D. Barbero Italian Chocolates
August 21, 2018
Sometimes life hands you a nice surprise...
...Like when out of the blue, your mom gives you a gift of “some chocolate I bought at an Italian restaurant’s gift shop” and discover not only is it delicious but it’s 70% Cacao Cubano!
I traveled to Cuba earlier this year and tried my best to find a good example of single origin Cuban chocolate. Cuba grows cacao, in limited amounts, and my hope was to find a dark chocolate bar from which I could eat and learn its “flavor profile”. If you read my blog post about Cuban chocolate, you know I came up short.
Now, sitting here at home in Wisconsin, I find it surreal that I’m tasting that elusive dark chocolate made from Cuban cacao!
This single origin bar is crafted by an Italian chocolate and confections company, D. Barbero. The company began in 1883 with Melchiorre Barbero making nougat and noasetti (hazelnuts covered with sugar) as a baker in Asti, Italy.
Chocolate Variety Package
In addition to their famous Torrone (nut and nougat confection), they also craft chocolate bars. I happen to have their variety package of small chocolate tasting tablets called Mixed Napolitains:
- No Added Sugar Dark Chocolate – sweetened with Erythritol (70% Ecuador)
- Caramel Chocolate (30% Milk Chocolate)
- Single Origin Dark Chocolate (72% Venezuela)
- White Chocolate
- Single Origin Dark Chocolate (70% Cuba)
- Milk Chocolate (45% Ecuador)
Today I’ve picked out the two single origin dark chocolates from Cuba and Venezuela to share with you.
The Cuban cacao is delightful. It’s full of roasted cocoa notes; slightly nutty and very fruity with flavors of ripe berries and hints of fig and raisin. The chocolate melts evenly throughout and delivers the rich chocolatey notes right through to the end.
The Venezuelan cacao has a super hard snap. The chocolate flavor is strong and rich with slightly earthy notes along with a very nutty flavor (pecan). There are flavors of dried fruits and spice (cinnamon?). The intense chocolate stays throughout, and finishes in a pleasant, lingering chocolate aftertaste.
So good! And I look forward to sharing the rest of the variety pack with you in an upcoming post!
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