Thursday, January 20, 2011

Michevious Mast brothers


Mast Brothers Chocolate

Talk about some serious Chocolate Crusaders! These brothers from Brooklyn are LEGIT. No big deal or anything but when they decided to open their doors and create a premium quality, single-origin, craft chocolate they inadvertently turned the industry on its head, becoming the creators of the single-origin chocolate trend. From having close personal relationships with the cacao farmers they work with, to roasting, winnowing, stone grinding ad tempering their own chocolate these guys have some mad skills when it comes to creating some damn good chocolate. Not that they could become any more awesome, but each of their ridiculously gorgeous chocolate bars are hand wrapped with a thick artisanal-style 'butcher' paper up-ing the trendy factor of these
bars.


My good friend Karlye just happened to be in NYC last week and picked me up a couple. I had
-The Brooklyn Bar (Their signature. Which just happens to be extremely badass)
- Sea Salt and Almond Bar


The Brooklyn Bar (See below)
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Alright this is their signature. Its a 74% Blend from beans on a couple different continents. (South America and Africa) Although the melt is a bit slow to start you get a very smooth texture once it gets going. There are sweet notes of plum,  and tobacco and has a really earthy intense flavor. Its name fits perfectly. The bar is dark and interesting with complex flavor notes. I guess thats what happens when you take such care in making your chocolate... it turns out fantastic.

Beautiful Temper


The Sea Salt and Almond Bar (See below)
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This beauty comes in having 81% cacao. The almonds come from a local farm, are roasted in olive oil and are sprinkled on the top of the singe-origin Dominican Republic  Beans. So awesome. The salt cuts the smooth 'buttery' melt of the chocolate of the chocolate creating a wonderfully complex taste and the almonds are roasted, so the smokiness adds a dimension of depth as well. The minimal amount of salt compliments the smoky notes and helps to bring out all of the flavors, not overwhelming them.
The Sea Salt Almond Bar. Isnt is awesome?
  I personally think that there could be more almonds so you can get more in each bite, creating a better ration, but whatever these guys know how to make some serious stuff.


Overall these guys are pretty gangster, the ultimate crusaders, making everyone else look bad, one bar at a time.

The Brooklyn Bar: 8 out of 10
The Sea Salt Almond: 9 out of 10

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

http://twitter.com/The_Real_ADH#

ohh yah already getting shout outs on twitter. The Candy Crusader is legit. Click on link to check out the SweeTweet!!

Sultry Snickers

     Alright crusaders, now I know that this blog is about pushing the creative limits of the candy and chocolate industry, but we can't ignore the classics now can we? The SNICKERS bar is one, if not THE most iconic candy bar ever created. The candy bar in itself is an icon, but this beast takes it to a whole different dimension. Now I am a huge fan of the craft and artisanal chocolate trend as much as the next person, but the vast majority of us eat 'over the counter' chocolate and with global sales of over 2 billion dollars last year i think the SNICKERS is a sweet way to start.
    The most important element of any chocolate bar is the ratio of the stuff that is inside. Bad ratio, bad bar. It throws off the harmony, essentially ruining the essence of the chocolate bar... now having said that, the classic SNICKERS has the perfect ratio of peanuts, chocolate, caramel and nougat. Maybe thats why its the most widely consumed candy bar in the world?


Isnt she a beauty?
Weighing in at 57g the SNICKERS has around 270 calories and 28g of sugar
Eat up crusaders its good for your soul.
8 out of10

Crusaders

This blog is now up and running for all the crusaders out there. It will discuss the trends in candy and chocolate, pushing the creative limits of sweets. A dessert revolution.