Emily's - Dark Chocolate Covered Blueberries - Aug. 15, 2016

Chocolate of the Day:

Emily's
Dark Chocolate Covered Blueberries
Good+
Weight: 1.41 oz. (40 g.)/5 oz. (142 g.) in total package
Calories: 190 calories in 1/4 cup serving
Cost: $5.99 for 1 package
Purchased from: Piazza's Fine Foods, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #13 of Chocolate, Fruit and Botanicals Month.

Emily's Dark Chocolate Covered Blueberries were not bad for chocolate-covered fruit pieces. Made with Non GMO dark chocolate, these whole, dried blueberries tasted like real berries and contained no artificial flavors or colors.

The blueberries were sweetened, but didn't taste loaded with sugar—a good thing if you like tasting the fruit and the chocolate.

These berries were convenient to take along on a hike. (And, yes, chocolate and hiking are just as wonderful with a broken hand.)

The Emily's brand is "looked after by" AMES International, Inc. (Fife, WA).

Lindt - Pineapple bar, Ambrosia - Aug. 14, 2016

Chocolate(s) of the Day:

Lindt
Pineapple bar
Good
Weight: .7 oz. (20 g.) / 3.5 oz. (100 g.) in total bar
Calories: 105 calories in 1/5 bar
Cost: $3.49 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Piazza's Fine Foods, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Chocolate, Fruit and Botanicals Month.

I was intrigued by my first taste of ambrosia fruit salad, by the combination of pineapple pieces, mandarin oranges, coconut flakes, diced marshmallows, sour cream and occasionally pecans or cherries.

Today's dark (47%) chocolate Pineapple bar from Lindt and Sprungli AG (Kilchberg, Switzerland), had a fruity aroma and contained small pieces of pineapple and flecks of hazelnut. (Pairing suggestion on the label for this bar: a Chardonnay white wine.)

I felt inspired to combine some different chocolates to approximate an ambrosia fruit salad. A small sampler plate soon also held: a Blood Orange Olive Oil Meltaway cube of silken chocolate goodness from Ethereal Confections (Woodstock, IL); a piece of Roasted White Chocolate (bar) from SOMA Chocolatemaker (Toronto, Canada); and a bite of Coconut Crisp bar from TCHO (Berkeley, CA).

I enjoyed alternating bites of complementary fruit flavors. Bon appetit to all.

Nestle - Milk Chocolate Raisinets - Aug. 13, 2016

Chocolate of the Day:

Nestle
Raisinets - Milk Chocolate
Good
Weight: 1/4 cup (45 g.) / 8 oz. (226.7 g.) in total package
Calories: 190 calories in 1/4 cup (45 g.) serving
Cost: $3.00 (sale) for 1 package
Purchased from: Walgreens, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #6 of Chocolate, Fruit and Botanicals Month.

Today I attended an event that was honoring women who joined the workforce during wartime (in World War II). These so-called Rosie the Riveters helped weld and assemble ships that were being launched in the San Francisco Bay Area (and elsewhere) in rapid succession, to help fight the war overseas during the 1940s.


In keeping with that era, I chose to feature Milk Chocolate Raisinets, a confection that may have been familiar to the "Rosies." Chocolate covered raisins have a long history, and were likely available in the U.S. at least a decade before World War II started, from the Blumenthal Chocolate Company and some European companies.

These chocolate and raisin pieces had an almost malty sweetness to them.

Milk Chocolate Raisinets now come from Nestle (Vevey, Switzerland). Nestle acquired the Raisinets brand in 1984.

Philip Marks Chocolates - Dark 72% Raisin Bark - Aug. 12, 2016

Chocolate of the Day:

Philip Marks Chocolates
Dark Chocolate Raisin Bark
Very Good
Weight: 2.25 oz. (64 g.) / 4.5 oz. (128 g.) in total package
Calories: 320 calories (estimate) in 1/2 package
Cost: $5.49 for 1 package
Purchased from: Piazza's Fine Foods, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #5 of Chocolate, Fruit and Botanicals Month.

I was surprised and delighted to taste today's Dark Chocolate Raisin Bark from Philip Marks Chocolates (Brisbane, CA). Dried fruits such as raisins don't always get the respect, and careful treatment, they deserve.

Today's thick shards of high-quality, 72% (Arriba) cacao, dark chocolate bark were topped with jumbo-sized, plump golden raisins—that tasted more like juicy, sweet white wine grapes than the shriveled, dry raisins I recall from childhood.

This was a great elevated execution of a classic confection.

The Xocolate Bar - Brandy Truffle - Aug. 11, 2016

Chocolate of the Day:

The Xocolate Bar
Brandy Truffle (grape cluster)
Good++
Weight: .5 oz. (14.1 g.) (estimate) in 1 piece
Calories: 72 calories (estimate) in 1 piece
Cost: $2.50 (estimate) for 1 piece
Purchased from: The Xocolate Bar, Berkeley, CA

Welcome to Chocolate, Fruit and Botanicals Month on Chocolate Banquet.*

Today's (vegan) Brandy Truffle from The Xocolate Bar (Berkeley, CA) was shaped like a pretty cluster of lustrous, purple grapes. But, the booze-infused chocolate ganache (chocolate filling) had a serious brandy kick to it—great for adult palettes.

*This month, instead of 7+-day theme weeks, I'm featuring several shorter series of chocolates mixed with fruit flavors, such as orange, grapes, goji berries, etc. And in a few weeks, I'm looking forward to a series of chocolates/bars with some herbal botanical inclusions (fennel, anise and absinthe, palo santo, etc.). Chocolate is nothing if not versatile.

Russell Stover - Orange Bites - Aug. 10, 2016

Chocolate of the Day:

Russell Stover
Orange Bites
OK ++ - Good
Weight: .74 oz. (21 g.) / 6.5 oz. (184 g) total package
Calories: 95 calories in 1/2 serving (5 pieces)
Cost: $3.95 (estimate) for one package
Purchased from: Walgreens, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Chocolate, Fruit and Botanicals Month.

Today's Orange Bites from chocolate confection company Russell Stover (Kansas City, MO) was the third of three chocolate items with orange this week.

The package was filled with glossy dark chocolate spheres that, when bitten into, revealed a slightly chewy sweet, fruit-flavored center.

Salazon - Organic Dark Chocolate with Sea Salt and Orange Zest bar - Aug. 9, 2016

Chocolate of the Day:

Salazon Chocolate Co.
72% Organic Dark Chocolate with Sea Salt and Orange Zest bar
Good+ - Good ++
Weight: .687 oz. (19.5 g.) / 2.75 oz. (78 g.) in total bar
Calories: 103 calories in 1/4 bar
Cost: $4.50 for 1 bar
Purchased from: SweetE Organic, Mill Valley, CA

Welcome to Chocolate, Fruit and Botanicals Month.

Today's 72% Organic Dark Chocolate with Sea Salt and Orange Zest bar was from Salazon Chocolate Co. (Eldersburg, MD).

Like other Salazon chocolate bars, the single origin chocolate was made from "fermented and sun-dried Hispaniola cacao beans" from the Dominican Republic, and the sea salt and other flavors were very well balanced and "clean" with no off flavors.

The Organic, Fair Trade chocolate bar had a generous and uniform confetti made of orange zest pressed into the back, and a relief type world map on the front.

Thank you to Laura for the tasting help.