Magnum - Dark Chocolate Raspberry ice cream - April 30, 2018

Chocolate of the Day: 

Magnum

Dark Chocolate Raspberry ice cream

Good ++

Weight: 2/3 cup (110 g.) / 14.8 fl. oz. (440 mL)

Calories: 340 calories in 1 (2/3 cup) serving

Cost: $4.49 (estimate) for 1 container

Purchased from: Piazza's Fine Foods, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #7 of Chocolate and Raspberry Theme Week.

Today's Magnum* Dark Chocolate Raspberry ice cream was from Unilever (Englewood Cliffs, NJ).

The container of natural-tasting raspberry ice cream was surrounded by a layer of solid 65% chocolate (that actually smelled like real dark chocolate). 

The novelty of this item was that one squeezed the container to crack the layer of chocolate and then ate both parts together.

*The Magnum brand is part of Unilever. This ice cream was a product of Hungary.

Dick Taylor - Vanilla Raspberry bar - April 29, 2018

Chocolate of the Day: 

Dick Taylor Craft Chocolate

Vanilla Raspberry 73% Dark Chocolate bar

Very Good

Weight: .5 oz. (14.15 g.) / 1 oz. (28.3 g.) in total bar

Calories: 75 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar

Cost: $10.00 for 1 bar

Purchased from: The Chocolate Garage, Palo Alto, CA 

Welcome to Day #6 of Chocolate and Raspberry Theme Week.

Today's Vanilla Raspberry 73% Dark Chocolate bar from Dick Taylor Craft Chocolate (Eureka, CA) was debuted in time for Valentines Day 2018. Happily there were still a few left this spring.

This five-ingredient, 2017 Great Taste Award-winning bar contained: organic cacao, organic cane sugar, organic freeze-dried raspberries, organic vanilla coconut palm sugar, organic vanilla bean.

The makers used their 2018 Good Food Award winning 73% "Northerner Blend" (Madagascan and Brazilian cacao) chocolate to craft this bar. The back side was sprinkled with a layer of organic, freeze-dried raspberries and vanilla coconut palm sugar.

The solid, deep raspberry pink layer of color complemented the flip/front side—a dark mahagony nautically-themed design with the Dick Taylor logo.

The above-mentioned awards were on the mark. This well executed bar was crafted to perfection. The underlying chocolate was full of complex fruit flavor and the raspberry took it up a notch. What a great ride. As the makers said: "The tartness of the raspberry is a stark contrast to the ripe fruit flavors in the Northerner Blend." And the vanilla coconut sugar blended with the raspberries added a very slight, well-rounded sweetness.

Because the duo behind this company embody craftsmanship in all they do: The bar's wrapper "was designed and printed in-house on our letter press, including that hand carved raspberry and the hand lettering on (the) front."