Nana Joes - Ocean Beach Granola Bar; San Francisco - Oct. 2, 2019

Chocolate(s) of the Day: 

Nana Joes
Ocean Beach Granola Bar - Almond Butter, Coffee and Cocoa Nibs bar
Good - Good +
Weight: 1.5 oz. (43 g.) in total bar
Calories: 190 calories in 1 bar
Cost: $3.99 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Piazza's Fine Foods, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #7 of Chocolate and Cowboy Country Theme Week.

Today's Ocean Beach Granola Bar Almond Butter, Coffee and Cocoa Nibs bar was from Nana Joes (San Francisco, CA).

Today's vegan, Certified Gluten Free, Non-GMO Project Verified granola bar was a light, crunchy and semi-sweet (sweetened only with maple syrup)—with subtle hints coffee (Organic decaf Equator coffee) and cacao (nibs). Almond butter helped hold these ingredients together and contributed a faint nutty note.

Ocean Beach is a long stretch of beach, where San Francisco meets the Pacific Ocean. It's truly inspirational and ruggedly beautiful, at sunset or anytime you want to feel sand between your feet and smell fresh sea air. Is San Francisco really cowboy country you may be asking? The short answer is yes.

Cowboys in San Francisco?
Ocean Beach alone has an interesting cowboy-related history. In 1769, the first Spanish explorers (with the Portola expedition) likely set foot on Ocean Beach with their horses. The Spanish soon established early ranches (ranchos) with cattle and horses in what is now California; and Spanish vaqueros (cowboys) contributed heavily to present day cowboy culture.

In 1902 Bill Cody (Buffalo Bill) lined up with his entire Wild West ensemble on horseback at Ocean Beach (with the original Cliff House in the distance on the right).

Today, Mar Vista Stables in Daly City, CA, still rents horses to riders who wish to ride near/on Ocean Beach and to exercise their inner cowboy and connect with nature. Inland a ways you'll find live bison and horses in Golden Gate Park. Traces of the old west live on.

Downtown San Francisco seems an unlikely setting for cowboys. But, a short stroll down Valencia Street in The Mission District, changed my mind. I spoke to a woman with a cowboy hat on who was getting ready to relocate to Bali. Then I saw the West of Pecos restaurant (complete with a set of swinging saloon doors), with a menu that included chocolate mousse with chipotle for dessert.

I thought this was a fluke, but then I saw two men with cowboy hats talking across the street where I was waiting to get into a movie at The Roxie theater ("Setting the Bar" about chocolate makers working with cacao farmers in South America).

And still more cowboy chocolates we missed...

Fondue Cowboy - Chocolate Fondue 
Unfortunately, I found out about Fondue Cowboy (in the SOMA district of San Francisco, CA) after it was too late to visit. In the future, I hope to try their "Happy Trails" Dark Chocolate Fondue with Cayenne.

Cowboy Toffee - Rose Toffee 
As we say goodbye to this cowboy country themed week today, I couldn't resist highlighting this special Texas Rose Dark Chocolate Toffee from Cowboy Toffee Co. (Ranger, Texas) (pictured at right).

Decorated with rose petals and sprinkled with bee pollen, this is one beautiful toffee. It's a shame I didn't discover this in time to feature this week. Definitely will seek this out next Cowboy or Cowgirl themed week. We should probably do a whole week on chocolate + cowboy/cowgirl theme + Texas.

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Kindred Cooks Bacon Caramel; Cowboy Toffees - Dec. 28, 2015

Chocolate(s) of the Day:

Kindred Cooks
Bacon Caramel
Sea Salt with Chocolate, other
Good - Good+
Weight: .25 oz. (7 g.) (estimate) in 1 piece
Calories: 30 calories (estimate) in 1 piece
Cost: $N/A - sample
Purchased from: Kindred Cooks, Campbell, CA

Welcome to Day #7 of Chocolate, Smoke and Fire Theme Week.

