Sherman's Food Adventures: chocolaTas

chocolaTas

Despite the fact I am not really a sweets guy, I do go on the rampage at times.  Generally around the holidays, I start to get the urge for chocolates.  So much so, I have dusted off a whole box in one sitting in the past.  Yes, I do realize that is a daily ritual for Mijune, but hey, I don't have that type of metabolism. So I was just rounding into form (how ironic) for the month of December when I got an email from chocolaTas to try out their gourmet Belgian chocolates.  Perfect timing I must say...  So I sauntered down to the Market at Granville Island to pick up a sample box of 10 chocolates. From the top left and clockwise, we have the Romana, Lavendar, O Canada, Berry Berry, Grapefruit, Sea Salt, Maple, Mint and in the centre, Caramel Ganache.  

The heart-shaped Romana was dark raspberry ganache in a jacket of raspberry chocolate.  This was one of the sweeter chocolates I tried where the raspberry really came through.. The ganache was smooth and provided another hit of raspberry with the expected touch of bitterness. The Maple was appropriately adorned with a leaf and it contained caramelized pecans in Maple syrup with milk chocolate ganache.  Again, the flavours came in layers with the nuttiness of the pecans followed by a appropriate amount of Maple, then ending off with the chocolate ganache. The O Canada consisted of lightly roasted hazelnut praline paste wrapped in dark chocolate.  The flavour of the centre was not heavy and only sweet enough.  It was aromatic and pleasing to the palate. The Mint was comprised of organic fresh leaves infused in dark chocolate ganache.  I found this one subtle and almost refreshing.  The mint was not overpowering as it let the chocolate do its thing.  The Lavendar was as expected - flowery.  I'm not a huge fan of lavendar anything, but this was subtle enough that I could tolerate it.

The Grapefruit consisted of zest and a splash of vodka.  The first layer of flavour was the vodka itself in a subtle fashion, then the tang of grapefruit hit and finished off smoothly. The Sea Salt was essentially pure dark chocolate ganache enhanced by the salt itself and it delivered.  The smooth balanced ganache began with a low rumble but then was amped by the finish of sea salt which really heightened the flavours (which were complex and diverse). The Berry Berry was a slight departure being a milk chocolate where it was sweeter and obviously had a different texture.  The berry flavour was unmistakable as it lingered after the ending hit. The chocolate in the middle appeared to the the Traditional Caramel Ganache and it was sweet.  This was compounded by the encasement of white chocolate.  All-in-all, some pretty chocolates which allowed the flavourings to do their thing with little interference from too much sugar.  Textures were smooth while the chocolate itself is high in quality.

The Good:
- Flavours are prominent when they need to be and subtle when it needs to take a back seat
- Textures were smooth
- They're pretty

The Bad:
- Accessibility of this location is a bit tough with parking and all
- Expensive (but you pay for quality right?)

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