ECUADORIAN CHOCOLATE
Our tour in Quito included a chocolate tasting and history lesson of cocoa in Ecuador at Yumbos Chocolate Artesanal, located in a beautiful and secluded building, removed from the noise and chaos of Plaza San Francisco. My family and I tried the syrup from a cocoa pod, an actual cocoa bean, and nine types of chocolate.
Chocolate started to be introduced about 500 years ago in the Amazon Rainforest in Ecuador. Ecuador is one of the main producers in chocolate in Latin America because of the perfect growing conditions. Because the equator runs through Ecuador, there is always 12 hours of sun, which is the ideal amount of sunlight needed to grow cocoa. The temperature is always relatively the moderate, too.
The cocoa pod is surprisingly big, about the same size as a football. Inside the pod are the cocoa beans, fat called cocoa butter, water, and many nutrients. The cocoa butter is a necessary ingredient for the chocolate to melt in your mouth.
After we learned about the history of chocolate, we started the tasting:
Cocoa bean: First we tried the bean itself. We cracked it open like a peanut. Inside you only eat the dark part of the bean. It was VERY bitter!
Syrup: made from the cocoa butter. It was very tangy and had an interesting flavor. To me it tasted like vinegar and honey.
100%: The first chocolate we tried was 100% pure chocolate. The only other ingredient besides cocoa was cocoa butter. It was bitter, not really sweet!
85%: The next chocolate we tried was 85% pure chocolate with 15% of natural cane sugar. It was more sweet, but with a dash of bitterness.
70%: Then we tried 70% pure chocolate with 30% of natural cane sugar. That’s when they started to put different flavors into the chocolate. Plain 70% was good, but not my favorite. Then we tried it with chili and salt. It was spicy!! I thought it was ok. Then we tried it with ginger. I thought it would not be very good, but it turned out to work well together.
60%: Lastly, we moved onto 60% cocoa and 40% natural cane sugar. It tasted much like milk chocolate. I loved it! We tried it with cocoa nibs first. Cocoa nibs are from the straight cocoa bean. So when they add it, it gives it a nice little crunch. After the cocoa nibs we tried it with orange. They caramelize the orange peel and then add it to the chocolate. It gave a nice sweet and tangy touch. Now my favorite…the chocolate with coffee! It was so good! It had the perfect amount of each and it worked so nicely together.
I loved ALL the chocolates. Everything was so yummy, and we got to bring home a few “souvenirs!” It was a very good chocolate tasting (with way too much walking beforehand)! 😁
