Our staple product at Match Chocolate is the Match Pack. It highlights the ethos of what we do by comparing and contrasting two seemingly similar bars and highlighting the subtle differences. All of Match Chocolate’s single origin dark chocolate bars contain just two ingredients; organic raw Florida cane sugar and single origin cocoa beans that we thoughtfully roast to bring out the unique flavors of the region.
Many of us are familiar of the concept of terroir, especially if we are wine or coffee drinkers. We understand that everything from the soil, to the sun and elevation can have a large impact on the flavor of a fruit such as a grape or coffee cherry, and therefore the products you make out of it. We forget, however, that cacao is also a fruit, one that grows in tropical parts of the world and is fermented to halt the life of the plant but bring new potential to the cacao seed, what we think of as cocoa beans. While the fermentation process alone can greatly influence flavor, the taste of the place itself impacts it as well.
In later installments of the blog we will dive deeper into what exactly the process of making chocolate from tree, to bean, to bar is. But for now I’d like to focus on how you can taste what a difference terroir in chocolate can make. After all, isn’t tasting the best way to learn about the foods we love?
In the Vietnam Match pack we took the opportunity to highlight two different regions of Vietnam and the cacao that they grow. The pack contains two mini bars made from the same ingredients in the same ratio; 73% Vietnamese cacao and 27% Florida cane sugar.
Cocoa beans after harvest in Vietnam. Photo courtesy of Meridian Cacao.
The first bar features cacao from the Dak Nong Province of Vietnam, located in the southwest of Vietnam’s Central Highlands. The average elevation of the farms in this area is about 800 meters above sea level. This Dak Nong bar is reminiscent of what you would think of as traditional chocolate flavors. It is cocoa forward with a creamy mouthfeel and a malty finish. Many people think that it contains dairy due to the creaminess but that is from the extra cocoa butter we blend in, pressed from the very same Dak Nong beans.
For the second bar in the Match pack we used cocoa beans from the Ben Tre Province. Ben Tre is wedged between the two main branches of the Tien Giang River on the Mekong Delta in South Vietnam. The terrain is flat and the evaluation averages under just 5 meters above sea level. The fertile soil of the region encourages a variety of crops all of which have their own influence on the unique taste of this cacao. The Ben Tre bar has mocha notes similar to Dak Nong but if you let it melt in your mouth and the flavors develop you will taste juicy red pears and a hint of cinnamon peeking through highlighting what a difference the impact of elevation and soil composition can make.
Pick up a Vietnam Match pack at our next pop-up in Birmingham, AL and be on the lookout for the other Matches we make to continue your journey around the world in Chocolate.