We happened to be walking around Kirkland recently and came across Fortunato Chocolate while browsing the stores in the area. The sign outside states they source their chocolate from Peru, which immediately intrigued me. I recently tried a single origin Valrhona chocolate from Peru, which I did not enjoy. I found the Illanka to be musty, almost like wet hair, making it quite unpleasant to eat. A local chocolate shop going bean-to-bar was an excellent chance to give the cocoa beans from this country another try.
Fortunato offers chocolate they advertise as being from the world's rarest cocoa tree - from the original Nacional cacao strain, which was thought to be extinct until the founders did genetic testing on some trees in Peru in 2009*. Interesting story, but is the chocolate any good?
68% Dark Chocolate Mini Squares 7oz Bag ($12.99) - This is clearly high quality chocolate given that no emulsifiers are in the ingredient list. I tastes a bit tannic, like wine, to start which then goes to a sweet dried red fruit finish. It has a good snappy quality, but there's a bit of a chalky consistency probably due to lack of emulsifier. One piece had a tiny shell-like crunchy bit inside, perhaps contamination from cocoa husk? I only found this in a single square, so I'm not entirely sure what it is. (4/5)
Unlike other bean to bar manufacturers in and around Seattle, I hadn't heard of Fortunado before and ended up doing some more research. Apparently until 2020, the chocolate was only available for purchase via wholesale to restaurant and chocolatiers. They only launched their retail shop for regular consumers in 2021.
The chocolate Fortunado sells is similar in price to other high quality bean-to-bar manufacturers around the area. I found the chocolate to be a little too chalky for my tastes, so I wonder if it's better to be used in baking or in confections.
*Note: Another brand, To'ak, which I had actually heard of before, seems to have made a similar discovery of Nacional in Ecuador sometime after 2013. To'ak has way better marketing that makes it seem like they revived the Nacional cocoa. read more