Shekoh Confections - Hot Chocolate with Honey Marshmallows - Feb. 4, 2023

Chocolate of the Day

Shekoh Confections
Hot Chocolate with Honey Marshmallows
Good +++
Weight: unknown
Calories: unknown
Cost: $8.50 for 1 cup
Purchased from: Shekoh Confections, Palo Alto, CA

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

Today's Hot Chocolate with Honey Marshmallows from Shekoh Confections (Palo Alto, CA) was not your usual hot chocolate.

Ooh la la, this hot chocolate beverage was luxuriously thick, creamy and velvety. I found myself eating/drinking this with a spoon.

It tasted like there might be a healthy dose of real cream in this drinking chocolate. I experienced the same pleasure as eating chocolate ice cream. (Hot ice cream?) I also enjoyed the rich chocolate flavor.

Was it sweet with the honey marshmallow? Yes, it was. If given the choice, I'd probably have opted for a little less sugar; but this very special hot chocolate delivered a great tasting (and memorable textural) experience.

No information on ingredients or allergen-related information for this "to go" item purchased in the Shekoh Confections retail shop. I am assuming this hot chocolate contained dairy (milk/cream).

Bee Grateful Farm - Chocolate Honey Caramels - Feb. 3, 2023

Chocolate of the Day

Bee Grateful Farm
Chocolate Honey Caramels
Good + - Good ++
Weight: .77 oz. (22 g.) / 4 oz. (125 g.) in total package
Calories: 120 calories in 2 pieces
Cost: $9.69 for 1 package
Purchased from: Country Sun Natural Foods, Palo Alto, CA

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

Today's Chocolate Honey Caramels were handcrafted at Bee Grateful Farm (Steamboat Springs, CO).*

Aroma notes included sweet cream and caramel, and mild sweet chocolate.

These velvety and chewy ebony-colored caramels had a sweet chocolate-y, and buttery flavor with underlying honeyed caramel notes.

Gluten free, these balanced sweets had complex, authentic milk (cream) and honey taste. Yes, they were quite sweet, but they were more "honey" sweet than "white sugar" sweet. 

The package claimed these 100% honey-sweetened treats wouldn't stick to my teeth like sugary caramels would, and that was true.

Maker's notes: "...golden sweetness honey meets the rich creaminess of organic grass-fed cream and butter..."

Ingredients: Wildflower and alfalfa honey, organic cream, chocolate extract, organic butter, organic cocoa powder, Utah salt.

Allergen-related information: "Contains: milk"; gluten free

*Bee Grateful Co. is based in Phippsburg, CO.

Hogarth - Manuka Honey & Cacao Nibs 66% Cacao - Feb. 2, 2023

Chocolate of the Day

Hogarth Chocolate Makers 

Manuka Honey and Cacao Nibs 66% Cacao (bar)

Good ++ - Good +++

Weight: 1.23 oz. (35 g.) / 2.47 oz. (70 g.) in total bar

Calories: 194.1 calories in 1/2 bar

Cost: $11.00 for 1 bar

Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order 

Welcome to Day #2 of Chocolate and Honey Theme Week.

Today's Manuka Honey and Cacao Nibs 66% Cacao (bar) was created by Hogarth Chocolate Makers (Nelson, New Zealand). 

The company offers a variety of chocolate bars (single origin and with flavor inclusions) made with fairly traded and organic ingredients. 

Today's bar--made with Peruvian cacao--was a collaboration with "You're a Honey"-- a New Zealand supplier whose bees have created prized Manuka honey from manuka* tree flower nectar.

Aroma notes for this bar included: honey butter, dark chocolate, and faint green maple. The relatively thick bar had a hearty smooth texture punctuated by softly crunchy cacao nibs.

The flavor was remarkable for its undulating honey and flower pollen notes, and smooth, but flavorable, dark chocolate that had subtle red/berry fruit notes. Cacao nib pieces balanced the richly sweet honey tones and added extra unsweetened, pure cacao flavor depth (with mellow wood, nut/seed and earth notes). 

Normally, 66% dark chocolates taste too sweet for me; but I loved the layers of authentic floral honey flavor in this bar. 

Maker's tasting notes: "...a chocolate with full honey flavour and a little fruit, balancing out the sweetness with bitter, crunchy cacao nibs."

Ingredients: Cocoa solids 66% (Organic, fairtrade cocoa beans; organic, fairtrade cocoa butter); organic, fairtrade sugar; Manuka honey (5%).

Allergen-related information: "May contain traces of milk and nuts." "Gluten free; Soy free"

*Manuka (Leptospermum scoparium) is a flowering plant/tree in the myrtle family, native to New Zealand and southeast Australia. It's also known as manuka myrtle and New Zealand tea tree. Manuka flowers in Nelson (NZ) are said to have a high pollen content and the flavor imparted (into what is often a thicker honey) was appealing and unique.

The most poetic description of manuka honey I found was a frequently quoted passage said to come from the Honey Traveler website: "aromatic with damp earth and heather notes and a cool menthol (or eucalyptus) taste and rich flavour of mineral, barley sugar and herbs."