TCHO - Toffee Time Creamy Oat Milk Chocolate w/ Plant Based Toffee & Sea Salt - Feb. 17, 2023

Chocolate of the Day

TCHO
Toffee Time - Creamy Oat Milk Chocolate (bar)
Good + - Good ++
Weight: 1.65 oz. (46.2 g.) small bar / 2.5 oz. (70 g.) total package of 3 bars
Calories: 260 calories in 2 small bars
Cost: $ N/A - free sample from TCHO
Purchased from: N/A - part of tour and tasting

Welcome to Day #3 of Chocolate and Golden Sugars Theme Week, including chocolates containing caramel and/or toffee.

Today's Toffee Time Creamy Oat Milk Chocolate With Bits of Plant Based Toffee and Sea Salt (bar) was from TCHO Ventures Inc. (Berkeley, CA). It was part of a set of 3 smaller individually-wrapped bars, nestled inside the company's traditional square package size.

Aroma and flavor notes for this creamy and mildly crunchy, plant-based, bar included: sweet milk chocolate, faint oat cereal, very faint warm spice and "buttery" toffee. 

This balanced, Organic, 53% cacao, sweet toffee oat milk chocolate bar--made with fair trade ingredients--was worth trying. When TCHO surveyed to their customers in recent years, they found that many were requesting plant-based, dairy free and gluten free chocolates; and today's bar  and others were created to respond to these requests.

TCHO description: "Caramely and Perfectly Salty" 

Ingredients: Organic cacao beans, organic cocoa butter, coconut sugar, organic gluten free oat flour (organic whole oat flour, natural Vitamin E [added to maintain freshness]), organic cashew butter, organic toffee (organic cane sugar, organic rice syrup, organic coconut oil, baking soda, sea salt, organic sunflower lecithin), organic cane sugar, sea salt, organic sunflower lecithin.

Allergen-related information: (Contains cashews, coconut.) May contain soy, milk and other tree nuts.

Green Girl Bakeshop - Reishi Chocolate with chocolate chip cookies - Aug. 23, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Green Girl Bakeshop
Reishi Chocolate with chocolate chip cookies
Good - Good +
Weight: 5 oz. (142 g.) in total package
Calories: 340 calories in 1 package/frozen cookie sandwich 
Cost: $4.49 (sale) for 1 package/frozen cookie sandwich
Purchased from: Piazza's, Palo Alto, CA 

Welcome to Day #1 of Cold Chocolate Week, featuring frozen and refrigerated treats, snacks and bars with chocolate.

Today's Reishi Chocolate frozen plant-based, cookie sandwich was from Green Girl Bakeshop (San Leandro, CA). 

This chilly organic treat had light green, nut, coconut, and cookie notes, rich chocolate flavor with a fleeting earthy/loamy, slightly bitter note (that I'm assuming came from the reishi mushroom).

It was satisfying and sweet, but not too sweet. (It was sweetened with judicious amounts of coconut palm sugar, applesauce, chocolate chips, evaporated cane sugar in the chocolate chip cookies--and maple syrup in the chocolate frozen filling.) 

Note: Green Girl offers some of the few gluten free ice cream sandwich alternatives available in our area, unless you have time to make your own with gluten free cookies (that you may have to bake first) and your choice of milk/cream filling. So, I felt grateful to find these.

Ingredients: 1.) Cookie: organic cassava flour, organic coconut palm sugar, organic applesauce, organic chocolate chips (organic evaporated cane sugar, organic natural chocolate liquor (non-alcoholic), organic cocoa butter, organic vanilla powder), organic coconut oil, baking soda. 2.) Gelato: Organic coconut milk (organic coconut water, organic guar gum--less than 1%), organic maple syrup, organic cacao powder, organic reishi."

Allergen-related information: "Contains tree nuts (coconut)...produced in a facility that also processes tree nuts, peanuts, dairy, wheat, and soy."

Goodio Craft Chocolate - Metsa Chocolate topped with birch leaves, forest crystals 70% (bar) - Apr. 23, 2019

Chocolate of the Day: 

Goodio Craft Chocolate
Metsa - "Forrest" - Chocolate topped with birch leaves, forest crystals...70% (bar)
Good - Good +
Weight: .848 oz. (24 g.) / 1.69 oz. (48 g.) in total bar
Calories: 125 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $ (part of a 4-pack of Nordic Flavours bar collection)
Purchased from: GoodioChocolate.com, online order

Welcome to Day #9 of Chocolate, Plants and Herbs Theme Week.

Today's Metsa (bar) from Goodio Craft Chocolate (Helsinki, Finland) was chocolate topped with birch leaves and forest crystals.

The aroma and flavor had slight bitter dark chocolate and faint herbal flavor notes, respectively. The dark chocolate (made with Arriba cacao) tasted slightly darker than 70 percent.

Seeing the term "forest crystals" was delightfully intriguing. What might this peaceful field of green bits adorning this bar be? The forest crystals/inclusions included tiny pieces of green birch leaves, birch sugar crystals and powdered organic spruce sprouts "collected near the Arctic circle."

Among the faintly herbal forest flavors, were periodic delicate citrus/floral pine notes.
A light sprinkling of birch sugar crystals added some botanical sugar sparkle and slight crunchy texture.

Go Raw Organic Chocolate Plant Protein bar + Spiru-Tein Chocolate Mix - Aug. 26, 2018

Chocolate(s) of the Day: 

Go Raw (Freeland Foods)
Organic Dark Chocolate Sprouted Grow Raw Plant Protein Bar
Good
Weight: 1.9 oz. (55 g.) in total bar
Calories: 240 calories in 1 bar
Cost: $2.99 for 1 bar
Purchased from: New Leaf Community Market, Half Moon Bay, CA

Natures Plus
Spiru-Tein Simply Natural Chocolate (Unsweetened) Mix
OK +++ - Good
Weight: .4 oz. (11.5 g.) / .8 oz. (23 g.) packet
Calories: 40 calories in 1/2 packet (dry mix)
Cost: $1.99 for 1 packet
Purchased from: Piazza's Fine Foods, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #7 of Chocolate Surprise Theme Week.

Chocolate blends well with other plants like fruits, nuts, seeds—and, surprise, even greens. Today's two chocolate items incorporate plant proteins ranging from watermelon seeds to spirulina.*

Today's first item, the Go Raw Organic Dark Chocolate plant protein bar was made by Freeland Foods (San Jose, CA). The first ingredient listed was watermelon seeds, followed by dates, cacao, chocolate extract, vanilla extract, Celtic sea salt and rosemary extract.

This vegan, gluten-free bar contained 12 grams of protein, and tasted better than many other protein bars. (I liked the short ingredient list, and I'm guessing the chocolate extract could be omitted. Quality cacao by itself is usually sufficient to impart rich flavor; but it wasn't too bad.)

The second item, was Natural Chocolate Spiru-Tein mix that contained a blend of rice, pea and soy protein (as well as spirulina, added vitamins and minerals, and a long list of other ingredients). The dry powder had a mild chocolate and vanilla aroma. It was unsweetened (which I liked) and readily mixed with liquids. The taste was slightly malty and not unpleasant.

*Spirulina is a Cyanobacteria (once classified as micro-algae) that grows in alkaline (mineral-rich) ponds and lakes in warmer climates, and is harvested and used as a food supplement.