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Blanxart - Dark Chocolate W/ Almonds - 5.3 oz.
Regular price $13.00 USDRegular price
About Blanxart
- Based in
- Sant Joan Despí, Barcelona, Spain
- Founded
- 1954
- Known for
- bean-to-bar chocolate from single-origin cocoa
Master chocolatier Francesc Agrás set the company's story in motion in April 1954, and the factory began in a small workshop in Les Corts, Barcelona. Today Blanxart works in Sant Joan Despí, outside the city, and still handles the whole process itself.
The method is old-fashioned on purpose and gives up volume for quality. Cocoa from small plantations in single origins, among them Congo, Peru, Brazil and Nicaragua, is roasted at the factory over low heat and stopped at the point where the beans open and release their aroma, then spread out to rest. Each recipe uses cocoa from one origin.
The range includes dark bars, some with nuts. Break them into pieces to go with coffee, or chop them into cookie dough.
Blanxart questions
What does bean to bar mean for Blanxart chocolate?
It means the maker buys raw cacao beans and does every step itself. Blanxart roasts the beans, cracks off the husks, and grinds the pieces into cocoa liquor, a thick, oily paste with no alcohol in it. It mixes in sugar and other ingredients and refines the mix until the particles are too small (22 microns) for the tongue to notice, which makes the bar smooth. Then it conches the chocolate, stirring it slowly for a long time so the aromas fully develop.
What does single-origin mean on Blanxart chocolate?
Each recipe uses cacao from one place instead of a blend, so the chocolate tastes of that region and cacao variety. Blanxart buys from small plantations and cooperatives in origins such as Congo, Peru, Brazil and Nicaragua. Soil, climate and the type of cacao tree differ from place to place, so cacao from one origin can lean toward fruit and another toward wood or nuts. Tasting two origins side by side shows how different chocolate can be.
