TCHO - Dirty Chai with Cashew Oat Milk & Espresso (bar) - Dec. 15, 2024

Chocolate of the Day

TCHO
46% Cacao Dirty Chai with Cashew Oat Milk & Espresso (bar)
Good ++
Weight: .83 oz. (23 oz.)/ 2.5 oz. (70 g.) in total bar
Calories: 120 calories in 1/3 bar
Cost: $5.49 for 1 bar 
Purchased from: The Market at Edgewood, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #4 of Chocolate and Chai Theme Week.

Today's 46% Cacao Dirty Chai with Cashew Oat Milk & Espresso (bar) was from TCHO Ventures Inc. (Berkeley, CA) in collaboration with Equator Coffees 

Aroma notes in this package of three, individually-wrapped bars included: chocolate; chai spices + vanilla; and coffee latte.

Texture: very creamy and buttery with a very, very faint and fleeting astringency/powdery mouthfeel 2/3 way through.

Flavor notes for this small batch collaboration bar included: chocolate; nuts; warm, spiced coffee latte; and faint vanilla and caramel.

I liked the maker's choice of a relatively short list of Organic ingredients (44% fair trade).

Ingredients: Cacao Beans**, Cocoa Butter**, Coconut Sugar*; Gluten Free Oat Flour* (Oat Flour*, Natural Vitamin E, Cashew Butter*, Cane Sugar*, Coffee Beans**, Masala Chai* (Basil Leaf*, Assam Tea*, Cardamom*, Cinnamon*, Ginger*, Cloves*, Black Pepper*), Sea Salt, Sunflower Lecithin*, Vanilla Beans* (* = Organic; ** = Organic and Fair Trade Certified). 

Allergen-related information: Contained Coconut, Cashew. "May contain other tree nuts." "Certified Kosher Pareve by Earth Kosher."

Hu - Chocolate-Covered Hunks Sour Goldenberries & Cashew Butter + Vanilla Bean 70% Chocolates - Jan. 23, 2023

Chocolate of the Day

Hu Products LLC
Chocolate-Covered Hunks Sour Goldenberries
Good +
Weight: .5 oz. (14.1 g.) / 4 oz. (113 g.) in total package
Calories: 65 calories in 1/2 (oz.) serving
Cost: $7.49 (estimated discounted/sale price) for 1 package 
Purchased from: Molly Stone's Markets, Palo Alto, CA

Hu Products LLC
Cashew Butter + Pure Vanilla Bean 70% Cacao (bar)
Good +
Weight: 1.05 oz. (30 g.) / 2.1 oz. (60 g.) in total bar
Calories: 190 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $4.19 total bar
Purchased from: Country Sun Natural Foods, Palo Alto, CA 

Welcome to Day #11 of Chocolate, Berries and Vanilla Theme Week.

Today's Chocolate-Covered Hunks Sour Goldenberries and Cashew Butter + Pure Vanilla Bean (bar) were distributed by Hu Products LLC (Austin, TX).

The company offers a variety of chocolate bars and confections, made with short lists of high-quality ingredients. Their products are as notable for what they don't contain (additives, allergens, refined sugar, dairy, gluten, lecithins, etc.) as what they do contain. 

Chocolate Covered Hunks Sour Goldenberries

These flavorful berry-related chocolate "hunks" (rounded pieces) were made with only four (organic) ingredients, considerably fewer than most chocolate-covered fruits or nuts.

Aroma notes for this included: dark chocolate, cookie (chocolate cookie, Fig Newton*), and sweet and sour fruit (tart orange). 

The 70% dark chocolate exterior quickly dissolved into a chewy, tart, concentrated goldenberry flavor--a tartness that lingered into the finish. 

Goldenberries (Physalis peruviana) hail from South America and look a bit like yellow cherry tomatoes inside a pale-greenish, lantern-like husk. They are occasionally seen in grocery stores here in California. 

Those who like naturally sweet and sour flavors will enjoy this pop of authentic, concentrated yellow berry flavor that tastes like a cross between a golden raisin and a dried sweet cherry tomato.*

Ingredients: Organic goldenberries; Organic, Fairtrade cacao; Organic unrefined coconut sugar; Organic, Fairtrade cocoa butter.

Allergen-related information: "Contains coconut. May contain milk, peanuts, other tree nuts (almond, cashew, hazelnut, macadamia, pecan, pistachio, walnuts). Allergen cleans are made prior to production, but beware that product is produced using equipment that also processes tree nuts, soy, peanuts, milk and wheat."

*Also known as Inca berries, Peruvian ground cherries, poha berries and cape gooseberries, goldenberries are (like tomatoes) members of the nightshade family.

Cashew Butter + Pure Vanilla Bean (bar)

Hu's Organic 70% Cacao Dark Chocolate bar filled with cashew butter and vanilla bean seemed like a good companion chocolate for the company's dark chocolate covered goldenberries.

