{"id":39870,"date":"2023-11-07T11:42:07","date_gmt":"2023-11-07T19:42:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/?p=39870"},"modified":"2024-04-19T12:50:38","modified_gmt":"2024-04-19T19:50:38","slug":"the-out-of-towners-fall-2023-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/outsidechocolate\/chocolateroundtheworld\/the-out-of-towners-fall-2023-edition\/","title":{"rendered":"The Out of Towners, Fall 2023 edition"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the past few months I have tried chocolate from a few countries that might not spring to mind for chocolate. But first: Reviews of some chocolate from classic chocolate destinations.<\/p>\n

Chocolaterie Vandenbouhede<\/h2>\n
\"Belgian
Belgian dark chocolate bark covered with whole hazelnuts<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Now that people are venturing out again, a friend shared some Belgian chocolate bark they bought on their late-summer-boating-through-the-canals-of-Northern-Europe adventure. Sure I wish I could have gone myself, but having someone bring back chocolate seems like the next best thing.<\/p>\n

The bark by Chocolaterie Vandenbouhede<\/a><\/strong> in Ghent came in dark and milk chocolate and was covered with whole roasted hazelnuts. Our friend said it cost $100 a kilo \u2014 I\u2019m an American so frustratingly that reference meant nothing to me. I had to Google the conversion: 1 kilogram = 35.274 ounces. $100 divided by 35.274 = $2.83\/ounce. Typical artisan bar weighs around 2.5-3 ounces so about $7\u2013$8.50 a bar. Sounds like a pretty good deal.<\/p>\n

The packaging was nothing special \u2014 plastic bags with information printed on the stickers that sealed the bags \u2014 but the chocolate looked good, not too thick not too thin with lots of hazelnuts.<\/p>\n

Both barks required chewing to get them melting but the whole hazelnuts required chewing anyway so it\u2019s all good. The dark chocolate was smooth, really tasty, and made of quality ingredients. The roasting made the hazelnuts extra hazelnut-y tasting, and the balance was right between the chocolate and nuts. The milk chocolate was too sweet for us and surprisingly hard for a milk chocolate. Dark is definitely the way to go.<\/p>\n

Our friend said the staff at Bookz & Booze<\/a> in Ghent recommended Chocolaterie Vandenbouhede and told him they make their chocolate on site. The bark isn\u2019t available on their website \u2014 you now have an excuse to travel to Ghent \u2014 but they do have bars, bonbons, and other chocolate treats.<\/p>\n

Chocolat Bonnat<\/h2>\n
\"Chocolat
Chocolat Bonnat Cote d\u2019Ivoire single origin bar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A Dandelion Chocolate<\/a><\/strong>-loving friend shared a single origin bar from another maker she likes \u2014 maybe just as much. She told us she buys French chocolate maker Chocolat Bonnat\u2019s<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0bars at Tahoe City Chocolates<\/a> because she goes there often but Chocolate Covered SF<\/a><\/strong> carries a selection of Chocolat Bonnat bars too so we can get them locally.<\/p>\n

The bar she shared was their 75% dark made from C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire cacao. It had a hard snap and smooth texture. It was very chocolatey and nutty initially, a little bitter and not too sweet. Trying it a second time it was more earthy and fermented tasting reminding me of tobacco but not overpoweringly so. It also had a \u201ccrispy brownie edge\u201d flavor that I\u2019d first heard of in TCHO\u2019s advertising<\/a> but hadn\u2019t experienced until this bar. It\u2019s a distinct single origin bar.<\/p>\n

N\u00f3i S\u00edrius<\/h2>\n

Our friend also shared an Icelandic chocolate bar that she bought at Tahoe City Chocolates: Noi Sirius<\/a> <\/strong>started as a candy company over 100 years ago and started making chocolate in the 1930s. They make a lot of old school Nordic candies \u2014 so much licorice \u2014 but they started a line of Traditional Icelandic Chocolate 10 years ago that includes the bar we tried.<\/p>\n

\"Noi
Noi Sirius Sea Salt bar (image from their website)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The bar she shared was a 70% Dark Chocolate with Sea Salt. It had a medium snap and tasted like fudge and salt initially. It was a little grainy from the salt and had some big flakes of salt too. \u00a0It became more bitter and salty as the chocolate and salt flakes melted, with coconut and licorice (maybe power of suggestion? Cross contamination at the factory?) overtones. The chocolate has a good flavor but unless you really like salt I would stick to their unsalted choices.<\/p>\n

