Cadbury - Original Chocolate Fish chocolate bar - Sept. 1, 2024

Chocolate of the Day

Cadbury 
Original Chocolate Fish chocolate bar
Good+
Weight: .7 oz. (20 g.) in total bar
Calories: 78.4 calories in 1 bar
Cost: $17.40 + shipping for 1 box of 6 bars
Purchased from: (AshRoseHampers, Etsy store, online order)

Welcome to Day #8 of Chocolate and The Sea Theme Week, including craft chocolate bars, a few sea-related novelty chocolates, and this Chocolate Fish candy bar,

This "Original Chocolate Fish" (chocolate covered marshmallow fish) "As Kiwi as..." from Cadbury was "Made In Australia From Imported And Local Ingredients."

Aroma notes included: chocolate and spun sugar.

The highlight of this fish-shaped candy bar may have been the texture of its light, spongy pink (strawberry) marshmallow center that was covered by a thin layer of smooth dark chocolate. (Happily it was 43% cacao dark chocolate, a higher cacao percentage than in many candy bars.)

Flavor notes included: sweet marshmallow (think a light, creamy, sponge-y version of cotton candy or spun sugar) and dark chocolate. Yes, it was very sugary sweet.

I'm featuring this sea-related chocolate fish because I'll be teaching families about fish and birds today at a marsh nature center, and to honor an Australian colleague (who does a great job teaching children to net fish). 

Note: for those interested, supplies of this bar may be limited, as I've read that Cadbury may be discontinuing their 20-gram version of a candy bar classic*. (Although "smaller 'sprat' versions may still be available.)

Ingredients: Sugar, Glucose Syrup, Cocoa Mass, Invert Sugar, Gelatine, Cocoa Butter, Milk Solids, Emulsifiers (Soy Lecithin, E476), Colour (E120), Flavours, Cornstarch. (Dark Chocolate Contains Cocoa Solids 43%)

Allergen-related information: "Contains Milk, Soy. May Contain Peanuts, Tree Nuts."

*Fish-shaped chocolates have been around for well over a century. The first chocolate fish I was able to find information about was produced in 1903. Later versions with marshmallow filling appeared in Scotland in the 1930s. While there are schools of other chocolate fish in the chocolate sea, Cadbury's Chocolate Fish is perhaps the most well-known in this century.

Kasama Chocolate - "Forest & Sea" - Special Release 65% Dark Chocolate with Rosemary and Sea Salt (bar) - Aug. 31, 2024

Chocolate of the Day

Kasama Chocolate
Forest & Sea - Special Release 65% Dark Chocolate with Rosemary and Sea Salt (bar)
Good +++
Weight: .97 oz. (27.5 g.) / 1.94 oz. (55 g.) in total bar
Calories: 160.5 calories in 1/2 bar 
Cost: $14.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Chocolate Covered, San Francisco, CA

Greetings, and welcome to Day #7 of Chocolate and The Sea Theme Week.

Today's "Forest & Sea" - Special Release (Batch 14) 65% Dark Chocolate with Rosemary and Sea Salt (bar) was from Kasama Chocolate (Vancouver, BC, Canada). 

This bean-to-bar maker offers a variety of single origin chocolates (many made with cacao from the Philippines); some have flavor inclusions/infusions.

I was excited to experience this chocolate that was inspired by forests and the sea--two of my favorite places to be.

Aroma notes included: dark chocolate and sweet herbal, clean piney forest (rosemary).

Texture: I could barely feel the tiny bits of rosemary sea salt in the smooth dark chocolate; but I could taste them.

Flavor notes included: smooth, flavorful dark chocolate, redolent rosemary, and satisfying crystalline flecks of sea salt. This bar also had a wonderful, subtle long finish, with diminishing fresh, fragrant rosemary. That attenuation allowed space for some faint, fleeting, fruit/floral to come to the fore.

The sugar and salt levels felt just right. 

I really enjoyed this outdoors-inspired blend. I live near pine trees and palm trees, near the brackish San Francisco Bay and Pacific Ocean, and grow heaps of rosemary in my yard. So this well-executed Forest & Sea chocolate bar made me feel deeply at home.

Ingredients: Cacao Beans, Unrefined Cane Sugar*, Cacao Butter*, Rosemary*, Sea Salt (* = Organic)

Allergen-related information: "Made in a facility that contains nuts."