Aroma and flavor notes included dark chocolate and baked cookie (cashew + vanilla shortbread). The chocolate was relatively bold (very slightly earthy), yet smooth. 

The cashew butter filling added appealing, mild nutty flavor. And the vanilla bean contributed upbeat floral-spice warmth that one gets when catching a whiff of fresh baked cookies.

Altogether the 70% organic bar offered a healthy and authentic tasting trio of flavors, and complemented the tartness of its 70% organic chocolate-covered goldenberries sibling.

Ingredients: Organic, Fairtrade cacao; Organic, unrefined coconut sugar; Organic, Fairtrade cashew butter; Organic, Fairtrade vanilla bean; sea salt.

Allergen-related information: "Contains cashew and coconut. May contain almond, cashew, hazelnut, pistachio and dairy."

 

Bear Naked - Cacao and Cashew Granola - Feb. 22, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Bear Naked Granola, Inc.
Cacao and Cashew Butter Granola with fair trade chocolate
Good + - Good ++
Weight: 1.9 oz. (54 g.) / 11 oz. (311 g.) in total package
Calories: 250 calories in 1/2 cup serving
Cost: $3.78 for 1 package
Purchased from: Walmart, Mountain View, CA (see receipt for price)

Welcome to Day #7 of Chocolate and EFGHI Theme Week, where I'm featuring chocolates that include flavors, or foods that contain chocolate, that begin with the letters E, F, G, H and/or I. 

Today's Cacao and Cashew Butter Granola with pepitas, sea salt and fair trade chocolate was "distributed for" Bear Naked Granola, Inc. (Solana Beach, CA).

There are now many packaged granola cereals that contain bits of chocolate or cocoa. Some of these are so sweet, they taste like broken oat chocolate chip cookie pieces. Others hew closer to the 1960s take on European oat cereals (muesli + brown sugar, etc. with chocolate chunks).  And a delightful few, like today's granola, add a few new elements to arrive at something new and improved.

Today's Cocoa and Cashew granola had a traditional pleasing oat-y aroma and flavor. It also had just the right amount of crunchiness, enhanced by rice crisps. Pepitas (pumpkin seed kernels) added nutritional content (protein, vitamins and minerals), natural color and a soft crunchy chew. The cashew butter and cashew bits added a satisfying, light nutty flavor. And a faint hint of ginger added some warm spice.

And last, but not least, fair trade and semi-sweet chocolate pieces provided rich hints of dark chocolate flavor.

The added sugars were balanced by almost all the other ingredients, oats, rice, semi-sweet "dark" chocolate pieces, nuts, seeds and a touch of sea salt. The resulting sweetness level seemed just right.

I enjoyed this granola three different ways: by itself, with just a little water, and with a little  Genius Mocha Coconut beverage (instead of milk). 

Ingredients: Whole grain oats, semi-sweet chocolate (cane sugar, chocolate, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, vanilla extract), invert cane syrup, rice crisps (rice flour, cane sugar, salt), cashew butter, expeller pressed sunflower oil, cashews, pepitas, whole oat flour, brown rice syrup, cane sugar, sea salt, ginger, rosemary extract for freshness.

Skratch Labs - Skratch Anytime Energy Bar - June 28, 2019

Chocolate of the Day: 

Skratch Labs
Skratch Anytime Energy Bar
Good - Good +
Weight: 1.76 oz. (50 g.) in total bar
Calories: 200 calories in 1 bar
Cost: $2.95 for 1 bar
Purchased from: REI, Mountain View, CA

Welcome to Day #9 of Chocolate and Cashew Theme Week, and Day #4 of Peru Superfoods Theme Week.

Today's Skratch Anytime Energy Bar with chocolate chips and almonds was from Skratch Labs (Boulder, CO).

This chewy nut and fruit energy bar contained a nut and seed butter blend (cashew butter and tahini (sesame seeds, salt)), chocolate chips and almonds. Dried cranberries added some sweet-tart concentrated fruit flavor.

And, oats, quinoa crisps and sorghum flakes gave the bar some heft and soft crunchy texture.

Quinoa
Quinoa (pronounced keen-whah), a flowering plant related to spinach with edible starchy seeds grows in the the high plains of the Andes, and has become a popular export crop in Peru.

This pseudo-cereal was enjoyed by the Incas and peoples of Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador for thousands of years before it became popular in other countries. Some peoples in northern South America who may have been consuming cacao as a beverage may have also been enjoying quinoa seeds as well.

Regardless of what you may think of the term superfood, quinoa is higher in protein and vitamins and minerals than some true grains. It's been a welcome alternative to wheat and other gluten-containing grains for vegetarians and people with gluten sensitivities and allergies. And it's found its way into chocolate bars too.

Fine and Raw Chocolate - Cashew Butter 54% bar - June 25, 2019

Chocolate of the Day:

Fine and Raw Chocolate
Cashew Butter 54% bar
Good +
Weight: 1 oz. (28 g.) / 2 oz. (56 g.) in total bar
Calories: 140 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $11.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Chocolate Covered, San Francisco, CA

Welcome to Day #6 of Chocolate and Cashews Theme Week, and Day #1 of Chocolate and Peruvian Superfoods* Theme Week—featuring chocolates that contain two or more of the following items: cacao, maca, lucuma, camu-camu and/or quinoa.

