Preston's Candy By Javier - Black Sesame & Pinenut Dark Chocolate (bar) - Jan. 29, 2025

Chocolate of the Day

Preston's Candy By Javier
Black Sesame & Pinenut All Natural Dark Chocolate (bar)
Good + - Good ++
Weight: 1.16 oz. (33 g.) / 3.5 oz. (100 g.) in total bar
Calories: 170 calories in 1/3 bar
Cost: $6.99 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Sigona's Market, Stanford Shopping Center, Palo Alto, CA 

Welcome to Day #1 of Unique Chocolates Week, including chocolates with harder to find or unique origins, formulations and flavor inclusions.

Today's Black Sesame & Pinenut All Natural Dark Chocolate (bar) was from Preston's Candy By Javier (Burlingame, CA). This local (San Francisco Bay Area) shop has been selling confections and bars since 1946. 

Aroma and flavor notes included: smooth (well-roasted/tamed) bittersweet dark chocolate, subtle toffee, sesame, and faint vanilla.

This thick dark chocolate was interspersed with generous and very tasty embedded pieces of chewy-crunchy black sesame toffee brittle. I enjoyed the dark sesame brittle quite a bit; and appreciated that the dark chocolate base was not overly sweet (thank you).

Ingredients: 63% Bittersweet chocolate (cacao beans, pure cane sugar, cocoa butter, soya lecithin, vanilla beans), Pine Nuts, Black Sesame Seeds.

Allergen-related information: "Made in a facility that also makes products containing milk, soy, egg, peanuts, tree nuts, and wheat."

Golden Gobi - Chocolate with Seaberry and Milk Chocolate Yurts - Aug. 22, 2023

Chocolate(s) of the Day

Golden Gobi 

Chocolate with Seaberry
Good - Good ++
Weight: .182 oz. (5.16 g.) / 2.19 oz. (62 g.) in total box of 12 pieces
Calories: 49.2 calories (per label) in 1 piece 
Cost: $ N/A - gift from a friend
Purchased from: N/A - gift from a friend

Yurt-shaped milk chocolates
Good +
Weight: .495 oz. (14 g.) / 4.95 oz. (140 g.) in total box of 10 pieces
Calories: 49 calories (per label) in 1 piece
Cost: $ N/A - gift from a friend
Purchased from: N/A - gift from a friend

Welcome to Day #9 of Chocolate and Nuts Theme Week, featuring chocolates with a variety of nuts. 

Today's "Chocolate with Seaberry" and yurt-shaped milk chocolates from Golden Gobi were made in Mongolia. I was able to taste chocolates from one of the more remote regions of the globe, thanks to a friend who recently visited Mongolia and brought these back. Thank you Toni!

I ate today's two milk chocolates with toasted pine nuts, because I'd read that Mongolians are fond of pine nuts. (Pine "nuts" are technically seeds--as are cacao "beans"; but pine nuts are often classified as tree nuts.) 

Chocolate with Seaberry chocolates

This oval-shaped filled sweet milk chocolate confection had aroma notes that included sweet milk chocolate and very faint fruit (citrus, berry). The milk chocolate was relatively creamy and smooth, and the caramel-like (Seabuckthorn flavored with Vitamin C) filling had a tart sweet fruit (citrus) note.

Ingredients: Sugar, milk powder, vegetable fat, cacao (powder, butter), whey powder, skimmed milk powder, Emulsifier: lecithin E322, E476, flavour, vanillin.

Allergen-related information. Contains milk, possibly soy (lecithin)

Yurt-shaped chocolates

I loved the yurt shape of these chocolates--a shout out to traditional steppe dwellings.* The sweet milk chocolate was filled with a very sweet, creamy milk chocolate ganache.

Ingredients: Sugar, Cacao Butter, Full Cream Milk Powder, Cacao Mass, Skimmed Milk Powder, Whey powder, Emulsifier: Lecithin (E322), Natural Bourbon Vanilla.

Allergen-related information: milk, possibly soy (lecithin). May contain traces of other nuts or gluten.

*Yurt-style structures are home to at least half of Mongolia's residents, especially those who live in more rural areas.

