It seems as if salt is the new vanilla. All cooks know how salt enhances the flavor of almost anything, so why not use it to perk up chocolate? Pete Truby had his salt and chocolate aha! moment a couple of years ago while hiking with friends. He added a bit of chocolate to his trail mix and was immediately enraptured by the salty-sweet combination. Like a true entrepreneur, he started a company called Salazon, Spanish for salt.
But, it wasn’t enough to add salt to chocolate, Pete also experimented with salt and pepper, ground coffee, and salt with sugar crystals. All his 54% bars are made from organic, Rainforest Alliance certified beans in small batches, and hand-sprinkled with natural, solar-evaporated sea salt.
Pete wanted a delicious, exciting chocolate that was also beautiful, so he used a distinctive plastic mold that features workers in a sea salt farm in Asia.
I sampled all four bars currently in production, though I hear there are more innovative ideas percolating in Pete’s cranium. The most surprising was the Sea Salt and Cracked Black Pepper. Spicy pepper, salt, and chocolate complimented each other perfectly. A 43 gram portion, half a bar, has 18 grams of sugar. Normally, that’s a bit high for a dark chocolate; however, it balances out the pepper’s edge perfectly. I could see this bar being a great addition to my backpack, car, or handbag.
The Sea Salt and Organic Cane Sugar slab has only one more gram of sugar in a portion, but that extra gram makes a big difference. It adds more crunch and another layer of sweetness. While I have been focusing on the sugar, none of these bars tasted overly sweet to me.
Sea Salt and Crushed Organic Coffee was a heady experience. The extra crunch, full, rounded coffee flavor, and dark chocolate all came together in a wonderful medley of flavor, texture, and novelty. A very exciting chocolate experience.
The pure Sea Salt bar is a gentler experience, but that’s probably because I tried the other three first. Frankly, I would recommend tasting all four, since they are truly different from each other.
Pete has created four delicious options. Not only will they sate your chocolate cravings, but if you’re out on a hike they will help maintain your electrolyte balance; and, if you choose the one with coffee, it will put an extra bounce in every step.
CHOCOLATE RATINGS 