Emerald City Foods - Hot Salted Sriracha Chocolate - 70% Dark Chocolate (bar) - Feb. 1, 2025

Chocolate of the Day

Huy Fong Foods, Inc.
(Owned and distributed by Emerald City Foods)
Hot Salted Sriracha Chocolate - 70% Dark Chocolate (bar)
Good ++
Weight: 1 oz. (28 g.) / 2.5 oz. (71 g.) in total bar
Calories: 149 calories in 1 oz. of bar (1 serving)
Cost: $5.29 for 1 bar
Purchased from: The Market at Edgewood, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #4 of Unique Chocolates Week.

Today's Hot Salted Sriracha Chocolate - 70% Dark Chocolate (bar) was owned and distributed by Emerald City Foods (Seattle, WA).

Aroma and flavor notes for this sriracha and sea salt bar included dark chocolate (deep cocoa), faint umami, salt, and subtle spicy heat; vanilla; and very faint, balanced sauce-y vinegar/sriracha sauce.

The bar broke with a well-tempered snap, and the texture was smooth and relatively creamy.

Surprisingly, these flavors harmonized fairly well together. (Although I usually prefer darker chocolates, I I enjoyed the 55% cacao version of this bar (from the same company, tasted a few months ago) a little better than today's 70% version. (The sriracha and salt was easier to taste in the 55% version.) But, I enjoyed tasting both.

Ingredients: Dark Chocolate (Cocoa Liquor, Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Soy Lecithin, Vanilla Extract), Himalayan Sea Salt, Sriracha Seasoning: Maltrin, Sugar, Salt, Garlic, Tocopherols, Paprika Oil (for color), Sriracha Powder (Sriracha Sauce, Sodium Alginate, Carrageenan, Cellulose Gum, Silicon Dioxide, Sunflower Lecithin), Capsicum Oleoresin, Yeast Extract, Vinegar, Citric Acid"

Allergen-related information: "Contains Soy, Sulfites...This product is manufactured at a plant that processes milk, soy, tree nuts and peanuts."

Sirene Chocolate Makers - Limited Edition No Sugar Milk 60% Dark Milk (bar)

Chocolate of the Day 

Sirene Chocolate
Limited Edition - No Sugar Milk 60% Dark Milk (bar)
Good ++
Weight: 1.23 oz. (35 g.) / 2.47 oz. (70 g.) in total bar
Calories: 191 calories in (estimate) 1/2 bar
Cost: $11.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Chocolate Covered, San Francisco, CA 

Welcome to Day #3 of Unique Chocolates Theme Week.

Today's Limited Edition - No Sugar Milk 60% Dark Milk (bar) was from Sirene Chocolate (Victoria, B.C., Canada).

Why was this bar unique? It contained no added sugar, and yet it was (to my taste) sweet. It was a great opportunity to taste how sweet a dark milk chocolate can be--without added sugar(s). Surprisingly, this was only the third bar I've tried in 18 years like this.

I enjoyed the creamy texture, milk chocolate mouthfeel and melt, the authentic sweetness supplied by the milk and the very slight bitterness toward the finish. The milk mellowed any bitterness (or absence of sugar).

The claims of "no sugar" or "sugar free" chocolates in the past meant artificial sweeteners or some other sweetener sleight of hand. However, today's two-ingredient bar, let us know that the milk (lactose) alone can do the job. I hope I'm able to try more chocolates like this in the future.

Ingredients: "cacao beans, whole milk powder"

Allergen-related information: Contains Milk. "Made In A Nut Free Facility, Soy Free, Gluten Free"