Chocolate of the Day
Dr. Bronner's
Smooth Coconut Praline Dark Chocolate 70% Cocoa (bar)
Good + - Good ++
Weight: 1 oz. (28 g.) / 2.93 oz. (83 g.) in total bar
Calories: 160 calories in 1/3 bar
Cost: $3.99 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Sprouts, Mountain View, CA
Cost: $3.99 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Sprouts, Mountain View, CA
Happy Lunar New Year (year of the Tiger), and welcome to Day #7 of Chocolate and Ghana Theme Week.
Today's Smooth Coconut Praline Dark Chocolate 70% Cocoa (bar)--sweetened with coconut sugar--was made in Switzerland, and distributed by Dr. Bronner's (Vista, CA).
Today's bar was a testament to international partnerships and mindful sourcing of organic and fairly traded ingredients, that included organic, fair trade cocoa from Ghana (Serendipalm project) and Ivory Coast (KANY co-op of women farmers); organic, fair trade vanilla from Madagascar; and organic, fair trade coconut sugar from Indonesia.
Closer to home, the aroma of this international dark chocolate evoked childhood memories of German chocolate cake: layers of rich, moist dark chocolate cake "glued" together with a thick frosting made of caramelized sugar, butter, shredded coconut and chopped nuts (pecans and almonds), and a hint of vanilla. The cake was delicious.
This coconut praline filled dark chocolate bar captured the aroma and flavor magic of this childhood favorite. It was a sleek and sophisticated, adult embodiment of this dessert, with a fraction of the sugar, and with richer, dark chocolate flavor. Perfect!
A final note: All the Bronner's bars I've tasted this week have been sweetened with coconut sugar. This golden-hued sugar tends to lend a very mild, pleasant caramel flavor to chocolate(s). Coconut sugar scores lower on the glycemic index*/scale than refined white sugar--an added plus.
Coconut blossom sugar is harvested (carefully), often by hand, high up in coconut palm trees where coconut blossoms/flowers are located--using small buckets to gather sap. It's very similar to, and is sometimes referred to as the same thing as, palm sugar or jaggery. (The latter is a "brown sugar" that can be made from a blend of palm, cane or and/or date sugar.)
Ingredients: Fair Trade Organic cocoa beans, Fair Trade Organic coconut sugar, Fair Trade Organic coconut, Fair Trade Organic cocoa butter, Fair Trade Organic coconut milk powder, sea salt, Organic sunflower oil, Fair Trade Organic Bourbon vanilla bean.
Allergen-related information: "Made on equipment that also processes almonds, hazelnuts, milk, coconut and soy."
*The glycemic index (GI) measures how rapidly blood glucose levels rise after different foods are ingested. The index also offers a ranking of foods as to which results in a faster/higher rise in glucose. More refined, processed high-carbohydrate foods typically result in more rapid rises in blood sugar.
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