Askinosie CollaBARation #5 - June 27, 2013

Chocolate(s) of the Day: 

Askinosie Chocolate
Dark Milk Chocolate + Ancho Chile and Pistachio bar
Good - Good +
Weight: .75 oz. (21.2 g.) in 1/4 bar/ 3 oz. (85 g.) in total bar
Calories: 110 calories in 1/4 bar
Cost: $11.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: The Chocolate Garage, in Palo Alto, CA

Today's Dark (goat) milk chocolate bar was a lively mixture of Maldon sea salt flakes, ancho chile and pistachio nut pieces. The single origin 62% bar was made using cacao beans sourced from the Davao region in the Philippines. There was a lot going on in this bar; a veritable fiesta of interesting and high-quality flavors. Perhaps a bit too much. But, it was fun to try.

The 5th bar in Askinosie Chocolate's CollaBARation series, this bar was a collaboration with Cafe Pascual's (Santa Fe, NM) -- a restaurant that serves savory dishes that echo flavors from New Mexico, Old Mexico, the Mediterranean and Asia. (I hope to visit there one day; their menu looks great.)


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Today was the last day of Chocolate and Surprise Me Theme Week. But, there was one more bar in my chocolate vault that deserved an honorable mention, a Bubble Gum bar from Hagensborg Chocolate (British Columbia, Canada) -- see below.

The bar was shaped like 3 pigs, stuck together in a white chocolate conga line. This creative offering was surprisingly good. (Note: I don't count white chocolate as "real" chocolate, but I do appreciate tasting good white chocolate now and then.)

Honorable Mention:

Hagensborg Chocolate
Bubble Gum bar
Good - Good +
Weight: 1.76 oz. (50 g.) in 1 bar
Calories: 300 calories for 1 bar
Cost: $4.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Hagensborg Chocolate, online order

Surprise! We're having a heat wave in the San Francisco Bay Area. This bar started to melt in my hand, so I had to lick white chocolate off my fingers almost immediately. (What a shame.) Inside the bar a sweet, pink filling held another surprise -- three tiny, pink pillows of natural bubble gum.

This bar may have been sweet, and it melted easily in the hot weather we had today; but it was also surprisingly good. My advice, do as the packaging advises: "Wallow in European white chocolate truffle heaven," if this sounds tempting to you.