As a child growing up in Hawaii, I was surrounded by an array of unique tropical fruits. Guava is one of them. I remember picking guava from our tree and eating it on the spot. Ah, that is one of my favorite childhood memories.
Since guava fruit isn’t readily accessible where I now live, I am always eager for any guava eating experiences that come my way. So when I heard about a chocolate inclusion bar with guava, I had to do some research and hunt it down.
In my search I learned of Mission Chocolate, founded by chocolate maker and chocolatier Arcelia Gallardo. She has a wealth of knowledge and experience in all facets of the chocolate industry that she shares through her work teaching indigenous women to make chocolate, creating dessert menus for Sāo Paulo restaurants, teaching chocolate making courses, hosting chocolate tastings and chocolate inspired dinners, as well as making small batch craft chocolate.
The Mission Chocolate bar that obviously caught my eye was the Guava - Dark Chocolate 70% With Candied Guava. I was so excited when this bar arrived in the mail. The pink tropical packaging is lovely as it artistically captures aspects of its delicious guava chocolate contents. I wish I got a better picture of the foil wrapper as it is a beautiful rose gold color. Everything housing the chocolate matches and compliments it. Then you get to the actual bar. The pattern on the front of the bar looks like a brick pathway (follow the chocolate brick road...) and when you flip it over to expose its back you can see the large chunks of guava, which makes this 60g bar even more inviting.
The bar is made with organic cacao, organic sugar, guava, and cocoa butter. It had a rich scent that is a little spicy and woody like cedar. The chocolate had a light but sweet taste of burnt sugar with a hint of pepperiness. This went well with the subtle sweet jammy flavor of the guava. At first the chocolate seemed to smell more distinctive than it tasted. However, after consuming more than half the bar (which is very easy to do) the spicy taste of clove became more pronounced and the richness of the chocolate was realized. This chocolate that started off seemingly mild mannered became as pleasingly zesty as its spicy aroma.
So, what to pair this fruity peppery chocolate with? The Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban scotch was selected because of its flavor profile due to spending the first part of its life aged in bourbon casks then in ruby port casks. The scotch, which encompassed the intricate woody flavors of the casks, exposed more of the woody characteristics of the chocolate. It was a beautiful pairing!
A relaxing yet racy tropical experience is just a bite away. Check out Mission Chocolate’s Guava bar and the rest of their exotic collection. https://missionchocolate.com/
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