This is chocolate. This is Madre Chocolate.I devoured this bar last night. I found myself waxing poetic whilst eating this bar. I thought I had better snap a photo before it disappeared, and post a little tribute to this bitty piece of heaven.

I poured this bar on Wednesday after Nat had conched and refined the  cacao beans. This was an experiment, part of many batches of raw bean bars that Nat(one of the two chocolate makers who employ me) had been mixing up. I am in love with this chocolate.

When I unwrapped the chocolate from the cellophane I was hit with an unexpected and distinct waft of maple.  I love maple syrup.... Then that mellowed and what I experienced with the first bites was to me, nothing less than experiencing a work of art. A work of art I could taste and feel and ingest. How nice!

 The texture is creamy, the melt is not instant but it is quick and it creates a silk sheet like tongue feel. This is a dark chocolate and yet it was so creamy, subtle and smooth, it was as easy to eat as it is to drink a glass of chocolate milk, but still had all the complexities of dark chocolate.

The flavor is fruity jam, vanilla and some thing so earthy and yet ethereal I found myself transported to the land and the villages where I imagine this bean comes from. (Not that I have ever been to South America)... But I could smell the jungle, decaying fruit and plant matter buoyed by clouds of steamy oxygen. Mineral scents of sun warmed rocks at the base of a waterfall.Ozone and rain turning dusty roads to mud. 

I don't know, maybe you can't get this simply from a bar of chocolate. Maybe I am a hopeless romantic, especially when it comes to food - But I hope you will be able to find out for yourself soon. I hope we get to produce this special bar!

You hear food some times being described as a drug, understandably. If food is a drug, then chocolate would be Ecstasy and this would be the best trip I have ever had. (Not that I have ever been on ecstasy either!)