ChocolateBet: May 5, 2011

Chocolate(s) of the Day: 


Organic Nectars
Raw Cacao Bar
54% cacao
Very Good - Very Good +
Weight: .7 oz. (20 g.) / 1.4 oz. (40 g.) total bar
Calories: 100 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: Approx. $4.83 per bar ($29 sampler 6-bar pack)
Purchased from: Organic Nectars via Chocolate.com

Organic Nectars 
Raw Cacao Bar
70% cacao
Very Good
Weight: .7 oz. (20 g.) / 1.4 oz. (40 g.) total bar
Calories: 105 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: Approx. $4.83 per bar ($29 sampler 6-bar pack)

Today was Day #5 of Organic Chocolate Theme Week. Hats off to Organic Nectars (based in Malden, NY, New York's Hudson Valley area) for their line of raw, organic (Organic Certification by NFC) vegan bars made with the company's PalmSweet palm coconut nectar and kosher parve ingredients.

Chocolate Banquet is all about the abundance of good foods available -- even if you, or someone close to you, is "living without" gluten, or dairy, soy, refined sugar, etc. Organic Nectars bars do not contain these ingredients, and are well made with a smooth texture (without being oily), and interesting flavors. Cocoa butter and a touch of non GMO sunflower lecithin are used, rather than soy, to help achieve a pleasant consistency and mouth feel.

The 54% cacao, raw cacao bar, was particularly intriguing, with its smoky, sweet tobacco notes. Normally, higher cacao content bars get all the interesting flavors and any milder notes are often overwhelmed by darker, or heavily roasted bars. So it was a treat to taste some rich flavor notes in a bar with lower cacao content.

The 70% raw cacao bar had a nice snap to it, and was smooth and just slightly richer/darker in taste than the 54% bar, with a much fainter smoky note than the 54% bar.