Thursday, October 27, 2022

Standout Chocolate - Nordic Nature Porcini 67% (bar) - Oct. 27, 2022

Chocolate of the Day

Standout Chocolate
Nordic Nature Porcini 67% (bar)
Good ++ 
Weight: .88 oz. (25 g.) / 1.76 oz. (50 g.) in total bar
Calories: 150.75 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $11.50 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

Welcome to Day #5 of Chocolate and Mushroom Theme Week, featuring cacao-based items blended with a range of edible, non-psychoactive fungi, including: chaga, chanterelle, cordyceps, lion's mane, porcini, reishi, shitake, and others.

Today's Nordic Nature Porcini 67% (bar) was made by Standout Chocolate (Kallered, Sweden).

The rich blend of aroma notes for this Swedish craft chocolate dark bar included: dark, sweet chocolate; cream of mushroom soup; faint nut and fruit (dark ripe berry); and almost undetectable roasted red bell pepper notes. The texture (in cool weather) was thick and creamy.

Flavor notes included robust, fruit (berry) forward dark, slightly earthy, chocolate (more like a 75% cacao chocolate than a 67%). Any mushroom notes were relegated to the back seat--other than a very faint, fleeting whisp of nutty cream soup. 

The finish of this flavorful bar was more like a dessert course, with clearer, sweet, dark berry-bright and acidic notes.

Creating this well executed bar, made with cacao produced by Oko Caribe in the Duarte Province of the Dominican Republic, must have involved a balancing act between too sweet and too dark, between showcasing the relatively bold and fruity flavors of the DR cacao and allowing some smooth and satisfying mushroom umami notes to shine through. We enjoyed the end product.

Ingredients: Organic cacao beans, organic cane sugar, organic cacao butter, organic porcini 

Allergen-related information: May contain traces of milk.

*Porcini mushrooms (Boletus edulis)--"piglets" in Italian--likely due to their plump or chubby appearance--can be found growing in countries across the Northern hemisphere (including Europe, North America), and cooler countries in the Southern Hemisphere (such as New Zealand). They grow at the base of trees in forests and at the edge of forest clearings. 

They are a bit more flavorful than common mushrooms, with a meaty texture and woodsy, earthy and slightly nutty notes; and they're used in a variety of pasta, rice and other savory dishes.


 

Herbal Cacao - Chaga and Cacao Medicinal Drinking Chocolate - Oct. 26, 2022

Chocolate of the Day

Herbal Cacao 
Chaga and Cacao Medicinal Drinking Chocolate
Good +
Weight : .35 oz. (10 g.) / 3.5 oz. (100 g.) in total package
Calories: 60 calories in 1 wedge (1/10 package)
Cost: $19.00 for 1 package
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

Welcome to Day #4 of Chocolate and Mushrooms Theme Week.

Today's Chaga and Cacao Medicinal Drinking Chocolate was from Herbal Cacao (Groningen, NL).

Aroma notes for this chocolate blend included: forest (wood), very faint green (stalks, wood), subtle, fleeting diffuse dark red berry, cacao, and vegetable (red bell pepper/ripe red tomato, mushroom red sauce). (Later, after the chocolate sat on a plate in the open air for a few hours, very light spice (cinnamon) and vanilla became more detectable.)

Flavor notes for the chaga,* cacao and spice blend included fibrous plant/wood, dried chilis, fruit (apple), fleeting bitter cacao notes--suffused with a hot, spicy kick (cayenne pepper).

Once melted and whisked, the texture was smoother than expected, almost velvety. (I melted this slowly in a small quantity of warm water.)

The un-sweet chocolate (think a 100% cacao bar or drinking chocolate with flavor inclusions) had an untamed complexity about it that transported me to a Central American jungle in Southern Belize. This was a two forest fiesta. (The cacao was from Belize (warm forest); the chaga* was harvested in Siberia (cold forest.) Ceylon cinnamon, cayenne pepper and vanilla added authentic flavor depth and interest.

Overall, this unsweetened blend grew on me over time. However, sweetening it a bit--with a bite of another, smoother, stevia-sweetened dark chocolate--made the woody and wild notes recede a little, and made the drinking chocolate more approachable. I could see this as a flavorful addition to other items. (While the directions advise against boiling it as some of the health benefits may diminish, perhaps it could be chopped and melted on warm breads or low-sugar brownies.)

Ingredients: Cacao beans, Inonotuus Obliguus (chaga mushroom powder), ceylon cinnamon, cayenne pepper, vanilla

Allergen-related information: (None listed on packaging.)

*Chaga mushrooms are described as having an earthy, slightly bitter flavor; and as containing a form of natural vanilla-adjacent flavor. Some have described them as having a coffee-like flavor.

As with other mushroom flavor inclusions this week, this fungus is non-psychoactive. (Note: chaga mushrooms contain antioxidants and have health benefits, but are also high in oxalates, which are not great for those with kidney issues/prone to kidney stones.)

Chaga is native to colder climates in the Northern Hemisphere (Canada, Alaska, Russia, Northern Europe). It appears as a dark protrusion on (birch and other) trees.

Cherie Sweet Heart - Cacao and Reishi - Oct. 25, 2022

Chocolate of the Day

Cherie Sweet Heart 
Cacao and Reishi
Good - Good +
Weight: 2 Tablespoons (15 g.) / 8 oz. (227 g.) in total package
Calories: 60 calories in 1 serving
Cost: $5.99 for 1 package
Purchased from: Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #3 of Chocolate and Mushroom Theme Week.

Today's Cherie Sweet Heart Organic Cacao and Reishi* (mushroom) blend was manufactured for Sweet Heart Group Ltd (City of Industry, CA).

Aroma notes for this blend included: subtle, slightly savory (mushroom soup) note and cocoa.

After a few minutes of stirring this powdered blend with water and letting it sit for a while, the resulting beverage was smooth, with no powdery grit.

This unsweetened, two-ingredient blend was unadorned with any sugars, sweeteners or fillers, and it had bold cacao and earthy mushroom flavor with a slightly bitter finish. (It was hard to tell whether this bitterness was from the cacao or the mushroom powder, or both.)

Ingredients: Organic cacao powder, organic reishi mushroom powder

Allergen-related information: (None listed/found on packaging.) "Organic, Non-GMO, Plant-based"

*Reishi mushrooms (Ganoderma lucidum) are non-psychoactive mushrooms, native to East Asia but also found in the Americas and elsewhere, that have an earthy, somewhat bitter flavor. 

They have a relatively tough texture, and look like semi-circular shelf fungus (bracket fungus)--typically growing on the side of hardwood and conifer trees. (As with any wild foraging, make sure you consult an expert before hunting for yourself.)

The taste has been described using words like "tree bark-like." This may explain why you won't see the reishi mushroom on many restaurant menus. Instead, it may be listed more in medicinal and health-related items. (Note: reishi may lower blood pressure and increase blood clotting time; so consult your health professional if you're on medication(s) or have questions.)






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