I couldn\u2019t find any info on where they source their cacao but according to their website their chocolate has been certified by Cocoa Horizons, which means \u201cthe cocoa beans are grown responsibly through sustainable farming.\u201d<\/p>\n

Public Chocolatory<\/h2>\n
\"Public
A shiny Public Chocolatory bar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When I dragged my sister around on a chocolate death march<\/a> this past August, I included a stop at\u00a0Chocolate Covered, the wonderful shop in SF that sells over 1000 different bars from around the world. When I asked Jack what\u2019s new, he told me he had just gotten in some bars from South Korea.<\/p>\n

If you know me then you know that was all it took to get me to buy these bars \u2014 Kpop and every other touchstone of Korean culture are all conversation starters with me (you have been warned). But in the same breath Jack mentioned they were pricy. In fact he mentioned it several times as he led us over to the display.<\/p>\n

He had four bars from Public Chocolatory<\/a>,<\/strong> a Korean micro batch chocolate maker. In my eyes the Korean chocolate scene has developed rapidly. When Cacaopod and I visited Korea the first time in 2009 the only \u201chigh end\u201d chocolate we could find was the kimchi flavored gift chocolate<\/a> in the basement of the Lotte department store in Seoul.<\/p>\n

The second time we visited Seoul<\/a> in 2016 there were more chocolatiers and chocolate cafes than we could list. And now Korean bean to bar chocolate makers! Or as they have labeled themselves \u201cvintoba\u201d or \u201cbintoba\u201d chocolate. Clever.<\/p>\n

Public Chocolatory started in December 2016 so we just missed its beginnings and it has since become one of the more established bean to bar makers in Korea. Even so it is still small enough that the founder and head chocolate maker Hanbin Paek delivered this latest batch of bars to Chocolate Covered herself.<\/p>\n

Of the four bars, 2 were single origins and 2 were infused chocolate. We tasted them with a couple of fellow chocolate lovers and while we all enjoyed them they stretched our descriptive abilities with their complexity.<\/p>\n

Single origin Vintuba chocolate<\/h3>\n

The 2 single origins were both 70% cacao with a shiny surface and good snap. They both had a smooth texture and weren\u2019t bitter but were somewhat astringent.<\/p>\n

\"Public
Public Chocolatory single origin bars<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Madegascar was very aromatic with sour fruit\/citrusy notes. It was so astringent it made my mouth pucker but we all liked its dried cherry notes. Trying it a second time it was still cherry and astringent but more savory.<\/p>\n

The Ecuador had a softer break and wasn\u2019t as aromatic but had a scent of alcohol that reminded us of rum. The flavor was unusual \u2014 kinda smoky then distinctly sweet that became astringent and fermented at the end. We loved its creamy smooth texture and complex flavor. When I tried it a second time I decided the flavor was buttery raisin with a nutty aftertaste. While we liked both bars the Ecuador was more favored for its unusual and complex flavor.<\/p>\n

Inclusion chocolate<\/h3>\n

The other 2 bars also had a good snap and smooth texture but were flavored bars. Origins weren\u2019t listed \u2014 at least not in the English text on the packaging so I think these bars are made with house made couvertures.<\/p>\n

\"Public
Public Chocolatory inclusion bars: Masala Chai and Gangwon Wild Ginseng<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Masala Chai bar was a 55% milk chocolate. It had a softer break than the single origins and an immediate chai taste. Ingredients included\u00a0black tea, cardamom, star anise, clove, and ginger. It definitely had a ginger flavor and bite, and as one of my tasters said, \u201cSpicy! Yea!\u201d<\/p>\n

It was a milky tasting milk chocolate with a strong tea flavor under the spices that made it a little bitter for a milk chocolate. It had a very smooth texture with a satisfying mouthfeel. This was the bar that disappeared first \u2014 very popular.<\/p>\n

The Gangwon Wild Ginseng was the most esoteric bar of the batch. I\u2019ve only had ginseng in chicken soup in Korea or as a \u201chealthy tea\u201d made by pouring a small pack of ridiculously sweet tiny pebbles of dried ginseng \u2014 so sweet to hide the real taste of ginseng or hide the fact the pebbles contained so little ginseng \u2014 into hot water. In Kdramas I see people getting super excited when gifted raw wild ginseng roots so I was looking forward to trying this bar.<\/p>\n

