Review: Marabou Premium 70% cocoa sea salt pecan

I must admit I have a soft spot for pecans. To me they are walnuts - just better. Also, pecans tend to evoke in me romantic images of the American south and southern cooking - well yes, pecan nut pie! Such associations might have a broad appeal for many to try out this offering from the Marabou Premium series.

The appearance of the case is attractive and just like the Marabou premium 86% the inside foil has cocoa beans on it. The chocolate, however, is not shiny, and has white specs. I am not sure if those white spots are due to the pecans or whether the appearance is due to incorrect storage at the store. I did, however, get it from the same store as the Marabou Premium 86% which had a nice shine to it. Also, it was not too old, so this cannot be the explanation. When breaking into the chocolate nice tiny specks of pecans are visible. Appearance gets 6 out of 10. If the appearance I experienced is due to incorrect storage, indeed, this bar would probably score 1, 5 – 2 points more, had it been optimally presented.
I then picked up another of these bars - just to make sure - and I'm a little disappointed to report that the appearance was exactly the same.

The bar has reasonable not to sweet cocoa aroma with some bitterness. I could not, however, detect any scent of nuts. Aroma: 7 out of 10

The snap of the chocolate is good and the caramelized pecans and salt add some crispiness, though in my opinion the pecans are chopped too finely. This may be due to the fact that this is a relative thin bar. The melt is good. Texture: 8 out of 10.

The flavour is mild and sweet and not overly dark. I found it hard to detect any pecan flavour. The salt blends in quite nicely and adds complexity to the flavour. The salt really complements this chocolate well and adds complexity to the flavour. This part is really well done and is probably the strongest part of this bar. Whilst there is a tiny amount of fruit (mostly due to the salt) much more fruit would have been excellent for this chocolate. Thus I find that this chocolate leaves something to be desired in terms of flavour. I also have an issue with the amount of pecans. According to the declaration this bar contains 10, 5% caramelized pecans (=Pecans, sugar, salt). I guesstimate a total of 5 or 6 grams (at most) of finely chopped pecans (100g bar) and I find that this is too modest an amount to really impact the flavour of the bar as a whole. Also, it means that this bar as a whole is somewhat sweeter than a pure 70% chocolate as by my reckoning it will contain a little more sugar.
Flavour: 7, 5 out of 10.

I do think, however, that this chocolate could easily become popular with whatever target group, Marabou aimed it at (whether that target group is very large is of course another matter).
I am not sure why fat reduced cocoa is used for this bar, as well as other bars in the Marabou Premium range. Is it to save on ingredients or is there some other reason? Also, I am not sure why this bar includes butter fat, especially in view of the fact that this is a “dark” chocolate (I put dark in quotations mark, as I don’t think dairy products have any place in a dark chocolate). Is that too, to save on production? Why would you reduce natural cocoa fats and then add butter fat?
If I were to hazard a guess, my immediate thought was that fat reduction saves on ingredients (cocoa butter is one of the most expensive if not the most expensive fats around). However, the resulting lack of fat might leave an inferior melt and texture, hence the substitution with much cheaper butter fat.

I should be the first to admit that I’m no expert on the subject and so I invite more competent explanations.

Average: 7, 125 out of 10