2020 closes with a chocolate bang in the Dominican Republic

Americas Uncategorized

The Dominican Republic held its first National Chocolate Festival in Santo Domingo from December 10th – 13th. Participants could sign up for more than twenty online and in-person activities to learn about fourteen artisan chocolate companies in the Dominican Republic.

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The featured festival event was the award ceremony for the first Dominican Chocolate Competition. Participating chocolatiers entered a total of 40 chocolate samples in three categories: milk chocolate, dark chocolate, and experimental chocolate. An official judging panel of domestic and international industry professionals and experts evaluated the chocolate. There was also a public judging panel of 400 consumers, each of whom received five random chocolates to evaluate.

 

The official panel awarded nine winning chocolates in the three categories according to physical appearance, mouthfeel, fragrance, flavor-aroma balance, global quality and global impression:

 

Milk chocolate

Gold: Milz Chocolat 50% cocoa with milk

 

Dark chocolate

Gold: ChocoPunto 70% cocoa

Silver: Milz Chocolat 70% cocoa

Bronze: ChocoPunto 78% cocoa

 

Experimental chocolate

Gold: Milz Chocolat 50% cocoa with milk and coffee

Silver: Definite Chocolate 57% cocoa with cashew milk and macadamia

Silver: KahKow Vestige 65% cocoa

Bronze: Choco Punto 78% unsweetened cocoa with cocoa nibs

 

The public panel highlighted the Dominican consumer’s palate. The People’s Choice award took the texture, flavors and overall impression of the sample into consideration and awarded the following:

 

Milk chocolate

Milz 50% cocoa

 

Dark chocolate

Milz 70% cocoa

 

Experimental chocolate

CONACADO 70% with dehydrated and candied tomato

 

The similarity between the public and professional panels’ evaluations showcases impressive demand from the local palate.

 

The Dominican Chocolate Festival and Dominican Chocolate Competition are initiatives of Exporting Quality, a USDA-funded program implemented in the Dominican Republic by IESC. The Dominican Republic is a global leader in the production and export of organic cocoa. Together, the festival and the competition promote the expression of the diversity of the aromas of Dominican fine cacao in chocolate and at the same time educate the domestic and international consumers about Dominican chocolate.

 

The Exporting Quality program created festivalchocolate.do to organize the festival and now, serve as a reference portal for Dominican chocolate.

 

Visit festivalchocolate.do. for a complete list of winners.

 

Follow the Dominican Chocolate Competition and the Dominican Chocolate Festival on social media for a behind-the-scenes look:

 

Instagram: festivalchocolate.do

Instagram: concursodominicanodechocolate