Fjak – Microlot – Tanzania 70% – Cinnamon Fermentation

Description

This chocolate can certainly be called extra special.

It is a chocolate with 70% cocoa from Tanzania. Of course, we have more of those. But this cocoa is just a bit different. During the fermentation of the cocoa, cinnamon was added. And while fermentation is already a very important step in developing the flavors in fine chocolate, this way allows the cinnamon to do its work without actually adding it to the chocolate itself. The flavor diversity infuses into the cocoa, but it is actually a more complex interplay of flavors (and in fact also complex science) in how the taste is influenced.

In a natural fermentation, many factors also make a big difference in how the flavor develops, such as how long you ferment, how much oxygen is involved, whether you turn the cocoa occasionally, whether it lies in a heap or in a box, apart from the cocoa itself and its natural composition (one cocoa has slightly more fat, another has slightly more sugar in the pulp, etc.).

Fermentation where you add something external has also occurred occasionally in recent times, although it is still quite rare. And in our view, also very beautiful, as long as there is transparency about it (as is absolutely the case here). You can no longer really speak of a natural fermentation, but since “regular” fermentation is also a matter of carefully controlling conditions, adding an extra step—such as adding cinnamon in this case—is not a strange idea at all.

A beautiful experiment, and… more importantly, one that results in a beautiful flavor. What a pleasant combination this is. The fruity Tanzania cocoa has undergone something remarkable with the cinnamon. Yes, you taste the fruitiness, and the spiciness that comes from the fermentation with cinnamon, but together it is more than the sum of its parts.

Flavor notes described by the maker: raisin, rum, Christmas pie

Ingredients: cocoa beans (fermented with cinnamon), cane sugar, cocoa butter.

Allergy note: may contain traces of nuts, milk, and gluten.

Contents: 60 grams.

From the Cacao Explorers series by Fjak. A series of limited editions with extra special cocoa. In this case, that can certainly be said because of the cinnamon fermentation. Fjak managed to acquire a total of 4 bags of this cocoa, and that is all. This makes the price of this bar higher than their regular bars. Prices we ourselves also hesitated about for a moment. We were also unable to taste this bar in advance. But because the microlots from Fjak have consistently impressed us so much (with the absolute highlight being the incredible version with Thailand cocoa—but really all of them), we decided to take the risk. And now that we have tasted it, we are, fortunately, still very happy with it. Yes, a higher price, but