Goodnow Farms – Almendra Blanca, Mexico 77% Dark

Tom and Monica were living in Los Angeles as a TV producer and real estate agent and, in their own words “first discovered craft chocolate in, of all places, a vintage furniture shop in Los Angeles. The incredible flavours we tasted in those bars completely changed how we thought about chocolate, and started us on our journey to become single origin chocolate makers”

We were delighted to be able to bring you this bar – Mexican cacao has been enjoying a renaissance amongst small batch chocolate makers over the past 18 months, and this bar is among the finest we have tasted so far.  Almendra Blanca literally means “white almond,” a name that reflects the pale colour of this bean.  In fact, the paleness of this bean gives the bar a paler appearance, despite its high cacao content.

Goodnow sources the cacao for this bar from Hacienda Jesus Maria, an 80-year-old family farm in the Mexican state of Tabasco.
Hacienda Jesus Maria is a 70-hectare farm with 50 hectares of cacao. Farmer Vicente Alberto Gutierrez Cacep employs best farming and processing practices, and he strongly supports community initiatives and local businesses, including those owned by women.

During slow economic times Vicente intercropped and farmed 20 hectares with a variety of species for variety and stability. Products on this 20 hectares include coffee, oranges, pimienta gorda, bananas, and cattle. Vicente looks for a balance of life on his farm and also release indigenous rescued animals back into the plantation, including monkeys and marsupials.

When we taste this bar we detected roasted notes with spice and coffee. There was lots of licorice at the finish with some tobacco.

Allergens*

May contain peanuts, may contain nuts

Ingredients

Single origin cacao beans, organic cane sugar, single origin cocoa butter

*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.