Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Heavenly Organics - Chocolate Coconut Honey Pattie - January 22, 2013

Chocolate of the Day:

Heavenly Organics
Honey Pattie - Chocolate Coconut
Good - Good +
Weight: .39 oz. (11 g.) in 1 pattie
Calories: 37 calories in 1 pattie
Cost: $ N/A - sample
Purchased from: N/A - Heavenly Organics booth at Fancy Food Show, San Francisco, CA

Hidden in the back of a massive exhibit hall at the Fancy Food Show in San Francisco, were a few reasons why I created this Chocolate Banquet site.

It was here that I had the opportunity to connect with the good people at Heavenly Organics (Fairfield, IA) to hear their story about how they help honor and support sustainable honey farming in rural India; and also Kelapo Coconut.

Heavenly Organics - Honey stories

I imagined a conversation with new or potential honey suppliers, or harvesters, in India that might go as follows: We will buy from you if you don't burn down the tree containing the bee hives; but rather just carefully slice off the top third of the honeycomb mass (during times of day or night when the bees may be less active), so that the queen bee remains in the hive and honey production will continue.

Every chocolate has a story. And, it's great to hear about "everyone wins" practices from half way around the world.

The Heavenly Organics Honey Pattie line comes in different flavors. (I previously tried mint and almond flavors.) Today, I sampled a small, round Chocolate Coconut pattie, similar in appearance to a dark chocolate covered after-dinner mint with a honey-flavored (no added sugar) coconut center. This dairy free, gluten free, organic chocolate came packaged in a single serving packet size, and was also available in a 1.2 oz. (33 g.) bar format.

Kelapo Coconut

Happily, the next booth over from Heavenly Organics at the show, was Kelapo Coconut/Beneficial Blends (Tampa, FL). I've enjoyed experimenting with adding their coconut sugar (and coconut oil), to make different chocolate truffles and cakes, with good results.

On display in their booth: some chocolate truffles, with a hint of coconut and peppermint with a very nice smooth melt, that had been specially created for the show as an example of treats that can be made with their product. Thank you to the chocolatier who made these for a special cause, and shared them here.

Today was Day #8 of Chocolate and Coconut Theme Week.

Taza Chocolate - Coco Besos - January 21, 2013

Chocolate of the Day:

Taza Chocolate
Coco Besos (Coconut Kisses) bar
Good - Good +
Weight: .375 oz. (10.6 g.) / 3 oz. (85 g.) total bar
Calories: 65 calories in 1/8 bar (2 small squares)
Cost: $ N/A - sample
Purchased from: N/A - Taza Chocolate, Fancy Food Show, San Francisco, CA

Today was Day #7 of Chocolate and Coconut Theme Week.

I was fortunate to find two limited edition, seasonal items from Taza Chocolate (Somerville, MA) today in the Taza booth, at the Fancy Foods Show in San Francisco, CA.

The first item was a Coco Besos (translated from Spanish: Coconut Kisses) bar made for Valentines Day. This organic, 70% stone ground dark bar was studded with tiny bits of organic coconut, and flavored with organic vanilla beans.

Taza is known for their stone ground and organic chocolates. The more rustic texture of stone ground chocolate (larger particle size) can help retain some flavor characteristics and "sparkle" that a heavily conched, very smooth chocolate (with smaller particle size) may no longer possess.

Stone ground chocolate also offers a more substantial texture when melted and used to make a drinking chocolate.

The coconut in this bar was a plus, and well balanced with the chocolate in terms of taste and texture.

The second Taza item was a winter holiday item -- a Spiked Eggnog flavored, stone ground chocolate disc (partitioned into wedges) with the taste of freshly grated nutmeg -- that I found very good. I look forward to featuring this item in the near future.

Thank you to Taza for the information and tasting samples.






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