Xocolatl de David - Rose Hips and Berries bar - June 12, 2016

Chocolate of the Day: 

Xocolatl de David
Rose Hips and Berries bar
Good++
Weight: 1.05 oz. (30 g.) in total bar
Calories: 157 calories (estimate) in 1 bar
Cost: $6.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: The Meadow (original Mississippi location), Portland, OR

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

Today's Dark Chocolate with Rose Hips, Berries and Hibiscus Flower bar was from Xocolatl de David (Portland, OR).

David Briggs, the chief chocolatier at Xocolatl de David, has created different lines of bars: Raleigh Bars, Truffle Bars, and others. The company's Truffle Bars, like today's bar, are designed to have a smoother texture, more like a chocolate truffle.

This thin 72% dark chocolate square bar was pliably soft with a slow, smooth truffle fudge-like melt. The bar was full of subtle berry fruit and floral notes, and sparkles of fleur de sel (sea salt).

A well-balanced sweetness (not too much sugar and aforementioned sea salt) allowed the berry additions (red currants, raspberries, blackberries) to unfold like a good book. Rose hips and hibiscus flowers and vanilla provided faint accent flavors that rounded out the berry flavors nicely.

Caramelized Lavender Milk Chocolate bar - June 11, 2016

Chocolate of the Day: 

Rozsavolgyi Csokolade
Caramelized Lavender Flowers in Milk Chocolate with Star Anise bar
Good ++
Weight: 1 oz. (28 g.) / 2.47 oz. (70 g.) in total bar
Calories: 152 calories (estimate) in 1 oz. (28.3 g.) of bar
Cost: $14.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: The Meadow (original Mississippi location), Portland, OR

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

I am delighted when I can travel the world through chocolate. Today's Caramelized Lavender Flowers in Milk Chocolate with Star Anise bar was made by Rozsavolgyi Csokolade (Budapest, Hungary).

This beautifully designed and packaged bar also employed a very effective fusion of flavors. The bar had a slightly floral and herbal aroma.

I bit into it and the creamy sweet 40% milk chocolate enabled a slow release of lavender. Not one to shy away from lavender, I threw in a two tiny, dried lavender buds of my own as a chaser. Even better I thought. However, amping up the pure lavender led me to realize there was something else...another flavor. Star anise!

I admit I'm normally not a fan of star anise. However, it blended very nicely with the lavender.

Koszonom (thank you) to the makers of this bar at Rozsavolgyi Csokolade in Hungary.

P.S. - I contacted the chocolate maker, to ask him about the molds (moulds) used for their bars. Zsolt's wife, Katalin, does the design and worked on creating the molds. His response is pasted below:

"...Our moulds were designed and specially made for us. My wife (Katalin Csiszar) is an artist in graphics design, and the moulds were designed by one of her former fellow artists she knew from uni.

Both of them are based on old Hungarian patterns/motives. The one you tried is imitating a renaissance furnace tile (the era of Matthias Rex). The other one is inspired by Hungarian embroidery, although at first sight, it is often taken for an Aztec pattern.

Apart from that, all packagings and artwork are designed by Katalin..."

Heart of Shasta - Lavender Dreams Bar - June 10, 2016

Chocolate of the Day:

Heart of Shasta
Lavender Dreams Organic Raw Chocolate Bar
Good +
Weight: 1.1 oz. (31.1 g.) in 1 bar
Calories: 165 calories (estimate) in 1 bar
Cost: $3.95 in total bar
Purchased from: SweetE Organic, Mill Valley, CA

Welcome to Day #2 of Chocolate and Flowers Theme Week.

Today's Lavender Dreams bar was from Heart of Shasta (Mt. Shasta, CA).

This was not a heat-tempered bar that broke with a hard snap, but rather one that was soft, uniformly creamy, fudgey and truffle-like—only without the sugar. Lightly sweetened with honey instead of refined sugar, with a pleasing melt and mouth feel from cacao and coconut fat, this raw bar was made from 100% cacao powder, cacao butter, honey, coconut oil and lavender.

The lavender flavor was authentic, pleasing, well-balanced and uniform throughout the bar.

As with most raw chocolate made in this fashion, there is less of a sugar "buzz" and fewer spikes of roasted, fruit and other flavors from the cacao that develop in fermentation, roasting and other stages of chocolate-making where temperatures exceed that allowed for "raw" chocolate. And that may be a good thing, depending on what your preferences might be.

If you're curious about raw chocolate, this might be a good brand to try. The company offers a line of flavored bars.

This raw and organic bar was Dairy, Soy and Gluten Free.

