Notes on chocolate: to roast or not to roast? | Chocolate | The Guardian — theguardian.com

Whenever I’m procrastinating, which is nearly always, I crave something chewy. Of course, it’s pointless having something chewy in, because then I eat it and when I really need it, it’s gone. I had a bar a good few months ago that I still think of wistfully nearly every day: Zara’s caramel and sesame bar. It’s not currently on sale (the flavours vary), but there is nearly always a caramel option available in the selection and currently it’s hazelnut and caramel, £3.20 (50-60g). I think it’s hard to get the perfect caramel consistency and this bar really has it.But this week was all about quite grownup chocolate – Tosier’s 65% Ghana DarkMylk with toasted buckwheat (£6.50, 60g), had a glorious nutty, toasted bread taste, which almost has a Horlicks finish. I’ve yet to find a Tosier chocolate that I don’t love and the flavours are so complex and refined. This chocolate has a light roast to the beans and, talking of roasting, the next one I tried was made with unroasted beans.Now unroasted means raw and there’s a lot of debate about raw chocolate and is it actually raw if it’s been fermented, etc. Raw purists don’t think cocoa beans should be roasted (they say it interferes with the flavour) and those that roast think raw chocolate isn’t really chocolate because roasting brings out the flavour. Cocoa Caravan’s 72% Kingston Jamaica (£5.95, 60g) certainly tastes like chocolate, but with a super earthy, almost piquant taste to it. Something different to try.Follow Annalisa on Twitter @AnnalisaB

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