ChocolateBet: January 1, 2012

Chocolate of the Day:

Mink Chocolates
"Of Course Siam"bar
Good+ - Very Good
Weight: 1.06 oz. (30 g.)/1.76 oz. (50 g.) total bar
Calories: 132 calories
Cost: $7.50 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Mink Chocolates, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Happy New Year to all, and I hope you all enjoy pursuing your passion in 2012, whatever it may be.

I had plans to mix a coconut-themed bar and a caramelized pecan in maple syrup bar for Day #8 of Chocolate + Coconut + Caramel week. Both bars were from Mink Chocolates of Vancouver (British Columbia, Canada).

The first bar -- the cleverly named "Of Course Siam" dark (70% cacao), with a passion fruit puree and thai coconut milk ganache, tasted perfectly fine, even after a few months in the chocolate vault. The passion fruit was very subtle and blended well with a light coconut flavored filling.

Unfortunately, the second ("Greetings from Canada: Wish you were here" milk chocolate) bar was no longer fresh enough to evaluate. I should have refrigerated it for the last few months. I look forward to trying it in the future.

The Caramel portion of today's theme week was provided by a cup of hot Creme Caramel decaf tea from Stash Tea (Portland, OR), with milk and coconut cream.