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

Moonstruck - Edible Flowers and Cherries bar - June 9, 2016

Chocolate of the Day: 

Moonstruck Chocolate Co.
Edible Flowers and Cherries bar
Good - Good+
Weight: 1.4 oz. (40 g.) / 3.67 oz. (104 g.) in total bar
Calories: 230 calories in 1 serving of bar
Cost: $10.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Moonstruck Chocolate Co., Portland, OR

Welcome to Day #7 of Chocolate and Cherries Theme Week, and Day #1 of Chocolate and Flowers Week.

Today's bar, the Edible Flowers and Cherries bar (Recipe No. 011) from Moonstruck Chocolate Co. (Portland, OR), marked a transition between cherries and flowers.

It was a very attractive, eye-catching bar, with "crystallized pansies on dark chocolate accented with Bing cherry pieces and rose and violet petals."

A bit too sweet for me, I couldn't taste any of the rose or violet flower notes. However, sugar preserved the flowers, and sugared bits of sweet and very slightly tart cherry were fruity and chewy.

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

TCHO - 99% Dark Chocolate Critters + DIY Cherries

Chocolate of the Day: 

TCHO
99% Dark Chocolate Critters
Good - Good+
Weight: .7 oz. (20 g.) / 8 oz. (226 g.) in total package
Calories: 125 calories in 1/2 serving critters/piece
Cost: $10.99 for 1 package
Purchased from: Draeger's, San Mateo, CA


Welcome to Day #6 of Chocolate and Cherries Theme Week.

There's dark and then there's dark. Today's 99% Dark Chocolate Critters from TCHO (Berkeley, CA) were the essence of dark.

I sampled tiny, unsweetened owl, rabbit, hedgehog and squirrel shaped chocolates from this package. These critters had a rich, almost nut-butter like smoothness and consistency—only without the nuts, sugar and salt. They had a dark, freshly fermented cacao bean, almost winey flavor.

TCHO sells the same 99% chocolate to bakers, restaurants and chefs and confectioners, for them to melt, re-form and embellish as they see fit. I paired my critters with some fresh cherries and Oregon cherry jam. And different types of fresh cherries were dipped and dragged through the melted critters. Dark? Yes.

TCHO was formerly located on the Embarcadero in San Francisco and they offered a great tour, The company relocated to the East Bay, and now resides in Berkeley, CA, where one can, once again, take tours and see how chocolate is made. They also have a kiosk in San Francisco (Westfield Mall on Market Street).

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

Nirvana - Dark Chocolate dark cherries bar - June 7, 2016

Chocolate of the Day:

Nirvana Belgian Chocolates
Organic Belgian Dark Chocolate dark cherries bar
Good
Weight: .75 oz. (21.2 g.) / 3 oz. (85 g.) in total bar
Calories: 115 calories in 1/4 bar
Cost: $5.95 for 1 bar
Purchased from: SweetE Organic, Mill Valley, CA

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

Today's Organic Belgian Dark Chocolate dark cherries bar from Nirvana Belgian Chocolate (Belgium) was more interesting on the back side, where there sat a collection of sweet, dark, dried (whole I think) cherries.*

This smooth 72% dark bar was "Made in Belgium with Love for Belgium's Chocolate Source" (Milton, MA in the U.S.).

The chocolate was created in Belgium from Organic and Fairtrade Certified (94.6%) ingredients. The bar was also gluten free.

The packaging was illustrated by a "wonderfully talented Boston artist," (no name listed). Garden gnomes were laboring under cherry tree branches, laden with spring blossoms, harvesting plump red cherries.

*Cherries contained cherries, apple juice concentrate and sunflower oil.

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

Ethereal Confections - 66 percent bar with berries, cherries - June 6, 2016

Chocolate of the Day:

Ethereal Confections

66 percent bar with blackberries, blueberries and cherries

Good + - Good++

Weight: 1.49 oz. (43 g.) / 2.25 oz. (65 g.) in total bar

Calories: 223 calories (estimate) in 2/3 bar

Cost: $7.95 for 1 bar

Purchased from: SweetE Organic, Mill Valley, CA

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

The back side of today's 66 percent bar with organic blackberries, blueberries and cherries from Ethereal Confections (Woodstock, IL) was a great fiesta of berry and cherry bits.

Despite the fruit-forward appearance and flavor, I could also taste glimmers of the underlying chocolate. Pleasant, with an occasional smoky and sweet note.

Thank you to Mary and Sara Ervin, the owners and co-founders of Ethereal Chocolate for your craft and creativity, and to Elana T. at SweetE Organic for carrying this line. Most of my chocolates have come from retail outlets with carefully curated selections; and it was delightful to be introduced to this bean-to-bar maker (located northwest of Chicago) a few years ago.

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