Most Expensive Pure Chocolate Bar: To'ak chocolate sets world record (VIDEO)
QUITO, Ecuador -- To'ak chocolate, which translated to 'earth' and 'tree' in ancient Ecuadorian dialects, costs a whopping $260 (£169) per bar and each bar weighs just 1.5 ounces (43g); To'ak Chocolate, the company behind the expensive bar, only made 574 of them, setting the new world record for the Most Expensive Pure Chocolate Bar,
according to the World Record Academy: www.worldrecordacademy.com/. Photo: To'ak chocolate, which translated to 'earth' and 'tree' in ancient Ecuadorian dialects, costs a whopping $260 (£169) per bar and each bar weighs just 1.5 ounces. To'ak chocolate bar is certified organic and is made with certified fair trade cacao beans. Only 574 bars have been produced to date. (enlarge photo)
The Guinness World Records' record for the most valuable chocolate bar in the world is a 100-year old Cadbury's chocolate bar which went on Captain Robert Scott's first Discovery expedition (1901-1904) to the Antarctic. The bar, which is 10 cm (4 in) long, wrapped and uneaten in a cigarette tin, was bought for £470 ($687) by an anonymous buyer at Christie's, London, UK on 25 September 2001.
Guinness World Records also recognized the world record for the largest chocolate bar mosaic; it is 18.35 m² (197.52 ft²) made with 1,500 bars of white chocolate and red coloured white chocolate (strawberry flavoured) by employees of MySwissChocolate.ch (Switzerland) at Zurich Airport, Switzerland, on Valentine's Day, 14 February 2011. Only fine grade cacao from 14 farmers on the coast of Ecuador is used. And it takes 36 steps to create a 1.5oz To'ak bar.
Co-founder Jerry Toth said: "We make chocolate with the same care and precision as we know it from fine wine and premium small-batch whiskey."
To'ak chocolate is translated to "earth" and "tree" in ancient Ecuadorian dialects. It is eaten using wooden tongs, or tasting utensils, so that it is easier to perceive the chocolate's aroma on the nose.
One reason for To'ak's price tag is that 95% of chocolate is made using mass-produced beans, whereas their chocolate comes remaining 5%, known as fine grade cacao.
The cacao beans used in To'ak chocolate come famed Arriba region, in Piedra de Plata, a valley cut off from the rest of the country by road until 1990. The 100-120 year-old trees found here pre-date the genetic hybridization of cacao that occurred in the wake of the 1916 outbreak of Witch's Broom disease, and offer cacao beans of unparalleled richness and flavor.
Though there are other chocolates out there with higher price tags, To'ak claim their chocolate is the most expensive pure chocolate – with no expensive additions.
Carl Schweizer, co-founder of To'ak, said: "It is the most expensive pure dark chocolate in the world without any fancy stuff like gold leaves or diamonds in it to increase its value."
