Single Origin Chocolate - What's the Deal?

Okay, so I’m sure you are all asking, what’s the big deal about Single Origin chocolates. I have some information below, mostly from the NYT article http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/08/dining/08choc.html. The article is worth the read if you are really into wine or the finer points of chocolate. If not, a quick and dirty summary is below:

• Single origin chocolates are made from cocoa beans from a particular region or area.
• In the example of Santander (from the article below), the beans are all grown in Columbia.
• Estate or single varietal chocolates are a take on the single origin, only they are from an even smaller geographic area or plantation.

Many other things effect the taste of the chocolate including how the cocoa beans are dried and roasted, how much cocoa butter is added, the amount and quantities of everything else going into the chocolate such as sugar, vanilla, cocoa butter, and inclusions.

Happy Eating!