CRU SAUVAGE - WILD COCOA CHOCOLATE - 68%

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16 oz Wild Cacao Chocolate 68%

These little discs of rare Cru Sauvage chocolate are excellent for eating out of hand or for incorporating into a host of chocolate desserts.

Flavor Profile:

The substantial and harmonious cocoa flavors of the Cru Sauvage are well complemented with the freshness of the lemon and the fruitiness of the grapefruit. The traditional gentle processing method (60 hours conching) unfolds the intense dried prune bouquet and vanilla in its most exquisite way. The exceptionally pleasant fruit acidity and the long-lasting ending make the Cru Sauvage with its cocoa content of 68% a unique culinary experience.

Journey from Bean to Bar:

Wild cocoa trees grow in the Amazon region of Bolivia on raised areas of land, which stick out like small islands in the middle of swampland. The Cambas, as locals of this region are known, have lived for centuries in this underdeveloped and hard-to-reach part of Bolivia. From long experience, they know exactly where to find the wild cacao trees, and during the harvest, they gather the cacao fruit which grows in scattered locations. The Cambas are often away for days, either on foot, on horseback or in dugout canoes.

Back on the farm, or finca, called "Tranquilidad," the cocoa beans are allowed to ferment in wooden crates. Regular turning provides consistent aeration. Finally, the beans are dried in the tropical sun for several days. Then, the beans are ready for their long journey.

Transportation of the beans is a real challenge. Cocoa is harvested during the rainy season and roads are impassable for a time. Finally, the bags filled with beans are carried on riverboats to the Amazon steamer docks. After a long trip on water and across the Andes, the precious cargo is loaded at the Port of Arica on Chile's Pacific coast. From here, the wild cocoa beans are shipped to Europe, where, upon arrival in Switzerland, they are painstakingly inspected once more.

These unusually small cocoa beans require careful attention and care during the manufacturing process. All the machines used to process them must be readjusted individually to fit the demands of the Cru Sauvage; the roasting process especially requires intensive care and patience. For Bolivian wild cocoa, the roasting temperature is lower and the roasting time is longer than for all other cocoa beans.

Then comes conching. Conching is a time-intensive blending and refinement process requiring a great deal of know-how, experience and dedication - as well as a certain amount of intuition, of natural sense of what the chocolate needs. Each type of cocoa is different - and so is its conching time. For the Cru Sauvage, 60 hours in the traditional conches have been determined as optimum conching time. This long-lasting conching process and aeration allow the still hidden wealth of aromas to unfold. At the same time, homogeneity, subtleness and texture are reached, leading to a unique result of high quality.

Through such great care in picking and processing, the small wild beans gradually unfold their intensive and unique aromas. Cru Sauvage is truly the only one of its kind.