Since my foray into the world of quality chocolate, I have been jonesing for a bar of Mast Brothers Chocolate. The Brooklyn based chocolatiers are set up in an old factory and are masters of single-origin mixology–pairing beautifully tempered chocolate with high quality and local ingredients. Since, for a very long time, the Mast Brothers had been out of my vicinity (and with shipping through a certain vendor coming into the picture recently) I never had the opportunity to taste one of their amazing creations. It had been a long time since I had quality chocolate, and I had almost forgotten my love of the bold and fruity beans of Madagascar when I came across a Mast Brothers bar at a local grocery store. I picked up two: The Maple Pecan (floral pattern) and the Black Truffle and Fleur de sel (bright colors). The wrapping of each bar matches the character–the maple pecan’s gentle colored small flowers follow the creamy, nutty, gentle flavors of maple and pecan, while the bright colors, gold lacing and bold pattern are a perfect fit for the black truffle, which bursts with decadent richness the moment it hits the tongue. While I once touted the Amedei Chuao bar as being my favorite bar of all time, throughout the day I find myself glancing over at the bars on my desk and wondering if I shouldn’t allow myself just another heaven-inducing bite. I usually do.
The Mast brothers are truly artisans. The two bars I have enjoyed so far have been 72% Madagascar single-origin, which makes them very fruity, bright and bitter. The Mast cure for a common Madagascar bean? Fleur de sel. I’m not surprised that almost all of their bars are gently laced with this ingredient–it does a great deal to compliment the flavors of the bean and to create a multi-dimensional flavor experience. It is interesting, and addicting. Bravo.
