2 Degrees - Chocolate Banana bar - Jan. 17, 2016

Chocolate of the Day: 

Two Degrees, Inc.
2 Degrees Chocolate Banana bar
Good - Good +
Weight: 1.5 oz. (44 g.) in 1 bar
Calories: 170 calories in 1 bar
Cost: $2.19 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Piazza's Fine Foods, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #5 of Chocolate and Banana Theme Week.

Today's Chocolate Banana bar was made by Two Degrees, Inc. (San Francisco, CA).

This snack bar had a soft crunch and easy chew -- and was slightly less sweet than many bars. The addition of fiber (quinoa, millet and chia) made this bar with natural banana and cacao flavors more satisfying.

I also tried crumbling bits of this bar on a tiny cup of rich, creamy banana gelato. It provided a nice contrast of textures; and I enjoyed these crumbles more than a traditional ice cream topping—such as chocolate syrup or sugar sprinkles.

Dark chocolate contains magnesium and iron, and bananas are high in potassium. Gelato can provide a healthy dose of calcium. So, this morning meal was relatively balanced for a dessert breakfast.

Two Degrees founders are committed to using proceeds from their kosher, gluten-free, vegan, GMO free bars to help prevent childhood hunger. (Today's Chocolate Banana bar was also nut free.)

The content and images in this post belong to ChocolateBanquet.com.

Talenti - Banana Swirl Gelato Pops - Jan. 16, 2016

Chocolate of the Day: 

Talenti
Banana Swirl Gelato Pops
Good - Good +
Weight: 3 fl. oz. (68 g.) / 9 fl. oz. (266 g.) in total box of 3 pops
Calories: 180** calories in 1 pop
Cost: $6.49 for 1 box of 3 pops
Purchased from: Piazza's Fine Foods, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #4 of Chocolate and Banana Theme Week.

Happy January to all. Tropical items in winter remind me of brighter, sunnier days to come.

These items also illustrate the amazing access we have to a wide variety of foods from around the world. I can't grow cacao or bananas in my yard, but I can buy them in four of five markets within a 5-mile (8-kilometer) radius of where I live. Some, like today's offering, are in frozen form.

Today's Banana Swirl Gelato Pops were from Talenti* (Minneapolis, MN and Marietta, GA). "Argentine caramel" was swirled through banana gelato, that was then dipped in dark chocolate. The pop is a variation on the company's Banana Chocolate Swirl Gelato—that I've featured previously. (The pops are chocolate coated and the gelato has chocolate mixed into it.)

The banana flavor was fresh and authentic and brightened a bit with a touch of lemon; and the chocolate shell was bittersweet and smooth.

*Talenti (part of Unilever) produces gelato and sorbetto, as well as chocolate covered gelato pops. The company name was inspired by Bernardo Buontalenti, who has been credited with inventing gelato.

**The Talenti website lists calories in 1 pop as 210; today's packaging listed the number as 180 calories. Please contact the company if you need an exact number.

The content and images in this post belong to ChocolateBanquet.com.

NadaMoo - Banana for PB and Chocolate - Jan. 15, 2016

Chocolate of the Day:

NadaMoo!
Banana for PB and Chocolate
Good - Good +
Weight: 1/2 cup (71 g.) /1 Pint (473 mL) for 1 container
Calories: 120 calories for 1/2 cup
Cost: $2.00 (estimate) for 1 container
Purchased from: Grocery Outlet, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #3 of Chocolate and Banana Theme Week.

Today's Bananas for PB and Chocolate from NadaMoo! (Austin, TX) was a non-dairy, frozen dessert made with organic coconut milk and agave nectar vs. traditional cream/milk and sugar.

The coconut milk helped give today's dessert a nice creamy melt and texture (giving it a richer taste than its 120 calories for 1/2 cup would suggest). Small pieces of real, frozen banana surfaced every few bites in a sea of chocolate. The peanut butter flavor was subtle.

One could easily make a "milkshake" with this NadaMoo dessert, by just adding a fresh banana and a splash of water in a blender.

The content and images in this post belong to ChocolateBanquet.com.

Zola - Dark Chocolate Organic Banana Chunks - Jan. 14, 2016

Chocolate of the Day: 

Zola
Dark Chocolate Organic Banana Chunks
Good - Good +
Weight: 1/4 cup (40 g.) / 4 oz. (113 g.) in total package
Calories: 180 calories in 1/3 package
Cost: $3.50 (sale) for 1 package
Purchased from: Safeway, Palo Alto, CA

Aloha tropical fruit fans, and welcome to Day #2 of Chocolate and Banana Theme Week.

Today's tasty organic, shiny dark chocolate covered banana pieces were created by Zola (San Francisco).

Zola's focus is on "fruits of the world"—e.g., acai berries from Brazil, coconut from Thailand, or bananas from various countries. The company is perhaps best known for their coconut water (original and flavored).

Zola also makes some fruit offerings with chocolate. (And, after all, chocolate starts as the seeds, or beans, inside a fruit.) The dark chocolate today was made from organic and fair trade certified cocoa.

The content and images in this post belong to ChocolateBanquet.com.

