Introducing our new "Pok Pok Choc" - Dorset meets Madagascar mash-up
Co-founder Claire here with an update for you. Coming to our Chocolate Houses later this week and available online in our Chococo selection boxes for a limited period is our latest flavour mash-up, new...Pok Pok Choc! This new chocolate is part of our celebration of all things Madagascar through March.
"What on earth is Pok Pok?" we hear you ask - well it is the rather wonderful Malagsy (Madagascan) word for the physalis fruit, which is also known as goldenberry or cape gooseberry - it does seem to have a lot of names.
This wonderfully tart fruit grows in Madagascar and when I was out there in May 2016, visiting the Chocolaterie Robert chocolate factory in Antananarivo & the cocoa growing area of the Sambirano valley in NW Madagascar, I was introduced to Pok Pok & thought it the most wonderful word for an under-rated fruit that, from my experience, tends to be used to decorate desserts in restaurants or is eaten dried as goldenberries.
The tartness of the fruit actually works very well when blended with chocolate and I have wanted to create our interpretation of a Pok Pok chocolate since returning from my Madagascar trip. Susan, (the maker of our lemon curd & other such preserves for our chocolates & cafes) of the Alweston Jam & Chutney Empire, (isn't that just the best brand name you have ever heard), based in Alweston in North Dorset was up for the challenge of creating a physalis jam and the result is in this rather splendid little chocolate.
We have layered the Pok Pok jam on top of a fresh Dorset cream & 65% Madagascar Mega Milk chocolate ganache - this Raistrade milk chocolate is very special as it contains as much cocoa as many dark chocolates but only 8% added sugar, given the presence of 27% milk....so it has the creaminess of milk chocolate without the sugar!
Anyway, back to the Pok Pok Choc - we played around with different types of chocolate for the shell of our new creation & the winner was to make this chocolate with a Madagascar 67% dark chocolate shell. The dark chocolate gives a touch more fruity intensity to the taste when eating this chocolate - a milk chocolate shell was just too sweet.
By the way, as a slight aside, when we say a fresh Dorset cream & milk chocolate ganache, we mean it - those are the ONLY ingredients in the ganache - we do not add any butter as the cream is rich enough without it, we dont add any glucose syrup, honey or neutral alcohol (yes some companies do do that) to extend shelf life. So when we say our chocolates are both pure & fresh, we mean it - we do not use any additives or preservatives to extend shelf life in our truly fresh chocolates, so they will be less sweet than many others out there as the more sugar you add, the longer the chocolate will last, but that spoils the purity of the taste & mouthfeel - so accept nothing less!
To finish off this new creation, Jacqui has splattered naturally coloured orange cocoa butter over the top of the domes to reflect the bright orange colour of the pok pok fruit.
We hope you enjoy the final chocolate - it's initially cool on the tongue as you bite into the tart jammy layer & then it softens into the rich creamy chocolate in the mouth with a hint of tart fruit on the finish.
We have enjoyed creating this Pok Pok Choc and hope that you enjoy this flavour mash up of Dorset meets Madagascar as much as we do!