Tag Archive: Nacional
Trader Joe’s Chocolate Passport – Peru 60%
February 13, 2017
Chocolate of the week: Peru
Peru is situated in western South America, bordered by Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, and the Pacific Ocean.
Cacao is grown in many regions throughout the country. (As an interesting aside, in 2007, a rare variety of cacao called Pure Nacional was rediscovered in Peru. Decades earlier, disease had destroyed 100% of these trees, or so it was thought. Pure Nacional was put on the extinct species list. Pure Nacional is a white cocoa bean, not the common purple color.)
Peru’s diverse microclimates provide unique growing conditions for cacao - different varieties of cacao growing at different altitudes.
Rare Chocolate Bars
August 31, 2012
For the most part, we tend to lean towards fitting in. But some people still love the idea of uniqueness, the kind where you almost always stand out, rare, to be exact. And yes, even chocolates have their own take, as the rarest chocolate in the world is readily available on the shelves of one small store in Wichita, Kansas.
Cocoa Dolce, located in the Bradley Fair shopping center, has claimed to be in possession of a chocolate that has been considered to be already extinct. Most cocoa beans are purple in color, whereas these are white. But more than anything else, its taste has confounded chocolatiers and chocoholics around the world. "We're really excited because we're the exclusive retailer in the state of Kansas for the rarest chocolate in the world," said owner Beth Tully.
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The Different Types of Cacao Beans
September 15, 2011
Just because there’s only one species of Theobroma cacao doesn’t mean there are no different types of cacao beans. However, even experts themselves can’t seem to agree on how many types of cacao beans there actually are, but let’s stick with 4.
Why in the world would you even care about this mumbo jumbo? Well, for starters, one word, flavor. While most of us are happily content with any chocolate in hand just as long as it’s good, true blue chocolate lovers take pleasure in the subtle differences in aroma, taste, and texture between the different cacao bean varieties.
The first type of cacao beans is the Criollo. It was initially cultivated by the Mesoamericans and is generally considered to be the most excellent worldwide. It has a rich, intricate aroma, and a profound yet smooth flavor. Criollo beans require just a little fermentation and short roasting to draw out the flavors.
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Lost Cacao Rediscovered in Peru
December 30, 2010
A rare variety of cacao called Pure Nacional thought lost or extinct has been rediscovered in Peru.
Pure Nacional, once famous for its fruity and floral flavor notes, was wiped out by disease within a three year time period in Ecuador and Peru. At least 95% of the cacao trees died out during that plague.
However, some unusual cacao trees growing pods containing white beans were discovered in a remote canyon in Peru’s Maranon Canyon. Samples were sent to the United States Department of Agriculture for testing. The USDA recently confirmed these were Pure Nacional variety of cacao.
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