Description:
Item Name: Green & Black’s Organic Chocolate Dark 70%
Category: Snack Food
Sub Category: Chocolate
Type: Organic Dark Chocolate 70% Trinitario Cocoa Beans
Weight: 100g
Brand: Green & Black’s from the UK
Parent Company: Kraft Foods
Country of Origin: Cacao/Belize (Trinitario cacao trees first grown in Trinidad)
Made In: Poland
Organic: Yes, products certified by the Soil Association, the UK’s organic certification body
Packaging: 100% recyclable
Uses: Snack, Baking, Desserts, Cooking
Cacao beans = cocoa beans
Background:
To aid in my research to good habits and better living I decided to look for high percentage cacao chocolate. You cannot drastically change your life and not expect there to be the occasional bounce or relapse to former ways. Or at least I can’t. Instead of milk chocolate with unknown quantities of chocolate, untold quantities of sugars and umpteen additives I went in search of the higher percentage cacao chocolate. After all chocolate is on my “Bitter foods*” list.
I went to a local wholefoods market and found many choices in the chocolate section, and various percentage chocolate. I chose a random block with the highest percentage chocolate in a brand I had never tasted before. 85% chocolate was out of stock. Someone got there before me. So the next best thing was 70% cacao dark chocolate.
70% cacao means that there is a minimum of 70% cacao contained in the chocolate.
“Made with the finest Trinitario cocoa beans…”, thinking Trinidad…. must be made in Trinidad. I looked on the back of the packet and discovered that it was made in Poland. I wasn’t expecting Poland. And what a long way for the cacao bean to travel to get to me in New Zealand after coming from tropical Central American Belize via Poland. A very well travelled bean.
I looked up Trinitario to make sure that my assumption was right.
I panicked. Wait a minute…
Trinitario: a violent New York based Hispanic multinational gang. What? Gangs are growing cacao? Because cacao and cocaine sound the same right, cocaine comes for cacao, right? Who are Green & Black? Gang affiliated drug cartels smuggling cocaine amongst legitimate chocolate bars? Wikipedia shares too much information sometimes.
I clicked back to my Google search and there it was second search entry for “Trinitario” below, with chocolate references.
Relief.
Trinitario is in fact a type of cacao tree or cocoa tree originating in Trinidad. A cacao bean that has good flavour and hardiness. Known as a flavour bean that can range in flavour from spicy to earthy to acidic.
Much better. Pulse rate back to near normal.
Who would have thought researching the simple cacao bean would give me such a cardio moment.
Green & Black’s is a UK company that makes luxury organic chocolate from Fairtrade sourced cacao beans from Belize and other ethically sourced organic ingredients.
Informal Taste PLUS Test Results:
Taste: Bittersweet
Hardness: Firm
Bite: Crisp
Texture: Dry, smooth
Heat: Melts to touch when picked up
Colour: Dark brown
Aftertaste: Short, Mature
Price: NZ$5.50 (approx. US$4.50) **
Serving Size: 25g (4 x 25g serving per packet)
Calories: 145kCal per serving or 575kCal (100g)
Overall Rating: Excellent
My only complaint would be that the bar was too small to share between two!
Rating Choices: Poor, Fair, Good, Very Good, Excellent
Would I buy it again?
Absolutely.
Note: Green & Black’s have recipes on their US and UK websites. Chocolate Chip Cinnamon & Coffee Cake, Chili Con Carne using dark chocolate! Sticky Toffee Pudding… I did manage to finish all the chocolate block before reading the recipe section. More research required.
Update: I kind of wish that I hadn’t found this chocolate. Because any other chocolate I eat now tastes like either sugar or cardboard. And I haven’t tried the 85% version of this yet. Drooling.
**Excitement. I found it cheaper at my local supermarket for $2.99 on special this week so I just had to buy one of each, the 70% and the 85%. You will be impressed to know that both blocks of chocolate are still intact and I have been able to resist temptation. 12 hours and counting. Instant gratification is becoming a thing of the past. Long may it last.
*Bitter foods, along with astringent and pungent foods are the types of foods I should be concentrating on eating as a Kapha type in Ayurveda. I should also eat spicy foods, avoid sweet foods and eat less in an ideal world!