These items generally arrive in North America (and likely Europe and Asia as well) in powdered or partially processed form, and we rarely see the original source vegetable, fruit, nut, seed or plant associated with their respective claimed health benefits. Nonetheless it is interesting to try these exotic plants and botanicals that co-evolved with cacao trees in Central and South America.

Today's Cashew Butter 54% bar was handmade, from bean-to-bar, by Fine and Raw Chocolate / Fine and Raw LLC (Brooklyn, NY), and contained cacao and lucuma. The base chocolate was relatively mild (often the case with unroasted/raw cacao).

Lucuma is a round fruit with green skin and golden flesh that imparts a multi-layered sweet flavor. (Some liken it to a cross between an avocado and a mango, with mild sweet potato, caramel and maple flavor notes.) Like cacao fruit**, it starts to ferment quickly after harvesting, making it difficult to ship to other parts of the world.

This raw, gluten free, and Kosher chocolate was smooth, and had a relatively creamy melt and texture due to organic cashews (butter) and added cacao butter that were both fully blended with the cacao.

It was sweetened with organic coconut sugar and lucuma and was not too sweet, especially unusual for a lower % cacao bar (thank you!). The lucuma did in fact add subtle aroma and flavor notes mentioned above (sweet potato, caramel, maple). Ground vanilla bean added a light, sunny, upbeat floral note.

Ingredients: organic cacao bean(s), organic coconut sugar, organic cashew nut, organic cacao butter, organic ground lucuma, organic whole ground vanilla

*While I inherently dislike the term Superfoods, and believe it is overused, it is difficult to come up with another term that summarizes this category.

**Cacao fruit/pulp is quite delicious but, unless you live in Hawaii, or perhaps south Florida, the odds are if you live in the U.S. or Canada that you've only tasted it in its refreshing, ivory-colored, frozen pulp form that tastes nothing like chocolate.

Justin's - Dark Chocolate Cashew Butter Cups - June 22, 2019

Chocolate of the Day: 

Justin's LLC
Organic 2 Dark Chocolate Cashew Butter Cups
Good ++
Weight: 1.4 oz. (40 g.) in 1 package of 2 cups
Calories: 230 calories in 2 cups
Cost: $0.99 for 1 package of 2 cups
Purchased from: Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #3 of Chocolate and Cashews Theme Week.

Today's package of 2 Organic Dark Chocolate Cashew Butter Cups was distributed by Justin's LLC (Boulder, CO).

The company, founded by Justin Gold,  got its start with jars of natural nut butters sold at the Boulder Farmers Market, and eventually grew to incorporate chocolate as well.

Justin's organic, versions of chocolate covered nut butter cups have been a delicious and welcome addition for those wanting a healthier version of this tried and true confection. Today's dark chocolate cashew butter filled cups were no exception.

Aloha - Chocolate Fudge Brownie bar - Aug. 8, 2018

Chocolate of the Day: 

Aloha

Chocolate Fudge Brownie Organic Protein Bar

Good 

Weight: 1 oz. (28.3 g.) / 1.9 oz. (56 g.) in 1 bar

Calories: 117 calories in 1/2 bar

Cost: $2.99 for 1 bar

Purchased from: Cunha's Country Store, Half Moon Bay, CA

Welcome to Day #2 of Chocolate Brownie Theme Week.

Today's Chocolate Fudge Brownie Organic Protein Bar was made for Aloha (New York, NY).

The plant-based bar's protein was primarily derived from a pumpkin seed and brown rice protein blend and cashew butter.  

This organic protein bar's slightly chewy fudge brownie texture and flavor was almost enough to conceal a faint protein bar flavor.

Base Culture - Almond Butter Brownie - July 2, 2018

Chocolate of the Day: 

Base Culture, LLC

Almond Butter Brownie

Good+++

Weight: 2.2 oz. (62 g.) in 1 package/brownie

Calories: 280 calories in 1 brownie

Cost: $2.19 for 1 package/brownie

Purchased from: Country Sun Natural Foods, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #2 of Chocolate and Honey Theme Week.

This Almond Butter Brownie was created by Base Culture, LLC (Clearwater, FL). And this brownie's number one ingredient was honey.* 

The lovely thing about dense, moist chocolate brownies is that so many gluten-free versions taste great. Today's brownie was very tasty, and was made with the aforementioned honey, cashew butter, coconut oil, unsweetened chocolate, almond butter, cocoa powder, coconut flour, water, baking soda, cream of tartar, sea salt.

While this brownie may not work for those with nut allergies, this paleo-style individually-wrapped brownie was "grain free, gluten free, paleo, Non-GMO, kosher, dairy free, soy free, and preservative free."