ChocoladebloG goes international
Let me start by wishing all my followers and readers a happy new year, full of chocolate surprises.
Now I'll have to explain why I have decided to write my blog in English. It's because of the chocolate bars this week. Since I have been writing about chocolate, people started to give me the bars they eat themselves or that they're proud of, and all of a sudden there was this classic east/west confrontation of chocolate lying in front of me. My dear friend Annemieke sent me two bars of the Lake Champlain Chocolate Company from her home state of Vermont (USA). A few days later a proud cleaning lady gave me the chocolate that is famous in her country the Ukraine. It's called Roshen, which is owned by Poroshenko, the president of the Ukraine. During a shopping tour I was intrigued by this shop Small Russia in my own hometown of Amersfoort, where I found chocolate from Kazakhstan with the beautiful name Kazakhstanski chocolate made by Rakhat. Rakhat is now owned by LOTTE the leading confectionery company of South Korea.
So here we are, this week's blog will be east vs. west, big time politics in chocolate-land. My statement "the whole world is chocolate", is underlined by these bars, and they give a nice view on today's world.
I'll start with the American chocolates. The spicy Aztec is a 57% dark chocolate with cayenne pepper, pumpkin seeds and cinnamon. I couldn't find what kind of chocolate they use but it's Fair Trade, organic and kosher. It smells really nice with a light vanilla flavour. The taste comes in late, first there is the sweet and the cinnamon, then you get distracted by the crunchy pumpkin seeds, which have a nice bite. Only after this there is a short moment to taste the chocolate, a good deep chocolate but no surprises here, then the pepper comes in and for the next few seconds that's all there is. It took me some time to get the combination of tastes together, but it was worth it. A good version of the classic chili/chocolate combination. Cherries & chocolate is the second bar, here the chocolate is a 70% cacao from Peru. This bar has a bit less fragrance but gives me more time to taste the chocolate. As it slowly melts in my mouth, it gradually develops more and more into a firm bitter chocolate, the sweetness disappears and just at the end there is a light hint of sour. The pieces in wich you find the dried cherries, of course, have another route. The cherries take over the growing chocolate taste at first, but their impact is short lived so you end up with your mouth full of this good cacao.
From the other side of the world life is just about chocolate, no extras added to it.
Roshen is a 60% cacao from unknown origin. No UTZ certification, no Fair Trade, no "organic- just chocolate". Elegantly packed a small stripe of chocolate spreads its odor as soon as you open it. I'm trying to ignore it but .......OMG this is SWEEEEEET! Haven't tasted something as sweet as this since I left high school. What can I say..... sugar disguised as chocolate. Not for me.
Still further east we go. The Kazakhstanski bar is a 82% cacao. There is no indication of the origin of the cacao nor of the UTZ, Fair Trade, organic or whatever certificate. But at least there's something to taste. Hoping you get the picture, a "fat" odour is how I would describe the smell but not in a negative way, it is fat in its chocolate smell. Although somewhat dry and "powdery", this bar melts in a nice way. The taste is rather singular, no complex outbursts to it, firm with a good bitter from start to finish.
Now what can we say about the world according to these bars. The USA is tempting with beautiful products. A pity they have the tendency to add things to already good stuff. Sometimes it's just too much. In the former Soviet Republic they like things just as they are. The origin and quality may be questionable, but some of it tastes good.
Now, to finish with big time politics. Because of the trade embargoes between the EU/USA and Russia, a chocolate war is going on. Roshen, owned by the Ukraine prime minister, is for sale (he promised to sell when he became president) nobody wants to buy it. The reason is this import stop by the Russians. The Russian market was about 20% of Roshen's revenue. Rakhat from Kazakhstan is the one trying to fill the gap Roshen left in Russia. The South Korean's, investing in Rakhat, are hoping to gain axcess to the Russian and former Soviet markets, so are Mars (USA) and Nestlé (Swiss).
