Continuing from last week’s blog post, I am here to share with you how different cocoa origins and its breeds decide a chocolate’s taste profile. As you should know by now, individual chocolate; be it a single origin or mix has its own unique flavours and profiles.
Different companies and brands has its own different profiling for its chocolate and in our Patissier Artisan range, our couvertures and chocolates are evaluated based on the following;
Cocoa Mass & their origin
So what affects the taste profile?
Taste profile are primarily decided by the cocoa mass used in the chocolate and other factors such as cocoa content and the manufacturing process etc.
At Aalst Chocolate, we only uses cocoa mass that are meticulously sourced and selected from the following West Africa and Latin America countries:
Ghana
Ghana is the second largest producer of cocoa beans in the world, accounting for approximately 13% of total world cocoa production. The chocolate made from Ghana Cacao Beans are more creamy and fruity with a creamy-sour and musty-woody taste.
Sao Tomé
Sao Tomé is the second smallest African country located near the equator. It produces high-grade pure Forastero species cocoa beans. Sao Tomé Chocolate has a distinct caramelized-burnt, earthy and nutty taste profile with floral-fruity and bitter flavour.
Madagascar
Madagascar produces cocoa beans from Criollo and Trinitario Cocoa Trees. Its chocolate has high acidity with a floral-citrus, dried fruit and honey-floral flavour.
Dominican Republic
Chocolate made from only Dominican Republic Cacao have a bitter, earthy and winey-tobacco taste profile. They are more bitter and acidic with slight sweetness.
Peru
Peruvian Cacao mostly belongs to the Forastero Cocoa category such as Amelonado cocoa trees and are characterised by its smoky bean, woody and sour flavour. It has a fair balance of cocoa flavour, fruitiness and acidity with slight bitterness and sweetness.
Ecuador
Cacao from Ecuador are from Trinitario trees and are known for its superior quality. It has a well mix of roasted, cocoa flavours with floral-earthy and floral-winey taste profile besides having a burnt-smoky flavour.
In order to craft a distinctive taste profile, most chocolate consists of a blend of cocoa mass from different countries. Of course, many chocolate connoisseur prefers single origin chocolate; chocolate that contains only cocoa mass from a single country as it allows them to taste the unique characteristics and profile of those cocoa beans.
Our Pâtissier Artisan range do offer you different choices from single origins to different mixed-origin chocolate. So if you are interested, do contact us or drop us an email, we are more than willing to have an in depth tasting session if possible.
Next week, we will be discussing the suitable pairing of chocolate with other ingredients, a very important aspect of choosing the right chocolate for any creations.
Cheers
Chef Jacques Poulain