Sunday, October 16, 2022

Shekoh Confections - Saffron - Oct. 15, 2022

Chocolate(s) of the Day

Shekoh Confections
Saffron
Weight: .49 oz. (11.32 g.) (estimate) in 1 piece
Calories: 75 calories (estimate) in 1 piece
Cost: $4.45 for 1 piece ($22.25 for 5-piece box)
Purchased from: Shekoh Confections, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #1 of Chocolate and Botanicals Theme Week, that will feature cacao blended with flowers, leaves (herbs), spices, trees, and other plant-based inclusions.

Today's Saffron filled chocolate was from Shekoh Confections (Palo Alto, CA). Shekoh Moossavi, the company's chief chef and chocolate-maker, produces a variety of high-end chocolate confections. All her (Valrhona dark and white chocolate based) confections so far that I've tasted have been well-executed and wonderful.

Saffron
I love saffron, in savory and sweet dishes. This spice is made up of tiny aromatic botanical threads (the vivid red-orange stamens harvested from purple crocus flowers) that contribute a unique flavor and sunny yellow color.

Aroma notes for this Saffron chocolate included: chocolate (dark chocolate with faint lemon herb (oxalis) and very faint earth), and soft, layered, floral spice (saffron).

An impossibly thin white chocolate (pale sky blue) shell covered a soft, creamy golden saffron infused white chocolate interior. The dark chocolate base layer formed the base of this angelic domed confection, providing just the right amount of chocolate grounding with true dark chocolate and very faint earth notes (without taking away from the lighter elements).

This chocolate had an architectural beauty to it with light blue sky above, the dark earth below, and a golden heaven of saffron sunshine in the middle.

No ingredients formally listed (or allergen information) on assortment "to go" box.





Zotter - 60% Milk Chocolate with Coconut Blossom Sugar - Oct. 14, 2022

Chocolate of the Day

Zotter
60% Milk Chocolate with Coconut Blossom Sugar (bar)
Good ++
Weight: 1.235 oz. (35 g.) / 2.47 oz. (70 g.) in total bar
Calories: 200 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $4.99 (sale) for 1 bar
Purchased from: Zotterusa.com, online order

Welcome to Day #10 of Chocolate and Coconut Theme Week.

Today's 60% Milk Chocolate with Coconut Blossom Sugar (bar) was made in Austria and distributed by Zotter Chocolates US LLC (Cape Coral, FL).*

Aroma notes for this 60% dark milk bar included: graham cracker, faint coconut cookie, very faint lemon-green herb (oxalis, sorrel, sour grass), very faint, diffuse fruit (mild red berry, mild sweet citrus) and barely there floral (vanilla) and caramel notes.

This approachable chocolate had gentle complexity, mellowed by vanilla and milk. A judicious amount of vanilla bean powder added pleasing flavor and implied sweetness. And milk added creaminess. The 60% cacao milk chocolate was sweet, but not overwhelmingly so. 

The bar was sweetened with a generous dose of coconut blossom sugar. (Coconut blossom sugar is collected/harvested from high up in the canopy of coconut palm trees, and is lower on the glycemic index (scale) than white cane sugar.) This coconut blossom-based sugar imparts a nice, mild flavor and less sugar buzz--even in today's bar where it comprised 23% of this bar's constituents.

Ingredients: Organic, fair traded cocoa mass; organic, fair traded coconut blossom sugar (23%); dry whole milk; organic, fair traded cocoa butter; salt; organic vanilla bean powder.

Allergen-related information: Contains coconut, milk. "Manufactured on equipment that processes other tree nuts, peanuts, sesame and soy."

*The company's Florida-based operation in the U.S. was affected by Hurricane Ian recently (Fall 2022) and there may be delays in ordering certain products. 

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