{"id":9534,"date":"2017-07-11T15:13:26","date_gmt":"2017-07-11T22:13:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/?p=9534"},"modified":"2024-06-07T12:34:56","modified_gmt":"2024-06-07T19:34:56","slug":"make-it-snappy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/outsidechocolate\/chocolateroundtheworld\/make-it-snappy\/","title":{"rendered":"Make it snappy"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

\"Marou
Marou\u2019s Sampler Pack displays their pretty packaging<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Marou, Faiseurs de Chocolat<\/a>,<\/strong> is a Vietnamese bean-to-bar chocolate company based in Ho Chi Min City that works with small cacao farms across the country from the Mekong Delta to the mountains. Their bars were named some of the best chocolate bars in the world by Britain\u2019s The Telegraph. (SFBA\u2019s Dandelion Chocolate<\/a> was also included in their top 15 list.)<\/p>\n

Coincidentally, I recently tried some Marou bars with a group of friends that included a Vietnamese American scientist who works for the USDA. He identified the areas the different bars were sourced from, and \u2014 bonus \u2014 he gave us an education in the physics of bar strength and flexibility.<\/p>\n

\"gold
Even the inner wrapper is special with the Marou logo seal<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"bar
The large bars have a custom mold<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MOR\/MOE<\/h2>\n

The physics lesson came about because after oohing and aahing about Marou\u2019s beautiful packaging (super gift-y), the next distinctive thing about the bars is how hard they are. They are definitely the snappiest bars I\u2019ve ever experienced.<\/p>\n

Hao, the scientist, used the terms MOE and MOR to describe the bars\u2019 snap. \u201cMOE stands for modulus of elasticity, and means, \u2018is it flexible?\u2019 \u201d he said. \u201cMOR is modulus of rupture and measures how strong the piece is.\u201d<\/p>\n

He pronounced the first Marou bar we tried as: \u201chigh MOR and low MOE. Or… hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

All of the Marou bars we tried exhibited this same high MOR\/low MOE characteristic: They are so hard that they shatter when you break them. Forget about breaking off a piece at a time.<\/p>\n

The hardness also means they are very slow melting. You do have to work this chocolate around in your mouth before it melts. One taster commented, \u201cThe melt is missing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why so hard?<\/h2>\n

I have a hypothesis why these bars are so hard, and it has to do with making the chocolate in the place where it grows. I\u2019ve tried 2 other bars made from Vietnamese beans before. The first Vietnamese chocolate I tried<\/a> was a single-origin bar from Scharffen Berger when they were still in Berkeley. I liked it, but noted at the time that it was hard.<\/p>\n

The second was a nameless bar a friend brought back from Vietnam. It was not hard, but it looked terrible because it had bloomed like crazy. Obviously, the makers had not tempered the chocolate enough to keep it from melting at room temperature.<\/p>\n

Since Vietnam is a hot country, I think Marou puts an emphasis on tempering their chocolate to keep it from melting in the heat. Plus, I\u2019d guess they use as little cocoa butter as possible to also minimize the threat of bloom.<\/p>\n

If that\u2019s their goal, it definitely works. Marou bars are glossy and very firm. They also smell delicious, so if you like dark chocolate, or need a nice gift for someone who does, check out Marou.<\/p>\n

\"Treasure
X marks the (supposed) spot where this bar is from<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Imaginary island<\/h2>\n

The first Marou bar we tried was their Treasure Island 75% cacao bar. The packaging described the source as \u201ccacao beans grown on small family-owned farms on the remote island of Tan Phu Dong, stretching from the two northernmost arms of the Mekong Delta all the way into the sea.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hao was suspicious of this claim. As an agriculturalist and someone who\u2019s been to the Mekong Delta many times, he didn\u2019t believe there is any cacao growing there. He even showed us the Google Street View map of the island: \u201cSee! Nothing but fishing!\u201d<\/p>\n

I did some research, and it seems that Vietnam is developing their cacao industry, including in the Mekong Delta<\/a>, so maybe next time Google updates their maps, we will see images of cacao plantations there. Or maybe next time he visits Vietnam, Hao will bring back photographic evidence of his own.<\/p>\n

Whether or not the beans come from an island or not, the bar was a hit. Like all Marou bars, the packaging is beautiful, the bar looks and smells great, and it\u2019s super brittle.<\/p>\n

This was probably my favorite Marou bar. It has a deep, rich flavor, almost like strong coffee with a long-lasting aftertaste. It\u2019s not bitter. And I think the Treasure Island packaging is fun. Chocolate as adventure!<\/p>\n

