ChocolateBet: July 18, 2011

Chocolate of the Day:

1/3 bar
Xocolatl de David
Parmigiano-Reggiano bar
Good + - Very Good
Weight: .726 oz. (20.46 g.) / 2.2 oz. (62 g.) bar
Calories: 108 calories (estimate)
Cost: $8.95 total bar
Purchased from: Fog City News, San Francisco, CA

Xocolatl de David (Portland, OR) has produced some very nice savory chocolate bars. This bar with Parmigiano-Reggiano --yes, parmesan cheese -- was made with 72% cacao from Ecuador. It was less sweet, which allowed the cheesey flavors to come through.

Today was Day #6 of Chocolate and Pepper Theme Week. It was also the day when four different ideas for peppery, (gluten free) savory snack foods mixed with chocolate that had been percolating in my head this week, finally saw the light of day. I tried several snack + cacao combos:

1.) Spicy Cocoa Barbeque Cassava Chips
2.) Olive Oyl popcorn with nuts, dried fruits, black pepper and chocolate
3.) Sea Salt and Black Pepper Kettle potato chips with lemon pepper chocolate fondue
4.) Black pepper sprinkled on this Xocolatl dark bar with parmesan cheese; sea salt and black pepper twigs with this bar, and also oven crisped bacon and pepper with this bar.

It's all good. Savory, crunchy things do pair well with chocolate and pepper, with varying degrees of success.

I also wanted to try making a few sweet chocolate and pepper items: chocolate ice cream with pepper, stuffed fresh figs with whipped cream, nutmeg, chopped nuts, port and pepper; and pfeffernusse/pepper  cookies. Expect to see these in the future...