Name: Explorer Club #202: FLOWERS
Brand: Milou Chocolate Co.
SKU: EX-FLOWERS
Price: 39.29 CAD
Availability: InStock

Explorer Club #202: FLOWERS

For centuries, flowers have been cherished for their beauty and have served various symbolic roles across cultures, from expressing emotions to masking scents to marking celebrations and rituals. In agriculture, flowers play a crucial role by attracting pollinators and supporting herbivores. Flowers have also held culinary significance, dating back to ancient civilizations, where they were used to enhance dishes, adorn feasts, and were believed to have medicinal properties. Today, high-end restaurants utilize flowers with vibrant colours to create visually striking presentations. Few people realize that flowers also play a key role in our everyday eating habits, whether in seasoning dishes with saffron or sumac, steeping teas or cordials with hibiscus and elderflower, or even as the 'vegetable' like broccoli and cauliflower that some might turn their noses up to.

$39.29

$43.65

Explorer Club #202: FLOWERS

$39.29

$43.65

DICK TAYLOR VANILLA MILK CHOCOLATE 55%

Producer Country: United States
Cocoa: Direct Source, Organic
Weight: 57 g

Vanilla is derived from an orchid flower native to Mexico. For hundreds of years, attempts to cultivate vanilla outside its native region failed because the specific method of pollination by a particular bee species was unknown. It wasn't until the 19th century, with the discovery of hand-pollination techniques, that vanilla cultivation spread globally. This entirely organic bar combines whole milk from a local family-run farm, single estate Brazilian cocoa, and Madagascan vanilla beans — actual beans from real vanilla, not a syrup or artificial flavouring. This is significant because commercial chocolates often use fake vanilla to mask inferior cocoa flavours (or a lack of flavour at all). In this bar, vanilla and cocoa complement each other perfectly. The fudge and dark caramel notes in the chocolate are enhanced by the almost marshmallow-like sweetness of the milk and the floral qualities of the vanilla This is de-li-cious. Plain and simple as that.

CUNA DE PIEDRA COMALCALCO TABASCO W/ HIBISCUS FLOWERS 73%

Producer Country: Mexico
Cocoa: Direct Source, Made at Origin
Weight: 60 g

The tiny pink petals beautifully sprinkled on the back of this bar come from a variety of hibiscus brought by early Spanish galleons that is still grown in the high mountain areas of Guerrero by a community collective known as Numa Gamaa Ski Yu Me Phaa ("Thank you God Father-Mother, for power, strength, and knowledge to our people, who have no body/freedom”). Hibiscus plays a significant cultural role in Mexico and is most commonly used to make agua fresca, a cold, sweet tea made by soaking the flowers in water. Here, in addition to pretty looks, the flowers lend a crunchy texture and underlying tartness that plays nicely with the chocolate's bitter, black coffee notes.

METICHE ROSE & PISTACHIO 75%

Producer Country: Mexico
Cocoa: Direct Source, Made at Origin
Weight: 70 g

Rose petals and broken pieces of pistachio are beautifully sprinkled on the back of the bar. They're not quite as noticeable on the palate given the rich, truffle-like nature of the chocolate, whose light but persistent roast and tannin profile can overwhelm the inclusions on some mouthfuls. Nonetheless, with a gentle sweetness and floral finish, this is a bar made for indulgence and pleasure.