Puchero - 50% Mexico Pinon Soconusco (bar) - Apr. 15, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Puchero 
50% Mexico Pinon Soconusco (bar)
Good ++
Weight: 1.235 oz. (35 g.) / 2.47 oz. (70 g.) in total bar
Calories: 223.3 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $11.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

Bienvenidos a (welcome to) Day #9 of Chocolate, Trees and Bees Theme Week. Today's focus is back on the wondrous things that trees give us, including cacao trees (cacao) and pine trees (pine nuts).

Today's 50% Mexico Pinon Soconusco (bar) was crafted from bean-to-bar by the makers at Puchero (Valladolid, Spain). Puchero is focused on producing high-quality, specialty coffee and craft chocolate.

This chocolate had a faint aroma. Pine nuts (aka pinones, pignoli) have a subtle, delicate scent and buttery texture and flavor. The ground pine nuts in this bar softly muted the scents of the cacao. 

The cacao used to create this chocolate ("Criollo, Trinitario") were grown in Soconusco, Mexico. The cacao chosen (more delicate and nuanced than some bolder Forastero cacaos) was also a good match with the pine nuts. The cacao did not eclipse the more subtle nut/seed flavors.

The texture was divine. Today's ground nut/seed fusion (like gianduja/gianduia, a finely ground hazelnut + chocolate blend) had an incredibly smooth and rich melt and mouthfeel. 

I imagined spreading this creamy 67% cacao chocolate on a warm croissant or freshly baked roll with a butter knife. A very judicious pinch of salt added an addictive quality to the chocolate, which was effortlessly consumed in one sitting.

The pine nut bar had a clean taste and finish. (There was no odd semi-metallic flavor or "pine mouth" after eating this pine nut blend, that occasionally occurs with pine nuts from other sources.) 

Puchero chocolate makers--based in Valladolid (the largest city in Castilla y Leon ("land of medieval castles") historic region in northwest Spain)--selected premium pine nuts from the Pinon-sol co-operative in this area of Spain for this chocolate.

Ingredients: cacao, raw pine nut (25%), sugar, cocoa butter, salt.

Allergen-related information: May contain traces of nuts, milk and gluten

Ritual Chocolate - Pine Nut Chocolate 55% Cacao (bar) - Apr. 11, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Ritual Chocolate

Pine Nut Chocolate 55% Cacao (bar) 

Good + - Good ++

Weight: 1.06 oz. (30 g.) / 2.12 oz. (60 g.) in total bar

Calories: 165 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar

Cost: $13.00 for 1 bar

Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

Welcome to Day #5 of Chocolate, Trees and Bees Theme Week.

Today's Pine Nut Chocolate (Ground Pine Nuts and Dark Chocolate) 55% Cacao (bar) was made by Ritual Chocolate (Park City, UT). The company crafts a variety of chocolate bars high in the mountains (7,000 feet/2,134 meters altitude).

Pinyon pine trees in pine and juniper forests in Utah and the Great Basin area of the U.S. are wonderful to look at and offer many benefits. They're also a source of pine nuts.* These ivory-colored seeds are delicate and buttery and have served as a food source for many animals, including humans for a very long time.

Ritual makers have created a great blend of pine nuts and dark chocolate. This bar had a relatively subtle dark chocolate aroma with chocolate cookie and faint nut (cashew shortbread cookie) notes. If you really focus, you can sense a bit of woodsy, pine/oak forest.

The texture was heavenly, with a rapid creamy, velvety melt and mouthfeel, made possible by finely ground pine nuts, added cocoa butter, and what seemed like the perfect amount of conching (cocoa mass grinding) time.

This 55% chocolate tasted bolder, richer and less sweet (thank you!) than most other 55% bars. And yet, the more delicate (and easily eclipsed) pine nuts still contributed an important role in texture and flavor. 

This ebony-colored bar had some deep dark, grounded, forest flavor--that in less skilled hands (and without finely ground pine nuts) might have headed more toward earthy/tannic or very slightly bitter.

