Rogue and a Red




Rogue Chocolate.  Did you know that delicious, complex, dark chocolate is made from scratch in the Mid West?  The Mid West!  Deep in the snow covered city of Minneapolis, MN to be exact.  I heard about them due to their recent winning of a Good Food Award in San Francisco, CA. Their Sambirano bar, made with cacao from a single family-owned estate in Madagascar, was the winner.  They are currently selling four different bars on their website.  All are in a long rectangle, unmarked thin chocolate block.  There are no lines for making sure that you break your chocolate pieces into perfect squares. I supposed that Rogue, wants you to be edgy, forcing you to break your chocolate into jagged shards. (You do feel a little rebellious eating a shard).  I was given three bars as an early Valentine's gift.  I know, I know- you don't do Valentine's Day.  (It seems that it is sooo uncool these days.)  Uncool to show someone that you love them?  Even if it is a greeting card holiday...  So, don't buy a greeting card.  Rogue is probably anti-Valentine's Day too- except for the fact that they most likely get a large bump in sales from the holiday...  This year I am personally using the day as an excuse to taste some really excellent chocolate.  I tasted the award-winning Sambriano with some fresh dry-roasted, salted pistachio and cashew nuts. This bar is very smooth, like all of their chocolate and has bright flavors of plums, citrus, berry, and cedar 
The nuttiness perfectly compliments the brighter citrus notes.  However, my favorite, so far, is the Rio Caribe.  It has stronger cocoa and coffee flavors,with hints of oranges and spices.  I also picked a wine (which complemented all three bars perfectly): Cantina Zaccagnini Montepulciano d'Abruzzo 2007, since I am a big believer in the combination of red wine and dark chocolate.  It is a full-bodied robust wine, but still fruity.  So whether you are looking for a Valentine's Day gift, or just some delicious chocolate, I strongly suggest Rogue! (and a red wine-of course--although I am sure a champagne or something frizzante would go just as fantastically- maybe I'll try that tomorrow night...)


Comments

  1. Rogue is just fabulous stuff and it just keeps getting better. It's fun to give slivers of it to uninitiated person and then watch them grab the label looking for all the fruit and berry extracts they're positive have to be in the choccy, only to see nothing but cacao and cane sugar. All the flavor is in the chocolate, and it all varies according to the variety of cacao and the terrain and climate from whence it comes.

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