Stone Ground Chocolate
 

Trader Joe's is now selling a Stone Ground chocolate. It has a very odd, gritty texture, which I find I like. But it is rather expensive, AND it comes in either too bitter dark or a Salt and Pepper style. I like Salt with my chocolate, but not the pepper.

Is the grittiness due to the stone grinding? I thought that produced the liquor. Or does it come from the added sugar or the processing?

Marketeers have long understood that "sophisticated" folks will fall all over each other to line up to purchase (at high prices) stone ground products. But then, my long departed granny was quick to tell me that the grit in stone ground cornmeal was partly the stone in the mill stone.

The grit is the sugar and the rough ground beans, both of which are left rough in the mix. The beans are stone ground once, the sugar added, and they are ground again. They are not filtered or processed other then temporing.

Many websites believe it's just the Taza brand being sold under Trader Joes brand. Taza also has an 87% one, and a few other types.

I think it was Saint Lucia where you could buy fresh chocolate logs that were just ground for a buck. Spectacular flavor, but a bit gritty too.

Little to nothing comes off the millstone, you should go see the 200+ year old millstone up at the homestead mill that is used daily :)
Oh and their stone ground cornmeal is amazing too...