Menakao Dark Chocolate 100% with Cocoa Nibs

A must-try for the 100% lovers. Menakao’s bar packs far more of a punch than Akesson’s and Pralus’ more mellow Madagascan 100% bars. This award winning dark bar is an intense 100% Madagascan dark chocolate. The bar has no sugar in it at all and is made with nothing but cacao, revealing all of the richness of the cocoa.

Unwrap the chocolate and you are instantly hit by a strong fruity aroma. Delicious and inviting as this may be, don’t be fooled into breaking off a great chunk as this chocolate has a serious intensity! The initial berries have a citrus edge, leading to a powerful and sharp finish. A roasted note is mixed with the fruits, which reminds us a little of strong filter coffee. The almost sherbet – like astringency, gives a mouth-watering quality as the chocolate fills your mouth with strong flavours.

This bar doesn’t just taste good, it does good. Madagascan chocolate maker Menakao proudly crafts its chocolate on the island, using only local ingredients. Unfortunately, this is rare even for craft chocolate – it’s estimated that less than 5% of the world’s chocolate is produced in the same country the cocoa is grown. By making the chocolate in Madagascar in addition to growing the cacao on the island, Menakao generate about 4-5 times the benefit of Fair Trade for the local Madagascan economy.

In honour of the men and women of Madagascar of all ethnicities who are at the heart of Menakao chocolate, Menakao decided that the bars should proudly bear the image “not [of] the face of Madagascar, but [of] Madagascan faces.” The beautiful image on the wrapping of this bar is of a Betsimisaraka man. The Betsimisarka (Betsimisaraka meaning “many and inseparable”), are celebrated for their rhythmic dancing traditions and are the largest group on the east coast of Madagascar, a region noted for lush vegetation, dense forest and tropical climate.