Wild West Chocolate - Most Wanted Almond & Sea Salt 70% Cacao Dark Chocolate (bar)

Chocolate of the Day

Wild West Chocolate
Most Wanted Almond & Sea Salt 70% Cacao Dark Chocolate (bar)
Good ++
Weight: 1.55 oz. (44 g.) / 2.3 oz. (65.2 g.) in total bar

Calories: 260 calories for 2/3 bar

Cost: $21.25 for 3 dark chocolate bars (approx. $7.08 each)
Purchased from: Wild West Chocolate, online order

Welcome to Day #3 of Wild West Theme Week, featuring chocolates with tie-ins to cowboys, outlaws, bears and other wildlife in the Great Outdoors.

Today's Most Wanted Almond & Sea Salt 70% Cacao Dark Chocolate (bar) was distributed by Wild West Chocolate, LLC (Missoula, MT).

Aroma and flavor notes for this bar included: slightly malty, roasted almonds, balanced, smooth dark chocolate; vanilla; and faint salt.

Texture: creamy texture and melt with tiny, crunchy almond bits

I liked that this bar wasn't too sweet. The fruit blend (date, mulberry, peach and mango) that the company uses (instead of cane sugar) gave the sweetness a more subtle, authentic and slightly layered flavor--compatible with naturally occurring fruit notes you might find in some cacaos.

And I appreciated the use of Regenerative Organic Certified* cocoa and Fair Trade ingredients.

Ingredients: Organic Dark Chocolate (Organic Fruit Blend [Powdered Date++, Powdered Mulberry+, Powdered Peach+, Powdered Mango+], Cocoa Liquor++, Cocoa Butter++, Vanilla Extract+), Roasted Almonds+, Sea Salt. (+ = Organic; ++ = Regenerative Organic Certified; Cocoa Liquor and Cocoa Butter: Fair Trade Certified 55% of product.) 

Allergen-related information: Contains Almonds. "Manufactured on equipment that processes tree nuts, peanuts, milk, wheat and soy."

* USDA Organic certification focuses on how food is grown, and prohibits synthetic pesticides, fertilizer and GMOs. Regenerative Organic Certified (ROC) starts with organic certification as a minimum required baseline and adds  requirements around soil health, animal welfare, and social fairness for farmworkers.