Purissima Maxima Blood Orange by Tiroler Edle, tart and bright
Purissima Maxima Blood Orange by Tiroler Edle is the citrus side of the Purissima line: dark cocoa, milk powder from Grey cattle, and the oil of Sicilian blood oranges. No sugar is added, which is why the fruit comes across as bright and unmasked. The bar contains naturally occurring sugar.
Purissima Maxima Blood Orange is a fifty-gram chocolate bar from Tiroler Edle in Landeck, dark in profile and flavored with the oil of Sicilian blood oranges. The milk from the Grey cattle provides the melt, while the citrus oil adds a bright peak on top.
A dark base, topped by a bright citrus arc
Upon breaking the bar, the scent of orange peel rises; in the mouth, you first encounter the dark base and then the fruit. The bar itself is deep dark and gives no initial hint of what is to come.
The cocoa brings spice and a dry bitterness; the citrus note settles above it like a bright arc and lasts until the very end. Both move in the same direction, for the peel of an orange also contains bitter compounds.
The bar contains naturally occurring sugar, but because none is added, the fruit remains dry and clear instead of slipping toward the profile of a liqueur or jelly. The milk lies beneath, rounding off the arc so that nothing becomes sharp.
Blood oranges from Sicily
Blood oranges only turn red where winter nights are significantly colder than the days.
At the foot of Mount Etna, this is exactly the case: volcanic soil, plenty of sun during the day, and cold air from the slopes. The cold prompts the fruit to form anthocyanins, the same red pigments found in cherries and elderberries.
Their aroma is therefore less sweet than that of an ordinary orange and carries a dark, almost berry-like depth that pairs particularly well with cocoa. Harvested from December into spring, it is only within this window that pressing the peels is worthwhile.
Why the oil and not the peel
At Tiroler Edle, only the cold-pressed oil from the peel—which can be seen as a fine mist when squeezing an orange rind—goes into the mass.
Candied peel pieces would introduce water, and water makes a fat-based mass dull and grainy, which is why it has no place in a chocolate bar. The oil, by contrast, dissolves completely in the cocoa butter and spreads to every corner of the mold.
Only a fraction is needed, as the aroma of the peel is so potent. A drop too much would make the chocolate taste perfumed; a drop too little would get lost in the cocoa. In Landeck, the bar is crafted by hand, using milk from Tyrolean Grey cattle that spend their summers on the pastures of the Upper Inn Valley.
After dinner, with red wine, with fennel
At room temperature, the citrus aroma opens up the most; when chilled, the Purissima seems closed and purely tart. After a long meal, a piece is the brightest possible finish, and it easily holds its own against a robust red wine. It also stands up well next to an espresso with a twist of peel, as is the custom in Sicily.
For those who like, enjoy a piece with raw fennel, whose anise note makes the citrus peak even brighter and softens the bitterness. Dark and herb-fresh options continue with the Purissima Maxima Mountain Mint, alongside other Purissima varieties and the entire assortment from Tiroler Edle.
