Cru Chocolate - Roasted Cacao Nibs - Aug. 12, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Cru Chocolate
Roasted Cacao Nibs
Good + 
Weight: 1 oz. (28.3 g.) / 2.5 oz. (70.7 g.) in total package
Calories: 140 calories (estimate) in 1 oz. (14.1 g.) serving
Cost: $5.99 for 1 package
Purchased from: Farm Fresh to You (add to local CSA box delivery)

Welcome to Day #4 of 100% Cacao and Nibs Theme Week.

Today's Roasted Cacao Nibs were made by Cru Chocolate (Roseville, CA).

The aroma notes wafting out of the opened pouch included fresh cacao, fresh baked chocolate brownies/dark chocolate cookies, subtle fruit (fresh banana), roasted nut, very faint green (nut, seed, floral, wood), and jaguar cacao. 

These fresh-tasting nibs had a light and crunchy texture.

Cacao nibs are versatile and I enjoyed these three ways: 1.) sprinkled on a green salad (with orange, fennel, artichoke and and goat cheese; 2.) on top of ice cream; and 3.) by themselves.

Maker's tasting notes: "Grown by small-holder family farms in Central America. Carefully fermented to achieve delicate flavors....Perfect to add into your smoothies, salads, omelets and great for baking." 

Ingredients: Roasted cacao nibs

Allergen-related information: (No information listed.)

Lindt - Pineapple bar, Ambrosia - Aug. 14, 2016

Chocolate(s) of the Day:

Lindt
Pineapple bar
Good
Weight: .7 oz. (20 g.) / 3.5 oz. (100 g.) in total bar
Calories: 105 calories in 1/5 bar
Cost: $3.49 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Piazza's Fine Foods, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Chocolate, Fruit and Botanicals Month.

I was intrigued by my first taste of ambrosia fruit salad, by the combination of pineapple pieces, mandarin oranges, coconut flakes, diced marshmallows, sour cream and occasionally pecans or cherries.

Today's dark (47%) chocolate Pineapple bar from Lindt and Sprungli AG (Kilchberg, Switzerland), had a fruity aroma and contained small pieces of pineapple and flecks of hazelnut. (Pairing suggestion on the label for this bar: a Chardonnay white wine.)

I felt inspired to combine some different chocolates to approximate an ambrosia fruit salad. A small sampler plate soon also held: a Blood Orange Olive Oil Meltaway cube of silken chocolate goodness from Ethereal Confections (Woodstock, IL); a piece of Roasted White Chocolate (bar) from SOMA Chocolatemaker (Toronto, Canada); and a bite of Coconut Crisp bar from TCHO (Berkeley, CA).

I enjoyed alternating bites of complementary fruit flavors. Bon appetit to all.

ChocolateBet: February 12, 2009

Chocolate of the Day:

2 servings
Whole Foods
Truffled Roasted Walnuts
(ate with salad plate - sliced orange, avocado, beet, carrot, with lemon vinagrette dressing)
Very Good +; I enjoyed the bright colors and flavors together
Wt.: ~ 2 oz. (~56.5 g.)/7 oz. (200 g.) in box of choc walnuts (~8 oz. for total salad plate)
Calories: 340 cals. for choc. walnuts; ~ 650 for total salad plate + walnuts
Cost: $7.99 for total package of choc. walnuts
Purchased from: Whole Foods, in Los Altos, CA

Day #7 of chocolate and vegetable theme week. This colorful salad plate was my favorite of the week. I'm sorry I don't have a picture of it to post here. Yes, I realize that many of you are relieved to see the back of chocolate and veggie week.

Note: I will continue to eat chocolates every day or the next week or two, but I'll be out and will have to retroactively post entries when I have Internet access again later this month. Apologies for what looks like missed entries for the next week or so.

ChocolateBet: February 9, 2009

Chocolate of the Day:
~ 1 Tablespoon
Whole Foods - El Rey
Venezuelan Cocoa Nibs
(with mixed greens - salad)
1.) The nibs were Very Good by themselves; 2.) They were Good with salad - the combination was a bit bitter, but this could have been due to the salad greens.
Wt.: ~ .5 oz. (14 g.)/4.16 oz. (117.7g.) ttl container
Calories: ~ 50 calories for nibs; ~ 300 calories for whole salad.
Cost: $3.38 for whole container
Purchased from: Whole Foods in Los Altos, CA

Today is Day #4 of chocolate and vegetables theme week. Well, I think an avocado and citrus fruit salad with cocoa nibs would have been more tasty than just semi-bitter salad greens with semi-bitter nibs. I'll try that next time. Now I'm going to try the nibs in a hot cocoa/latte drink for dessert.