We are delighted to have Chocolarder chocolate eggs on our counter for Easter. The Cornish Honeycomb is a milk chocolate egg with honey from Cornish beekeeper Matt Pitt, and the Virunga is a dark chocolate egg with cacao from the Femmes Virunga Cooperative in Eastern Congo.
We have been fans of Chocolarder for a few years now and while we still haven’t managed to get to Cornwall for a visit, we do enjoy our regular catchups on Zoom. We have been impressed with their dedication to quality and singular commitment to making the best chocolate. They make no compromises, add no artificial flavours, emulsifiers, or sweeteners. Everything that can be sourced locally is sourced locally.
Cacao is grown in many countries that also harvest coffee and we often see it growing on our way up a mountain to visit a coffee farm. Both cocoa beans and coffee beans are seeds of fruits that need to be harvested and processed before becoming recognisable as the products we all love. When the cacao pods (the fruits) are harvested, they are cracked open to reveal the creamy coloured flesh surrounding several beans (the seeds). The beans are fermented for ten days or more and then dried. This is the product the farmer or cooperative sells to Chocolarder. From there the process gets complicated!
Chocolarder receive the cocoa beans at their roasting and making site in Falmouth where they are hand sorted to remove extraneous material that has been gathered up with the beans after the drying process on the farms. They are then roasted to a lower temperature, but for a longer time, than coffee. After roasting, the shells surrounding the cocoa beans are removed and the resulting nuggets are now referred to as cocoa nibs. The nibs are ground and conched into a sticky mass of slightly liquified cocoa solids and cocoa butter, which is then mixed with cane sugar (for any bar less than 100% cocoa solids) to make a heady mixture. After the mixture is matured for up to forty days, it is then tempered. Tempering is one of those thrilling actions that combines science and craft—it is also what gives chocolate its snap, shine, and smooth texture.
Coffee and chocolate share many commonalities including the language used to describe flavour. They pair wonderfully together to make an ultimate feel-good-morning or afternoon pick-me-up. If you are looking for a coffee to go with the egg you’re about to crack open, we recommend you choose a flavour profile that complements rather than contrasts. For the Cornish Honeycomb the Malacara A (El Salvador) would be lovely, whereas the Femme Virunga can stand up to the bold fruit of Finca Las Palmeras (Colombia).
Chocolarder have more information about the farms they buy from and their processes on their website, Chocolarder.com, and at their site in Cornwall they run 90-minute factory tours that look like a blast and would probably have one swooning for a good while after!
Have a super Easter break.
Monmouth x
