Compare the Fermentation: Mucho – Emiliano and Emiliano Lavado

TASTING NOTES

These two bars are made by the same maker with the same beans. The only difference? Fermentation. It’s not always obvious what effect fermentation has on the finished flavours of a chocolate bar, but try these two bars side by side and you won’t miss the difference.

The Emiliano has undergone a standard 5.5-day fermentation, while the Emiliano Lavado is made with ‘cacao lavado’, which is one of Mexico’s three post-harvest processing techniques and the one usually used for making drinking cocoa. Lavado is “washed” fermented cacao, the white pulp having been washed away from the beans within a couple of days of opening the pods.

Both bars are smoothy and fudgy, but the flavour profile is noticeably different. The fermented bar has an interesting profile with notes of ham or smoked bacon against a biscuity backdrop. The Lavado bar, on the other hand, is bursting with an abundance of gingerbread spices among a rich chocolatey body.

ABOUT THE MAKER

Ana Maria started Mucho Chocolate in 2012 as a museum to showcase Mexico’s rich heritage in chocolate.   She quickly realised that there was a huge gap in the market for fine Mexican chocolate, and she has set out to highlight and reveal the amazing variety of cocoas and cocoa growing regions in Mexico.  Ana Maria started her production of chocolate bars in 2014, and launched this Emiliano bar in 2019.  Mucho’s packaging is delightfully minimalist – and eminently presentable.

THE BEANS

The Emiliano bars are named after the town in Tabasco where the cacao is produced, called Emiliano Zapata. This town bears the name of a Mexican revolutionary and advocate of agrarianism during the early twentieth century. The cacao had been sourced from a handful of plantations in the area that are working with best practices for biodiversity.

The Emiliano’s cacao is lightly fermented, which brings its unique flavour, says Ana Maria. The crops that grow alongside the cacao include Jamaica pepper, orange, banana, mango, and cedar. This particular chocolate comes from a Spring 2019 harvest. The cacao underwent a 5.5 day fermentation, with the first turn taking place after 52 hours, then every 24 hours after that.

No nutritional information available for this product.

*Allergen advice: We directly import, and purchase, all products from independent makers and have these shipped by our partner warehouse (which is not certified allergen-free), and so we cannot guarantee that any product will be allergen-free. Even where an allergen is not listed, products may have been produced, shipped, or stored in facilities which handle allergens.

If you would like further information about a specific product, please contact us on [email protected] or contact the maker directly.