Bourbon Chocolate, and More…

I don’t really think I need to tell you much more. I’ve debated at work about the few foods that go good with anything. We narrowed it down to two: cheese and chocolate. Well, I believe I’m helping make the chocolate point with the Raaka Bourbon Cask Aged Chocolate. Raaka touts itself as the first company to make a chocolate that uses cask-aged cocoa beans in their bourbon cask-aged chocolate.  The first time I noticed this chocolate was in Bryant Park during the Christmas season. My fianceé and I went into the small shop expecting some kind of gimmick. They provided small samples of each flavor. I could definitely taste the sweetness of the bourbon in the chocolate.

Of course, I tried all of their other flavors, and each sample had a distinctly pleasant and different flavor from the other. End of story–I ended up with a gift bag full of Raaka chocolates for Christmas (thanks fianceé). The bars are still hidden away to savor for the sudden urge I may have every now and then. Apparently the trick to the deliciousness of these chocolates is twofold: (1) the chocolates have uniquely different flavors (see Bourbon Cask Aged, Vanilla Rooibos, or Porter) and (2) the simplistic “virgin” crafting of the chocolate.

The unique flavors speak for themselves, and I can attest to each…my favorites are the bourbon (paired with a glass of whiskey or scotch) and the porter (paired with a stout or porter beer).  The actual making of the chocolate is what makes them particularly different. By virgin, they mean that Raaka does not roast their cocoa beans and they literally use the most basic ingredients to make the chocolate. For instance, their regular dark Madagascar bar is only made of cocoa beans and evaporated cane juice. When it comes to their infusions or inclusions, they use some more complex recipe, but with the most basic ingredients.

For instance, they make their porter by taking the unroasted beans and the sugars necessary, and then add malts used to make a porter beer and the hops used to make the porter. Rather than using a processed porter, the chocolatiers deconstruct chocolate AND a porter to create one delicious chocolate bar. When you bite into the porter bar, you can actually taste the sweetness delivered in the flavor profile of a porter along with a brief taste of the hops.

Raaka sells throughout the country and offers an array of flavors that may strike your fancy.

(Image: Raaka)