1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease and flour 9x13 inch pan. Mix sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Busy.One very nice thing about being a devoted chocolate lover living in DC is that there are more and more locally-made chocolates available to us all the time. Just look at those divine Fleur de Sel Caramels that I got from Artisan Confections. Zoe’s up in Frederick is putting together some truly divine flavor combinations in their bars. And of course, Potomac Chocolate provides us all with the chance to try locally-made goods from bean-to-bar artisan chocolate maker.
Now, to add to the offerings, Salazon started pumping out bars in nearby Eldersberg, MD about a year ago. I found this bar of dark chocolate with natural sea salt at the Friendship Heights Whole Foods on a trip to pick up running shoes, perfume, and cocoa powder.
It was an efficient trip. Really.
The aroma of this 54% cocoa bar is herby, and reminded me of basil and mint. The bar also offered some nicely executed artwork.
I take the fact that I noticed this as progress. It means that I looked at this bar long enough before eating it to notice. I also noticed, before I bit in, that there was salt visible on the back of the bar. Would this be like a shot of saltwater? Tough to say without eating.
Off I go.
The salt is evident, but is sufficiently ground such that it isn’t overwhelming; however, it’s a little concentrated towards the back of the bar, and the experience would be more complete if it were uniformly distributed. That said, the salt does bring out a nutty flavor from the chocolate, as well as a bit of mint, and the bar also features vanilla and perhaps a hint of licorice. The melt of the chocolate is smooth, until the end when there’s a hint of dryness. Overall, it’s a nice bar, and I enjoy finding locally-made products, but it’s not the best salted chocolate out there.
Even after this bar, I have yet to find that perfect salted chocolate. The quest continues.
Have you seen Salazon Chocolate around? Where did you see it?
That awesome swimmer I took to a national synchronized swimming meet last weekend? She bought me more chocolate.
Inside that box were four salted butter caramels from Artisan Confections, right next door to DC in Arlington, VA. Nice, isn’t it? But it left me without new chocolate to review.
As if. Check out these fleur de sel caramels, straight from Artisan’s kitchen.
The chocolates had a subtle earthy aroma with a hint of vanilla. And that salt made eyes at me.
It did. It really did. Salt has a thing for me like I have a thing for salt.
The couverture that held onto that salt was smooth with fruity and minty flavors, with an earthy finish. It had a relatively fast melt as well as a texture that matched that of the caramel perfectly. No. Flaking. At. All.
This made it even easier to savor the interior caramel, which was that perfect texture that is neither chewy nor runny. The flavor trended towards buttery instead of creamy, and also included a little salt and vanilla with just the right amount of added sugar. The salt atop the pieces stands about a bit in a few bites, but not displeasingly so. All blended together, the chocolate, sugar, salt, and butter result in a near-perfect blend of flavors, with a superior texture making this what might be my ideal salted caramel.
My ideal salted caramel just a few miles away? My life is great.
Are there any chocolate makers near you who make great caramels?
Rind:
The 50% cocoa solids bar has a faint coffee aroma typical of most dark chocolates from large manufacturers. The flavor is also a standard, but pleasing, coffee-vanilla flavor with just a touch of added sugar.
Inside that dark chocolate is a sweet, substantially dense marzipan with a hint of almond extract at the end, as well as what seems to be a coconut flavor. It matches nicely with the chocolate, both from a texture continuity perspective and from a flavor balance perspective; I believe that milk chocolate would have simply made this bar too sweet. As the marzipan is fairly plain, the bar is not complex, but it is certainly satisfactory, and a nice change of pace from the milk chocolate.
Which we’re moving back to. With the zaniest creation from the box: the milk chocolate with yogurt filling.
Yogurt? I mean, the milk chocolate we know. Weak cream aroma, a sweet chocolate with a bit of dairy. But yogurt? How would this go?
It goes tart. Which is to say, nicely with sweet milk chocolate, even if just a little thin against the thick chocolate shell. Texture matching issues aside, the flavor combination is simply brilliant. Really. More chocolatiers should try this.
And send me samples.
Have you ever had chocolate with yogurt filling?
