Tout Sweet - Chocolate Almonds - June 14, 2015

Chocolate of the Day: 

Tout Sweet Patisserie
Crunchy Caramel Chocolate Coated Almonds
Good+
Weight: .5 oz. (14.1 g.) / 3 oz. (84.9 g.) in total container
Calories: 75 calories (estimate) in 1/2 oz. serving
Cost: $7.00 for 1 container
Purchased from: Tout Sweet Patisserie, Palo Alto, CA

It's always wonderful to find new chocolate makers or chocolatiers with new chocolate items to try. Yesterday I stumbled upon the new Palo Alto location of Tout Sweet Patisserie (San Francisco).

Entering into the shop, I was confronted with a visual feast. Colorful pyramids of gluten-free macarons, and impressive looking cakes and pastries, large and small all beckoned. I bought some small gluten-free cake/pastry items to take to a graduation celebration, and they were all very good. Look forward to featuring those and more chocolate items from this store in the future.

It was only as I turned to leave, bag of cakes in hand, when I saw today's Crunchy Caramel and Double Chocolate Coated Almonds, and realized they'd be perfect for this week's almond-themed chocolate week.

These chocolate covered almonds featured perfectly roasted/toasted almonds that were attractively dusted with cocoa powder. No gooey "caramel" here, but the nuts perfectly done, and the star of the show. The chocolate played second fiddle.

Trader Joe's - Chocolate Covered Almonds - June 13, 2015

Chocolate(s) of the Day: 

Trader Joe's

Dark Chocolate Almond Toffee
Good - Good +
Weight: 1 oz. (28.3 g.) / 2 oz. (57 g.) in 1 package
Calories: 155 calories in 1 oz. (28.3 g.) serving
Cost: $1.49 for 1 package/bag
Purchased from: Trader Joe's, Daly City, CA

Dark Chocolate Covered Almonds
Good
Weight: 1.4 oz. (40 g.) / 3 oz. (85 g.) in total package/bag
Calories: 230 calories in 1 serving
Cost: $0.99 for 1 package/bag
Purchased from: Trader Joe's, Daly City, CA

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

These two dark chocolate covered almonds snack-sized packages from Trader Joe's (Monrovia, CA) were fun. The first one, Dark Chocolate Almond Toffee -- round chocolate spheres with crunchy sweet toffee and roasted California almonds at the center -- was quite good. Sweet, without being cloyingly so.

The second package was filled with dry roasted almonds coated with dark chocolate. The almonds contributed a pleasant, roasted nut crunch and flavor. The surrounding dark chocolate had a very slight bitter or burned flavor, that was not entirely unpleasant -- but rather a contrast with the sweeter toffee almonds.

Ghirardelli Chocolate - Creamy Almond Crunch bar - June 12, 2015

Chocolate of the Day: 

Ghirardelli Chocolate Company
Creamy Almond Crunch bar
Good
Weight: 1.67 oz. (47.5 g.) / 3.34 oz. (95 g.) in total bar
Calories: 253.3 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $2.99 (sale) for 1 bar
Purchased from: Walgreens, Los Altos, CA

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

Aptly named, the Creamy Almond Crunch Bar from Ghirardelli Chocolate Company (San Leandro, CA) melted in my mouth. The buttery milk chocolate was balanced by a creamy and slightly crunchy almond filling -- advertised as a "creamy roasted almond filling blended with caramelized almond pieces." There's that word creamy again.

It's creamy, slightly nutty flavor and texture appealed to me today. My only quibble was with the ingredients list, i.e. a there were a few ingredients I'd rather not see, such as "natural and artificial flavors, soy lecithin -- an emulsifier, corn starch, salt, vanilla, TBHQ -- an antioxidant, and corn syrup."

Ghirardelli has a long history when it comes to making and selling chocolates -- beginning in 1852 in the Gold Rush era in San Francisco. Ghirardelli is the oldest continuously operating chocolate maker in the San Francisco Bay Area (and perhaps the U.S). Etienne Guittard soon followed. Both Ghirardelli and Guittard are still making chocolate in the San Francisco Bay Area in San Leandro and South San Francisco, respectively.

Bissinger's - Chocolate and Almonds bar - June 11, 2015

Chocolate of the Day: 

Bissinger's
Chocolate and Almonds bar
Good - Good +
Weight: 1.5 oz. (43 g.) / 3 oz. (85 g.) in total bar
Calories: 240 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $ lost information
Purchased from: Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, Palo Alto, CA

Today was Day #3 of Chocolate and Almonds Theme Week.

This Chocolate and Almonds bar from Bissinger's (St. Louis, MO) was an attractive bar, with the "B" for Bissinger's elegantly embossed on each square of the bar's front side. On the reverse side, whole California almonds were pressed into a 60% dark chocolate base.

The Bissinger family name has a long history in chocolate. The company had its origins in France (Paris in the 1600s), and was established in in the U.S. in 1845.

The Art of Nuts
Nuts handled well can be heavenly. But, like any flavor addition, care needs to be taken to achieve a successful complementary taste and texture balance between nuts and chocolate. Sometimes the underlying chocolate may be too strong for more delicate nut flavors. Under-roasted or over-roasted nuts can distract from an otherwise great experience; too much or too little salt in some chocolate and nut blends might be a consideration.

