Saturday, July 16, 2011

Madre Chocolate: Popped Amaranth

Hawaii is awesome. Have I mentioned this? Are you tired of me saying this? Probably. In any case, I hope you aren’t tired of reading about the bars that Madre Chocolate sent me, because I’ve got some more of these bars to discuss. Including a very intriguing Popped Amaranth Dark Chocolate bar.

This bar – it’s practically health food. The packaging notes that Amaranth, a grain I was certainly unfamiliar with, packs eight essential amino acids. Eight! Maybe I should pack some of these bars for my long cycling expeditions to assist with muscle repair.

This amaranth is visible in the back of the bar, and made me want to dig in, especially after I caught a whiff of the delightful fruity and citrus aromas.

Like the Hibiscus Dark Chocolate bar, this bar has a slower, more buttery melt, but this melt intriguingly trends a bit creamy later. The flavor is also complex, with an earthy flavor that develops into an incredible mix of rich coffee, cream, and caramel. The sesame-like flavor of the amaranth is most notable in the end, and the small bits of well-dispersed amaranth itself adds a crunchy texture to nicely contrast with the smooth chocolate.

This intense bar is very different. And very nice. Very, very nice.

Now to figure out how to incorporate amaranth into brownies.

Have you eaten amaranth before?

7 comments:

  1. I'm a grain nut and love amaranth! I like to cook it polenta-style. And we pop it and put it on top of chili too.

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  2. I have not tried amaranth yet - but I want to try it, especially in chocolate!

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  3. I am a big fan of amaranth. Ashley of Edible Perspective has all sorts of fun amaranth recipes on her site :)

    Enjoy Hawaii. I was there once, 15 years ago, and loved it so.

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  4. I am actually a really big amaranth fan. I'll have to also refer to the comment above about the recipes because I have yet to find any decent ones.

    I hope Hawaii is going well. :)

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  5. This, this I desperately want. I've had puffed quinoa in chocolate, but not amaranth. WANT.

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  6. This is even more interesting that the hibiscus! This company definitely has some unique ideas, and it looks like they all translate quite well. I'm so intrigued... and excited for Hawaii!

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  7. I'm looking forward to trying the Amaranth bar. I have one in my chocolate vault -- for chocolate and grains/grasses theme week in the future. I've enjoyed reading your Madre bar writeups. I've only tried a few so far. Hope you have a great last few days in Hawaii.

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