Chocolate with raspberries from Tiroler Edle, dark chocolate
Chocolate with raspberries from Tiroler Edle is the dark one among the filled bars, featuring a ganache made of raspberry pulp and raspberry schnapps. The acidity of the berry and the bitterness of the cacao balance each other out, while the fruit schnapps adds its own fragrance.
Chocolate with raspberries is the filled dark chocolate from Tiroler Edle in Landeck, Tyrol, with 60 percent cacao in the shell, wrapped in red paper. Inside the 100-gram bar is a ganache made of raspberry pulp, cream, and schnapps, along with natural vanilla, which takes the sharp edge off the berry.
Raspberry pulp, fruit schnapps, and a dark ganache
The chocolate breaks with a dry snap, revealing the cream underneath, in which the raspberry is immediately recognizable.
The pulp provides acidity and color, the fruit schnapps adds the fragrance of the ripe fruit, and the cream binds both into a ganache that slowly yields in the mouth. The natural vanilla sits underneath and softens the acidity without making the filling sweet.
The fruit schnapps remains in the filling, which is why this variety contains alcohol and is reserved for adults. The high cacao content keeps the sweetness in check, so that the raspberry sets the tone until the end and doesn't get lost in sugar.
Why the raspberry is particularly well-suited for schnapps
Raspberries are among the few fruits whose fragrance survives distillation almost unscathed.
Because the aroma is delicate and the sugar content is low, a single liter of schnapps requires many kilos of ripe berries, and it is used accordingly sparingly. In the filling, it takes on a task that the pulp alone cannot perform, as it preserves the scent for months.
Fresh raspberry pulp provides acidity, color, and fruit flesh, but loses its fragrance quickly once it is heated. The schnapps, by contrast, contributes the warmth that a chilled cream would otherwise lack, and carries the aroma to every corner of the ganache. Thus, more remains of summer than a jar of jam could ever have saved.
A dark shell for a bright fruit
Tiroler Edle is known for mild fillings made from the cream of Grey cattle, and this variety reverses that ratio.
On the outside is the couverture with a high cacao content; on the inside, the dairy is limited to some cream and whole milk powder. This makes the chocolate more bitter than its lighter siblings and frees up the acidity, instead of embedding it in milk.
The Tyrolean Grey cattle is a small, robust mountain cattle breed whose milk is rich and gives the company's fillings their melt. Here, it holds back and serves only as a binding agent, while the cacao takes the lead.
With espresso, red wine, or fresh berries
At room temperature, the ganache yields the fastest and the aroma emerges more clearly than directly from the refrigerator.
An espresso stands up well to the bitterness, a bold red wine picks up the acidity, and alongside fresh berries, the bar seems even fruitier. On a dessert plate, one piece per person is sufficient, because the schnapps carries the small portion.
Store it in a cool, dry place, but not in the refrigerator, otherwise the filling loses its melt and the shell develops a grey veil. Another fruit-filled option is the chocolate with apricot. On the shelf next to it are other chocolate bars as well as the complete assortment from Tiroler Edle.
