Thursday, August 27, 2015

Salazon Chocolate - Organic Dark Chocolate with Sea Salt and Turbinado Sugar bar - Aug. 27, 2015

Chocolate of the Day:

Salazon Chocolate Co.
Organic Dark Chocolate with Sea Salt and Turbinado Cane Sugar (bar)
Good
Weight: 1 oz. (28.3 g.) / 3 oz. (85 g.) in total bar
Calories: 139.8 calories in 1/3 bar
Cost: $3.99 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Sprouts, Mountain View, CA

Today was Day #2 of Chocolate and Salt Theme Week.

I enjoyed seeing and tasting the sparkles of sugar and salt pressed into the back of today's bar from Salazon Chocolate Co. (Eldersburg, MD) -- a maker of organic, single origin bars with salt.

Salazon founders enjoy being out of doors, and a bar with a little salt helps replenish sodium on a long hike. I'm a hiker too, and I appreciate that sentiment. Chocolate bars with salt also taste good. Salt can complement chocolate and help balance sweet, bitter and other flavors.

The company founders also decided to give back. A percentage of proceeds from this bar go to support the Pacific Crest Trail Association. I'm happy to support good causes by eating chocolate.

Today's Organic Dark Chocolate with Sea Salt and Organic Turbinado Cane Sugar (bar) had smooth cocoa notes, and just the right amount of sugar and salt texture and flavor for my taste.






The Republic of Tea; Hu Kitchen Salty bar - Aug. 26, 2015

Chocolate(s) of the Day: 

The Republic of Tea
Peppermint Chocolate Tea
Good
Weight: .056 oz. (1.6 g.) / 1.35 oz. (38.4 g.) in total box of 24 tea bags
Calories: N/A - less than 5 calories (estimate)
Cost: $13.99 for 1 box of 24 tea bags (already recorded)
Purchased from: East-West Bookstore, Mountain View, CA

Today was Day #7 of Chocolate and Mint Theme Week and Day #1 of Chocolate and Salt Theme Week.

I enjoyed two chocolate items today, starting with a sip or two of Peppermint Chocolate Tea from The Republic of Tea (Novato, CA).

The company name "The Republic of Tea" first drew me to this tea maker. And interesting decaffeinated tea flavors introduced over the years have kept me coming back.

I've been working my way through a "Cuppa Chocolate Teas" assortment box. (I featured the Red Velvet, Coconut Cocoa, Strawberry Chocolate, and Banana Chocolate Teas previously.) This Peppermint Chocolate flavor was the last tea flavor in the box.

Rooibos*-based, each round, individually-wrapped, Peppermint Chocolate unbleached tea bag contained a blend of "carob, cocoa kernels (I'm assuming these are finely ground cocoa nibs), peppermint leaves, sweet blackberry leaves, natural mint, chocolate and vanilla flavors."

The resulting tea was a rich, reddish color -- largely from the rooibos (also known as bush or redbush tea). Rooibos literally translated means red bush.

The second chocolate came in bar form...

Hu Kitchen
Salty Chocolate Bar
Good
Weight: 2.1 oz. (59.4 g.) in 1 bar
Calories: 320 calories in 1 bar
Cost: $6.00 (estimate) for 1 bar
Purchased from: Country Sun Natural Foods, Palo Alto, CA

This 72% cacao dark Salty Chocolate Bar from Hu Kitchen (Brooklyn, NY) contained just the right amount of salt for me. It was spread fairly uniformly throughout the chocolate.

The paleo and vegan bar contained no cane or refined sugar, soy lecithin, gluten, emulsifiers or GMO ingredients.

*Rooibos is a naturally caffeine-free plant that serves as a tea substitute. Also low in tannic acids, rooibos -- grown in Southern Africa, and now other parts of the world -- is also low in tannic acids (found in conventional teas).







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