How big should flavor addition pieces be, nuts or otherwise, to created a layering of flavors? While pulverized herbs may release more flavor, not so with most nuts. Some chocolate bars with almonds will incorporate the nuts as tiny pieces, giving the bar a uniform mild crunch, but while adding texture, more delicate flavors may be lost.

Today's Bissinger's bar with whole roasted almonds gave the bar a more noticeable crunch, and made it easier to actually taste the slightly sweet, nutty flavor of the almonds, even with an otherwise smooth dark chocolate base with slightly bitter and earth notes.

I also liked that this bar wasn't too sweet. Too much sugar can also overpower subtle flavors.

This Chocolate and Almonds bar was made with Rainforest Alliance Certified cacao from the Ivory Coast, and was gluten free, and contained, from what I could tell, mostly Non-GMO ingredients.

Toblerone - Swiss Milk Salted Almonds bar - June 10, 2015

Chocolate of the Day: 

Toblerone*
Swiss Milk Chocolate with Salted Caramelized Almonds and Honey and Almond Nougat
Good
Weight: 1.16 oz. (33 g.) / 3.52 oz. (100 g.) in total bar
Calories: 180 calories in 1/3 bar
Cost: $0.97 (estimate) (sale price)
Purchased from: Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, Palo Alto, CA

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

Toblerone Swiss Milk Chocolate bars come in several flavors, including today's big Toblerone bar with the big (or at least long) name: "Swiss Milk Chocolate with Salted Caramelized Almonds and Honey and Almond Nougat" (bar).

The unique triangular shape of the Toblerone bar was developed in Berne, Switzerland, more than 100 years ago. The bar's resemblance to mountain peaks reminded me of the Swiss Alps when I was younger.

Note: The Toblerone brand is part of Kraft Foods.

Valor Chocolates - Almond creme squares - June 9, 2015

Chocolate of the Day: 

Valor Chocolates
Doblones Puro Rellenos Creme de Almendra - Cacao 52%
Good
Weight: .25 oz. (7 g.) (estimate) in 2 squares
Calories: 38 calories (estimate) in 2 squares
Cost: $N/A - gift from a friend (Thank you Toni!)
Purchased from: N/A - gift from a friend

Welcome to the first day of Chocolate and Almonds Theme Week.

A friend kindly donated an assortment of individually wrapped squares from Valor Chocolates (Alicante, Espana) to me. She'd purchased them while on a recent trip to Spain.

I tried the two, bite sized almond creme filled squares this afternoon. Sweet and chocolatey on the outside, the almond creme layer in the center of these 52% cacao chocolates was subtly flavored.

Dandelion Chocolate - Cacao fruit smoothie - June 8, 2015 (bonus post)

Chocolate(s) of the Day: 

Dandelion Chocolate
Cacao Fruit Smoothie
Good ++
Weight: 10 oz. (estimate)
Calories: unknown
Cost: $7.00
Purchased from: Dandelion Chocolate, San Francisco, CA

I would be remiss if I left out a beverage made with real cacao fruit pulp on the last day of Chocolate Tea and Beverage Theme Week.

Cacao fruit or pulp surrounds a core of perhaps two dozen large cacao "seeds" found in each cacao pod.

Dandelion Chocolate (San Francisco, CA) is the only place I know of in the San Francisco Bay Area where one can buy such as thing.

Dandelion's cacao fruit smoothie is light-colored, sweet and fruity. It's described as having a "tropical lychee" flavor. And it was a great refreshing cold drink to have on a hot day.

I was at Dandelion Chocolate to listen to a presentation about the company's cacao sourcing trip to Cuba, and to see if there were any new chocolate items I might have missed. I walked away with four new single origin bars to try, and some interesting facts about cacao production in Cuba.

Cacao from Cuba
This evening's speakers talked about their exploratory trip to Cuba. Most of cacao grown in Cuba is used domestically; a small portion of high grade cacao is exported -- or I should say could be exported to the U.S. if relations between the two countries continue to improve. The government currently pays farmers roughly $9/month for their cacao and controls exports.

Most cacao in Cuba is grown in the western end of this island nation that is Cuba, in the Baracoa area. This means a bit of a trek if one starts the trip in Havana.

Unlike chocolatiers, who can buy blocks of chocolate others have made, chocolate makers need to develop relationships with farmers who are growing or producing cacao. Knowing what crops might taste like from year to year, what the local fermentation conditions exist, and what would be a fair (or over market) price for good quality beans are typically part of this relationship. This last consideration may be handled differently in Cuba, as the government controls prices.

Traveling to the country of origin has other benefits as well. First, even if trade is not open yet between the Cuba and the U.S., it pays to learn about and develop relationships with people who produce quality beans. Those contacts may help jump-start business once the governments of both countries are ready to move forward.

In the meantime, the few single origin Cuba bars that are available come from a small number of (mostly European) chocolate makers such as Francois Pralus (France), Benoit Nihant (who hails from Belgium), and Bean and Goose Chocolate (Wexford, Ireland).