We also liked it on scones as described below in the side by side comparison.

Tiny House’s Cacao Nectar

The other cacao jam we tried was from Tiny House of Chocolate Artisans in Santa Cruz. Tiny House makes single origin and inclusion bars plus some other cacao based treats including their Cacao Nectar. Tiny House’s Cacao Nectar is not a jam exactly — it doesn’t contain sugar or pectin. It has only one ingredient: reduced cacao pulp.

Cacao Nectar
Cacao Nectar

However the label exclaims: “The New Jam in Town” and when describing uses for this pulp reduction — such as a sugar free low calorie addition to smoothies and salads — it also says it’s an exquisite jam. So jam is definitely one of the shapes Cacao Nectar inhabits.

Initial inspection raised some doubts: Instead of a solid jelly or viscous jam, it was a thick brown liquid. It smelled slightly sour like a fruity vinegar. So Cacaopod and I have been using it like we would a balsamic vinegar reduction — drizzled on a veggie pizza, used in a salad dressing, spread on bread. It has a tangy fruit taste — not chocolate — because it doesn’t include anything from cacao beans. Cacaopod said it was like a sweet version of Marmite.

I think it’s a good but different cacao treat. It’s pricy — $30 for a small jar — but you don’t use a lot at a time so it lasts. I do like that it has a lot of potential uses culinary wise. I’m not a cook but if Cacaopod does anything especially creative and delicious with it I will update this post.

Side by side comparison

side by side scones with accoutrements
Gonna need more cacao!

Since we had both cacao jams in the house at the same time, we did a side by side comparison of them on Sconehenge plain scones.

Besides the differences in color and thickness I’ve already described, the biggest difference to me was that Xocolate Bar’s Cacao Fruit Jam was sweeter and fruitier tasting than Tiny House’s Cacao Nectar.

The Cacao Fruit Jam tastes good on buttered scones. The tasting notes on the label said chardonnay, apple, and honeydew melon. Cacaopod said apple jam. I agree with all of these descriptors — it’s a mild flavor that worked well with the butter-forward scone.

The Cacao Nectar wasn’t as successful as a scone topping — the buttery scone overpowered it. The nectar had a tangy fermented taste — and on the scone it did have a hint of chocolate in it so that was kind of cool. We hadn’t tasted that when we used it as a vinegar reduction on more complicated foods.

One suggestion if you want to have either on scones — slather it on! The photo shows how much I initially applied of each and I was too conservative — both needed to be supplemented with a second layer of jam to get a real taste of them on the scones.

Classic combo?

As a longtime PB&J stan, I had to try cacao jam with my favorite peanut butter (Santa Cruz Crunchy Dark Roasted) and bread (Alvarado St. Bakery Sprouted Multigrain). I tried the Cacao Fruit Jam first and found it too mild to hold its own against the peanut butter. Don’t waste this jam on a PB&J is my advice.

The Cacao Nectar and peanut butter sammie was TOO TANGY! OMG this was not a good idea. Unlike the buttery sweet scone my preferred peanut butter and bread had no moderating sweetness for the tangy cacao nectar. My advice is the same as for the Cacao Fruit Jam — don’t waste this jam on a PB&J — although it is for the opposite reason.

Want to try them yourself?

In summary I’d recommend both jams as interesting foods in themselves. The Xocolate Bar’s Cacao Fruit Jam would make a nice addition to a cheese plate and it’s good on scones — pretty much their exact recommendations. Because of its light flavor, simple combos are best so you can taste it.

Tiny House’s Cacao Nectar with its tanginess and syrup-like thickness is best used like a balsamic reduction — don’t even think of it as jam. Make a salad dressing with it. Use it in a marinade/glaze on chicken. And drizzle it on artisan pizzas and breads. A little goes a long way so you can try it on all sorts of things — just not peanut butter toast. Trust me.

While I have only seen Xocolate Bar’s Cacao Fruit Jam at their Rockridge store, you can buy other Xocolate Bar’s chocolates at their shops, online, other retail locations (check their website), and special events.

We got Tiny House’s Cacao Nectar at the Craft Chocolate Experience but it is also available on their website. Their line of chocolate bars is carried by some SFBA markets and retailers like Bi-Rite, Chocolate Covered, and The Xocolate Bar, and at other stores around California and the US. Check their website for locations.

Published October 28, 2024

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