ChocolateBet: June 14, 2011

Chocolate of the Day:

2/5 bar
Perugina
Premium Dark Chocolate with Caramel Filling (bar)
Good ++
Weight: 1.4 oz. (11.32 g.)/ 3.5 oz. (99.2 g.) total bar
Calories: 210 calories (estimate)
Cost: $2.79 total bar
Purchased from: Molinari Delicatessen, North Beach, San Francisco, CA

Today was Day #4 of Chocolate and Bacon Theme Week. With apologies in advance to Perugina, I also was scouting for a chocolate that would be suitable for eating, and also could be incorporated in an Applegate Farms Turkey Bacon version of "Piggy Candy" (think bacon roasted/baked in an oven with brown sugar, and drizzled with chocolate), from the Southern United States.

This Dark Chocolate Caramel bar fit the bill, in that it contained some brown sugar in the caramel filling, surrounded by a rich, sweet bittersweet chocolate, and could also stand on its own as a good bar to sample. Large companies often choose to use ingredients like corn syrup in caramels, so I was disappointed to see this on the list of ingredients. However, the use of brown sugar made a different, and the caramel had a slight honey taste and nice texture.

Now, for those that don't care for bacon of any kind, or deplore mixing good chocolate with anything else, you can stop reading now.

For the rest of you, I can say that the Applewood Farms turkey bacon (gluten and casein free, no nitrates) was better than other turkey bacons I have tried. So, that was a good start. Drizzling and "frosting" a few, crisp, cooked strips of this bacon with melted Perugina chocolate and caramel was not bad. I wouldn't say the flavor together was a vast improvement over the Perugina bar and the turkey bacon separately, but it would be a good brunch item after a good workout, along with gluten free toast or a pancake w/ maple syrup and fresh oranges.