Thursday, October 11, 2012

ChocolateBet: October 11, 2012

Chocolate of the Day: 

Lily's Sweets, Inc.
Crispy Rice bar
Weight: .6 oz. (17 g.)/ 3 oz. (85 g.) total bar
Calories: 68 calories for 1/5 bar (per label information)
Cost: $8.00 (estimate) for total bar
Purchased from: Crissy Field Cafe (now closed), in San Francisco, CA

Thank you to Lily's founders, Cynthia Tice and Chuck Genuardi for coming up with a line of natural tasting dark chocolate bars sweetened with stevia (a low/no calorie, plant-based sweetener).

It was refreshing to taste some chocolate without a sugar punch. This relatively mild and smooth, dark (55% cocoa) bar was made with non-GMO ingredients, and was embedded with pieces of organic, crisp brown rice. Another result of the company's stevia-based formulation: according to the label, the bar had 25 percent fewer calories (than other comparable chocolates one presumes).

In a tribute to childhood memories, the company website stated: "Our Crispy Rice (bar) is a nod to the snappy, crackly, childhood candy bar that made us smile. The one with the savory little crunches mixed in with the velvety chocolate. One bite of our crunchy, stevia-sweetened chocolate flings you back to happy childhood days -- and makes you feel that all is right with the world."

The company name, "Lily's," is a reference to Lily, a young cancer survivor. The company donates a portion of proceeds to related charitable causes.

Lily's 55% cocoa chocolate is Fair Trade Certified. And, this month (October) is Fair Trade month. While not all farmers can afford this certification process, thank you to the many good efforts and to Paul Rice (a name also fitting for Day #3 of Chocolate and Rice Theme Week), President and CEO of Fair Trade USA, for all the good work in this area.

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