Simon Coll: Cacao Nibs

I have a weakness for containers. I know this; I try to combat it. When I was choosing some tea at one of the gift shops in the Petrified Forest last month, I kept myself from getting the one that came in a (somewhat flimsy) little wooden box that I knew I didn't need. But when I saw this tin of cacao nibs from Simon Coll, well, I pounced on it.

Isn't it so gorgeous, though? A white base holds the trunk of a cacao tree on the back, with its vines spreading to the rest of the tin. They're all covered in red and yellow cacao pods, and there's even a green bird off to one side. The lid and bottom of the tin are dark brown. Perhaps even more than a bar of chocolate's wrappings, it matters that a tin like this be good-looking. Something like this you can carry/keep with you in your purse, briefcase, car, desk, or wherever. (I am a big proponent of keeping candy and chocolate at my desk, though I remain quite a thin person.) So if you're carrying something around, you want it to look nice.

I never have much new to say when reviewing nibs. They're either good or not, and then there is nothing more to say. These nibs are covered in 70% cacao chocolate grown in Ghana. While I realize that 70% isn't usually considered sweet, in terms of nibs, this chocolate gives sweetness to the overall effect. Nibs are, of course, pure cacao with nothing added to them, so they are not sweet and they are quite strong (not just in taste, also in terms of how much of a chocolate hit they give you). So they're more pleasant coated in chocolate. I want to say the ration for each piece is half nib and half chocolate; you really get a chance to taste both.

First your teeth softly sink through the chocolate, then they hit the cacao nib. Nibs have wonderful texture, absolutely distinctive and not quite like anything else. It's lighter than the crunch of a nut, but also more jagged. The result? A sophisticated desk or purse snack. And Simon Coll makes a nice tin of just such a chocolate hit. That makes my third product from this company a third success.

Easter Chocolate Selection

Now that Easter is over with, I am left with some remains of Easter candy. My favorites were the Tootsie Fruit Rolls, which I would really like to buy more of if I ever manage to find them again. The little bag on the left with candy corn, jelly beans, and other pastel-colored candies was also rather nice, as well as very pretty. 

Wandering into Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory one day, I thought to buy a chocolate bunny, but walked out instead with the holiday version of their Peanut Butter Bucket in milk chocolate. It has a green butterfly and ribbon--there were also yellow and pink varieties. If you've never had their Peanut Butter Buckets, do consider them next time you're in the store. A Reese's Cup turned from candy to confection. 

Then there are these milk chocolate umbrellas from Simón Coll Chocolatier, who also made the elegant drinking chocolate I tried last year. As usual I'm happy to see a quality chocolate make its way into the holiday selection. Although a simple, 32% cocoa milk chocolate, this chocolate is textured with nutty flavor and richness. You can break it into pieces, or just enjoy sucking on it like a lollipop, which is rather fun to do. I acted like a sophisticated child while eating mine on Sunday night during Once Upon a Time. A definite success.

Returning to the realm of candy, we have this Peeps Hollow Milk Chocolate Egg. I'm not a major fan of either Peeps or marshmallows, but look how cute this is: it's a Peep inside of a chocolate egg. Adorable, right? 

The simple egg is fairly thick, so you get plenty of chocolate. I was somewhat surprised by the quality; it's possibly better than Hershey's (of which you know I have a generally low opinion). Maybe I only say that because I had a very small piece. Point is, it isn't worse than average--and much Easter chocolate is worse than average. 

I wasn't quite sure how to break into the egg, so I used my thumb and the shell essentially broke along the mold divides. Out pops one yellow Peep, which is just the right amount to have for the holiday spirit of it all without getting sick of hard, sugary marshmallow. 

Now why does the next holiday (aka. excuse for candy) have to be so far away?

Simón Coll: Xocolata A La Pedra

As I finish off with my last little gift from Santa Fe, we take a new turn toward drinking chocolate. I seem to only have been covering weirder incarnations of chocolate, as opposed to a plain and solid quality chocolate bar. Not that I'm calling drinking chocolate weird; in fact, it is heavenly and perhaps a more natural way to consume chocolate than as a bar. Part of chocolate's beauty is the way that it melts in your mouth, so drinking chocolate just simplifies the process. 

I didn't recognize the name Simón Coll, but I have in fact had contact with them, in a roundabout way. Back on Chocablog, I once reviewed a product by another Spanish company, Chocolate Amatller. It turns out that Simón Coll now owns Chocolate Amattler. They do share one thing in common: beautiful, historic packaging on certain products. I thought that the Xocolata A La Pedra packaging was nice, but gained more appreciation when I discovered that this same wrapper design has been on the market since 1880. Why change it when it's already perfect?

The bar is bulky and thick; it lets you know right away that it wasn't designed for eating straight. Being trusting, I followed the instructions on the back exactly. You heat milk (or almond beverage, in my case), remove it from the heat, add three squares of chocolate, stir them occasionally for two minutes, return to heat, and allow to boil so that it can thicken. Three fat squares plus a cup of milk means that each serving is big. Unless you're used to rich drinking chocolate, I would recommend that amount for two or maybe even three people. 

At about 45% cacao, this chocolate would be fairly light as a bar. But as drinking chocolate, the lower percentage keeps it from being too dark; I imagine it also helps keep the texture in control. While the drink is thick, it isn't mud thick. Sip it slowly and it feels just right. There is cinnamon added in, although I can't say that I tasted it much. I would call this drink neither sweet nor bitter, but if it leans more to one side, it would be toward the darker side. It's rich enough that I got nowhere near being able to finish off my "one serving." But maybe I'm just thinking in long term. If I used three squares each time, I'd only get four servings out of this bar; as it is, I can get eight to twelve. That's a week and a half of perfect, chocolate evenings.