May 5, 2008

Amano Artisan Chocolate

This happened last week,
As I came back home from lunch,
I saw this little box laying right next to my door-


What is it?
On the label it says "Amano........receiver: Cindy Lo...,"
What! Amano!
Wow I got free dark chocolate!
It's the first time I receive free goodies in the mail,
And it ain't ordinary goodies,
This is what I got from participating in Blake Makes' Sooper Hero all day sign-up claim up!
Thank you Blake Makes, thank you Amano!

Let's open the box and see what's inside-


As I carefully unwrapping the foil,
My body temperature on my figer tips left a few fingerprints on the chocolate,
Maybe I was too excited!?-

Time for chocolate tasting,
Let me grab a bottled water first so I can rinse my mouth after trying out each different dark chocolate.
Before biting into the chocolates,
I've decided not to read anything on the labels till I try it.
Thinking that it'll be fun to see if the flavors bouncing back from my taste buds are similar to the descriptions later on.

1. Madagascar premium dark chocolate~
My tasting result: Strong citrus aroma, with a slight hint of fruity sweetness.
Chocolate description: "Strong fruity flavors that include hints of citrus and berry."
*Man I'm pretty accurate on this one!

2. Ocumare grand cru dark chocolate~
My tasting result: Slightly sour taste, but not as strong as the first one.
Chocolate description: "The Ocumare bar has rich chocolate overtones, as well as well-balanced fruity component that includes hints of plums and other red fruits."

3. Cuyagua limited edition dark chocolate~
My tasting result: Smoky and very strong dark chocolate aroma, this one is by far my favorite among the three.
Chocolate description: "Rich chocolate overtones with notes of spice that produce an incredibly complex flavored bar."

*I need to work on developing my taste for chocolate, so I can differentiate every little flavors coming from a chocolate bar.

Here's Amano's website,
You can learn more about their dark chocolate and numerous awards they got in the past few years.

So what am I going to do with those dark chocolates?
Mmmmmmm how about making them into chocolate mousse? or chocolate souffle?

Any suggestions?

11 comments:

  1. I've got an idea. Do what we did, PIG OUT! ha ha ha

    We literally just ate them for dessert one night. The chocolate is so good you can do that. So glad you loved it! bk

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  2. To Blake~
    Haha np!
    Thanks for this free yummy chocolate opportunity!

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  3. those are gorgeous!!!

    They are nice as they are...but anything chocolatey wud be great for me anytime ^_^

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  4. That sounds like some mighty fine chocolate! You are really a connoisseur! I wish that I could identify all those flavor components.

    KyotoFoodieのPeko

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  5. To Mochachocolata Rita~
    Haha I guess I'll just munch them down as the way they are,
    By the way,
    I've been so stressed out from work these days, if I get some free time, I'll definitely enter your cook out party!

    To Peko Peko~
    Haha only for the first chocolate!

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  6. I'm impressed. Amano is great chocolate. Kim and I saw them at the Fancy Food Show in NYC. I didn't take any pics this year.

    Amano is good but expensive. They have not figured out their wholesale strategy yet. They are very expensive. More expensive than, Felchlin, El Rey, Dagoba, Scharffen-Berger, Valhrona, E. Guittard, Republica del Cacao, and other, better or as good chocolate. That includes Taza. We love Taza though we don't use it.

    For heaven's sake, don't bake with this beautiful chocolate. You'll destroy it. Use Callebeaux, or some other lesser chocolate for baking. Make confections. Make chocolates. Eat it with Ice Cream. Make a great hot chocolate. But no baking.

    I would use Amano, translation, by hand, if they were not so expensive. It's good chocolate and I want to see people support their efforts.

    I'll review Amano eventually. I've reviewed many other chocolates on my blog. They just sent me a sample.

    Free is a great price. You lucky.

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  7. To mark by chocolate~
    Wow, thank you for this detailed information,
    I'll definitely "treat" my precious chocolate well and make the best use out of it!

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  8. I'm just glad food makes you happy. Here's another suggestion, dip strawberries.

    At Life by Chocolate, www.lifebychocolates.com, (NB the plural), we advocate the Chocolate Ritual (reverb). Take a bath in chocolate, we also make and sell chocolate bath products, candles, and lotion, and while in the bath, eat some Amano chocolate.

    Of course, normally, we recommend our own, read my, confections but in this case, enjoy. I'm going to post my own experience with this artisan chocolate. I like those guys.

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  9. Erratum: Callebaut. So much for fast fingers.

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