Venezuelan Porcelano – A cocoa like no other. 

Hot browned butter during roasting. 

Toasted cedar. 

Dried Porcini. 

‘Real’ truffles. 

This is not your mother’s chocolate, nor in all likelihood, like any chocolate you have tasted before if you can’t tell by that description above. It’s about as pure a strain of Criollo as you are going to find. It’s Porcelano. When you crack it, you will see how light it is. A delicate light brown. Paper thin husk that nearly just flakes off. Raw, it is woody and a little chocolaty. Roast it up and browned butter aroma just pours off. Taste the nibs and it’s burnt (like wood burning) cedar and dustiness. There isn’t any bitterness or astringency. But also, it is very light (the official term would be mild) in chocolate flavor, but by no means light in other flavors. 

In all honesty, I thought I screwed up really bad the first time I tested this. And I didn’t like it…or thought I didn’t. But it kept nagging at me. I had roasted it very lightly, and the wood was just too much I think in hindsight. Subsequent batches I fully roasted. And again, waves of browned butter. And crisp cedar and heavy truffle and porcini in the chocolate. So, just because this is Criollo, don’t feel you have to treat it delicate. It can handle a full roast, and in my opinion benefits from it. 

A couple notes on the chocolate recipe you choose. I started out making an 80% chocolate…and it was difficult. Very thick in the Melanger and very strong in flavor. I ended up adding extra cocoa butter to this plus a little more sugar than I had planned. The final result was 65% Cocoa, 10% cocoa butter & 25% sugar. On the surface, sweeter than I usually would make, but the aromatic and earthiness push through and it doesn’t seem nearly as sweet as you might think. But of course, feel free to experiment as you see fit. As a final interesting twist for one of my test batches, I sprinkled sea salt on the bars as I molded them up. Normally, I’m not a fan of salt and chocolate, although I know lots of people are – in this case it really complimented this unique chocolate. I hope you both can try this and find you enjoy it as much as I do. 

This is one of those rare, one in a lifetime opportunities, so if you want to try a Criollo that shows just what it’s potential can be, this is it. I don’t know if I will ever have any again. With that, I also want many people to try this, so I am setting a 5 lb limit on it. Please respect your fellow chocolate makers and don’t order more than that even though the cart will allow you. If you want more, let me know. If there is any left after everyone has a reasonable time to order (about 1 week), I will allow more.  And if you can afford it, I would suggest 2 lbs - 1 lb just does not go very far and 2 lbs behaves much better in the Melangers.