Pacari - Raw Maca (bar) - July 15, 2014

Chocolate of the Day: 

Pacari
Raw Maca (bar) - 70% cacao
Good++
Weight: 1.76 oz. (50 g.) total bar
Calories: 300 calories (estimate per label) in 1 bar
Cost: $ N/A - gift
Purchased from: N/A - gift

Today was Day #4 of Chocolate Surprise Theme Week.

What's surprising about today's chocolate? Sometimes the ingredients of a bar are themselves unique or unusual, like today's Raw Maca (bar) from Pacari Chocolate (Quito, Ecuador), made from 70% Ecuadorian Arriba Nacional cacao and maca.

What is maca? This radish relative, with a butterscotch-like aroma, is a tuber native to South America that has been cultivated for its medicinal properties for several centuries. It's also been called "Peruvian Gingeng." Maca is considered a "superfood" by some and has been recently marketed as a way to help balance hormones and increase energy. I don't know about all that, but it gave this chocolate a pleasant slightly sweet, almost earthy flavor, and was surprisingly good.

Pacari Chocolate crafts bars and other chocolates (raw and roasted) from Ecuadorian organic (and kosher) chocolate, and often includes anti-oxidant rich, local/regional ingredients such as Andean blueberries, salt and maca.

Baba Joon's - Coconut Almond Chocolate Chewies - July 14, 2014

Chocolate(s) of the Day: 

Baba Joon's Chocolate Chewies
Coconut Almond
Good + - Very Good
Weight: 1.07 oz. (30 g.) for 2 / 7.5 oz. (212 g.) for 14
Calories: 130 calories (guesstimate) for 2 cookies
Cost: $ N/A - gift
Purchased from: N/A - gift

Today was Day #3 of Chocolate Surprise Theme Week.

It was a week of beautiful, warm summer evenings. Perfect for picnics, walks and generally having a relaxing good time. Last Saturday, I enjoyed an outdoor concert with friends. One friend (thank you Elise!) brought a surprise gift -- these Coconut Almond cookies to share from Baba Joon's. And I'm featuring them today.

These Coconut Almond Chocolate Chewies were part of a line of "little chocolate miracles" from Baba Joon's (Morgan Hill, CA) -- that were gluten free, dairy free and preservative free. (I'd tried their apricot and walnut flavors before.) They were fresh, chewy, light and tasted satisfying and full of chocolate and coconut flavor, without being cloyingly sweet (as some macaroon style cookies can be).

These two-bite sized snacks were good hiking snacks as well. I tested them myself, and shared with others today.

Surprise - Second Chocolate
And, speaking of hiking, I was surprised to find a great ice cream treat from a local ice cream store in the middle of a redwood forest (Henry Cowell State Park), at a park store.

The Nutty Bar from Marianne's Ice Cream (Santa Cruz, CA) was delicious. A generous block of vanilla ice cream was coated with dark chocolate and smothered in chopped nuts. Yum.

Surprise. Chocolate is everywhere.

Mars - Birthday Cake MandM's - July 13, 2014

Chocolate of the Day: 

Mars Chocolate
Birthday Cake MandM's*
Good
Weight: 1.5 oz. (42 g.) / 8 oz. (226.8 g.) in total package
Calories: 210 calories in 1 serving
Cost: $3.00 for 1 package (sale)
Purchased from: CVS Pharmacy, Palo Alto, CA

Each year I've featured some type of Chocolate Surprise theme week. This year's chocolate surprise items are surprise finds, gifts or other discoveries of sorts. It's almost always nice to be presented with, or surprised by, a new chocolate.

I thought I'd tried every flavor of MandM's chocolate candies years ago. But, surprise, I was wrong. These Birthday Cake MandM's, in bright primary colors (red, blue and yellow), would be a good, festive fit for a birthday party. The generous sized bag was designed to be resealable, to keep any left-overs fresh and/or secure. And, while they may have contained artificial color and flavor, these candy-coated pieces stamped with the iconic "m" were made with real milk chocolate.

Today was Day #2 of Chocolate Surprise Theme Week.

*My apologies to Mars. I can't spell the MandM's brand correctly here, due to blogger's dislike of the ampersand sign. 

