This bar is made using cocoa beans from the Piura region of north west Peru, sourced directly in collaboration with CacaoTales. Once harvested they’re shipped to Stoke on Trent where James Walter turns them into one of Seed’s chocolate bars.
If there’s a theme when I write about chocolate from Peru, it’s that the country is large and extremely biodiverse with a ridiculous wealth of microclimates. From the Andes mountains in the north, to the Pacific Ocean in the west and the Amazon Rainforest in the south east, the climate is varied to say the least. If you tried to pin down Peru as a single origin you’d be struggling. Even describing the flavour profiles of a region like Piura would have you floundering, such is the variety and diversity of flavour exhibited by Peruvian cacao. Here we have a bar made beans from northern Peru, blended with some English seaside ingredients, sea truffle and dehydrated coastal flowers. I’m inclined to expect a mixture of sweet, fruity, salty and umami flavours to come forward. As always with inclusion bars my main hope is that the chocolate matches well with the inclusion and they offer something greater than the sum of its parts. Opening the packaging I’m presented with a crazy paving cocoa pod slab in a glossy finish. Breaking off a piece reveals sweet and salty notes of cocoa, salted mango and a lingering note of sea water. Placing a piece in my mouth the chocolate has a rich buttery and slightly juicy feel with furry sea truffle textures contrasting. To taste this bar is a contrast of sweet and fruity chocolate with a buttery and honeyed feel with fluffy, furry, salty and umami inclusions. The flavours do complement each other, but are clearly and separately defined rather than amalgamated. Sweet and fruity lemon curd and honeyed apricot notes splash against salty, umami and slightly pickled notes which give a ketchup like feel which also reminds me a little of black garlic. This is a chocolate for those who enjoy fine dining, unusual ingredients or tastes of the sea, fans of ketchup or those who eat pickles straight from the jar. Best enjoyed with french fries, mayonnaise, puff pastry or jammy porters.
Ingredients: Cocoa beans, unrefined cane sugar, sea truffle, edible flowers
Appearance 8.5/10
Colour: Darker brown
Texture: Lightly coarse flake
Mould: Cocoa pod crazy paving
Snap: Crisp
Temp/Shine: Glossy
Aroma 9/10
Intensity(0-10): 8
Notes: Cocoa, salted mango, sea water
Quality: Sweet, salty, smooth
Melt/Mouthfeel 9/10
Length: Long
Evenness: Even
Texture: Buttery, furry, honeyed, lemon curd
Quality: Rich, buttery, lightly juicy
Acidity 9/10
Intensity(0-10): 6
Notes: Lemon curd, apricot, ketchup
Quality: Bright, lightly tangy, sweet
Sweetness 9/10
Intensity(0-10): 9
Notes: Lemon curd, honey, ketchup
Quality: Bright, honeyed, concentrated
Flavour 9/10
Intensity(0-10): 9
Type: Sweet, salt
Notes: Sea salt, sweet cocoa, lemon curd, apricot, black garlic ketchup, gherkin, seaweed
Quality: Sweet, fruity, salty, bright, concentrated, ketchup like
Length 9/10
Flavours are full, long and present from the outset, making even rounds on peaks of sweet acidity
Finish 9/10
Notes: Seaweed
Quality: As swatches of ketchup like qualities fill the end, the inclusion lasts on and gives a savoury seaweed like flavour which lingers
Balance 9/10
Flavours are mostly complementary, thought slightly contrasted, firm structure provides solid anchoring and plenty of stability
Overall 9/10
Bar has good depth and dimension, complexities are balanced and structure is consistent, expression is clear and honest, though inclusion and chocolate and defined separately with processing encouraging contrast of ingredients
Seed Chocolate’s Tasting Notes: Salt. Black truffle. Fruity acetic elder. Malt. Long lasting cocoa notes.
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