ChocolateBet: September 7, 2009

Chocolate of the Day:

1 square
Russell Stover
Mississippi Mud Truffle
(American Classics Assortment; Private Reserve)
Good+
Weight: .56 oz. (16 g.) / 6.2 oz. (176 g.) total package/bag
Calories: 95 calories for 1 individually-wrapped square
Cost: $3.48 for total package
Purchased from: Walmart, in Mountain View, CA

This morning I did some hiking out in the Baylands, and the tide was out. There were large areas of bay mud glistening in the sun. So, these Mississippi Mud truffle squares from Russell Stover seemed like an appropriate chocolate for today.

Many months ago, I bought a package of Mississippi Mud Truffle squares to try. However, my daughter and others ate them before I had the chance. So, I "re-bought" these last night when I saw them, even though they were only available in a larger assortment package that contained three Russell Stover American Classic flavors (I sampled the other two flavors quite awhile ago). I opened the 6.2 oz. package and found just one Mississippi Mud square. Yikes, $3.48 was a lot to pay for just one square. Oh well. This square was good, but it was too sweet for me.

ChocolateBet: September 6, 2009

Chocolate of the Day:

2 squares
Ghirardelli Chocolate
Milk and Peanut Butter
Very Good
Weight: 1.03 oz. (29.3 g.)
Calories: 160 calories in two squares
Cost: $2.84 in total bag
Purchased from: Walmart, in Mountain View, CA

These individually-wrapped milk chocolate squares with crunchy peanut butter filling from Ghirardelli Chocolate (San Leandro, CA) were very good.

I may try melting these on (wheat-free) toast - for a chocolate and nut-spread effect. (This may seem odd unless you've tried Nutella, or similar knock-off chocolate and nut spreads.) I can't have wheat, but if I could, I might trip slipping one of these inside a croissant and microwaving it for 10+ seconds.

ChocolateBet: September 5, 2009

Chocolate of the Day:

1 bar
Gnosis Chocolate
"Surthrival Choc" bar
Very Good
Weight: 2 oz. (56 g.) in 1 bar
Calories: 300 calories (guesstimate) in 1 bar
Cost: $?
Purchased from: Gnosis Chocolate

This morning, as part of a 1,000 mile walk, I woke up early to hike a segment of the San Francisco Bay Trail, through a dicey neighborhood. (For more about this silly walking the bay business, see: www.walking-the-bay.com). I had to pump myself up for this walk.

So, in keeping with facing my fears and just doing it...I ate a "Surthrival Choc" raw chocolate bar from Gnosis Chocolate (made in New York City, NY). This Gnosis bar was chock full of interesting ingredients (e.g., goji berries, horny goat weed, Yohimbe, Lion's Mane Mushroom, Passionflower), and many adjectives. It was: handmade, raw, vegan, and was made without refined sugar, cholesterol, gluten, dairy or soy.

The word "Invincibility" is printed next to a purple-clad super hero-ess. Founder Vanessa Barg (aka Chocolate Girl) is young, energetic, and committed to making it happen. And, she's committed to inspiring herself, and others, to thrive and to attain dreams and goals.

Oh, and did I mention that part of the proceeds from this bar go to the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation?

Speaking of chocolate-related adventures, and facing your fears, check out Solomon Jones's entertaining account* of his trip to Hershey's Park:
http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/20090905_Solomon_Jones__Chocolate__B-stings__nausea_make_a_Hershey_staycation.html

*Postscript: Sorry, this story is not longer available on philly.com

ChocolateBet: September 4, 2009

Chocolate of the Day:
2 brownies
(homemade, gluten-free beer brownies)
Oppenheimer
"Real Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips"
Very Good
Weight: 2 brownies = ~ 4.59 oz. (130 g.)
Calories: ~ 480 calories for 2 brownies (estimate)
Cost: ?
Purchased from: ?

I found a recipe for Guinness stout brownies. I swapped the flour and Guinness for gluten-free baking mix and gluten-free beer, and put half the batter in a conventional oven, and half in a solar cooker outside. The batch from the conventional oven came emerged hot and gooey (great with ice cream), but these brownies firmed up as they cooled down. The outside batch went into the Tulsi solar cooker at 2:00 p.m., and took them out of the cooker a little after 5:45 p.m. Both batches turned out well.

After cleaning up from baking brownies, this evening I visited the Mars website to enter to receive a coupon for a free chocolate bar/product, as part of the "Mars Real Chocolate Relief Act" promotion. Clever.

ChocolateBet: September 3, 2009

Chocolate of the Day:
1 piece
The Chocolate Fetish
Ecstasy truffle line, Velvet Sin
Very Good - Very Good +
Weight: .848 oz. (24 grams)
Calories: ~ 127 calories in one piece (estimate)
Cost: $0 (gift) Thank you Ginger!
Purchased from: The Chocolate Fetish, in Asheville, North Carolina

This hearty truffle's ganache center was made with a blend of four dark chocolates. Last night I found this in a box (in my mailbox) from my friend Ginger who lives in the Atlanta, Georgia area. She stopped at The Chocolate Fetish during a recent trip. Given the recent hot temperatures in California, these arrived in good shape. But, just to make sure they were really OK, I had to eat the Ecstasy Ancient Pleasures chocolate truffle with cayenne last night as soon as I opened the box. (So, I'm not including this second truffle in today's entry, but will try to in the future, as it was very tasty.)

Note: the image of The Chocolate Fetish storefront above was scanned from a reprint of an article that ran in the February 2009 issue of Rapid River (Arts & Culture Magazine).

ChocolateBet: September 2, 2009

Chocolate of the Day:

1 bar
Gnosis Chocolate
Almond Fig Spice bar
Good + - Very Good
Weight: 2 oz. (56 grams)
Calories: 300 calories (estimate) in 1 bar
Cost: $?
Purchased from: Gnosis Chocolate

I liked the combination of flavors: almonds, figs, cinnamon and other spices in this handmade, raw, organic chocolate bar from Gnosis Chocolate (New York City, NY). The texture of Gnosis chocolates seems smoother than many handmade, raw bars I've tasted.

The bar was also vegan, and contained no refined sugar.

Congratulations to Gnosis founder, Vanessa Barg; I hope you received the TV coverage this week you were hoping for.

ChocolateBet: September 1, 2009

Chocolate of the Day:

3/4 bar
Tropical Source (by SunSpire)
Toasted Almond Dark Chocolate bar
Very Good
Weight: 2.25 oz. (64 g.)/ 3 oz. (85 g.) in total bar
Calories: 375 calories in 3/4 bar
Cost: $0 gift (thank you Alec)
Purchased from: n/a (gift)

I melted down this (dairy- and gluten-free) bar to include it in a chocolate pudding cake of sorts. (I can't follow recipes, but it's hard to go wrong if you combine chocolate, egg, oil/butter, and a bit of rice flour.

I list vendor name(s) for each chocolate I eat. Determining who made this bar was a bit confusing. Tropical Source (by SunSpire) is owned by nSpired Natural Foods - now owned by Hain. This made me think of a nested set of Russian dolls, or of the little fish who was eaten by the medium-sized fish, who was then eaten by the larger fish, and so on. I don't know if this list of names was the result of a branding or acquisition strategy. Waves of change and disruption tend to wipe out lots of carefully crafted product names and brands over time. Ten years from now, I wonder how many chocolate brand names on my blog will still exist.