Gardini Ingenso 73% =Criollo and Trinitario Cacao

 


















About: Gardini chocolate is made in Italy, in a region famous for wine and cheese. They claim to be hand made, though I'm not sure what that really means. They make a broad range of chocolate confections and claim to be award winning (though who isn't, aside from this blog?). One thing I like is that they tell you what variety of cocoa beans they use, and they focus on dark, single source chocolate. 

Flavor: For what is basically a bean-to-bar chocolate, the flavor is not super intense and does suffer from a kind of bitterness that I associate with a lot of roasting. I have no idea if it is actually caused by a lot of roasting, but it's not a smooth, mellow flavor. The flavor profile is moderately long lasting and earthy enough, if not particularly aromatic.

Texture: Smooth enough, if ever so slightly chalky.

My rating: Somewhere between a regular, solid, good 5 and maybe a 6 for kind-of okay texture and kind-of not-bad flavor. Equivocal enough for you?

Rating Value	Meaning
1	Really bad chocolate. There's something just really really wrong here in almost every imaginable respect.
2	A bar with this rating has at least two drawbacks.
3	A bar where something is starting to get seriously wrong.... for example, really weak flavor with an otherwise acceptable texture.
4	This bar is below average, but just slightly. Mostly it's not worth eating again. Something isn't quite up to par, for example a poor texture but fine flavor.
5	This is an average good bar that's worth eating. There's nothing really wrong with it, but also nothing particularly spectacular. Or, perhaps it has a good characteristic that's evenly counter-weighted by something weak.
6	A solidly good bar with one characteristic that's above par, for example a great texture.
7	An solidly good chocolate that has two above par characteristics, but nothing mind-blowing. Good, above average flavor, but nothing to die for.
8	An excellent bar with no weaknesses and at least one characteristic that's super.
9	An awesome bar to die for with amazing texture and flavor.
10	You have been touched by God.

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