Madagascar chocolate

20 Madagascar chocolates from 6 independent UK chocolatiers, from £2.85.

Madagascar is craft chocolate’s most instantly recognisable origin — a bar you can often pick out blind. Nearly all its cacao grows in the fertile Sambirano valley in the northwest, and it is prized Trinitario with a high proportion of aromatic Criollo genetics. The signature is vivid acidity and red fruit: raspberry, cherry, citrus and a bright, almost tangy lift over a smooth base. That fruitiness makes it a maker favourite and a brilliant demonstration of how much single-origin chocolate can taste like fruit. For UK buyers, a Madagascan single-origin is essential tasting — zingy, jammy and fresh — and the benchmark against which other origins’ fruit notes are often measured. Look for the Sambirano name.