Becca's Petites - Chocolat Noir Bouchees (Snack Mix) - Sept. 8, 2023

Chocolate(s) of the Day

Becca's Petites
Chocolate Noir Bouchees (Snack Mix)
Good ++
Weight: 3.5 oz. (99 g.) in total package
Calories: 460 calories in 1 package
Cost: $7.75 USD for 1 package 
Purchased from: Napa Farms Market, SFO Airport, San Francisco, CA

Welcome to Day #7 of Dark Chocolate Theme Week. 

Today's Becca's Petites "Chocolate Noir Bouchees" Snack Mix was manufactured by Gourmecca Kitchen LLC (Marin, CA). 

Note: This is the second of two dark chocolate items featured today. (See previous post for information on Equal Exchange's Organic 92% Cacao Total Eclipse Transcendently dark bar.)

The crunchy texture of these (gluten free, dairy free and vegan) small, granola-like, snack pieces--or bouchees ("mouthfuls")--was interspersed with upticks in creamy dark chocolate and slightly softer, rich nut bits.

This rich, almost crispy-crunchy mix had authentic, chocolate and very light coconut and nut flavors. It was satisfying, and slightly addictive--while only mildly triggering the "more-ish" sugar/salt snack threshold. (It was sweetened with coconut and apple juice; and very lightly seasoned with sea salt.)

Ingredients: Almonds, walnuts, dark chocolate (cane sugar, cacao beans*, cocoa butter*, sunflower lecithin, vanilla), almond butter, coconut chips, apple puree, apple juice concentrate, coconut nectar, cinnamon, pure vanilla extract, sea salt. ("No GMOs.") (* Fair Trade)

"Allergen Warning: Almond, Walnut, Coconut. Made in a facility that handles milk chocolate."

Equal Exchange - Organic Dark Chocolate 92% Cacao Total Eclipse (bar) - Sept. 8, 2023

Chocolate(s) of the Day

Equal Exchange
Organic Dark Chocolate 92% Cacao Total Eclipse (bar)
Good + - Good ++
Weight: 1.4 oz. (40 g.) / 2.8 oz. (80 g.) in total bar
Calories: 253.3 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $4.79 for 1 bar
Purchased from: New Leaf Community Markets, Half Moon Bay, CA 

Welcome to Day #7 of Dark Chocolate Theme Week. 

Note: The second of two dark chocolate items (Becca's Petites Chocolat Noir Bouchees) featured today can be found in a separate/next entry.

Today's Organic Dark Chocolate 92% Cacao Total Eclipse (bar) was produced in Switzerland for Equal Exchange Co-op (W. Bridgewater, MA).

This bar was described as "Transcendently dark." Chocolates with greater than 90% cacao tend to go beyond the limits of what most people have experienced. Some will enjoy the journey, and others may miss the sugar. But, there's more to the story...and it extends to how the cacao was transported from distant lands covered with temperate rainforests into a high-percentage dark chocolate, and how it reached us at all.

The organic cacao(s) used to make this ultra-dark chocolate were "grown by small farmer co-ops" in Togo*, Dominican Republic and Peru.

Aroma notes for this dark chocolate included: rich cocoa (drinking chocolate) and subtle vanilla bean.

The texture was smooth, thick and buttery (cocoa buttery).

Flavor notes included: bold, barely sweetened, smooth, ultra-dark chocolate with a balanced bitterness; subtle vanilla bean; and very faint, fleeting sweet red berry (raspberry jam). 

For those wanting less sugar and more unsweetened cacao flavor(s), this 92% dark chocolate blend is worth trying. You're also supporting many small cacao, sugar and vanilla farmer co-ops around the globe. (The organic cane sugar is from Paraguay, and the organic vanilla was from Madagascar.)

Ingredients: *Organic Chocolate Liquor, *Organic Cocoa Butter, *Organic Raw Cane Sugar, "Organic Ground Vanilla Beans." ("* Fairly Traded Ingredient By Weight 100% From Fair Trade Co-operatives.")

Allergen-related information: "May Contain Milk, Peanuts, Hazelnuts, Almonds & Coconut."

*Equal Exchange has been serving as an "alternative trader" and supporting small farmer agricultural co-ops (coffee, cacao, other) for decades. 

SCOOPS PROCAB (Kpalime, Togo) was founded in 2013, and has been an Equal Exchange partner since 2018. Along with help from Gebana Togo, SCOOPS PROCAB were the "first producers in Togo to grow and export organic cacao;" and through this process the small farmer co-op members have gained access to more markets and greater economic resources.