ChocolateBet: October 13, 2012

Chocolate of the Day:

Enjoy Life Natural Brands, LLC
boomCHOCOboom Bar - Ricemilk Crunch
Good
Weight: 1.12 oz. (32 g.) in 1 bar
Calories: 170 calories in 1 bar
Cost: $ N/A
Purchased from: N/A

Yesterday I had a boomCHOCOboom - Ricemilk Chocolate bar from Enjoy Life (Schiller Park, IL). Today's bar, from the same maker, was a close cousin -- only with the addition of rice crisps sweetened with raisin juice and honey. I would have liked a little less cane sugar in the base ricemilk chocolate that formed the bar; however, this gluten, dairy and soy-free offering was a good alternative to similar chocolate bars on the market that are made with milk, barley malt and/or soy lecithin.

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

ChocolateBet: October 12, 2012

Chocolate of the Day:

Enjoy Life
boomCHOCOboom Ricemilk Crunch (bar)
Good
Weight: 1.12 oz. (32 g.) total bar
Calories: 170 calories in 1 bar
Cost: $2.09 total bar
Purchased from: Raley's, in Incline Village, NV

Today was Day #4 of Chocolate and Rice Theme Week. The "rice" in this chocolate bar came in the form of rice milk powder. There were no rice cows involved. This milk was derived from a blend of rice syrup powder, rice starch and rice flour.

This gluten free bar from Enjoy Life, was wheat, dairy, peanut, tree nut and soy free. The chocolate broke with a relatively hard snap, and the texture was a bit different, but otherwise it tasted like other chocolate bars. Good news for those avoiding dairy.

ChocolateBet: October 11, 2012

Chocolate of the Day: 

Lily's Sweets, Inc.
Crispy Rice bar
Weight: .6 oz. (17 g.)/ 3 oz. (85 g.) total bar
Calories: 68 calories for 1/5 bar (per label information)
Cost: $8.00 (estimate) for total bar
Purchased from: Crissy Field Cafe (now closed), in San Francisco, CA

Thank you to Lily's founders, Cynthia Tice and Chuck Genuardi for coming up with a line of natural tasting dark chocolate bars sweetened with stevia (a low/no calorie, plant-based sweetener).

It was refreshing to taste some chocolate without a sugar punch. This relatively mild and smooth, dark (55% cocoa) bar was made with non-GMO ingredients, and was embedded with pieces of organic, crisp brown rice. Another result of the company's stevia-based formulation: according to the label, the bar had 25 percent fewer calories (than other comparable chocolates one presumes).

In a tribute to childhood memories, the company website stated: "Our Crispy Rice (bar) is a nod to the snappy, crackly, childhood candy bar that made us smile. The one with the savory little crunches mixed in with the velvety chocolate. One bite of our crunchy, stevia-sweetened chocolate flings you back to happy childhood days -- and makes you feel that all is right with the world."

The company name, "Lily's," is a reference to Lily, a young cancer survivor. The company donates a portion of proceeds to related charitable causes.

Lily's 55% cocoa chocolate is Fair Trade Certified. And, this month (October) is Fair Trade month. While not all farmers can afford this certification process, thank you to the many good efforts and to Paul Rice (a name also fitting for Day #3 of Chocolate and Rice Theme Week), President and CEO of Fair Trade USA, for all the good work in this area.

ChocolateBet: October 10, 2012

Chocolate of the Day: 

Island Princess
Choco Mochi - Chocolate Covered Japanese Rice Crackers
Good - Good +
Weight: 2.5 oz. (70 g.) total bag/package
Calories: 320 calories in 1 package
Cost: $1.88 total package (sale)
Purchased from: Cost Plus/World Market, in Reno, NV

Today was Day #2 of Chocolate and Rice Theme Week. Everything tastes more fun dipped in chocolate, right? Yes, including crunchy, savory rice crackers.

Thank you to Island Princess (Honolulu, HI) for this creative idea. They dunked little Japanese soy sauce flavored rice crackers (in the shape of rounded, twisted or scalloped squares and cherry blossoms) in milk chocolate.

These crunchy and melty "Choco Mochi" crackers had a very faint, unusual umami tang to them. Perhaps it was the milk chocolate reacting with the soy sauce or the tiny flecks of roasted seaweed in the crackers. But, this tang seemed to disappear after the first bite or two. And they were fun.

Next experiment: combine these chocolate covered crackers with sweet peanuts, and other crunchy sweet and savory bits. Maybe even wasabi peas or nuts or corn chips.

ChocolateBet: October 9, 2012

Chocolate of the Day:

Hawaiian Sun
Kona Krunch
Good
Weight: .4 oz. (11.32 g.)/ .8 oz. (23 g.) total package of 2 pieces
Calories: 62.5 calories (estimate) in 1 piece
Cost: $ N/A
Purchased from: N/A - gift

Slightly malted-milk sweet and softly crunchy, today's Kona Krunch -- two pieces of chocolate,  macadamia nuts and rice crunch, from Hawaiian Sun (Hawaii) -- kicked off Day #1 of Chocolate and Rice Theme Week.

For those tired of these silly theme weeks that I do, I hope two points are clear: 1.) There is no shortage of items with chocolate in them; 2.) Chocolate is one of those wonderful ingredients that mixes well with almost every other food and beverage substance. Rice cereals, rice pudding, rice milk, rice bread mix....all mixed with chocolate. More combinations to look forward to this week.

Preview - Sierra Nevada Chocolate, Reno

Preview: Sierra Nevada Chocolate
Reno, Nevada

As part of a trip to the Lake Tahoe area in the Sierra Nevada mountains, I drove east, over the hills to Reno, Nevada.

I discovered a few chocolate shops -- including Sierra Nevada Chocolate, on busy South Virginia Street --  in Reno.

Impeccably decorated for Halloween, and co-located with the Chocolate Walrus shop next door (with more adult fare and Halloween costumes), the Sierra Nevada Chocolate shop included seating area inside and outside (for warmer weather) and a long, glass case full of truffles, barks, and other chocolate confections.

I am not counting these yet as my chocolates of the day, but I did enjoy a preview taste of the company's Fig, Honey, Coffee, Mayan, and Hot Chili truffles. Chocolate, Figs and Coffee Theme Week on this site was just over (last week), and here I was finding fig chocolates galore this week.

I liked both Sierra Nevada Chocolate's Fig and Honey truffles, and hope to include these in another chocolate and fig week in the future.

Look forward to coming back again. Thank you to the woman staffing the counter for the kind help I received in picking out truffles, and for setting my five truffles out on the lovely green plate.

ChocolateBet: October 8, 2012

Chocolate of the Day: 

Sweets Handmade Candies
German Chocolate
Good + - Very Good
Weight: .4 oz. (11.32 g.) (estimate) for 1 truffle
Calories: 70 calories (estimate)
Cost: $2.00
Purchased from: Sweets, Reno, CA

While visiting Lake Tahoe, I drove over the mountains to Reno today, and visited two chocolate shops. Sweets Handmade Candies shop had a large selection of truffles and filled chocolates, caramel apples, flavored caramel corns (which smelled delicious), as well as other confections.

I tried four chocolates. All were good; my favorite was the German Chocolate truffle with coconut, chopped pecans and a caramel of sorts in the middle. While sweet, as one might expect, this was a very tasty substitute for German chocolate cake if you're eating gluten free like I am. And if you're not bothered by gluten, why then go ahead and eat your cake and have this too.

I'll look forward to my next trip to Reno (or to Sweets other location in Truckee, CA) when I can sample more handmade chocolates.