Zazubean Banana & Salted Toffee

Posted by in Chocolate Reviews on April 16 2012 | Leave A Comment

With an increasingly crowded marketplace, there are many companies who feel the need to have some kind of angle to accompany their chocolate. And in the case of Vancouver’s Zazubean, they have created what they call functional chocolate with all kinds of health benefits via some added ingredients. Not a completely unique gimmick, but still one that could bring in a few more sales.

The newest addition to their line-up has the rather cute name of Cheeky which doesn’t tell you much about what to expect although the picture of the monkey is a little more informative. And the bar is actually a nice dark 70% with banana, salted toffee and some maca thrown in for good measure. Maca? I had no idea but the Zazubean website tells me that it is a Peruvian root vegetable which is good for alleviating stress, fatigue and depression. Fair enough.

The chocolate itself is actually made in Switzerland from Fair Trade Organic Beans and has a lovely robust flavour. In fact, is almost a little too full-bodied for the other flavours in that it immediately dominates and doesn’t really give the banana or toffee much room to manoeuvre. But slowly the subtle banana begins to reveal itself and then lurks in the background without ever getting close to overwhelming.

And even the addition of some pieces of banana chips doesn’t ramp up the banananess of it all to that potentially dangerous level – they provide more texture than flavour. The many little chunks of toffee, on the other hand, give bursts of flavour and plenty of crunch too. I didn’t really sense much of the salt that was supposedly through the toffee and that’s a pity because when it was there, the salt really did add another dimension.

So I liked this quite a bit, despite the subtleness of the flavours. Or more likely because of the subtleness of the flavours. I’m not sure that I really got any of the stress relief it promised and it didn’t wake me up more than any caffeine-laden chocolate did but I would never buy a bar of chocolate for those reasons. As a simple bar of chocolate, its unique flavour combination delivered for me and that is all that matters to me.

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Comments On This Post

  1. Tiz

    We appreciate your review and are glad you enjoyed the chocolate. However, we would like to clarify the position of our company. While Zazubean is a fun brand, at the core we are are mission-based company. Zazubean is committed to delivering super tasting fair-trade, organic chocolate with ingredients that enhance cacao’s natural properties. Our company started years ago in recognition that we personally consumed chocolate more at certain times and we wanted a bar that met our needs on all levels….being not only tasty but also as good for us, the growers & the land as possible. At the time there were limited fair trade options & virtually nothing certified both organic & fair-trade. Today the market has changed and fortunately more ethical options are available. Though Zazubean still uniquely offers great flavours with additional superfoods that enhance the chocolate experience.

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