A match made in Canada

So Canada eh? Let’s begin with a truly Canadian post…

Maple & Chocolate on Canada Day

It just tastes so good! Maple used instead of cane sugar adds an interesting and truly Canadian flavour to the chocolate.

Maple syrup isn’t the easiest thing to make. It takes 40 buckets of sap from the tree to produce one bucket of maple syrup. The sap really only runs when it’s cool at night and warm in the day, so -5 Celsius to +5 Celsius. So it’s a short and busy season.

The slow and particular making of maple syrup goes well with the slow and unique ways of bean to bar chocolate.

With bean to bar chocolate the chocolate maker begins with the cacao beans, working through various processes to create the final chocolate bar. I will expand on that sometime soon.

So, let’s get back to maple and chocolate!

Hummingbird Maple

Mmmmm. So good! This 70% chocolate bar is made with two ingredients: cacao (70% from Nicaragua) and maple sugar (30% from Lanark) this bar is made close to my home. I live in Ottawa, Canada’s capital city. And Hummingbird Chocolate is made in Almonte, Ontario, a 40 minute drive from my house just west of Ottawa.

Hummingbird Maple Crunch

This is another bar Hummingbird Chocolate makes, it’s a 65% bar and it contains a few more ingredients: cacao (Nicaragua), cane sugar, cocoa butter and pure maple flakes. This bar uses the maple as a topping instead of the main sweetening ingredient.

Both these bars are delicious yet unique to themselves with different flavour profiles.

Palette de Bine Maple

Next up is a Maple Bar from Palette de Bine in Mont-Tremblant, Quebec, about 120km from home.

This bar is oh so good and created a bit north of where I live. I have been able to visit the shop a few times. Always amazing to visit with Christine the chocolate maker and hear and see how the process works.

Qantu Chocolate Maple and Maras Fleur de Sel

A little bit further down the road is Montreal, and Qantu Chocolate has a delicious maple bar. Their maple bar is composed of cacao from Peru, pure maple sugar, cocoa butter and fleur de sel. The hint of salt in this bar brings out the amazing taste of maple and it is one of my favourite maple bars to date. (These photos were taken atop the Peace Tower at Canada’s Parliament Building)

Aschenti 64% Cacao Maple Sugar and Goat Milk

For something a little different here’s Aschenti Chocolates 64% Maple Sugar and Goat Milk Bar. This is a farm to bar chocolate bar. This particular bar has cacao, goat milk, cocoa butter and maple sugar. It’s got a different flavour profile due to the goat milk. This bar is made in Winnipeg, which is my home town.

So maple and chocolate are clearly a match made in Canada and today, on Canada Day I celebrate by eating a bit of maple and launching CanadianChocoholic.ca.

I hope you get to try some maple chocolate soon!

Peace!