Saturday, October 22, 2022

Chocolarder - Wild Gorse Flower 50% Milk Chocolate (bar) - Oct. 22, 2022

Chocolate of the Day

Chocolarder
Wild Gorse Flower 50% Milk Chocolate (bar)
Good ++
Weight: 2.5 oz. (70 g.) in total bar
Calories: 401 calories in 1 bar
Cost: $9.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

Welcome to Day #8 of Chocolate and Botanicals Theme Week. 

Today's Wild Gorse Flower 50% Milk Chocolate (bar) was from small batch, bean-to-bar chocolate maker, Chocolarder (Falmouth (Cornwall), England, U.K.). 

Aroma notes for this bar included sweet milk chocolate and floral coconut. 

You'll be forgiven if you swear this four-ingredient, milk chocolate bar contained coconut. It did not. Pretty yellow gorse flowers (Ulex europaeus) bloom in the spring on spiny bushes across the Cornish landscape (where today's chocolate company is based). While painful to pick, these wild flowers when infused into cream--or, in today's case steeped in cocoa butter-- yield a "...heady, warm coconut scent..."

Yes, this 50% cacao bar was smooth and sweet, but I also enjoyed the special opportunity to sample the warm floral coconut + milk chocolate flavors. I did wonder what a 60% version might taste like; but generally there are reasons chocolate makers have when selecting more or less sugar.

There was no cacao (country of) origin listed on the bar's packaging. (However, previous versions of this bar were made with cacao grown in Nicaragua.)

There was something wonderful, akin to virtual travel, that I felt as I read about the chocolate maker's treasured, albeit prickly, local (botanical) flavor inclusion. The description was engaging as well as informative.*

Maker's tasting notes: "Warming toasted coconut with hints of fudge and hazelnut ending in light red fruit."

Ingredients: Cocoa beans, unrefined raw sugar, milk powder (milk), gorse flowers.

Allergen-related information: "Made in a factory that also handles tree nuts."

*Gorse bushes can offer cover/habitat for "many insects and birds, such as Stonechats, Dartford Warblers, and Yellowhammers...During their bloom, clouds of warm coconut scent drift on the breeze...and are integral to our nostalgia for the long unmitigated summers of childhood..."

"Traditionally, Gorse has had many roles aside from its burst of coconut fragrance as we trek the coastal paths. The dry branches can be gathered for an effective fuel, used in bread ovens and stoves, and when bound together could form an efficient chimney brush. The flowers have also been used in wine-making and cordials, but more surprisingly the vibrant yellow has been used in making colours for Easter eggs."

"Larder fact: Picking gorse flowers really, really hurts."

While I may never have the privilege of seeing a Dartford Warbler (bird), I can picture the landscape and the town of botanical origin mentioned here as clearly as if I was taking a hike along a coastal path there.


Kuli Kuli - Mint Chip Super Bark Dark Chocolate Superfood Snack - Oct. 21, 2022

Chocolate of the Day

Kuli Kuli
Mint Chip Super Bark Dark Chocolate Superfood Snack
Good +
Weight: 1.06 oz. (30 g.) / 4.2 oz. (119 g.) in total package
Calories: 170 calories in 1 serving
Cost: $4.99 for 1 package
Purchased from: Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #7 of Chocolate and Botanicals Theme Week.

Today's Mint Chip Super Bark Dark Chocolate Superfood Snack was distributed by Kuli Kuli, Inc. (Oakland, CA).

Aroma notes for these two-bite sized, roughly rectangular, dark chocolate pieces included relatively aromatic mint, chocolate and other faint botanical and light seed notes.

Dark chocolate was interspersed with tiny bits of coconut, chia seeds (as well as puffed quinoa and breadfruit flour), yielding very faint green/botanical (moringa powder*), very slightly malty dark chocolate and mint flavors, with a hint of sea salt. Not too sweet (thank you).

Ingredients: Chocolate liquor, Kuli Kuli Proprietary Blend (organic cacao nibs, organic moringa powder, organic moringa coated coconut [flaked coconut, organic moringa powder], organic black chia seeds, puffed quinoa, breadfruit flour), erythritol, inulin (extract of chicory root), cocoa butter, sea salt, soy lecithin, vanilla, Reb A (extract of stevia), peppermint oil 

Allergen-related information: Contains soy, coconut. "Processed in a facility that also processes dairy, eggs, peanuts, wheat and tree nuts."

*Kuli Kuli offers several moringa-containing products. Moringa oleifera is a nutrient-dense green plant native to southern Asia (India, Pakistan) and Africa. The plant is also known as the drumstick tree and/or the miracle tree.



Zotter - Mi-Xing bar - "Flower Power" - Oct. 20, 2022

Chocolate of the Day

Zotter
Mi-Xing bar - "Flower Power"
Good +
Weight: 1.76 oz. (50 g.) / 3.52 oz. (100 g.) in total bar
Calories: 300 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $10.99 for 1 bar (+ warm weather shipping charge)
Purchased from: Zotter, online order 

Welcome to Day #6 of Chocolate and Botanicals Theme Week. 

Flowers are botanicals. One can argue cacao and many chocolates are botanicals. 

Today's "Flower Power Mi-Xing bar created by Zotter (Austria). It was a generously-sized, flower-shaped milk chocolate bar adorned with embedded flower and fruit flourishes.

Aroma notes for this pretty bar included different gradations of chocolate (milk, white) as well as flower and fruit notes.

The bar was relatively thick, with a creamy mouthfeel and texture.

This bar contained different levels of milk chocolate (40% and 50%), some decorative swirls of white chocolate, and what looked like candied flavor bits. 

Delicate clusters of dried cornflowers (petals) added blue violet color. And tiny "crunchy fruit" and caramel baubles (candy) were imbued with 1.) bright sparkles of tart-sweet passion fruit and 2.) caramel-flavored candy-coated cacao nibs, respectively--creating a nice flavor "reveal" when bitten into, and some welcome flavor complexity.

Ingredients: (Ingredients no longer listed online; product may no longer be available.)

Allergen-related information: Contained milk. 

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