Seventy% - Topic: Max Felchlin Cru Sauvage

seneca on Max Felchlin Cru Sauvage

Mon, 19 Dec 2005 23:14:07 +0000

The Cru Sauvage is now available in the US through Pure Origin (Clay Gordon), and he was kind enough to send us a sample. The chocolate has a wonderful roasty aroma, luscious mouthfeel and a really nice bouquet of fruit flavors on offer, especially towards the finish. All in all a really nicely composed chocolate, if a bit too sweet for my taste at 68%.

As far as origin, it seems likely that the trees are some wild Forastero variant rather than a truly wild Cacao species like Bicolor...Still the region is really unique, and the chocolate shows it.

Hans-Peter Rot on Max Felchlin Cru Sauvage

Sat, 10 Dec 2005 06:53:31 +0000

If you want my two cents, I'll say that Felchlin has an awfully good handle on Arriba, which is perhaps the next best interpretation next to Slitti.

Masur on Max Felchlin Cru Sauvage

Fri, 09 Dec 2005 22:44:59 +0000

I've tried it and it sure is Felchlin but I still prefer Maracaibo Clasificado 65%.

"Porcelana: The Holy Grail of Pure Criollos" (Maricel E. Presilla)

ducky on Max Felchlin Cru Sauvage

Fri, 09 Dec 2005 22:17:30 +0000

It is wonderful a chocolate and I for one am glad I got a chance to sample it. The depth and delicate flavor was amazing. Great mouthfeel. Not to mention that the presentation with it molded with the feather on the top of the bar is great for wowing your foodie friends. Beautiful stuff.

Hans-Peter Rot on Max Felchlin Cru Sauvage

Fri, 02 Sep 2005 17:04:11 +0000

Yes, the term "Criollo" actually means "indigenous," but this was used before the distinctions among all three (or four) types were made. In context, this usage is obsolete and very confusing for people, so I do not see the point as to why someone would still use it.

legodude on Max Felchlin Cru Sauvage

Fri, 02 Sep 2005 10:42:06 +0000

The term criollo have some places been used on the cacao plants that were "indigenous" to dicern them from varieties later introduced, even if the cacao not were from the criollo group.

Hans-Peter Rot on Max Felchlin Cru Sauvage

Fri, 02 Sep 2005 00:45:21 +0000

It's just a marketing ploy. Nacional is often regarded as a fourth subclass of cacao because of its similarities to Criollo and Forastero. It shares properties of each, i.e. the plant itself is hearty and robust, while the flavor is delicate. Apparently, Felchlin is using this to their advantage and twisting things around a bit.

I think that Felchlin is also trying to promote their use of cacao that was not grown on a plantation. It is probably grown in the wild - the forest, nature, whatever you want to call it - but of course, it is tended and cared for by human hands.

ellie on Max Felchlin Cru Sauvage

Thu, 01 Sep 2005 22:38:38 +0000

They've got a Swedish distributor,click Europe on the map.
Pretty strong to claim cacao trees, which "remained natural for centuries", indeed wild, if all that means that cacao naturalized there. And what that mistery "Criollo nacional" classification they have under Arriba Grand Cru?

Hans-Peter Rot on Max Felchlin Cru Sauvage

Thu, 01 Sep 2005 16:04:49 +0000

I've heard rumors of retail bars in the past, and I've seen presentation boxes with four large napolitans, each one about 15g in size perhaps. Included were: Arriba 72%, Madagascar 64%, Maracaibo Clasificado 65%, and a Maracaibo Creole 49%.

Masur on Max Felchlin Cru Sauvage

Thu, 01 Sep 2005 13:22:56 +0000

Chokladfabriken in Stockholm makes bars of couverture from Felchlin. Felchlin's Maracaibo Clasificado 65% and Maracaibo Creole 49% so far but I'm pretty sure they will make a Bolivian bar later on.
The fairtrade chocolate (Mascao) I think is made by Bernrain/Stella and not the best around.

[url]http://www.sackeus.se/CHOKLAD%20OCH%20KAKOR.htm[/url]

"Porcelana: The Holy Grail of Pure Criollos" (Maricel E. Presilla)

legodude on Max Felchlin Cru Sauvage

Thu, 01 Sep 2005 12:10:45 +0000

Who has fair trade chocolate from Bolivia?
Are there anyone who provide Felchlin in bars in Sweden?

Masur on Max Felchlin Cru Sauvage

Thu, 01 Sep 2005 11:23:15 +0000

You can buy fair trade chocolate made of beans from Boliva.
Maybe not the best chocolate around so it would be nice to try the new couverture from Felchlin.

"Porcelana: The Holy Grail of Pure Criollos" (Maricel E. Presilla)

legodude on Max Felchlin Cru Sauvage

Thu, 01 Sep 2005 10:21:48 +0000

If you go to http://www.felchlin.com you can see a new couverture from Bolivia, called Cru Sauvage. They claim it is the first chocolate made from wild cacao. According to B. Bartley in the book The Genetic Diversty of Cacao and its Utilization, the cacao plants i Beni in Bolivia are survivors of old plantations and not wild cacao. It seems like the variety is an Amazonian amelonado with purple cotyledons, an indication of forastero family.

Could be interesting to try it anyway, not many Bolivian chocolates around.