Two New Bars and One That’s Going Away

I’m excited to announce two new bars from Potomac Chocolate, and sad to say that one of my bars is about to be gone.

The New Bars

First up is my new
70% DARK + SPICE bar. I’ve actually been selling this one at in-person events and markets for the past several months, but am just now ‘officially’ releasing it.

This bar actually started as a drinking chocolate. I love spiced drinking chocolate, so a while back, I started making one using my award-winning Duarte, Dominican Republic 70% dark chocolate spiced with cinnamon, sea salt, and aleppo chili pepper (which is seasonally available during the colder months). It’s easily my favorite of my drinking chocolates. While making it, I would occasionally enjoy some of the the pulverized bits of chocolate and spice–one of the true perks of being a chocolate maker 🙂 . From those samplings, and a lot of interest from people buying the drinking chocolate, I determined to make a spiced bar. I’ve reformulated the recipe to get the perfect blend of the spices and chocolate and am really happy with it.

When tasting this bar, I get a distinct progression of flavors starting with a deep cocoa note enhanced with a subtle saltiness. Then comes the warmth of the cinnamon, followed at the end (and into the aftertaste) with the heat of the aleppo chili pepper.

It is now available in the shop, here.

The second new bar is one I’ve been working on for quite a while and have only recently perfected: 70% DARK + TOASTED SOURDOUGH.

If you had happened to chance upon my personal instagram over the past few months, you would have seen that I have really gotten into baking with sourdough, making everything from loaves of bread, to sourdough pancakes, donuts, and pretzels. I was just baking for myself, family, and friends and mentioned my new hobby to Marisol, who is one of the owners of The Chocolate House in Washington, DC. She suggested (more demanded in a friendly way, really) that I try and combine my newfound love of sourdough with my passion for chocolate and make a bar with sourdough bread in it. I thought it was a great idea and got to work.

I made many, many test batches on the road to this bar, trying to get the perfect flavor and texture. Along the way, I tested many different variables:

  • toasted vs untoasted (toasted won)
  • crust-only vs no-crust vs the whole loaf (the whole loaf!)
  • salt vs no salt (just a touch of salt)
  • different percentages of everything

It was a long–but delicious–road. 🙂

The resultant bar is made with my award-winning Duarte, Dominican Republic 70% dark chocolate, with just the right amount of homemade, lightly toasted sourdough breadcrumbs that bring a great crunch to the bar, and just a hint of sea salt. I’m really proud of this bar and hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I do!

It is also available in the shop, here.

The One Going Away

Now, the sad news. My much-loved Cuyagua, Venezuela 70% Dark bar is going away. I’ve really enjoyed making (and eating!) this bar, but I’ve used up all my cacao and am letting it go to make room for a new, as-yet-undecided, origin (or maybe a series of limited edition origin runs–still TBD).

So, if you love this bar, now is the time to order some. There are only a few cases of it left. You can order it in the shop, here.

-Ben Rasmussen, Chocolate Maker

Related Posts