Sunday, January 6, 2013

Heavenly Organics - Chocolate Almond Honey Pattie - January 6, 2013

Chocolate of the Day:

Heavenly Organics
Chocolate Almond
Good
Weight: .377 oz. (11 g.) in 1 small package
Calories: 110 in one 11 g. serving
Cost: $0.59 for 1 small package/pattie
Purchased from: Country Sun Natural Foods, Palo Alto, CA

Today was Day #6 of Chocolate and Poetry Theme Week.

Heavenly Organics is a company that makes organic, sustainable, fairly traded chocolates. The company supports small farmers and indigenous forest dwellers in Central and Northern India, by buying honey from them.

The company's Honey Pattie product line, uses 100% organic Italian, slow-roast, dark chocolate, and is gluten free, dairy free and is sweetened with raw, organic white honey, with no added sugar. Flavors include: Mint, Pomegranate, Ginger, and today's Almond.

I carefully opened a wrapper that housed 1 small dark chocolate pattie. I've tasted many different combinations of chocolate, almonds and honey; and when I took a bite, I was half expecting chopped almonds inside. Surprise. Instead, I bit into a lovely, creamy, smooth white center with a light almond marzipan flavor.

Honey and flowers and almonds have inspired several serious poems about romance and good food for many centuries.

However, my poet of choice today was British author, A.A. Milne, the voice behind Winnie the Pooh (also known as Pooh Bear), a stuffed bear that comes to life in the woods with his friend Piglet, and an assortment of other stuffed animal friends, and who loves eating honey from bees nests in the trees.

Winnie the Pooh kept his treasured pot of honey, with the word "hunny" scrawled across it, in a special place.

While some of Milne's poems and songs were silly, Pooh actually was a fount of wisdom. I've included a few Pooh quotes below. With apologies to A. A. Milne, I found it easy to replace Pooh's honey, or "hunny," with the word "chocolate" in a few places.


"I don't feel very much like Pooh today," said Pooh.
"There there, said Piglet. "I'll bring you tea and honey, until you do."

"'Well,' said Pooh, 'what I like best' -- and then he had to stop and think. Because although Eating Honey (Chocolate) was a very good thing to do, there was a moment just before you began to eat it which was better than when you were, but he didn't know what it was called."

"Poetry and Hums aren't things which you get, they're things that get you. And all you can do is go where they can find you."

I hope you all will be fortunate to be able to spend some time in the woods, a nearby park or a quiet patch, to relax and enjoy the scenery if you can.






Chocolove - Dark Chocolate bar - January 5, 2013

Chocolate of the Day: 

Chocolove
Dark Chocolate bar
Weight: 1/18 bar (1 small square) / 3.2 oz. (90 g.) total bar
Calories: 27 calories in 1 small square
Cost: $2.99 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Paradise Foods (Market), in Corte Madera, CA

Today was Day #5 of Chocolate and Poetry Theme Week.

Straight, unflavored dark chocolate can be pure poetry to many people. Today's Pure Dark (55% Cocoa Content) bar from Chocolove (Boulder, CO) had faint hints of cherries, and chocolate fudge; and even one small square was fairly satisfying.

My intent had been to make a chocolate version of "Persian Love Cake" or "Persian Love Poem Custard" with this bar, but I ran out of time. What is a Persian Love Poem dessert? One that has been flavored with hints of rose water, lemon peel, pistachio, cardamom and saffron. After seeing several images of these fluffy cloud-white desserts with carefully placed, rosy pink, candied rose petals and  pistachio nut pieces, I decided to eat my chocolate a la carte with some rose-infused tea, but someday I will experiment with fusing these two sweets.

In the meantime, the good people at Chocolove included a love poem on the inside of the bar's wrapper. This particular poem (part of which is included below) was an ode to Autumn, translated from the work of Russian writer and poet Alexander Pushkin.

from Autumn

VIII
When autumn comes, I bloom anew;
The frosty air does wonders for my health;
Anew I fall in love with life's routine;
Betimes I'm soothed by dreams, betimes by hunger caught;
The blood flows free and easy in my heart,
Abrim with passion; once again, I'm happy, young,
I'm full of life - such is my view
When autumn comes, I bloom anew...

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...