The Qantu Pérou Gran Blanco 70% Dark Chocolate Bar is a rare beauty. The flavor arc is incredibly fleshy and full, revealing notes of honey, raspberry, blackberry, currant and citrus as it unfolds and evolves. It’s hard to believe that raspberries along with a hint of citrus and honey are not inclusions in the bar. This Qantu bar is reminiscent of a Madagascar bar with its berry and citrus notes, yet because it’s made from white Piura beans from Norandino, the color of the bar is almost that of a milk chocolate (even though it is a dark chocolate bar with no milk added at all). The melt is luxuriously creamy and the savoring experience is both full of vibrant flavor, yet delicately nuanced and accessible to the palate. At Qantu, the makers keep heat to a minimum when roasting and conching their cacao beans so as to preserve delectable, fine flavors.
Maxime, co-owner and chocolate maker at Qantu calls the Gran Blanco a "summer" bar, as opposed to the Chuncho, which is an "autumn" or "winter" bar. Yes! Chocolate bars can be aptly paired with the seasons!
- Academy of Chocolate Gold Winner 2017 & 2018
- International Chocolate Awards World Silver Winner 2018
The owners and chocolate makers at Qantu are a husband and wife team. Maxime is a Montrealer and his wife, Elfi, is from Peru, where they met by chance as young travelers. After falling in love, they visited their first cacao plantation in 2014 and fell in love all over again, this time with bean to bar chocolate! Two years later they pursued their dream of crafting chocolate from fine flavor Peruvian beans. They selected the farmers with whom they wanted to partner, bought some chocolate-making equipment, and started racking up gold and silver medals a year later.
Why the unusual name “Qantu” you may wonder? Qantu (pronounced ‘Kantu’) comes from the native Peruvian language, Quechua, and it is the national flower of Peru and Bolivia. A symbol of unity and hospitality, this flower embodies the values and sentiment that Maxime and Elfi infuse into their chocolate work.
- Ingredients: Organic Cocoa Beans, Organic Cane Sugar, Cocoa Butter
- Net Weight: 50 g. / 1.76 oz.
- County of Origin: Canada