Escazu Goat Milk Chocolate…and Cactus?
I’ve managed to (temporarily) pull myself away from reading about chocolate, photographing chocolate, and trying new chocolate (like Pump Street Bakery) to actually write about & show you a chocolate… namely Escazu’s Goat Milk bar.
I had the pleasure of trying this a few months ago. (Yes, I’m that behind on my writing.) (And yes, it is still true that nothing inside or outside my house is safe from my camera. Including cactus.)
This bar is a 60% dark chocolate with goats milk, and, as with most bars of Venezuelan origin, it ended up making me giggle whenever I introduced it to my friends. Why? It just strikes me as funny that the beans went all the way from Venezuela to North Carolina to be made into chocolate bars, and then the chocolate bars went all the way to Oregon (among other places) to be sold, and then this particular bar came all the way back to Venezuela (albeit not the Carenero region) to be eaten.
Taste: Slightly tangy with a luxurious mouthfeel. This was my first taste of goats milk chocolate and I liked it.
I need to publicly go on the record that I am NEVER TOUCHING CACTUSES CACTI AGAIN. Maybe that will help me to remember. I keep thinking that somehow *this time* I will manage not to touch the certain strategic spots that shed microscopic spiny hairs that so easily burrow into fingers and feet (don’t ask). Yet, every time, without fail, my promise to be very very careful always ends up with tears and tweezers involved. Well, at least tweezers.
Don’t even get me started on the time I was 14 and somebody informed me that if the ripe cactus fruit was peeled properly that none of aforementioned microscopic hairs would end up in my mouth. Either they were very wrong or the fruit was very incorrectly peeled. While this particular cactus fruit is rather tasty, it was certainly not worth the evening of trying to get pricklies out.of.my.tongue.
We also have cacti that reach out and jump and attach themselves to any part of you that gets too close (Really! I am practically not making this up), barrel cacti that have the cutest smooth-skinned pink fruits that taste sort of like kiwi (which are safe to eat, even if you don’t own tweezers), and…
Wait. This is not a site about cactus. It is about chocolate.
Escazu bars are available on multiple sites that sell craft chocolate. I purchased mine via Chocolopolis. Come to think of it, Escazu chocolate more than likely available …let me check….yep…directly from the Escazu website. Of course, if you happen to be in Raleigh, North Carolina, it might be easier (and lots more fun!) to visit the Escazu store itself. Judging by their Instagram/Twitter feeds, there are also truffles and confections.
And ICE CREAM.
#notapaidadvertisement #justlovedtheirchocolate #andapparentlyIloverattlingonaboutcactusestoo