A few weeks ago I asked you guys to tell me about the first time you tried a craft chocolate bar, and wow, did you! I’ll be publishing one response per week as a new part of Chocolate Today called Voices, so you can see what your fellow chocolate-obsessed peeps think.
Today’s story comes from Ron Barshop.
“If you've ever had an egg on the farm the morning it was collected, you know fresh. I was expecting the same when we stopped at an artisan chocolate factory in Belize. You could see every step of the process -made the same way for generations.
It was a bitter and deeply earthy thickness.
I'm sad to say the fresh egg spoiled me. I missed the sweetness. The melt in your mouth gooey yumminess. It's freshness was not noticeable like those eggs.
But deep in my soul the satisfaction of paying no middleman more than made up for it. It all went to the farmer who shucked the shells, ground the beans on a volcanic plate then turned the pasty concoction for hours in a warm vat mixed with local cane sugar and other ingredients from the farm then cooled into dark chocolate bars.
So it was the bucket list experience. And I'll trade that for a happy sweet tooth any time. Well. Most anytime."
If you haven’t already sent me your story, please do! And if you have something to say in response to another story, send it along as well. Tell me at megan@chocolatenoise or on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter and I’ll include your comments in the next Chocolate Today.