Menakao Truly Madagascar Dark Chocolate 70% Bird Chili
February 25, 2014 - chocolate / top 10
First bite of this bar, (all the way from the UK via awesome friends!) and we were practically stupefied by how awesome this was. And, we realized that Madegascar is the next up-and-coming chocolate country, giving South America a run for the money.Everything we look for in a great chili chocolate bar – consistency, mouthfeel, sweet/bitter balance, and heat – receive high scores in this bar. It’s dark – 70% cocoa, single sourced from Madagascar, in Madagascar. (We’ve thus far only encountered one other bar like this, from Madecasse, which we also enjoyed.)
This starts out smooth and even, almost chewy, with fruity, cherry-like notes. The dark cocao bitterness slowly overtakes the gentle sweetness, and its right then when the chili heat starts to kick in. The sweetness fades away with the chocolate, leaving just the pepper to take over, with just enough heat to feel it, enjoy it and worry about it all at the same time. Stunning, perfect, enjoyable; a definite top 10.
Further research reveals that Menakao produces another dark (also 70%!) chocolate bar with peppers, but it’s a blend of three: pink pepper, [the wild Madagascan] Tsiperifery pepper, and black pepper. We’ll have to get our hands on this as well and report back…
Leave a Reply