Dagoba Xocolatl dark chocolate, chilis and nibs
March 14, 2008 - chocolate
So I’m reading this label and wondering what the heck ‘nibs’ are. Are nibs to cocoa beans what giblets are to turkey? Turns out, it’s probably what you expect it to be: roasted cocoa beans, broken into smaller pieces, essentially a purist’s version of chocolate chips.
Back to the chocolate – like the Lemon-Ginger chocolate from Dagoba, there’s a good, solid dark chocolate base, (this is 74%, the lemon-ginger is 68% dark cocoa) and is made with evaporated cane juice in place of sugar. For spices, this has chilis, nutmeg and maca (another little-known South American herb known for increasing libido, among other things).
On first bite, you enjoy the dark chocolate, and roughly ten seconds later, the chilis kick in. There’s good heat here, but it’s short-lived. It’s enough to savor, and is complemented well by the traces of nutmeg.
Pleasantly surprised to find more Dagoba Xocolatl in my stocking for Christmas this year! This bar has a higher note than what I remembered – almost on a citrus level – but what an awesome bar! Perfect chili level – and it’s really more like fifteen to twenty seconds of masticating that you feel the heat kick in.
Yum-my!