The chocolate circle. I’ve written about it before. Somehow the origin/artisan chocolate world is filled with people who are so thrilled by the wonderful products they make or discover, they want to share this knowledge with as many people who will appreciate it!
A while ago, I was contacted by Adrienne from the United States. She was intrigued by the Amma Cupuaçu bar, which she couldn’t find locally. So she proposed to swap some bars. You know, you toss me the Amma bars and I’ll throw some other bars back at you. And if we throw hard enough, we’ll reach the other side of the Atlantic ocean. I’m glad we both turned out good throwers!
In my package, I found two Fruition and one Rogue Chocolate bars.
Today I dig into the first of the Fruition bars. Let’s start with the lowest cacao content, to get a smooth first impression!
Fruition is a small batch, bean-to-bar chocolate maker from New York. The Catskill Mountains to be precise. I’ve heard a lot about them and saw their products pass by on Twitter and Facebook, but they are really hard to get over here in Europe. So I was thrilled to set my teeth in this bar.
The package is simply gorgeous. Stylish, yet playful and reminds me of an envelope sleeve. The first thing I noticed is how Fruition doesn’t throw the origin all over the package. It just states Signature 66% Dark Chocolate. Almost as if they already want to draw your attention to the bar itself, rather than name-dropping terroirs or bean varieties.
Flip over the package and there you’ll find all the info you desire.
So Bryan Graham is the person behind this receipt, it is made from Peruvian cacao beans and contains nothing but cacao, cane sugar, cacao butter and vanilla beans. The cacao is stone ground and slow roasted.
The bar itself is hidden in a clear cellophane blister, but to my happy surprise, it is one of those blister you can actually open in a way you can rewrap your bar for storage after tasting. Excellent!
Unfortunately, my bar seems to have been shaken up a bit during the cross Atlantic throw-about, as it had broken into several pieces. But you can tell the design follows pretty much the sleeve. The same markings show up, combined with nice “F” letters stating it is Fruition. The chocolate shines like there is no tomorrow. Perfect thickness and a gorgeous surface.
Bean: Not mentionned
Origin: Peru
Production: Fruition Chocolate – Shokan, New York, USA
Price: about $10 – 60 g
Color: A pretty dark brown, considering the lower cacao content.
Aroma: Dark Cacao tones, wood and roasted coffee. Smells more powerful than expected.
Taste: An obvious sweet start giving room for clear vanilla aromas, supported by loads of luscious yellow fruits. They remind me of ripe papaya, apricot and raisin. Slowly some roasted coffee tones come through, giving body to the chocolate. Never overwhelming, but just enough to make it mature. The texture is extremely smooth and the melt is very seductive and long. The aftertaste has a nice length and looses the fruit tones, but leaves you with such an amazing chocolate taste including touches of wood and espresso.
Even though the cacao percentage is lower than I normally experience, this chocolate never becomes to sweet. It is simply delicious. Full bodied, amazing flavors and a gorgeous melt. And what struck me most? I barely could put it aside. I could easily have eaten the whole chocolate bar in one sitting. Not because it is the most complex chocolate ever or throws the most amount of flavors around, but just because it is so darn good!
Highly appreciated and recommended! I can’t wait to try the other bar I have laying in the cupboard! Mr. Bryan Graham unmistakably knows his trade!
