Sale price Price $13 Regular price

Zorzal Estate

Dominican Republic

70 2016

Dandelion Chocolate

Tasting Notes: crème brûlée, fudge, and wild-berry jam on toast

This limited-edition bar was crafted from the first of only three annual cocoa harvests grown, fermented, and dried entirely at Reserva Zorzal estate and bird sanctuary. With every bag of Zorzal beans, we buy Plan Vivo carbon credits, which pay local farmers to reserve portions of their land to grow native trees.

In 2016, Zorzal Cacao co-founder Charles Kerchner and team benefitted from mild weather. They built fermentation boxes and drying tunnels of local wood in order to produce flavorful beans among rainforest humidity.

To showcase the unique tasting notes naturally present in three sequential annual harvests of Zorzal beans, Ron treated each batch of beans identically in the factory, thereby highlighting flavor differences created solely by varying conditions on the farm. In this 2016 harvest bar, he especially appreciates the jammy fruit notes.

Ingredients & Allergens
All of our single-origin chocolate is made with just cocoa beans and sugar; no added cocoa butter, lecithin, or vanilla. Our chocolate is free of soy, dairy, eggs, and gluten, and it is made in a factory that does not process nuts.
Weight
2 oz (56 g)
Learn More
Learn more about our cocoa beans and sugar — the region, the farms, and the producers.
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Kosher

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Gluten
Free

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Nut Free

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Vegan

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Direct
Sourced

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Two
Ingredients

+

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About Zorzal Estate, Dominican Republic

Reserva Zorzal is a 1,019-acre organic cacao farm and bird sanctuary located in a moist, broadleaf-rainforest region of the northern Dominican Republic. Charles (Chuck) Kerchner co-founded Reserva Zorzal and Zorzal Cacao (a.k.a. Cacao del Bosque S.R.L) in 2012, hoping to prove that a for-profit business could be a viable, economically sustainable driver of environmental conservation.

Chuck and his co-founders (Jamie Phillips, Jesus Moreno, Jaimie Moreno, Angelica Moreno, and Sesar Rodriguez) bought a relatively undeveloped 412-hectare (1000-acre) piece of land in the mountains of the Duarte Province. They divided it into Reserva Zorzal (the bird sanctuary) and Zorzal Estate (the farm) to protect a critical habitat and simultaneously grow high-quality cacao. While Zorzal Cacao processes and sells estate-grown cacao under the name “Zorzal Estate,” the company also buys freshly harvested beans from neighboring farms, ferments them, and sells them, under the name “Zorzal Comunitario.”

Unlike many origins where we source beans, the Dominican Republic has a thriving national cocoa industry, and Chuck supports and retains staff through continual education. When travel is possible, Dandelion runs annual customer trips to visit Zorzal and the Zorzal team.