Our 78% dark chocolate bar was a mistake at first. When I started making chocolates, I had started with Honey Mama’s list of ingredients which included coconut oil. After some experimenting because I didn’t have the recipe, I got a satisfactory bar in two flavors and began adding more flavors as requests came in. It didn’t take long however for my body to call it quits on the coconut oil. It wasn’t like I was overdoing eating chocolate, but my intake was regular enough that I started feeling I should move to pure cacao instead of diluting with coconut oil.
I was already using cacao powder and an Amazon search revealed other cacao products: cacao butter and cacao paste. And around this time I also started getting serious about researching how to make chocolate. I learned about the bean to product process by watching countless You-Tube videos. And came across the science behind “tempering” chocolate, which at first caused me much grief as I was working with honey, not cane sugar, but that is another story.
My first experiment with cacao paste resulted in a stick-to-your-mouth bar., almost fudge. I was going to throw it away but my wife tasted it and pronounced it a winner. Really?!! It was so dark, almost bitter, with a chalky aftertaste, and no other flavoring, primarily because I was just experimenting. But she convinced me that people (including herself) enjoyed the health benefits of dark chocolate, appreciated pure cacao without flavorings, and liked that it was “daaaaark”. Still, I had to at least like it myself, so I add a bit of cacao butter to smooth out the mouth, and, because it was so different from my other bars, I gave it a new name.
Kali is the aspect of divine mother that has gone too far in her zeal to rid the world of demons (delusion). In her frenzied dance, she steps on her husband Shiva. Realizing her mistake, in Hindu tradition she sticks out her tongue. I love this image of Shiva prostrate, looking nonchalant with his head resting on one hand. The Lord of the Universe is unaffected by Kali’s vehemence.
Kali is also called “the dark Mother”. This symbolism and the quality of having gone “too far” made it the perfect name for this 78% bar.
Chandi Chocolates 