Happy Chocolate Friday! Many choco apols for last Friday—despite it being summer too many things piled up business-side and the post I had planned, melted. Today I hope to make up for that, especially for all the Italophiles out there.
Deep in the south of Sicily, a fragrant culinary treasure awaits you.
Chocolate maker: Sabadì Chocolate
Founded by Italian entrepreneur Simone Sabaini, Sabadì is located in a small town called Modica near the southern tip of the island of Sicily. They might be a relative unknown here in the U.S., but they’ve got a big heart and big ambitions. In addition to their production facilities, they have a shop, a bar where prosciutto and wine mix easily and the pizza is made of ancient Sicilian grains, and… an actual “chocolate aging cellar.” Yes, a cellar for aging chocolate. The Italians have always had a gift to bring out beauty from the depths of every single thing they touch.
In this place the chocolate is embraced, cherished, aged.
The prolonged, repeated, and all-encompassing contact between
the different ingredients lead to the creation of a common scent.
Invisible fragrant molecules migrate between ingredients and consistencies.
Flowers, herbs, spices, tobacco, teas, resins, and wine and spirit-saturated woods
allow their essence to be instilled elsewhere.
Human work follows the time flow, the needed time.
Here, now, in the day that perhaps does not exist.
Source: Sabadì
Location: Modica, Sicily, Italy
Photography: Principal photography of the Limone chocolate bar took place in the summer of 2023 in a seaside town in New England. Just as Sabadì ages their chocolate, I age my photographs. They simmer on my hard drives until they’re ready to be broken out of their mold and published. It has to be right chocolate, in the right visual environment, at the right time. In this tabletop for the DONATO Limone chocolate bar, I chose the table linens for their design reminiscent of the old mosaics Italy is so well known for.
DONATO Limone
Cacao Muse review: If you’ve ever tried limoncello, then imagine what chocolate infused with the drink might taste like. The DONATO Limone chocolate bar truly lives up to its name. The Sabadì website explains each bar is made using the age-old cold process of Modica, and they use organic lemons which they peel the same day they’re harvested, then dry and grind the lemon peel. Now, normally I like my chocolate velvety smooth, but this bar needs to be gritty. It’s the zest and the granulated sugar that trick your tongue into thinking it’s sipping limoncello… on a bed of chocolate. Perfect for a lazy summer afternoon right after a seafood salad.
Tasting Notes: Hard bitter lemon zest punctured by granules of sugar. Notes of citrus (obviously) and the complex aromatic profile of Nacional cacao—floral and herbal tones blended with a breath of earth and soil.
Percentage: 60%
Origin: Ecuador (Sabadí actually lists the variety of its cacao: Nacional fino de aroma)
Ingredients: Organic cocoa mass, organic sugar, organic lemon zest
Packaging: This is a new element I’m adding to my reviews, because—for us judges especially—a key part of the experience of a chocolate bar is its packaging. Many if not most artisan chocolate makers take great pride in crafting theirs—some hire local artists while others print maps and other info on the inside of their wrappers. Sabadì takes it a step further: they’ve created a series of illustrated characters for their chocolate. “Donato” apparently refers to the character depicted on the Limone package: a dapper, mustachioed lemony gentleman with fancy shoes. (You should see the sleek black dress that his gorgeous cousin Rossella wears!)
Price: 5€ (approx. $5.86) in Europe; $7.50 in the U.S.
May you have a wonderful weekend full of summer lemonade and chocolate bars! I’ve got one more bar up my sleeve that’s adjacent to libations… a little later on in August. Summer’s not over yet!
I’ll take a chocolate lemonade too, if you feel like sharing:
[direct link here if the giphy thingie doesn’t work]
I saw this reco’d on Reddit and this is probably the best publication I’ve ever seen…