After reading my pitiable lament about the demise of several domestic artisan chocolate factories, my friend wunx sent me two bars of Amano chocolate! Yum! I don't know why it seems so odd to me that good dark chocolate is being made just outside Salt Lake City, but Amano's product is delicious. I highly recommend both the Madagascar and the Ocumare; the Madagascar is sharp with a tangy citrus note, while the Ocumare is smoother. I can tell you that both go wonderfully with a nice pinot noir.
Amano also has a rather nice chocolate blog - check out their historical look at a chocolate factory in 1884, or the detailed post on chocolate roasting. I'm planning to experiment with their hot chocolate recipe as soon as I get more Amano Ocumare!
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In addition to the companies Cybele mentioned in her comment on your previous post, Jacques Torres is also making his own chocolate in his new factory in New York. It's good.
I really enjoy your blog!
And dark, dark chocolate. Why someone doesn't make a dark chocolate peanut butter cup is beyond me...
nothing finer.....
My very favorite hot cocoa is made with nibs brewed like coffee. I don't do it often, because it gets rather pricy, but I absolutely love a cup of unsweetened, uncreamed hot cocoa. I also love to mix some with my coffee beans for a rather succulent cup of "real" mocha.
Ironically, I am not all that fond of dark chocolate bars - I love me some great milk chocolate...
Although I do have to complain that the last thing I needed right now, is the distraction of the unbelievably sexy Amano chocolate site.
Really good milk chocolate is delicious too - most American milk chocolate is unfortunately too sweet for my taste. But mmmmm, hot cocoa. . .
Thanks for the shout out. I honestly didn't expect a review here at Science Blogs. (I read regularly and actually am a physicist - a bit of a change from working at LANL to making chocolate)
BTW - we have milk chocolate now. We're still waiting for the printing on the boxes to be done. But we're doing a "prerelease" of it off our blog. We tried to make a milk that would appeal to dark chocolate lovers but would also be enjoyable by those intimidated by dark chocolate.
A pleasant change to be sure! :) I know another physicist who has made chocolate, actually -physicists appear to enjoy food experiments in the kitchen-lab.