ChocolateBet: November 15, 2011

Chocolate of the Day:

1 package
Sonoma Chocolatiers
Sonoma Bar
Good + - Very Good
Weight: 1.3 oz. (36 g.) 1 package
Calories: 195 calories
Cost: N/A - gift
Purchased from: N/A - gift

Today was Day #7 of Chocolate and Blueberries Theme Week.

The Sonoma Bar (from Sonoma Chocolatiers, based in Sebastopol, CA) was shaped like a cluster of grapes -- grapes made from 62% Scharffen Berger chocolate that is. Pressed into the back of said grapes: organic almonds, organic walnuts, organic dried apricots and organic dried cherries -- but no blueberries.

So, I ate this bar with two other fruit and nut mixes that did have blueberries. One of these mixes contained edamame, dried cranberries, pumpkin seeds, and was infused with blueberry, pomegranate and strawberry.

Thank you to Alec for donating this bar to Chocolate Banquet.

ChocolateBet: November 14, 2011

Chocolate of the Day:

1 oz.
Saratoga Chocolates
Blueberry-tini
Good + - Very Good
Weight: 1 oz. (28 g.) / 5 oz. (142 g.) total tin/container
Calories: 139 calories (estimate)
Cost: $12.00 total container/tin
Purchased from: Saratoga Chocolates, Saratoga, CA

Yesterday I attended the International Chocolate Salon in San Francisco, and found a great last minute addition for Chocolate and Blueberries Theme Week, at the Saratoga Chocolates table (shown).

What is a Blueberry-tini you ask?  Answer: dried blueberries infused with "Stoly's" blueberry vodka, and then enrobed in dark chocolate. The tiny Blueberry-tini clusters in this tin represented one of the best chocolate and blueberry combinations I've tried. The taste of vodka was very faint, but pleasant. These unique chocolates were, I was told, fairly time-consuming to make, due to several steps -- the drying, the infusing, the drying again, the enrobing, etc. Well, I think it was worth it. (Easy for me to say; eating them was no trouble at all.)

Today was Day #6 of Chocolate and Blueberries Theme Week.

SF Chocolate Salon, Nov. 13, 2011

International Chocolate Salon 
Fort Mason, San Francisco, CA

One of the pleasures of living close to a major city like San Francisco, is being able to attend the Chocolate Salons that are held here.  This year's event was another opportunity to meet chocolate makers and chocolatiers from the SF Bay Area and beyond.

We had fun talking with Salon newcomer Dandelion Chocolate (San Francisco); Nat from Madre Chocolate (on his way back to Hawaii); Art Pollard from Amano; and a few different toffee and brittle makers who were incorporating chocolate and cacao nibs into their offerings.

Saratoga Chocolates (Saratoga, CA) was featuring a Blueberry-tini item that will be tomorrow's entry -- just in time to be included in Chocolate and Blueberry Theme Week.

I also stocked up on a chocolate and bacon caramel item from Snake and Butterfly (Santa Clara, CA) for this week's bacon theme week, that will start in a 2-3 days.

And, I'm looking forward to writing about the Thai Basil chocolates from Jade Chocolates (Burlingame/San Francisco, CA), and other chocolates too numerous to list here.

We also had fun meeting a few winemakers and doing some impromptu tasting. The SLO crew from San Luis Obispo were pouring their "Sexual Chocolate" red blend. (Their mascot, a palm-sized turtle named Walter, was taking a nap in his crate by the time we reached their table.) It was a great opportunity to talk with some creative makers with great flavors who may not have a storefront.

ChocolateBet: November 13, 2011

Chocolate of the Day: 

1.05 oz. serving
Corfias Chocolats Fins
Bleuets sauvages - Wild blueberries
Good - Good+
Weight: 1.05 oz. (30 g.) / 1.6 oz. (45 g.) total package
Calories: 150 calories (estimate)
Cost: $4.99 total package
Purchased from: airport shop, Dorval airport, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Today's almost irridescent, dark chocolate-coated St-Jean blueberries (from Corfins Chocolats Fins), came from up north in Quebec. If they spoke a language, it would almost certainly be French.

Today was Day #5 of Chocolate and Blueberry Theme Week.

ChocolateBet: November 12, 2011

Chocolate of the Day:

1 serving
Dilettante Chocolates
Fruit Medley
Good
Weight: 1.4 oz. (40 g.) / 5 oz. (142 g.) total package
Calories: 190 calories (per label)
Cost: $2.99 total bag (marked down)
Purchased from: Marshalls in Mountain View, CA

Today was Day #4 of Chocolate and Blueberries Theme Week.

Today's chocolate choice: a chocolate covered Fruit Medley, consisting of 4 dried fruits: strawberries, cherries, apricots and, of course, blueberries.

The fruits in the Fruit Medley, from Dilettante Chocolates (Kent, WA), were coated with either white, milk or dark chocolate, and a different colored glaze, depending on fruit type. I believe the blueberries were coated in milk chocolate, and enhanced with a bit of natural blueberry flavoring. They were also the best-tasting  chocolate fruit in this bunch. A little festive fruit color (albeit artificial) was good for a day like today, as it was dark and gloomy outside.

ChocolateBet: November 11, 2011

Chocolate of the Day:

1/2 serving
Marra Bros.
Chocolate Blueberries
Good +
Weight: .7 oz. (20 g.) / 8 oz. (227 g.) total container
Calories: 100 calories
Cost: $7.99 total container
Purchased from: DeMartini Orchard, in Los Altos, CA

Today was Day #3 of Chocolate and Blueberries Theme Week. These milk chocolate covered blueberries from Marra Bros. (Morgan Hill, CA) were pretty good -- just sweet enough, and not so sweet that I couldn't detect natural blueberry taste. 

ChocolateBet: November 10, 2011

Chocolate(s) of the Day:

1.) 1 serving
Gourmet Nut
Body Boosting Antioxidant Mix
Good+ - Very Good
Weight: 1 oz. (28 g.)/ 9 oz. (255 g.) total bag
Calories: 165 calories
Cost: $3.99 total bag/package
Purchased from: Marshalls, Mountain View, CA

2.) 1 serving
TCHO
99% Limited Edition Peru-Ecuador
Good
Weight: .535 oz. (15 g.)
Calories: 77 calories
Cost: $3.99
Purchased from: TCHO, in San Francisco, CA

Today was the second day of Chocolate and Blueberries Theme Week. I was excited to find a trail-style mix with nuts, dark chocolate chips, dried blueberries, and other dried fruits.

This Antioxidant Mix from Gourmet Nut was very good. Only one problem. For some odd reason, there were no dark chocolate chips in this bag. So, I ate this mix with a 99% Limited Edition small dark chocolate (Organic, Fair Trade) bar/square from TCHO (San Francisco, CA). The cacao in this bar hailed from "Peru-Ecuador" and it tasted somewhat acidic and flat, but richly dark nonetheless -- with no sugar to interfere with or soften this flavor.