Small organic dark chocolate tablets with orange, in a box of ten, from Chocolates Artesanos Isabel in Spain.
Orange and dark chocolate is one of the oldest and best-founded pairings in confectionery, and there is a reason it works beyond simple habit. Bitterness and acidity are complementary in a way that bitterness and sweetness are not: sugar masks bitterness, while acid cuts across it and makes it legible. Citrus does both jobs at once — the acid sharpens, and the peel oils, dominated by limonene, add a bright volatile top note that dark chocolate on its own entirely lacks. Cocoa is a deep, low, slow flavour; orange sits on top of it.
The peel matters more than the fruit. Orange juice would be useless here — mostly water and sugar, and water is chocolate's enemy: even a small amount makes melted chocolate seize into a grainy paste. All the aroma of an orange lives in the oil glands of the zest, and oil dissolves happily into cocoa butter. That is why every good orange chocolate on earth uses peel, and why the flavour is bright and perfumed rather than merely sweet.
A note on dark chocolate and the “healthy” label. Cocoa flavanols are genuine, and the EU authorises one health claim about them — relating to blood vessel elasticity — which requires 200 mg of flavanols daily. That is a real, specific dose, and it is more than a couple of squares of ordinary dark chocolate provides. Dark chocolate is a considerably better thing to eat than most confectionery. It is not a supplement.
Ten small tablets — a format that suits sharing, portioning and gifts rather better than a single large bar.
Available at Só Verde, an organic concept store in Foz, Porto.