Impact
Tire d'érable (in French-speaking Montréal Québec), aka Maple Taffee or "sugar on snow” elsewhere (merely hinted at in Genevieve Grandbois Les Classiques collection), is a live confection made from maple sap & pure snow. Just boil maple sap to about 235ºF & pour it – while still in its molten state - onto the fresh-driven snow whose countering cold-temperature forces the sap to instantly thicken.
Canadians serve this immediately with donuts, pickles & coffee to cut down the sweetness.
Or during summertime they can eat this bar instead for a near substitute.
Canadians serve this immediately with donuts, pickles & coffee to cut down the sweetness.
Or during summertime they can eat this bar instead for a near substitute.
Appearance 4.7 / 5
| Color: | brown ’n rouge |
| Surface: | flawless save for pinholes on the corners of the mold |
| Temper: | semi-flat |
| Snap: | severs well; firm-grained edge |
Aroma 8.3 / 10
sour candies stuck in thick sap (basically Sweet Tarts™ meets Sour Patch Kidz™ adding up to extreme Warheads™ loaded w/ malic acid) -> softens to donut bread... all indicative of processing on a lighter side
Mouthfeel 12.5 / 15
| Texture: | turgid |
| Melt: | elongated & round |
Flavor 39.2 / 50
slams in cocoa caramel drizzled in maple syrup -> sours toward applesauce studded w/ fresh apple chunks -> bright loquat -> smoked maple chips -> scrapes off sticky sap (bael) at the back -> fresh black mulberry w/ leaves -> coffee -> Pinus patula (a wood w/ anise-like tones) -> peanut-toffee after-length
Quality 15 / 20
Constricted, skittish, & of limited dimension. What’s there conforms to PNG’s rep for the unusual / peculiar.
Due to climate conditions, the island traditionally smokes its cacáo beans to dry them.
Soma further countenances that, with a hi-heat style of roasting to give this bar a back shadow in the recesses. Then lavish butter (ala Coppeneur’s Tabuna) tames the flames; ditto a relatively light touch (think Domori Papuander) in other parameters of the processing circle.
From the looks of the label marked ‘Batch #PNG-1’, this appears to be Soma’s first crack at PNG & the result shows the house may need a couple more iterations to get a handle on this origin. Expect more & better in the future.
ING: cocoa mass, sugar, cacáo butter
Reviewed Spring 2010
Due to climate conditions, the island traditionally smokes its cacáo beans to dry them.
Soma further countenances that, with a hi-heat style of roasting to give this bar a back shadow in the recesses. Then lavish butter (ala Coppeneur’s Tabuna) tames the flames; ditto a relatively light touch (think Domori Papuander) in other parameters of the processing circle.
From the looks of the label marked ‘Batch #PNG-1’, this appears to be Soma’s first crack at PNG & the result shows the house may need a couple more iterations to get a handle on this origin. Expect more & better in the future.
ING: cocoa mass, sugar, cacáo butter
Reviewed Spring 2010