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Comment by PaulDavisThe1st | Hacker News Reader

It would be interesting to see an Americas-centric version of this test. I'm a huge fan of El Rey chocolate (from Venezuela), particularly their Caoba 41%-cocoa milk variety. Obviously, not much (if any?) cocoa is actually produced in the EU, but more or less all the chocolate brands tested are (this is not a problem, but leaves open the possibility of a repeat test with a totally orthogonal set of chocolate brands).

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> not much (if any?) cocoa is actually produced in the EU,

I was curious. I know France's overseas departments include French Guiana, which is part of the EU. There is native cacao in FG. Using Google Translate of https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guiana_(cacao) :

> Genetically, they differ significantly from other cocoa trees in that in the Quaternary, after a period of global warming, the Amazon rainforest remained only patches of humid forest separated by large expanses of dry savannah . In one of these islands of humid forest in the south-east of French Guiana , cocoa trees have survived, which, being isolated from other cocoa trees, have evolved differently

I found one chocolate production facility in FG - http://walapulu.fr/ - "WALAPULU @ CACAO ET CHOCOLAT DE GUYANE FRANCAISE". Last updated 6 years ago so perhaps no longer in business?

https://cheeseweb.eu/2015/09/french-guiana-cacao-market-boat... comments "Sadly, however, French Guiana’s Cacao de Rivière does not yield the delicious Belgian chocolate we know and love." Elsewhere comments mostly that FG cacao might be a source for disease resistant strains.

Anyone else know where cacao might be grown in the EU?

That chocolate brand is so good, I used to eat all the time while growing up in Venezuela. Are there stores in the US selling it or are you getting it online?

It used to be carried at the Whole Foods Market in Philadelphia where I used to live. They stopped before I moved to Sante Fe 2 years ago. I have not seen it here or anywhere else since.

I used to shop every day at WFM back east. I also used to eat about 400g of El Rey Caoba every time I shopped. Not good for my weight, but I was a pretty serious triathlete most of that time.

My favorite reasonably priced chocolate brand, I think I heard about it first here on HN way back when.

If you’re ever in Austin, El Rey’s only US location is a tasting room in Stonewall, TX, out on 290 just before Fredericksburg, near all of the little hill country wineries that sure do try.

Highly, highly recommended.

https://goo.gl/maps/opLzBTVcMZDKvtW37

El Rey is great. I've personally bought several hundred lbs of their chocolate over the years. They seemed to have a serious supply chain issue during 2020 that got me scared, but they have more choices at the moment, which makes me happy.

Check out recchiuti, https://www.recchiuti.com, which is the best chocolate I found in the SF bay area.

For plain chocolate, including bulk, Guittard is pretty good. Even before COVID, you couldn’t visit the factory, though.

Thanks for the tip, this will go into my gift list.

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