\"Tien
Another eye-catching wrapper from Marou features silk-screened gold accents and hand embossed logos<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Art in the details<\/h2>\n

The other big bar we tried was the Tien Giang 80% Wallpaper Edition. The name was a bit of a head-scratcher, until I checked Marou\u2019s website and found that it was made as a special edition for London\u2019s Wallpaper* magazine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Wallpaper* was publishing an issue that focused on unique handmade luxury items and wanted to include Marou. Marou reciprocated with a custom bar in a custom wrapper.<\/p>\n

The special wrapper was designed by Rice Creative, and it\u2019s hand printed and embossed in Vietnam. Like all Marou chocolates, the bar is hand wrapped in gold foil and finished with this beautiful handmade outer wrapper.<\/p>\n

This bar was recommended to me by one of the baristas at Socola Chocolatier + Barista<\/strong><\/a> as their favorite Marou bar. I was leery about it because it\u2019s an 80%, which is often too bitter for me, but I\u2019m glad I gave it a chance.<\/p>\n

Of course it looked and smelled good; and it was hard and fractured on impact. It was a little bitter; one of our tasters described it as sour. Another suggested it would be good with raisins to balance out the bitter\/sour taste. And I though the aftertaste was dry and bitter.<\/p>\n

Sounds like a no, right? But the texture was very smooth, and we found ourselves going back for second tastes. It\u2019s a flavor that grows on you, we decided. It\u2019s not a real fruity chocolate; it\u2019s more on the spicy\/earthy side. Marou\u2019s site describes it as \u201chigh in spice, tobacco, and nutty flavours,\u201d but I\u2019ve eaten cigar-flavored chocolate<\/a> before, and this was nothing like that (thank goodness).<\/p>\n

Taste the countryside<\/h2>\n

We also tried a sampler pack of 5 smaller single-origin bars. I love the sample pack idea \u2014 it\u2019s fun to compare flavors, and each bar is less of a commitment when you don\u2019t have a clue as to which you will like best. But we did have a criticism of this pack: the bars are too thin. Marou chocolate in full-size bars already shatters, these break like glass into hard pointy shards. We would love thicker bars in the sampler pack.<\/p>\n

\"Ba
Our favorite bar in the sampler pack: Ba Ria 76% bar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There were two 70% bars in our pack: the Tien Giang and the\u00a0Dak Lak.<\/p>\n

The Tien Giang 70%, like the Wallpaper* special edition, came from beans grown in the Mekong Delta. It had a slightly chalky texture. To me, it wasn\u2019t strongly chocolate tasting, and it ended with a woody or earthy taste. It had a slightly ascerbic (like unripe persimmon) or metallic aftertaste.<\/p>\n

Cacaopod liked it better: \u201cThere was nothing at first, but it finishes nicely with a slightly tangy, fruity flavor,\u201d he said. \u201cIt makes me want to go back for more.\u201d<\/p>\n

I liked the Dak Lak 70% more. Hao said it\u2019s from the central highlands of Vietnam where they grow coffee and tea. It had a richer chocolate taste, which was more satisfying.<\/p>\n

Another bar from the central highlands was the Lam Dong 74%. This bar was especially mentioned in The Telegraph article, but I\u2019m not sure why (I think the Treasure Island bar is the one to promote). This was a basic chocolate bar to us; not bad, but no wow.<\/p>\n

The bar we liked best in the sampler pack was the Ba Ria 76%. Ba Ria is a city on ocean in southeast Vietnam. It\u2019s more fruity than other Marou bars and not bitter. Our other tasters said it was more complex, with a wider range of flavors than the other bars.<\/p>\n

The last bar in the pack was the Ben Tre 78%, another bar sourced from the Mekong Delta. It had the good, strong chocolate smell I now associate with Marou. The bar was a little bitter\/acidic, not unexpected for a 78%, with raisin overtones and a nice aftertaste.<\/p>\n

I bought the Marou bars at Socola Chocolatier + Barista,<\/strong><\/a> but Marou bars are available worldwide. Locally, you can find them at Chocolate Covered<\/a>, Draeger\u2019s<\/a>, Market Hall Foods<\/a>,\u00a0Star Grocery<\/a>,<\/strong> and other local foodie destinations. Check their website<\/a> for other locations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some physics and geography lessons helped with our chocolate appreciation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":10145,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,169],"tags":[84,898,281,149,899],"class_list":["post-9534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chocolateroundtheworld","category-reviews","tag-chocolate-covered","tag-marou","tag-socola-chocolatier","tag-vietnam","tag-vietnamese"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9534","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=9534"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9534\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43179,"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9534\/revisions\/43179"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}