Venezuelan Black

These fine Trinitario beans come from Barlovento, the coastal stretch of Venezuela east of Caracas where the humid winds blow continuously onto the land.

Carenero refers to the port it was once shipped from and Superior to the quality of the beans.

They were one of the first three beans I bought, along with Rio Caribe and Chulucanas.

They are wonderful to cook with as they are full bodied and carry their notes of nuts and spices beautifully in food.

Use this 100% cocoa in both savoury and sweet dishes.

Keep it by your cooker and grate a few grammes into all kinds of savoury dishes in the same way as you would add salt or pepper to bring real richness and depth.

It pairs particularly well with chilli in both sweet and savoury recipes.

If you are a purist, make your cakes and desserts with 100% cacao as this has more acidity left in than 70% chocolate and so will carry its flavour better with other ingredients.

If a recipe asks for 100g dark chocolate, simply put in 70g of cacao and an extra 30g of sugar.

Use these 70:30 proportions to convert any recipe.