Midnight Crunch Bar from Shawn Askinosie at the Candy Store
A coming together of three origins of cacao in one wildly good bar
Wow! Here is one very tasty new dark chocolate bar from my friend Shawn Askinosie down in Missouri. I’ve been enjoying it regularly since it arrived the week before last.
If you like good chocolate and you don’t yet know Shawn’s chocolate bars, come by and have a taste! I’ve been loving them since we first started stocking them nearly 20 years ago now, right when Askinosie was getting going. At the time, they were one of only five or six bean-to-bar chocolate makers in the U.S. Rather than buying beans in bulk containers from brokers, as nearly all chocolatiers had done previously, Shawn and a handful of caring colleagues made the commitment to willingly pay more to buy cacao directly from the growers—in the process, improving quality of life in the producing communities and achieving higher quality (i.e., better flavor) in the finished chocolate. You really, absolutely, 1000% percent can taste the difference.
Everything you see from Askinosie is excellent. The Candy Store stocks about 25 items, and the Roadhouse and Deli about half that many. You won’t go wrong with any of them.
My focus here, though, is on this new bar! It combines cacao from two different sources that Shawn has worked with for years, with nibs (the unsweetened “nut meat,” so to speak, of the cacao) from a third origin sprinkled liberally across the top to add crunch and contrast. Awesome! The aroma alone is exceptional. After you open the bar, stick your nose inside and discover it for yourself: deep, earthy, a little like a bourbon barrel, enticing, comforting.
Here’s what Shawn had to say:
This is a blend of Tanzania and Ecuador—two longtime favorites. As the name suggests, it’s a “crunch bar,” with small, crunchy Davao cacao nibs sprinkled on the back. I have always wanted crunch over creamy textures.
The tasting notes are velvety, nutty burnt-caramel crunch with notes of vanilla and molasses. Which makes total sense, because that’s what you get when you mix these three origins. I might have mentioned this in the past, but blends are much more technically challenging from a flavor perspective than single origins. This one is a 68% dark chocolate, so it’s neither super dark nor super sweet.
Since we combined all three origins, this bar also celebrates 19 years of direct trade with these same farmers. My most recent trip, a few months ago, was to the Philippines, and it was my 55th origin trip since starting the company, and I’ve been working with these farmers for 19 years. To me, that’s kind of mind-blowing, and I’m grateful to have been part of it.
The results of all those years of hard work are difficult to top. The bar’s natural savoriness makes it especially good with bread—try some with a chunk of fresh baguette from the Bakehouse.
