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at Fri, 29 Jul 2005 21:48:44 GMT in >,
(Dennis Spexet) wrote :
>I haven't seen the name mentioned too much, but I stopped searching for
>great chocolate after trying El Rey from Venezuela.
>
>Whether it's dark chocolate, milk chocolate, or white chocolate...I've
>had extremely good success with the brand. Great for baking, great for
>melting...great for just plain ole eating!
>
El Rey is pretty good, although in most categories there are better
chocolates to be had. However, their white chocolate, Icoa, simply has no
peer and is IMHO the only white chocolate one should ever eat or use. Just
blows away the competition.
Most of their chocolate is pure Carenero Superior bean. Carenero is one of
the greatest varietals in the world so it's unsurprising that it should be
good. However, I think Domori's Carenero Superior beats El Rey's equivalent
offerings in the 70% class. El Rey has 2 70% Carenero formulations: Gran
Saman and Apamate. Gran Saman is somewhat the better of the 2 and is all
about power. It's very strong indeed, but with a lower cocoa butter
percentage, is a bit dry. Apamate will fool you because it has a higher
percentage (73.5%) but is weaker in flavour than Gran Saman because it has
a higher cocoa butter content. This means it is considerably creamier in
mouthfeel.
Then in the 60% category they do the same thing, with Bucare, at 58.5%, and
Mijao at 61%. Again, Bucare is the better if drier choice, with a rich,
earthy/tropical flavour. El Rey roasts pretty dark so all their chocolates
take on an earthy cast. Mijao I think is somewhat washed-out in flavour.
The real master of the 60% category is Guittard with their superb
L'Harmonie and Gourmet Bittersweet.
Caoba milk chocolate is IMHO somewhat weak. It's overwhelmingly caramelly
in flavour. Actually, at the same 41% Scharffen Berger's milk chocolate is
one of the best. Cluizel, however, makes incomparably the best milk
chocolates, particularly the Plantation Mangaro 50%.
They have another series, made from Rio Caribe Superior beans, only
available in bloc format. Macuro 70% is awesome, the best Rio Caribe
chocolate available. Irapa is another disappointing milk chocolate,
although it has a fruit-and-nut flavour with more interest than Caoba.
And they also have San Joaquin, made from Ocumare 61 beans. It's good but
just cannot hold a candle to Domori's Puertomar which is a wondrous
experience. Puertomar is also available in somewhat more convenient 25g bar
form instead of 1kg blocs.
--
Alex Rast
(remove d., .7, not, and .NOSPAM to reply)
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