Bitchin' Inc. - Chocolate Sweet Sauce & Kasama Chocolate - Blackberry White Chocolate (bar) - Mar. 10, 2023

Chocolate of the Day

Bitchin' Inc.
Chocolate Sweet Sauce
Good ++
Weight: 1 oz. (28.3 g.) / 8 oz. (227 g.) in total container
Calories: 110 calories in 1 serving (2 TB) 
Cost: $3.99 for 1 container
Purchased from: Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, Palo Alto, CA

Kasama Chocolate
Blackberry White Chocolate (bar)
Good + - Good ++
Weight: .97 oz. (27.5 g.) / 1.94 oz. (55 g.) in total bar

Calories: 164.5 calories in 1/2 bar

Cost: $14.00 for 1 bar

Purchased from: Chocolate Covered, San Francisco, CA

Welcome to Day #8 of Chocolate and Fruits Theme Week, featuring fruits ranging from Apple to Yuzu--and chocolate and fruit pairings like today's chocolate sauce and blackberry white chocolate duo.

I don't count white chocolates (even when they're made with 100% real cocoa butter); but a few times a year, I made an exception and pair dark or milk chocolate with a white chocolate (with a flavor inclusion). Today's double feature is one of those days.

Bitchin' Inc. - Chocolate Sweet Sauce

This was not your grandparents' chocolate sauce. This refrigerated, lightly malty, nutty chocolate sauce was less sweet and more flavorful than traditional jarred chocolate sauces (made with sugar(s) and corn syrup). 

Most chocolate sauces found in a glass jar also don't contain things like finely ground almonds, coconut aminos, or nutritional yeast. 

Family owned and operated Bitchin' Inc. (based in Carlsbad, CA) is best known for their variety of gluten free and vegan savory and sweet sauces, made with a short list of high-quality ingredients. (My favorite savory sauce is their artichoke and spinach dip/sauce.) 

Today's relatively thick, and very faintly granular (almonds) chocolate sauce had a satisfying sweet chocolate and malty almond flavor and complemented pieces of fresh fruits, including: apples, stone fruits, bananas, berries (and today's blackberry white chocolate bar) very nicely.

Ingredients: Organic cane sugar, water, organic sunflower oil, almonds, cocoa, organic coconut aminos, nutritional yeast, vanilla, sea salt.

Allergen-related information: "Contains almonds, coconut (tree nuts)."

Kasama Chocolate 

In a few days the 95th Academy Awards ceremony will honor the best performances in numerous categories. If there was a category called Best imitation of a dark chocolate bar by a white chocolate bar, Kasama Chocolate's Blackberry White Chocolate bar would surely win a statuette.

When I opened up the silver inner wrapper. I thought I was looking at a dark chocolate bar. This white chocolate was that berry-dark in appearance. It was bursting with an estimated 20 blackberries (fully incorporated) in each bar.

The aroma for this bar was cocoa butter and berry forward and there was a small explosion of fresh, tart sweet blackberry flavor in every bite. The sweetness was balanced a bit by dipping squares of this bar into the Sweet Chocolate Sauce (which was not as sweet as the blackberry white chocolate).

Ingredients: Organic cacao butter, organic unrefined cane sugar, organic BC (British Columbia) Blackberries

Allergen-related information: "Made in a facility that contains nuts."

No. 11 White Nib bar - Sept. 4, 2013

Chocolate of the Day: 

Christopher Elbow
No. 11 White Nib bar
Good
Weight: 1.16 oz. (33.3 g.) / 3.5 oz. (100 g.) in total bar
Calories: 178 calories (estimate) for 1/3 bar
Cost: $7.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: CocoaBella Chocolates, San Francisco, CA

White chocolate doesn't usually "count" as a Chocolate of the Day for me. It generally is too sweet for my taste, and any cocoa flavor or aroma is often lost in the processing.