Instead, this result was almost perfectly balanced smooth, rich, luxurious chocolate flavor (with faint forest, nut and fruit acidity); a suave, dark, roasted green nut and cocoa finish; and an almost undetectable, fleeting, astringency tickle at the back of the throat after the first few bites.

This pine nut chocolate was wonderful by itself. I'm guessing it would also make a great addition to a chocolate tasting flight or dessert plate; and/or the basis for a dark chocolate pot de creme or dark chocolate gelato. 

Ritual Chocolate tasting notes read as follows: "Nutty, pine-y, earthy"

Ingredients: Cacao, pine nuts, organic cane sugar, organic cocoa butter

Allergy-related information: "Contains pine nuts, may contain traces of peanuts, tree nuts, and wheat"

*Plant seeds come in a remarkable variety of shapes and sizes. Some are edible; most are not. Technically edible pine "nuts" are seeds (of several species of pine trees worldwide). And cacao beans are actually cacao seeds. I'm grateful for both of these seeds; and today's Pine Nut Chocolate bar shows they can be lovely together.

Chokola Bean to Bar LLC - Belize Maya Mountain Bar; Taos Bakes Pinon Coffee Dark Chocolate (bar) - Aug. 2, 2019

Chocolate of the Day: 

Chokola Bean to Bar LLC
Belize Maya Mountain 70% bar
Good ++
Weight: 1.02 oz. (29 g.) / 2.04 oz. (58 g.) in total bar
Calories: 160 calories (estimate) in 1 bar
Cost: $12.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Chokola, Taos, NM

Welcome to Day #9 or Chocolate and Cowgirl Theme Week, and Day #1 of Chocolate and New Mexico Theme Week.

Taos, a mountain town in northeast New Mexico, has a population of almost 6,000 residents.* There are real cowgirls in Taos, a city that has small businesses and organizations like Cowgirl Designs, a small shop that offers graphic design and branding services to the Taos community; the Taos Rodeo (with junior cowboy and cowgirl categories); and cowgirl farmers we met.

We passed several locations and ranches on the outskirts of town that could have been featured in Western films.

There are also a growing number of craft chocolate makers in New Mexico, including at least one in downtown Taos: Chokola Bean to Bar LLC.

We picked up a few Chokola items, including today's Belize Maya Mountain 70% cacao bar, adorned with an image of what resembled a Pronghorn** in their shop. They offered single origin bars, filled chocolates, drinking chocolates and a chocolate pudding bar. Customers could also purchase a chocolate flight to try items side-by-side.

This chocolate had a true chocolate and concentrated fruit aroma and a fairly bright but acidic fruit flavor (think lemon, apricot, and fresh pineapple) that was present throughout the tasting experience. The texture was smooth and fairly creamy, almost fudgey.

The makers tasting notes read: "pineapple, honey and caramel."

We also re-tasted a second New Mexico bar today: the Pinon Coffee Dark Chocolate (bar) from Taos Bakes (Questa, NM), pictured with the Chokola bar at right. We'd tried a very similar version of this energy bar back in 2018, under the company name Taos Mountain Energy Bar. Same location and company, but they decided to re-brand). Pinon coffee is made with a blend of real coffee plus a hint of toasted pine nuts from pinon (aka pinyon) pine trees--commonly seen growing in the Land of Enchantment.

*Taos, New Mexico, according to 2017 numbers had a population of 5,668. There are, at certain times of the year, many out of town visitors as well, who come to sightsee, enjoy the relatively moderate SW climate and the mountain scenery, and to ski in the winter. 

** While the image may not have been of a Pronghorn, frequently called Pronghorn Antelope, an animal native to the Western U.S. that can run up to 65 miles per hour, it reminded us of its story. This animal once lived and grazed in grasslands across the the Western U.S. and midwest. Their range and their decline paralleled that of the American Bison.

Charles Chocolates - Tres Cojones bar - Jan. 22, 2015

Chocolate of the Day: 

Charles Chocolates
Tres Cojones Bar (Triple Nut Bar)
Very Good
Weight: 1.75 oz. (50 g.) / 3.5 oz. (100 g.) in total bar
Calories: 262 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $12.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Calafia Cafe and Market A Go-Go, Palo Alto, CA

Today was Day #3 of Chocolate and Almond Theme Week.

