Box Chocolate Review

La Praline

Info Details
Country Venezuela   (Caracas)
Style Rustic      (w/ Classic aspirations)
lo
med
hi
CQ
Sweetness
Intensity
Complexity
Impact
Belgium in the jungle... gives a sense of how chocolate might have been if King Leopold held onto the Congo.

Ludo Gillis, transplanted to Venezuela from Antwerp, enjoys home-field advantage because his adopted country's backyard teems with arguably the most prized cacáo on earth. Add to that its tropical bounty of wild fruits, flowers, & nuts, & he puts you closer to the source deploying those 'IT' factors, utilizing an indigenous approach where one can taste The Force... even from thousands of miles away.
Presentation   4 / 5
Godiva gold box transmuted into silver; stock molded schlubs inside
Aromas   4.4 / 5
dusted buttermilk-chocolate & banana w/ a little potted fertilizer
Textures/Melt   7.1 / 10
Shells: varies thru thick 'n thin, from modified French (semi-light) to fortified Belgian (heavy armor)
Centers: mostly coarse & granulated; a few classic Belgian creams
Flavor   46.2 / 50
raw & unrefined & real; a touch too enamored in sugar, otherwise good equilibrium & flavor evolutions that take a while to congeal but are eventually luci in taste, occasionally even pure
Quality   27.5 / 30
Rough in which the ends (with results that speak for themselves & are too authentic to be fabricated) justify the means (a homage to cacáo's roots)
Selections
Couverture: El Rey; Belcolade
Flor de Parchita - Passionflower Caramel; unruly fruit acids ably escorted by Milk Choc caramel for 1 bumptious sweet-tart
Citron Dark - bright 'n tight lemon sweeps over a Dark-on-White piece until chocolate draws in closer & balms it at the back; good motion & progression
Mariposita - stiffest texture of the set; lavender praline... grit, sand, & dirt to go along w/ herb, all-obstructing flavor... then a back confluence rush of nuts & flowers overtakes the senses
Karoma - Dark-on-Milk / East-meets-West... Asian spice chest lacquered in Belgian-style whipped creamed assembly; soft in every aspect; excellent
Pina - gritty/grainy taut pineapple caramel; epitomizes the raw & unrefined & real
Milk - El Rey's Caoba given the cream treatment, brings out more of the malt
Champagne - pin-prick grape bubbles pair up & oxidize w/ granular cocoa to form plum brandy
Macadamia Marzipan - another grain-filled texture; at 1st blush, one the collection could do w/o, then on 2nd thought, pretty unusual (compared to typical almond or pistachio varieties) & respectable

Pin It on Pinterest