Saturday, February 22, 2020

Sjaak's Organic Chocolates - California Coast Whales Dark Chocolate (bar) - Feb. 22, 2020


Chocolate of the Day; 

Sjaak's Organic Chocolate
California Coast Whales Dark Chocolate (bar)
Good
Weight: 1 oz. (56 g.) / 2 oz. (56 g.) in total bar
Calories: 140 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $4.95 for 1 bar
Purchased from: SweetE Organic, Mill Valley, CA

Welcome to Day #4 of Dark Chocolate Theme Week.

Today's California Coast Whales Dark Chocolate bar from Sjaak's Organic Chocolates (Petaluma, CA) was decorated with an illustration inspired by whales that can be seen off the California coast.

This bar had a true, rich dark chocolate aroma and flavor with a creamy melt.

ChocStars Ltd. - Dark Chocolate (bar); Gertrude's - Feb. 21, 2020


Chocolate(s) of the Day: 

ChocStars Ltd.
(Imported by Belgium's Chocolate Source)
Dark Chocolate (bar)
Good
Weight: 1.48 oz. (42 g.) / 3.5 oz. (100 g.) in total bar
Calories: 115 calories in 5 pieces of bar
Cost: $ missing information
Purchased from: missing information

Welcome to Day #3 of Plain Dark Chocolate Theme Week.

Today's Dark Chocolate bar was made for ChocStars Ltd. (Perth, Scotland), and imported into the U.S. by Belgium's Chocolate Source (Milton, MA).

ChocStars offers entertaining lineup of bars with packaging adorned with celebrity look-alike images. However, the impersonators are animals dressed up and styled to look like specific celebrities (complete with wigs, items of clothing, hats and other accoutrements), so that they are immediately recognizable. Today's small rodent "star" bore an uncanny resemblance to the Queen of England.

I believe I sampled a previous ChocStars bar that featured a suspiciously canine-looking Michael Jackson years ago. They're not rock stars...they're ChocStars.

As one might expect with novelty bars like this the dark chocolate inside is perfectly edible but a bit on the industrial side (smooth, very uniform, dark, sweet).

Gertrude's desserts, Desert Botanical Garden, Arizona
Bonus entry: desserts at Gertrude's, at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona: 1.) gluten free doughnut holes with chocolate, caramel and prickly pear dipping sauces, and 2.) gluten free chocolate cake with bourbon cherry sauce and cherry sorbet. Yum. Thank you Joy!

Gardini - Cioccolato 70% Organic Dark Turmeric (bar) - Feb. 20, 2020


Chocolate of the Day:

Gardini - Cioccolato D' Autore
70% Cacao Bio Fondente Curcuma
(70% Cacao Organic Dark Chocolate (with) Turmeric)
Good
Weight: 1.41 oz. (40 g.) / 2.82 oz. (80 g.) in total bar
Calories: 224.4 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $ N/A - gift (Thank you Ahmed!)
Purchased from: Cafe Venetia, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #7 of Chocolate and Strawberries Theme Week, and Day #2 of Dark Chocolate Bar Theme Week. (Dark bars featured this week will be without added flavors, with the exception of today's bar.)

Today's 70% Cacao Bio (Organic) Fondente (Dark Chocolate) Curcuma (Turmeric) bar was from Gardini Cioccolato (Forli (FC) Italy).

This bar had a dark chocolate and a warm, slightly earthy/savory/slightly bitter spice (turmeric) aroma and flavor.

The chocolate had a thick, slightly creamy texture and a relatively even melt. Although the turmeric embedded uniformly in this bar yielded a slightly granular texture.

Turmeric's* strong taste (often used in curries) tends to overpower other flavors, including bolder flavors found in cacao. Although both the turmeric and dark chocolate flavors lingered a bit in the finish of this bar.

*Turmeric is a root-like, tuberous rhizome (that grows underground) This native of India and SE Asia looks like it might be a cross between ginger root, a knobby carrot and a Jerusalem artichoke with its light brown exterior and orange interior. (Turmeric (Curcuma longa) is related to ginger.) 

Once processed into a spice, turmeric is a bright, golden yellow. powder. (I've also sliced it into small coin-shaped pieces and included it in sauteed vegetable dishes (with sliced carrots and ginger) and also used it as a natural yellow dye.

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