Monday, March 28, 2022

Oregon Bark - Lou Whistle Molasses Pecan Chew in Chocolate - Mar. 28, 2022

Chocolate of the Day

Oregon Bark 
Lou Whistle Molasses Pecan Chew in Chocolate 
Good ++
Weight: 1.1 oz. (32 g.) in total bar
Calories: 169 calories (estimate) in 1 package of two small bars
Cost: $3.75 for 1 package of 2 small bars
Purchased from: East West Bookstore, Mountain View, CA

Welcome to Day #4 of Chocolate Snacks Theme Week.

Today's Lou Whistle Molasses Pecan Chew in Chocolate was from Oregon Bark (Portland, OR) in collaboration with/made with Ranger Chocolate Co. (Portland, OR).

These adult candy bars (two individually wrapped small bars in 1 package) was not your grandparents' chocolate covered caramel nut bar. The aroma and flavor notes conjured up a picnic in the forest, with molasses, brown sugar with hints of tree sugar sap (sugar maple tree); green lemon-herb (oxalis--tart, lemony sour grass, wood sorrel growing under redwoods); and woodsy, sweet nut (light wood bark, pecan) notes. 

A thin layer of dark chocolate enveloped a sweet, very flavorful interior--a chewy (dairy free) caramel-y nut center with an end-of-the-rainbow pot of of sweet, woodsy, green and gold flavors mentioned above, warmed by mild notes of roasted wood and vanilla.

Ingredients: Organic sugar, organic rice syrup, organic coconut oil, pecans, organic molasses, salt, vanilla, organic chocolate (organic cacao beans, organic sugar, organic cacao butter, vanilla)

Allergen-related information: "Contains pecans, coconut. Made on equipment that processes peanuts and tree nuts." 

Chocola - Cashew Nuts Covered in Fine Dark Chocolate - Mar. 27, 2022

Chocolate of the Day

Chocola
Semillas de Maranon Cubierta de Chocolate Oscuro Fino
(Cashew Nuts Covered in Fine Dark Chocolate)
Good ++
Weight: 2.03 oz. (57.5 g.) / 4.06 oz. (115 g.) in total package
Calories: 278 calories in 1/2 package 
Cost: $4.99 for 1 package
Purchased from: Piazza's, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #3 of Chocolate Snacks Theme Week.

Today's Chocola chocolate covered snack offering hailed from Guatemala, and was imported to the U.S. by Global Support, LLC.

Many chocolate covered snacks (including covered fruit bits or nuts) often lack an aroma (due to confectioners glazes and glosses* used in the outer chocolate coating to help maintain shelf life and appearance).* And the chocolate is often smooth but relatively flat in aroma and flavor.

However, today's dark chocolate covered cashews had subtle dark chocolate aroma, including faint, subtle and balanced notes I associate with fine cacao bean fermentation. 

The outer layer of smooth, almost creamy dark flavorful chocolate surrounded a heart of softly crunchy nut centers.

These chocolate and nut snack pieces not only retained an authentic, mild cashew shape but authentic, cacao and cashew nut notes with a darker than 50% cacao flavor profile: a pleasing balanced bitterness (bittersweet, not too much sugar), with a very slight earthiness, and fleeting, very faint sweet floral and warm spice notes from added vanilla.

Ingredients: Dark chocolate 50% (sugar, cocoa butter, cacao liquor, soy lecithin (emulsifier), natural vanilla), cashew nuts, acacia (glazing agent)

Allergen-related information: Contained tree nuts (cashews) and soy (lecithin), and "may contain traces of peanuts."

* At least some confectioners glazes (shellac or purified lac resin; or in today's case: acacia (also known as arabic gum or gum arabic), made from the acacia tree, and waxes (carnauba (palm wax), beeswax, other) are used in many chocolate covered snacks. These can add shine and durability (e.g. preventing chocolates from looking scuffed up as pieces bump against and tumble around each other inside packaging).

Confectioners glazes using shellac (derived from purified insect plant sap secretions) can also be found on other (non-chocolate) shiny candies and fruits. Versions of these same glazes (known as pharmaceutical glazes) are used as coatings for pills/pharmaceuticals and some cosmetics.


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