The Tres Cojones Bar (Triple Nut Bar) from Charles Chocolates (San Francisco, CA) was chock full of nuts (roasted almonds, hazelnuts and pine nuts) in 65% bittersweet chocolate.

The bar's description on the back label acknowledged the slightly risque name: "While not the most serious name, this is one serious chocolate bar..."

I have to agree, it was seriously good. The nuts were perfectly roasted, adding satisfying, crunchy texture. And a hint of sweet, nutty perfume infused this thick and smooth bittersweet bar.

Giraudi - Milk Chocolate Bar with Pine Nuts - July 21, 2014

Chocolate of the Day: 

Giraudi
Frutta Secca - Milk Chocolate Bar with Pine Nuts
Good ++
Weight: 3.53 oz. (100 g.) in 1 bar
Calories: 529 calories (estimate) in 1 bar
Cost: $ N/A - gift - Thank you Claudia!
Purchased from: Cafe Venetia, Palo Alto, CA

Today was Day #3 of Chocolate and Italy Theme Week.

This smooth and creamy 36% milk chocolate bar from Giraudi (Torino, Italy) was part of the company's Frutta Secca (dried fruit and nut) line of (milk and dark) chocolate bars. The bar was peppered with a thick layer of fresh pine nuts on one side, that provided a slightly sweet, soft crunch.

We like to hear stories about our food here and where it's grown. And, these pinoli ("pine kernels") also came with an origin story. These pine nuts came from the San Rossore Park area of Pisa (in Tuscany, Central Italy).

ChocolateBet: November 27, 2011

Chocolate of the Day:

1 oz.
The Kallari Chocolate Project
(Produced at Ecuatoriana de Chocolates SA)
1.) 75% cacao - single source organic chocolate bar - Good+
2.) 85% cacao - single source organic chocolate bar - Good
Weight: 1 oz. (28.3 g.)
Calories: 148 calories (estimate)
Cost: N/A - samples (thank you Sunita)
Purchased from: N/A samples from The Chocolate Garage, Palo Alto, CA

Today I sampled two dark (one 75% cacao and one 85% cacao), single source, organic chocolate bars, that were produced in Ecuador. The first, the 75% bar, was dark and smooth, with a pleasing vanilla flavor taste -- good for those that like vanilla with their chocolate, maybe not as good for those who don't. The second, the 85% bar had a uniformly deep, dark flavor, but without much flavor arc (that is a define-able and enjoyable beginning, middle and end/finish).

Because today was Day #3 of Chocolate and Gluten-Free Cookie Theme Week, I also melted some of the 75% bar -- into which I dipped gluten-free, Italian-style Pignoli (Pine Nut) cookies with a lovely, warm almond scent and taste. I think these flavors paired relatively well with the vanilla notes in the chocolate.
This little plate of 3 small dipping cookies disappeared in a hurry.

ChocolateBet: August 12, 2009

Chocolate(s) of the Day:
3 pieces
Kee's Chocolates
1.) Kaffir Lime (1 piece) - Very Good
2.) Pignoli (pine nut) (2 pcs.) - Very Good +
Weight: 1.4 oz. (40 grams) for 3 pieces
Calories: ~210 calories (estimate) for 3 pieces
Cost: ~$6.75 (for 3 pieces)
Purchased from: Kee's Chocolates, in New York City, New York

The round-shaped Pignoli had a great dark chocolate ganache filling, and was coated in toasted pine nuts.

The second chocolate I tried today was the Kaffir Lime. I like this flavor. However, I noticed that the same Kaffir Lime chocolate tasted a little bit better a few days ago. I'm guessing warm summer weather may have degraded the taste of this flavoring slightly over a day or two. Fresh is usually best. I am sorry I couldn't carry home Champagne, Fennel, and many other flavors to try from Kee's. I will have to order some online, maybe when the weather cools down.

I like summer, and I don't much care for winter. I'm always looking for some things to like about the cold and gray season. Being able to ship chocolate back and forth with greater ease should definitely be on my Why I Don't Hate Winter list.