I found this bar in the souvenir shop of the Napo Cultural Center, deep in Yasuní National Park, in the heart of the Kichwa Añangu community in the Ecuadorian Amazon. In a thatched hut, tucked among beautiful handmade jewelry by indigenous women, a small foil-wrapped package.
Green mint, pine, lemon, bread and butter. The tasting of this 100% chocolate unfolds in stages — different notes emerging depending on whether you let it melt slowly or take several pieces at once.
After trying all the flavor combinations from Minka Raw, it was perhaps time to taste the pure chocolate version.
This is not a flavored chocolate in the strict sense. And yet, the ingredient list includes machica (toasted barley flour) and cedrón — two discreet presences that make it quietly unique.
Plukenetia volubilis — also known as sacha inchi — is native to South America, its roasted seeds reminiscent of peanuts. This is what takes center stage in this bar, while the Kallari chocolate itself remains characteristically restrained. The sacha inchi pieces, broken into fragments, deliver a peanut-like flavor — close enough to be familiar, yet different enough to pique curiosity. Slightly more herbaceous, with a faint wild note that sets it apart.