AO Cacao Everything Gianduja

 AO Cacao is another new chocolate maker to us.  We bought a range of their bars from the Wellington Choc Stock festival to try.  

AO Cacao is created by Thomas Netana Wright, a pastry chef, chocolatier and chocolate maker.  The inspiration and approach to chocolate making is quoted on their website:
"Respect the history of cacao, Respect the People, Be Transparent and Be a good ancestor."

Their cacao is sourced from Tuana'i, Samoa

The first bar we tried is the Everything Gianduja 43% milk chocolate.  It has won a gold medal at the Food Producer Awards 2024.

When we first read Gianduja, we thought of the hazelnut filling.  This bar instead refers to the hazelnut and macadamias being the plant based milk for the milk chocolate.

We thought the chocolate was nice and creamy.  It is a mild chocolate with our tasting notes of vanilla, burning wood and musk.   A pleasant bar.