Prestat - Heart Shaped Box - trio assortment - July 12, 2014

Chocolate of the Day: 

Prestat LTD
Three-piece Heart box - three different chocolate flavors
1.) Rice Crisp Nougat - Good - Good +
2.) Dark Chocolate Truffle - Good - Good +
3.) Passion Fruit Fondant - Good + - Very Good
Calories: 210 calories (estimate) for 3 pieces
Cost: N/A - gift
Purchased from: N/A - gift

Today was Day #1 of Chocolate Surprise Theme Week. Sometimes surprises come in the form of gifts from traveling friends.

Thank you to Toni for this heart-shaped, 3-piece chocolate assortment box. Once again, I'm a fortunate beneficiary of her fabulous adventures -- this time her recent trip to London, where today's chocolates were made.


These three chocolates from Prestat LTD (London) were all good. Each seemed carefully crafted, well balanced, and had a unique flavor profile.

My favorite was the last one, the Passion Fruit Fondant -- covered with smooth but rich tasting dark chocolate. Inside was a sweet, flowing white fondant filling, infused with fresh and authentic-tasting passion fruit puree.

The crunchy rice cereal layer in the Rice Crisp Fondant piece balanced the soft, surrounding milk chocolate. And the dark chocolate ganache in the Dark Chocolate Truffle had a nice, slight bright fruit/berry jam note one occasionally finds in dark single origin bars.

Prestat is committed to trading fairly, and uses no genetically modified ingredients.

Branson's - Hazelnut Bar - July 11, 2014

Chocolate of the Day:

Branson's Chocolates, LLC
Hazelnut Bar
Good - Good +
Weight: 2 oz. (57 g.) in 1 bar
Calories: 320 calories in 1 bar
Purchased from: Branson's Chocolates, LLC

Today was the last day of Chocolate and Southern Oregon Theme Week. I only scratched the surface of what was available in this part of the world during my brief visit to the Medford/Ashland vicinity. Once again, I was reminded that chocolate is everywhere!

The chocolate I selected for today was a Hazelnut Bar from Branson's Chocolates (Ashland, OR). This creamy milk chocolate bar was full of crunchy dry roasted hazelnuts from Hazelnut Hill (Corvallis, OR).

Lillie Belle Farms - Poppy Flower Buttercream - July 10, 2014

Chocolate of the Day: 

Lillie Belle Farms
Poppy Flower Buttercream
Good + - Very Good
Weight: .6 oz. (16.98 g.) in two pieces
Calories: 90 calories (estimate) in two pieces
Cost: $4.00 (estimate) for 2 pieces
Purchased from: Lillie Belle Farms, Central Point, OR

Today was Day #6 of Chocolate and Southern Oregon Theme Week.

This Poppy Flower Buttercream chocolate from Lillie Belle Farms (Central Point, OR) is one of the reasons why I've continued my quest for new chocolates.

I also love flowers in food. So this "poppy" chocolate caught my eye when I spotted it in Lillie Belle's glass display case at their store in Central Point, OR, this past week.


The white, creamy ganache inside this cacao pod-shaped chocolate was infused with coquelicot* preserves from France, made with a confit of red poppy petals.

The resulting lovely, subtle floral flavor was intriguing, and difficult to pinpoint if I'd not received a kind response (to an email) from Jeff (Sheperd) at Lillie Belle Farms, answering my question about its origin.

*Coquelicot is also the name of a shade of red in France; and this chocolate was daubed with tiny red spots -- not unlike the colors one might see on ripe cacao fruit/pods.

Branson's - Blackberry Bar - July 9, 2014

Chocolate of the Day: 

Branson's Chocolates
Blackberry Bar - 58% cacao
Good
Weight: 1 oz. (28.3 g.) / 2 oz. (56.7 g.) in total bar
Calories: 150 cals. in 1/2 bar
Cost: $2.50 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Branson's Chocolates, Ashland, OR

Today was Day #5 of Chocolate and Southern Oregon Theme Week.

This Blackberry bar from Branson's Chocolates (Ashland, OR) was made with 58% cacao semi-sweet chocolate and a dark berry preserve filling (Marion Blackberries, sugar, pectin, citric acid).

My advice: as with any chocolate, eat these bars as freshly made as possible -- when the filling oozes with fresh Oregon blackberry flavor. Filled centers tend to stiffen a bit over time.