Alter Eco Foods - Organic Chocolate Grass Fed Milk with rice crunch - 46% cacao (bar) - Oct. 5, 2020

Chocolate of the Day

Alter Eco Foods
Organic Chocolate Grass Fed Milk with rice crunch 46% cacao (bar)
Good - Good +
Weight: 1.325 oz. (37.5 g.) / 2.65 oz. (75 g.) in total bar
Calories: 205 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $ missing information
Purchased from: Rainbow Grocery, San Francisco, CA

Welcome to Day #4 of Chocolate and Grass-Fed Milk Theme Week.

Today's Organic Chocolate Grass Fed Milk with rice crunch 46% cacao (bar) was made in Switzerland and distributed by Alter Eco Foods (San Francisco, CA). This bar was third in a series of three organic, grass fed milk chocolate bars from the company.

As was the case for the first two grass fed milk bars, the milk was supplied by cows grazing in Swiss Alpine pastures; and the cacao was from farmers in Peru. 

Also, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the long history of Swiss milk chocolate. There was something akin to the space race in the 1800s to arrive at the formula for a shelf-stable, milk chocolate bar. The Swiss, French and British were all in hot pursuit of the process that would allow for successful melding of these two edibles--that was first achieved in beverage form (perhaps by a Brit in Jamaica as early as the 1600s). 

But to create a more durable milk chocolate bar took a bit more tinkering. Although others were involved, Swiss chocolatier Daniel Peter receives a large measure of the credit for solving this problem in 1875-6, using powdered milk developed by Henri Nestle--whose creamery was near Peter's factory.

Today's generous helping of embedded crisped rice in the Alter Eco 46% milk bar balanced the relatively bold chocolate aroma and flavor (similar to yesterday's Alter Eco grass fed milk chocolate bar with salted almonds). Although yesterday's salt and almond inclusions helped balance the milk and cacao and sugar. Today's crisp rice acted as a very pleasing crunchy counterpart to the smooth Swiss milk chocolate, but did not tap the brakes on the sugar as successfully as the salted almonds did.

Ingredients: Organic raw cane sugar, organic cacao beans, organic cocoa butter, rice crisp (organic rice, organic raw cane sugar) organic whole milk, organic butterfat.