Chocolate Snob's Chocolate Journal

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I got a permission from Rachel Rifat, owner of  the blog Chocolate Snob with link http://chocolate-snob.blogspot.com to re-blog some snippets of her entries. Scanning through the blog, it was started in 2006 and the last entry was December of 2010.

The review for most of the chocolates she tasted is terse. As opposed to my plan of doing my reviews of associating  childhood and or recent past memories with what the bar evoked while tasting it. So up until now my reviews are in my chocolate journals and have not seen the light of being published here in this blog.

But what I find interesting is Ms. Rifat's chocolate journal (scrapbook or album) of those chocolates she reviewed. Her handwritten notes of the chocolate bars she reviewed are then posted on her blog with the photo of the chocolate bar's wrapper. I have plans to do the same but up until now the chocolate wrappers remain stock up in a box awaiting to be put in an album.

( The photos are owned/copyrights of Rachel Rifta

of - http://chocolate-snob.blogspot.com)

Barlovento Chocolates

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My supercreative good friend Ros is back from her 2-year Masters in Educational Theater for Colleges and Communities at NYU. Having travelled coast to coast in the US, she brought for me chocolates from Oakland, California. She went to Oakland Grand Lake Farmer's Market and gave me for "pasalubong" Barlovento Chocalates.

Last Sunday,  we met at the house of a friend (Diane) of our common friend (Fides)  in Makati to do some  housewarming. It was fun doing some ritual house blessing and energizing with chanting and  impromptu percussion and ethnic dancing. Then we had a nice salu-salo (snacks), Diane served a liter of homemade natural juice  and the endless kwentuhan (stories and updating).

The house/condo unit for a single-nester like her is new so the energy is positive. We just hope that our housewarming effort will create and sustain more positive energy to the place as potential venue for some weekend get together.

She gave our host Diane a small box of chocolate which was Barlovento's original chocolate creation the Cheries and exchange several with what was given to me.  According to the creator of Barlovento, "Cherries: This is what started it all. Excellent dried bing cherries from Smit Ranch and fine Venezuelan chocolate. A match made in heaven." And for myself I received a Chipotle almonds in a small plastic cylinder container.

REVIEW of Cherries and Chipotle Almond


Barlovento Chocolate boasts that their chocolate product is made from the best Venezuelan cacao. Barlovento in Venezuela produces the rarest cacao that of Criollo and Trinitario.  The variety grown in the cacao plantation of Barlovento is considered to be the sweetest, most complex variety unlike the more prevalent Forastero variety that is more bitter.

So for this chocolate,  Chipotle Almond, it is an almond covered chocolate that is chili flavored. The aroma of the cacao is sweet since the outer coating is covered with cocoa dust. The main coating is the chili flavored chocolate that is silky. The chili taste is a bit strong with saltiness when nibbling it.  When eaten together the unroasted nutty taste of almond complements well with the chili flavor chocolate that freshens up the mouth.  My score, a prized Criolo it is,  I gave it a 7/10.

And for the chocolate covered cherry, it has sweet cocoa aroma, the chocolate is sweet that have a bitter hint but the  texture is silky. I made two ways of tasting it, clearing the cherry with its chocolate cover and then eating it as is. Eating it as is, the sour taste of cherry is less pronounced as it mixes with the silkiness of the cocoa so it is like leaving the mouth free of any single taste dominant taste of cacao or the cherry. For the cherries I rate it 7/10 as well.

Thanks to Ros for these  Barlovento chocolates. Also, I take this opportunity to invite those who are planning to visit Camiguin to check my friend Ros place,  the Enigmata Treehouse Ecolodge - link here
http://hotels.lonelyplanet.com/philippines/camiguin-r1974204/enigmata-treehouse-ecolodge-q2360585/

Daghang Salamat Ros...

Related Read:

http://www.barloventochocolates.com/barlovento.html
http://pinterest.com/rahonpete/barlovento-chocolates/

Frey Classique Dark Chocolate 72%

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For this chocolate it was a pasalubong (coming home token/gift) from Dir. Roberto Almonte, NCIP Region 4 Director. Together with his family they went to Singapore for a much deserve vacation. Particularly for Director Almonte, a break  from all the arduous tasks of dealing with different issues like mining, dams, etc, in ancestral domains of indigenous people in his region.

I was asked what I like for pasalubong, so I told him dark chocolate from Singapore.  He told me to email what particular brand and which shop to buy it from but I never did bother, hoping he forgets all about it. But lo and behold, when he came to our office, there was the dark chocolate for me. Maraming salamat po, director for being the sponsor of this chocolate.

For this Frey Classifque Dark Chocolate 72 %, it has a brittle snap (well it just came from the ref). Smell-wise,  since it is  dark it has a strong cocoa scent. I can’t pinpoint exactly the taste of the chocolate.  And at first bite it has strong taste of the cocoa. But when it melts it produces other flavor a nutty taste, in particular. Unlike most milk chocolate and also having just 45% cocoa butter, it does not have a silky finish. There’s a feel of cocoa particles or sediments lingering in the root of the tongue the path that is more sensitive to bitter taste.  

So when I looked at the label, in the ingredients it says the chocolate may contain tree nuts, milk soya and gluten. I know some people are allergic to gluten. (Gluten (from Latin gluten, "glue") is a protein composite found in foods processed from wheatand related grain species, including barley and rye. It gives elasticity to dough, helping it to riseand to keep its shape, and often giving the final product a chewy texture.). So some chocophiles are so careful when buying that they have to read the labels thoroughly. Sadly most of the commercial brands would contain gluten.

Frey chocolate is one of those famous Swiss chocolate the like of the brands such as Nestle, Lindt, Toblerone among others. These are chocolates I am familiar since tatay used to be a seaman. So everytime he comes home, he brings with him these duty-free bags of these omnipresent Swiss chocolates.

My score for this chocolate - 5/10

(snap, smell, texture,taste, & finish)

Read more here - http://www.thenibble.com/reviews/main/chocolate/frey-chocolate.asp