Must be fun, selling chocolate.
I'll be back, next week, in dutch.
Now I'll have to explain why I have decided to write my blog in English. It's because of the chocolate bars this week. Since I have been writing about chocolate, people started to give me the bars they eat themselves or that they're proud of, and all of a sudden there was this classic east/west confrontation of chocolate lying in front of me. My dear friend Annemieke sent me two bars of the Lake Champlain Chocolate Company from her home state of Vermont (USA). A few days later a proud cleaning lady gave me the chocolate that is famous in her country the Ukraine. It's called Roshen, which is owned by Poroshenko, the president of the Ukraine. During a shopping tour I was intrigued by this shop Small Russia in my own hometown of Amersfoort, where I found chocolate from Kazakhstan with the beautiful name Kazakhstanski chocolate made by Rakhat. Rakhat is now owned by LOTTE the leading confectionery company of South Korea.
So here we are, this week's blog will be east vs. west, big time politics in chocolate-land. My statement "the whole world is chocolate", is underlined by these bars, and they give a nice view on today's world.
I'll start with the American chocolates. The spicy Aztec is a 57% dark chocolate with cayenne pepper, pumpkin seeds and cinnamon. I couldn't find what kind of chocolate they use but it's Fair Trade, organic and kosher. It smells really nice with a light vanilla flavour. The taste comes in late, first there is the sweet and the cinnamon, then you get distracted by the crunchy pumpkin seeds, which have a nice bite. Only after this there is a short moment to taste the chocolate, a good deep chocolate but no surprises here, then the pepper comes in and for the next few seconds that's all there is. It took me some time to get the combination of tastes together, but it was worth it. A good version of the classic chili/chocolate combination. Cherries & chocolate is the second bar, here the chocolate is a 70% cacao from Peru. This bar has a bit less fragrance but gives me more time to taste the chocolate. As it slowly melts in my mouth, it gradually develops more and more into a firm bitter chocolate, the sweetness disappears and just at the end there is a light hint of sour. The pieces in wich you find the dried cherries, of course, have another route. The cherries take over the growing chocolate taste at first, but their impact is short lived so you end up with your mouth full of this good cacao.
From the other side of the world life is just about chocolate, no extras added to it.
Roshen is a 60% cacao from unknown origin. No UTZ certification, no Fair Trade, no "organic- just chocolate". Elegantly packed a small stripe of chocolate spreads its odor as soon as you open it. I'm trying to ignore it but .......OMG this is SWEEEEEET! Haven't tasted something as sweet as this since I left high school. What can I say..... sugar disguised as chocolate. Not for me.
Still further east we go. The Kazakhstanski bar is a 82% cacao. There is no indication of the origin of the cacao nor of the UTZ, Fair Trade, organic or whatever certificate. But at least there's something to taste. Hoping you get the picture, a "fat" odour is how I would describe the smell but not in a negative way, it is fat in its chocolate smell. Although somewhat dry and "powdery", this bar melts in a nice way. The taste is rather singular, no complex outbursts to it, firm with a good bitter from start to finish.
Now what can we say about the world according to these bars. The USA is tempting with beautiful products. A pity they have the tendency to add things to already good stuff. Sometimes it's just too much. In the former Soviet Republic they like things just as they are. The origin and quality may be questionable, but some of it tastes good.
Now, to finish with big time politics. Because of the trade embargoes between the EU/USA and Russia, a chocolate war is going on. Roshen, owned by the Ukraine prime minister, is for sale (he promised to sell when he became president) nobody wants to buy it. The reason is this import stop by the Russians. The Russian market was about 20% of Roshen's revenue. Rakhat from Kazakhstan is the one trying to fill the gap Roshen left in Russia. The South Korean's, investing in Rakhat, are hoping to gain axcess to the Russian and former Soviet markets, so are Mars (USA) and Nestlé (Swiss).
Must be fun, selling chocolate.
I'll be back, next week, in dutch.
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