However, this No. 11 White Nib bar from Christopher Elbow Chocolates (St. Louis, MO) contained Venezuelan white chocolate and roasted cacao nibs -- and nibs contain cocoa solids (that give chocolate its deep brown color). The cacao nibs embedded in this bar added some crunchy texture and their stronger, slightly more acidic bite helped temper the sweet white creamy cocoa butter, sugar and milk powder that made up the white chocolate base.

Today was Day #2 of Chocolate and Venezuela Theme Week.

Enric Rovira - Trufa Day - Feb. 20, 2013

Chocolate(s) of the Day:

Enric Rovira

Trencadis Gaudi - chocolate blanco con trufa al aguardiente de albaricoque
Good + - Very Good
Weight: 1 oz. (28.3 g.) / 6.7 oz. (190 g.) in total box
Calories: 150 calories (estimate)
Cost: $34.50 for 1 box
Purchased from: Alegio Chocolate, Palo Alto, CA

Mini Hexagons
Good+
Weight: 1 oz. (28.3 g.)/2.1 oz. (60 g.) total box
Calories: 148 calories (estimate) in 1 oz. serving
Cost: $ 12.95 in 1 box of 10 pieces
Purchased from: Alegio Chocolate, Palo Alto, CA

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

Roundish dark chocolate truffles likely acquired their name because of their likeness to black truffles, the fungi found nestled underground in what remains of great oak forests. This week I'm combining both types of truffles.

Today I traveled -- virtually, via chocolate -- from Italy (yesterday's destination) to Barcelona, Spain, to sample two chocolates in Enric Rovira's (Barcelona, Spain) Barcelona collection -- heavily influenced by Spanish architect Antonio Gaudi, who often incorporated tile and glass mosaic art into his work.

Proving that my Spanish is very rusty, I bought this creamy, Trencadis Gaudi white chocolate creation thinking it contained white or black truffle (the fungi). However, the "trufa" in the Spanish name here referred to an apricot brandy truffle filling inside this beautifully patterned square of white chocolate.

However, my "mistake" was quickly remedied, when I dipped a triangular piece of this white Trencadis (from the Catalan word, trencat, for broken) mosaic into some Italian truffle honey that I'd opened yesterday. If you want to try something truly decadent and wonderful, these two items were made for each other.

Mini Hexagons 
Since, I don't normally "count" white chocolate as my Chocolate of the Day, I also sampled some Enric Rovira dark chocolate (70%) mini hexagons, modeled after special six-sided pavement pieces that might be found on the streets of Barcelona. These would look very nice on any dessert plate or tray.

Thank you to Panos at Alegio Chocolate for pointing out the Barcelona Collection.

ChocolateBet: December 20, 2008

Chocolate of the Day:

2/3 of a bar/serving
Jolly Gourmet/My Favorite Co. co-branded w/ Barry Callebaut
Smooth White Chocolate Peppermint Bark Truffle Bar
Good + - Very Good
Wt.: 1.04 oz. (29.7 grams) (estimate) in 2/3 bar/1.58 oz. (45 grams) in total package
Calories: 165 calories (estimate) in 2/3 of a bar/serving
Cost: $0 (gift) - Thank you Megan! ($1.99 was the price marked on box)
Purchased from: (N/A - gift)

Made with a Barry Callebaut (Zurich, Switzerland) white chocolate coating, this layered creamy smooth + crunchy Jolly Gourmet confection was dressed up to look like an ice cream bar on a stick. Inside, the bar had a chocolate truffle center with cocoa powder and a layer of crunchy peppermint bits. Similar red and white bits adorned the outside of the bar.

ChocolateBet: January 5, 2008

Chocolate of the Day:

1 piece

Godiva

Strawberry Truffle

Very Good

Weight: .5 oz. (14.1 g.) (estimate) 

Calories: ?

Cost: $0 (gift asstmt box)

Purchased/sent from: Godiva online

This strawberry truffle has a nice authentic strawberry taste to it. It has a primarily white chocolate coating (with strawberry ganache-type center), but I'm counting this one because it has a dark chocolate "frosting" decorative flourish on top. (I've not been counting white chocolates, as a general rule, unless they have some other milk or dark chocolate component to them.)