Saturday, February 25, 2017

Moo Free Chocolates Minty Moo bar; NibMor Mint Squares - Feb. 25, 2017

Chocolate of the Day: 

Moo Free Chocolates
Lily-Lu Lemur
Minty Moo Chocolate bar
Good
Weight: .812 oz. (23 g.) for 1 bar
Calories: 130 calories in 1 bar
Cost: $5.50 for 1 box of 4 bars
Purchased from: Piazza's Fine Foods, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #2 of LMNOPQR Theme Week. Today the letter "M" is featured with two chocolate and mint offerings.

There are many different mints that might be blended with chocolate. However, the most popular seems to be peppermint (especially around the holidays). My guess is that, while not specified, one or both of today's mint chocolates do contain some peppermint.

Peppermint may have originated in the Middle East and Europe, but it's grown deep roots here in North America.*

Moo Free Mint

Today's Minty Moo bar was part of a holiday assortment package (of 4 different bars) from Moo Free Ltd./Moo Free Chocolates (Reading, UK).**

The Minty Moo bar was sweet, creamy (fooled me; I thought it contained dairy); and it had a natural minty flavor throughout. Pieces of crisp rice were perched around the border.

This bar was dairy free, gluten free, vegan and made without genetically modified (GM) ingredients.

And now on to the second mint chocolate of the day...

NibMor
Mint - Daily Dose of Dark
Good ++
Weight: .35 oz. (9.9 g.) / 2.45 oz. (70 g.) in box of 7 squares
Calories: 50 calories for 1 packet
Cost: $1.99 (estimate) for 1 box of 7 packets
Purchased from: Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, Palo Alto, CA

These Mint Daily Dose of Dark, individually-wrapped squares were manufactured for NibMor Inc. (Great Neck, NY). The individually-wrapped squares were, in fact, a perfect and portable daily dose of dark chocolate.

The chocolate was well balanced (the right amount of mint, not too sweet), with crunchy texture from cacao nibs (a treat). (There was no mention if the organic mint was peppermint and/or spearmint.) The dark chocolate was, from what I could tell under the mint, smooth, dark and balanced; and nothing seemed amiss.

These 72% Cacao chocolates were made from USDA Organic, ethically traded, and Rainforest Alliance Certified cacao. They also were Non GMO Project Verified.

*Re: overall mint production in the U.S.: Oregon and Washington supply much of the mint and mint oil on the Western U.S., with Washington claiming the largest number of mint growers (150+ in 2012) and the largest quantity mint oil produced. Oregon claims approximately 35% of U.S. production. 

Michigan claims it has the most acres in production in the U.S. And it also grows in the NE from Indiana to New York, and into Southern Canada.

** Re: UK -- The English fancy their peppermint oil to be some of the best there is. (You'll often hear references that most of what is grown in the U.S. is "black" peppermint. And the "white" peppermint oil from the UK and France is superior. I can't comment; but I'm inspired to do a side-by-side tasting in the future.




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