The first of two groups of chocolate sweets today included bacon and chocolate caramels from Kindred Cooks (Campbell, CA).

Kindred Cooks makes small, bite-sized, individually-wrapped pieces of flavored caramels, including today's Bacon Chocolate, Sea Salt with Chocolate, Vanilla Chai, and Marshmallow with Chocolate. (The last three flavors were part of a Caramel Sampler package.) The Vanilla Chai contained no chocolate, but the flavors were great.

These caramels were light and slightly chewy but (as promised) they didn't stick to my teeth.


Cowboy Toffee Co.
Chuckwagon Coffee Toffee - Good ++
Weight: .25 oz. (7 g.) (estimate) in 2 small pieces
Calories: 32 calories (estimate) in 2 small pieces
Cost: $N/A - sample pieces
Purchased from: N/A - Cowboy Toffee table at Fall Chocolate Salon 2015

Today I also sampled toffees from Cowboy Toffee Co. (Oakdale, CA).

The company's Chuckwagon Coffee Toffee was coated with milk chocolate and encrusted with bits of flavorful, alder wood roasted (ground) coffee, and hickory smoked sea salt.

In the 1800s, in the Western U.S., chuckwagons provided food for hired cattle hands. Cowboy Toffee's Coffee Toffee pays homage to that legacy with this quote:

"Chuckwagon food typically included easy-to-preserve items like beans and smoked meats, sugar, coffee, and sourdough biscuits. All of these items were cooked over a camp fire and smoke infused."

I also sampled Cowboy Toffee Co.'s Bushwacker* Toffee (the larger piece of the two pictured here), which I hope to feature in the future. The company's Bushwacker Toffee contained a blend of cowboy-inspired flavors. English toffee was combined with bits of sage, semi-sweet chocolate, roasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds), and pumpkin pie spice.

*Bushwacker was a champion bucking bull, from Oakdale, CA.

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Fall Chocolate Salon - San Francisco - Nov. 15, 2015

Fall Chocolate Salon 2015 - San Francisco, CA
Sun., Nov. 15, 2015

This year's Fall (6th annual San Francisco) Chocolate Salon was held at a new venue—the General's Residence, in Fort Mason, San Francisco, CA.

This historic building provided an attractive, multi-room space for chocolate makers, chocolatiers, craft spirits makers, perfumers, vintners and others to display their offerings. (And the views of Aquatic Park, Alcatraz and San Francisco Bay weren't bad either.)

Amano Artisan Chocolate (Orem, UT) was displaying new packaging (and larger bars). I enjoyed discussing single origin bars and new bars with flavor inclusions with founder Art Pollard's two sons.

There were plenty of great Bay Area chocolatiers there. I picked up some velvety Pumpkin Spice Truffles and very tasty Nib Brittle from Neo Cocoa (San Francisco, CA); truffles from CocoTutti; tiny individually wrapped caramels from Kindred Cooks (Campbell, CA); creamy, flavorful chocolates from Alexander's Patisserie (Mountain View, CA); and artful pieces with layered flavors from flying noir (Oakland, CA).

While in search of some smoky and umami flavors, I picked up a bottle of great, complex Bourbon (made from corn and rye) from Raff Distillerie (Treasure Island, San Francisco). What a great aroma; and I'm looking forward to sampling it with chocolates. I also enjoyed the spirits (a crisp Gin with citrus notes; a well-rounded Rhum Agricole; and an Absinthe with French roots) from Sonoma County Distilling Co. (Rohnert Park, CA).

I enjoyed saying hello to Alter Eco (San Francisco, CA) and The Tea Room Chocolate and Tea Co. (San Leandro, CA).

And, after nine years of eating different chocolates, I still love meeting new creative people who are making chocolates. New chocolate conversations this year were had with Firefly Chocolate (Windsor, CA); Endorfin Foods (Oakland, CA); Starchild Chocolate (Willets, CA); Fera'wyn's Artisan Chocolates; and Cowboy Toffee Co. (Oakdale, CA).