It was the most expensive of these \u201cpricy\u201d bars: $21 vs. $18 for the others. But I\u2019ve learned from Kdramas that wild ginseng is expensive because it\u2019s fairly rare so I was undeterred by the high price. One of my tasters told me to think of it as a \u201chealthy price\u201d instead of a high price.<\/p>\n

She was more familiar with wild ginseng and more skeptical about how this combo would work. I was disappointed when I opened the bar because it smelled like dirt. The other tasters were more diplomatic saying it had an earthy aroma.<\/p>\n

It was a 70% cacao bar with a slightly softer texture than the single origin bars. It had a medicinal bitter taste reminding me of traditional Chinese medicine. Others described it as a dusty taste. Behind that was a good dark chocolate taste. It had a little bite like ginger. And its aftertaste tasted better than the actual taste so I ended up liking this bar. Definitely one for connoisseurs or healthy chocolate enthusiasts.<\/p>\n

NearyN\u00f3gs<\/h2>\n
\"NearyNogs
NearyN\u00f3gs Stoneground Chocolate bars<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The last 3 bars in this roundup came from Ireland. \u00a0NearyN\u00f3gs Stoneground Chocolate Makers<\/a><\/strong> was established in 2011 but Chocolate Covered just started carrying them.<\/p>\n

\"Back
Back of Wild Irish D\u00falam\u00e1n bar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

My regulars tried these bars and liked the Wild Irish D\u00falam\u00e1n Gorse Flower and Irish Seaweed bar best. Made with 70% cacao from the Dominican Republic, seaweed, and dried gorse flowers, it was a little grainy but smooth for stone ground chocolate.<\/p>\n

A little salty and not sweet or bitter, the group thought it was a good savory chocolate. The other flavors were subtle and the taste kept getting better with a \u201cclean aftertaste\u201d as one taster declared.<\/p>\n

The other bar made from 70% Dominican Republic cacao \u2014 the Irish Collection Old Fashioned \u2014 was flavored with burnt sugar, orange bitters, and Irish whiskey. It started out tasting lightly orange and became more orange as it melted. We didn\u2019t taste whiskey or feel any buzzy sensation.<\/p>\n

This one covered its inherent graininess with finely ground cacao nibs so it had a grainier texture but that seemed like a good cover to me \u2014 more chocolate! It was sweeter than the first bar but not too much and it wasn\u2019t bitter. If you like orange chocolate this is a nice one.<\/p>\n

\"NearyN\u00f3gs
NearyN\u00f3gs Toasted Irish Oat bar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The third bar we tried from NearyN\u00f3gs was a white chocolate called Toasted Irish Oat.<\/p>\n

It was a pretty bar with their custom cacao flowers mold standing out on the grayish white chocolate and with cacao nibs sprinkled on the other side. It had a powdery texture and a strange nutty\/savory flavor. None of my tasters liked it. I did like that it wasn\u2019t a sweet bar which is often the case with white chocolate.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t have a distinct oat flavor \u2014 I think the toasted oats translated to the nutty flavor. I have to say the cacao nibs on the back nearly saved this bar. They added a little crunchiness and \u00a0a slightly sweet chocolate aftertaste but it wasn\u2019t enough to win over my crowd. We\u2019ll stick with their dried gorse flower and seaweed bar or the Irish whiskey one.<\/p>\n

All of this chocolate except the Belgian Chocolaterie Vandenbouhede bark and the N\u00f3i S\u00edrius Icelandic Chocolate bar are available at Chocolate Covered. You will have to travel to find the others \u2014 Tahoe City might be the closest for the Icelandic chocolate but you will have to cross the globe for the Belgian bark \u2014 what I would call a good problem.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This blog focuses on SFBA chocolate, but we like to review chocolate from other places too. We compile single worth-a-mention-bar reviews into articles for our recurring \u201cOut of Towners\u201d series<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":37974,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,946,21,169],"tags":[435,664,1577,172,1578,267,515,1582,1576,1581,1571,626,221],"class_list":["post-39870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chocolateroundtheworld","category-european-chocolate","category-koreanchocolate","category-reviews","tag-cardamom","tag-chai","tag-chocolat-bonnat","tag-chocolate-covered-sf","tag-chocolaterie-vandenbouhede","tag-clove","tag-ginger","tag-ginseng","tag-nearynogs","tag-noi-sirius","tag-public-chocolatory","tag-star-anise","tag-tea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39870"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39870\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42618,"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39870\/revisions\/42618"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}