I am the lucky one. Just back from a day trip to Italy, Brindisi, Lecce and Gallipoli. Meeting suppliers, looking in shops, eating and drinking Italian style, (not difficult) and always on the lookout for something new.

One of my suppliers is introducing in September a white, milk and a dark 70gr (75%) “tablet” in individual portions. Now I know them but I doubt if you do. So I will keep it to myself. For the moment.

Other one of my suppliers, more famous for Panetonne than chocolate, has a superb “i Cru” 75% square bar. Maybe I will add that to my list in September.

My good friends at Vannucci, who most of you do not know, will be offering a 100% cocoa, sugar free bar in September. No sugar alternative. No mallitol or aspartame.

And an excellent cappuccino bar with 4 – 5% coffee content.

Of course it is well documented that one company in Italy supplies nearly all these producers with the basic ingredient. It is how it is used that shows the skill and creativity of the choclatiers.

By the way, chocolate coated figs, stuffed with almond paste are speciality of the area of Italy near Brindisi and Bari called Salento. My company imports those too.

The offer to send to anyone who enquires, a Vannucci 73% 100gr tablet still stands.

Amazingly enough, not many takers!

Email me personally at enquiries@delicato.co.uk.

xx

Geoffrey O’Brien of Delicato. Importers of fine Italian chocolates in the UK

I sent you some suggestions for the business, and my address, but no choc has turned up yet…?

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My name is Polarbear and I am a chocoholic…

ooh! can you tell me more? what’s it like? what’s it made of?

<<ce qui fait du bien au palais ne fait du mal à l’âme>>

thanks much, polarbear,

that clinches vanucci for me…

<<ce qui fait du bien au palais ne fait du mal à l’âme>>

quote:

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Originally posted by LoneLy

Polar, how do you manage to taste the difference between the beans + particular burning processes? I’m sooo impressed (and a bit envious of course).
I haven’t got anything yet … still waiting. After I ditched Callebaut a bit unjustly, I’ll give it an honest try.

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The trick is very simple: Just eat a lot of chocolate and have a slightly inflated ego[:D]

You will reckognise the differences quite fast: Criollos are rich and fruity, forasteros are somewhat dim and more harsh/iron/”dark” without fuit. Trinitarios are somewhere between.

Criollos from Madagaskar tend to be more red colored and fruity than the ones from South Africa.

These are the generals, of course, and I am certainly not an expert. I do not reckognise the different subvarieties, and the distinction between criollo and trinitario is also difficult. (Read: I cannot often do it!)

The vanilline taste is very distinct – buy any cheap 70% bar and you will know imidiately.

Regarding burning: It’s also just at taste thing – the Vanucci does not have such a strong burned (ash) taste as many others.

Bt the way, if you want to taste a distinct forasteros without the annoying vanilline, try the 71,6% (!) from Peter Beier in Copenhagen. It contains 75% Forasteros, 10% criollo, 15% tronitario. http://www.peterbeierchokolade.dk/pindex.htm

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My name is Polarbear and I am a chocoholic…

Delicato has told me that Vanucci have been listening to their customers feedback and are already changing the recipe to use real vanilla – these new bars will be available from September, so it may be worth a revisit then.

I’ve also tried the 100%, which is not bad and about on the same level as Cluizel’s 99%, though without the spice.

Martin Christy
Editor
http://www.seventypercent.com

The burnt flavor usually results from over-roasted beans, which in turn could result from lower quality beans, such as Forasteros. Forasteros are inherently bitter and harsh, so they’re roasted a bit longer to reduce the astrngency, which consequently diminishes the flavor. Unfortunately, sometimes the beans are roasted too long, and the resulting flavor is usually a sour smokiness that doesn’t match too well. Amedei’s Porcelana suffers from over-roasting, and it’s quite easy to discern against the mellow strawberry-cream flavors.

I do a lot of research and tasting. I try to compare my tastes to other people’s tastes, then draw conclusions. I don’t know what role water plays in flavor, but if one were to roast longer, wouldn’t the moisture consequently be reduced? And if water retention did in fact cause astringency, then that problem would thusly be solved by over-roasting.