Cacao Sampaka - Chocolate Negro Pipa De Calabaza (bar) - Sept. 9, 2024

Chocolate of the Day

Cacao Sampaka 
Chocolate Negro Pipa De Calabaza
(Dark Chocolate Pumpkin Seeds)
Good ++ 
Weight: 1 oz. (28 g.) / 2.65 oz. (75 g.) in total bar
Calories: 160 calories in 1 oz. serving
Cost: $8.99 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Caputo's, online order

Welcome to Day #6 of Chocolate and Seeds* Theme Week. This week includes chocolates with seeds--as well as seeds that we call beans or nuts.

Today's Dark Chocolate Pumpkin Seeds (bar) from Cacao Sampaka S.L. (Barcelona, Spain), and was imported into the U.S. by Forever Cheese.

The attractive outer packaging was adorned with a close-up image of colorful tiles from Barcelona.

Aroma notes included: dark chocolate, sweet seeds and vanilla.

Flavor notes included: smooth dark chocolate and satisfying crunchy whole pumpkin seeds--with authentic, fresh and relatively mild seed flavor.

I appreciated that the 43% dark chocolate used to make this bar was balanced and not too sweet. It was smooth and dark; and it tasted more like a higher percentage 55%* dark chocolate. It wasn't too bland or sugary. 

I found myself wanting to add a tiny pinch of salt; as I often do with a la carte seeds and nuts. (But, I resisted.) I taste chocolates first without any additions or pairings, to honor the choices of chocolate makers, and to prevent adding something I'll regret or that may obfuscate flavors.

Ingredients: "Sugar, cocoa mass, pumpkin seeds (14.6%), cocoa butter, emulsifier (soya lecithin), natural vanilla flavor. Cocoa 43% minimum"

Allergen-related information: "Our products may contain traces of nuts, peanuts, lactose, milk and sesame."

*Percentages can serve as guidelines when buying chocolates. But, it's not my top metric when it comes to flavor and preference. If you taste a lineup of 70% dark chocolates from different makers and origins, and made with different cacao varieties, some will taste lighter, and others darker, than their advertised percentages.

Scharffen Berger - "Breaks" Salted Almond Bark - Oat Milk Chocolate with Coconut Sugar - Feb. 20, 2024

Chocolate of the Day

Scharffen Berger 
"Breaks" Salted Almond Bark - 43% Cacao Oat Milk Chocolate with Coconut Sugar
Good ++
Weight: 1.2 oz. (34 g.) / 4.5 oz. (128 g.) in total package
Calories: 180 calories in 4-piece serving
Cost: $5.99 for 1 package
Purchased from: The Market at Edgewood, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #7 of Chocolate and Salt Theme Week, and Day #1 of Chocolate and Almond Theme Week.

Today's "Breaks" Salted Almond Bark, made with 43% Cacao Oat Milk Chocolate and Coconut Sugar, was manufactured by Scharffen Berger* Chocolate Maker (Ashland, OR). This was one of 4 flavors in the company's Breaks oat milk chocolate product family.* 

Aroma and flavor notes included: dark chocolate, coconut/brown sugar, and very faint (barely detectable) sweet oatmeal with nuts (almonds). 

The generous field of tiny, crunchy bits of almond harmonized well with the 43% cacao dark oat milk chocolate in these bark pieces. The choice of coconut sugar (and very faint vanilla) added some pleasant warmth and flavor depth (memories of sprinkling brown sugar on hot oatmeal). The salt was subtle, and helped balance the sweetness.

Ingredients: Cacao Beans, Oat Powder (Oat Flour), Coconut Sugar, Almonds, Cocoa Butter, Sea Salt, Sunflower Lecithin, Vanilla Bean.

Allergen-related information: "Contains Almonds, Coconut." "Processed in a Facility That Processes Tree Nuts and Dairy."

*The three other Scharffen Berger 43% cacao oat milk "Breaks" flavors include: Gluten Free Pretzel Bark (featured previously), Salted Sunflower Seed Bark and Coconut and Quinoa Bark.

Lake Champlain Chocolates - Cinnamon Plant-based oat milk truffle bar - Dec. 29, 2023

Chocolate of the Day

Lake Champlain Chocolates
Cinnamon - Plant-based oat milk truffle bar
Good + - Good ++
Weight: 1.2 oz. (34 g.) in total package of 2 bars
Calories: 170 calories in 1 package of 2 bars
Cost: $3.00 for 1 package of 2 bars
Purchased from: Lake Champlain, online order

Welcome to Day #7 of Chocolate Truffle Bars Week.

Today's Cinnamon Plant-based oat milk truffle bar was from Lake Champlain Chocolates (Burlington, VT). This plant-based chocolate was made with oat milk and 43% cocoa.

Aroma notes included: chocolate, oats (oat milk, oat straw) and cinnamon.

Texture: the softer, truffle ganache-style filling was surrounded by a firmer chocolate shell. 

Flavor notes included: sweet milk-like chocolate, grain/grass (oat, very faint rice), spices (mostly cinnamon) and very faint vanilla.

This sweet chocolate evoked an image of a childhood breakfast of sweet hot chocolate with sweetened, cinnamon oatmeal. It was a bit too sweet for me, but it might be great for those with a sweet tooth. 

Ingredients: "Chocolate (Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Dried Gluten-Free Oat Powder, Chocolate Liquor, Dried Rice Powder, Sunflower Lecithin, and Vanilla Extract), *Coconut Cream (*Coconut and Water), *Rice Syrup, *Cinnamon, *Vanilla Extract, Sea Salt, *Nutmeg, and *Natural Flavor."

Allergen-related information: Contains Tree Nuts (Coconut). May Contain Traces of Milk, Other Tree Nuts, Peanuts, Soybean, and Wheat. (No palm oil.)

Lake Champlain Chocolates - moka fleck (bar) - Nov. 12, 2019

Chocolate of the Day: 

Lake Champlain Chocolates
moka fleck (bar)
Good - Good +
Weight: 1 oz. (28.3 g.) / 3 oz. (85 g.) in total bar
Calories: 162 calories in 1/3 bar
Cost: $4.99 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Country Sun Natural Foods, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #6 of Chocolate and Nibs Theme Week.

Today's moka fleck (bar) was from Lake Champlain Chocolates (Burlington, VT). The company, founded in 1983, has been turning out a variety of milk and dark chocolate bars and confections with a variety of flavor inclusions for many years.

The bar was described as "dark-milk chocolate with a jolt of Dominican coffee and cacao nibs" and contained 43% cocoa (solids).

This 43% cocoa milk chocolate bar was sweet, but the included the roasted cacao nibs helped tone down the sugar glow a bit, which dark chocolate fans will appreciate.

This chocolate had smooth, quite sweet mocha latte aroma and flavor, interspersed with "crunchy flecks of house-roasted cocoa nib."*

*I've included Lake Champlain Chocolates' product descriptions (in quotes) in today's write-up because I found them to be accurate, without a lot of marketing fluff. And what I would've written sounded a bit redundant. 

The only language I might change would be the word "jolt" (of Dominican coffee and nibs). I found these flavor elements to be smooth and in-balance. (Milk powder helps mellow the stronger flavors a bit.) But, if you're looking for wake up candy, this chocolate does contain sugar, caffeine (coffee + cacao) and theobromine (the stimulant in cacao).