Chocolate and Food Science Connection

You might recall that we've tested samples from Calowry in the past. You can reread that 2023 post here. Months ago they contacted me again and set me some more samples of what they can now do with their chocolate. We the consumer are not their target audience because this will be chocolate they will sale to chocolate makers and sellers, but I thought you might want to learn about it. On October 24th it will be National Food Science Day and the 2024 theme is "Water is Life, Water is Food" which matches what Calowry is doing very well because they've figured out how to add water to chocolate without the risk of it seizing and therefore failing to become chocolate that can be used. The company sent me two of their new chocolate forms to try out and write about; not other form of compensation was received for my honest opinion.

This time the Calowry chocolate bar is full sized with 15 sections and measuring 2.25 X 4 7/8 X 3/8 of an inch. The sheen is sharp and glossy like you expect with a chocolate bar. There isn't much of a fragrance from this. It makes a snap when I broke off the pieces and softer sound when I chewed it. It still seems a bit softer than most bars but it is has a strong dark chocolate taste that builds with each chew. I could understand if someone said there was a coffee edge to the flavor but since I hate coffee and I really loved this, I would disagree and say it seemed more like a black pepper edge to me. 

The Truffle form of chocolate that Calowry sent also has a nice gloss and a stable form with a base circumference of just over one inch with a height of almost an inch. Like the bar, the scent was almost non existent. These had two chocolate – the shell and the inside. As you can see, the inside is lighter in color, it is a different texture dryer than I expect with a truffle, but it had a stronger fragrance of basically cocoa. The shell did make a snap when I bit into it, but the center soaked up the moisture in my mouth quickly so it wasn't up to the quality of the average truffle. Hopefully in the next round, it will be improved.

If this is less than half the calories of traditionally created chocolate, I think this Calowry product has a strong future in terms of chocolate for bars. Since the price of cocoa beans is going up and up, saving on ingredients like sugars may help keep the products more reasonably priced; or that's just a hope I have. Truffle center chocolate still needs some work and I believe that their scientists can achieve that if they keep trying.

Be sure to come back to The Chocolate on October 24, 2024, to read our interview with Kate Wilson who will tell us more about Calowry.