Barnana Organic Chocolate Chewy Banana Bites - Jan. 13, 2016

Chocolate of the Day:

Wholesome Valley Foods
Barnana - Organic Chocolate Chewy Banana Bites
Good
Weight: 6 pieces (40 g.) / 3.5 oz. (100 g.) in total package
Calories: 170 calories in 6 piece serving
Cost: $3.99 for 1 package
Purchased from: Piazza's Fine Foods, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to the first day of Chocolate and Banana Theme Week!

Bananas can be found in the same tropical areas where cacao trees grow. Banana leaves are often layered over cacao pulp and beans during a post-harvest fermentation process—one of the first steps in making chocolate.

So, imagine my surprise yesterday—on a cold January day in the San Francisco Bay Area**—when I saw a large, tell-tale burgandy-red banana bloom hanging over a fence, with a group of greenish bananas ripening above, amongst broad, mostly frost-untarnished green banana leaves.

This sighting provided a great inspiration for chocolate and banana week. Banana plants* may be scarce; but, fortunately, chocolate + banana offerings are easy to find.

Today's 54% cacao Organic Chocolate Chewy Banana Bites were created and distributed by Wholesome Valley Foods (Santa Monica, CA). These potassium-rich and preservative-free, organic, dark, glossy chocolate rounds were filled with rich, concentrated organic banana flavor and soft chewy texture.

I found a small handful of these pieces to be satisfying, flavorful and sweet—without being cloying. These bites were non-GMO certified, gluten free and dairy free.

*Banana plants can grow to more than 20 feet (6 meters) tall, but they are not considered trees. Rather bananas are "leathery berries" that grow on one of the world's largest perennial herbaceous flowering plants. 

**It's sometimes possible to grow bananas in cooler climates, in cities adjacent to large bodies of water (that can help moderate temperatures, and minimize the probability of frost).

The content and images in this post belong to ChocolateBanquet.com.

ohso - Orange ProBiotic chocolate - Jan. 12, 2016

Chocolate of the Day: 

Goodnesse Ltd.
ohso
Orange ProBiotic chocolate
Good
Weight: .5 oz. (14 g.) bar/ 3.45 oz. (98 g.)
Calories: 70 calories in 1 small bar
Cost: $9.99 for package of 7 small bars
Purchased from: Country Sun Natural Foods, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to the last day (Day #7) of Chocolate and Orange Theme Week.

These (oh so tiny) Ohso Orange Probiotic chocolate bars were only about 6.5 cm x 3.3 cm*—yet, they were scored into even tinier squares like you'd find in larger bars. Cute!

The 53% cacao Belgian dark chocolate Ohso bars had an interesting origin story. The chocolate was a "product of Belgium," manufactured by Goodness Ltd. (Little Yarrowfield, UK), and "proudly distributed by Solgar Vitamins" (Leonia, NJ)...And I bought them at Country Sun, what we used to call a "health food" store. (Wouldn't it be great if all stores sold "healthy" food?)

Interest in probiotics has been growing in the last decade, as more is known (or is now part of public discussion) about one's microbiome**.

This is interesting,  but I admit, I was a little apprehensive when I read on the label that each Ohso, oh so tiny, bar "contains around 1 billion Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium bacteria." Maybe I'll just have one then, I thought. (What happens if someone overdoses? I pondered.)

The gluten-free and nut-free chocolate was smooth, sweet and orange flavored, as promised. The bars came in a package of seven—one for each day of the week.

----o----o----o----

*6.5 cm x 3.3 cm is approximately 2.5 x 1.25 inches in size

**Each person has their own diverse microbiome, a variety of microorganisms within our body that includes microbes in our gut that help protect us from harm, and break down food into nutrients and vitamins. Some bacteria, fungi and viruses can be beneficial, others not so much—especially if there is an overgrowth of certain "bad" ones. Probiotics seek to keep this world in balance by introducing bacteria known to be beneficial, such as you might find in yogurt or certain fermented foods. (Chocolate is a fermented food; without microbes we wouldn't have chocolate as we know it.)

The content and images in this post belong to ChocolateBanquet.com.

Perugina - Dark Chocolate Orangello bar - Jan. 11, 2016

Chocolate of the Day: 

Nestle
Perugina
Dark Chocolate Orangello bar
Good - Good +
Weight: 3.5 oz. (99.2 g.) in total bar
Calories: 500 calories (estimate) in 1 bar
Cost: $1.99 (sale) for 1 bar
Purchased from: World Market, Mountain View, CA

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

Orange candy pieces integrated into today's Dark Chocolate Orangello bar from Perugina conveyed the "orange" in this bar. These fruit flavored bits contained orange, sugar, apple and pineapple fiber; and they delivered a pleasant orange flavor, with a slight sparkle, throughout the tasting experience.

Had this been a milk chocolate bar, I think it would have been too sweet. The smooth dark chocolate blend was just right.

Perugina was founded in Perugia, Italy, in 1907. The company is now part of Nestle S.A. (Vevey, Switzerland).

The content and images in this post belong to ChocolateBanquet.com.