Spokandy - Milk Chocolate Vanilla Sea Salt bar - Sept. 2, 2016

Chocolate(s) of the Day:

Spokandy
Milk Chocolate Madagascar Vanilla Sea Salt bar
Good - Good +
Weight: .5 oz. (13.8) / 1.5 oz. (41.53 g.) in total bar
Calories: 77 calories (estimate) in 1/3 bar
Cost: $3.99 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Vista House Crown Point, OR

Welcome to Day #26 of Chocolate, Fruit and Botanicals Month. And today is Vanilla Day.

Chocolate and vanilla have a long history together. Vanilla orchids originated in what is now Mexico and Guatemala, an area where the Mayan people flavored their drinking cacao with vanilla hundreds of years ago.

Now vanilla is grown around the world, including Madagascar.

I've always considered vanilla an upbeat, happy spice that has a special affinity with milk and cream. Today I'm celebrating the magic of chocolate and vanilla with a series of treats.

The first item was a Milk Chocolate Madagascar Vanilla Sea Salt bar from Spokandy (Spokane, WA), a company that has been producing chocolates/confections since 1913.


This rich chocolate milk bar with ground vanilla bits and sparkles of sea salt was good by itself and melted over Madagascar Vanilla ice cream.

And speaking of vanilla ice cream, I enjoyed a mini breakfast banana and ice cream sundae, topped with a Planters Turtle Sundae Mix, with nuts and chocolate caramel and vanilla yogurt covered pieces.

I also made my favorite vanilla ice cream by mixing in more happy spices: freshly ground nutmeg and cardamom. (If I'd added saffron, I might have become terminally blissful.)

Last, but not least, the previous vanilla treats were joined by two, indvidually-wrapped, silky cubes of chocolate with a truly creamy and indulgent melt. The Vanilla Sea Salt and Lemon Vanilla  Olive Oil Meltaway chocolates from Ethereal Confections were made with a buttery Manzanillo olive oil.

Little Bird Chocolates - Fire Bites - Sept. 1, 2016

Chocolate of the Day:

Little Bird Curious Confections
(Little Bird Chocolates)
Dark Chocolate Fire Bites
Good
Weight: .3 oz. (8.5 g.) (estimate) in 1 small piece
Calories: 42 calories (estimate) in 1 small piece
Cost: N/A - samples
Purchased from: N/A - samples

Welcome to Day #25 of Chocolate, Fruit and Botanicals Month. Peppers are a fruit too.

Today's sample size Dark Chocolate Fire Bite from Little Bird Curious Confections (Plainview, NY) contained hot jalapeno pepper pieces.

Little Bird founders Corey and Sara Meyer know a thing or two about hot peppers. Their products regularly attain breath-takingly high scores on the Scoville Scale (designed to measure spicy hot foods).

This was a fun chocolate to try. The heat from the first small bite of this Fire Bite was almost tolerable, but the whole piece was a little overwhelming.

The company offers Dark and Milk Chocolate versions of these bites, as well as candied jalapeno pepper products without chocolate.

Heart of Shasta - Spicy Cayenne Ginger Love bar - Aug. 31, 2016

Chocolate of the Day:

Heart of Shasta
Spicy Cayenne Ginger Love bar
Good - Good ++
Weight: 1.1 oz. (31.13 g.) in total bar
Calories: 165 calories (estimate) in 1 bar
Cost: $3.95 for 1 bar
Purchased from: SweetE Organic, Mill Valley, CA

Welcome to Day #24 of Chocolate, Fruits and Botanicals Month.

The Spicy Cayenne Ginger Love bar from Heart of Shasta (Mount Shasta, CA) had a great tasting arc. It started with a light honey sweetness and moved to an authentic ginger spiciness. And then, wait for it, it finished with a spicy cayenne heat that receded after a polite interval.

Heart of Shasta specializes in dairy, soy and gluten free organic, raw chocolates (confections and bars).

The ingredients list for today's bar: 100% cacao powder, cacao butter, honey, coconut oil, cayenne pepper and crystallized ginger.

MilkBoy - Lemon and Ginger bar - Aug. 30, 2016

Chocolate of the Day:

Menrose GmbH
MilkBoy Lemon and Ginger chocolate bar
Good - Good +
Weight: .7 oz. (20 g.) / 3.5 oz. (100 g.) total bar
Calories: 110 calories in 1/5 bar
Cost: $5.29 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Piazza's Fine Foods, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #23 of Chocolate, Fruit and Botanicals Month.

Today's sunny Lemon and Ginger bar was from MilkBoy (Zurich, Switzerland). Sweet, creamy 33% cacao milk chocolate was stuffed full of lemony crunchy bits. I'm assuming the bits were tiny granules of candied ginger, with some twinkles of vanilla pod. The ginger flavor was very subtle.

This blend with essential lemon oil resulted a pleasant lemon cookie aroma and flavor, reminiscent of Lemon Snap cookies from my childhood. Dark chocolate aficionados may consider this more baked good than bar, but if you like the authentic flavor of lemon blended with milk chocolate it's worth a try.

The Xocolate Bar - Ginger, Absinthe chocolates - Aug. 29, 2016

Chocolate(s) of the Day:

The Xocolate Bar

1.) Chocolate Dipped Ginger
Good++
Weight: .5 oz. (14.1 g.) (estimate) in 1 piece
Calories: 70 calories (estimate) in 1 piece
Cost: $2.50 (estimate) for 1 piece
Purchased from: The Xocolate Bar

2.) St. George Absinthe Truffle
Good - Good +
Weight: .4 oz. (11.32 g.) (estimate) in 1 piece
Calories: 60 calories (estimate) in 1 piece
Cost: $2.50 (estimate) for 1 piece
Purchased from: The Xocolate Bar

It's Day #22 of Chocolate, Fruit and Botanicals Month. I'm moving away from fruits and into spices today, with a short series of chocolates blended with ginger. The ginger we eat is from a rhizome* of the ginger plant, although it's commonly referred to as ginger root.

Today I enjoyed two bonbons from The Xocolate Bar (Berkeley, CA). One was a generous round slice of candied ginger, partly dipped in dark chocolate. And the second was infused with Absinthe (a botanical based spirit) from St. George Distillery (Alameda, CA).**

The dark chocolate-dipped ginger piece had a great, natural sweet and spicy ginger kick and a slightly chewy texture. The ginger was a great match with the rich, dark chocolate.

The attractive Absinthe chocolate was a shimmering turbaned man's face (Aladdin or a genie perhaps?) and had a creamy dark chocolate melt and faint Chinese five spice flavor (fennel/anise) notes.

*A rhizome is actually a stem that spreads out horizontally in the ground. Both roots and shoots can grow from rhizhomes. I'm growing ginger in my kitchen. I started this plant from a piece of ginger I bought at the store. I hope, by next year if all goes well, to be able to harvest my own crop of fresh ginger. 

**Note: I was tempted to re-sample the company's Cardamom Truffle (a spice made from the seeds of a plant from the ginger family). I'd tasted this Cardamom Truffle in 2010, and it was also came in a face-shape form (Ramses or King Tut perhaps?).

Santosha Chocolate - Goji Berries, Ginger and Ashwagandha bar - Aug. 28, 2016

Chocolate of the Day:

Santosha Chocolate
Goji Berries, Ginger and Ashwagandha Root bar
Good
Weight: "about 1 oz. (29 g.)" in 1 bar
Calories: 130 calories in 1 bar
Cost: $3.99 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Piazza's Fine Foods, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #21 of Chocolate, Fruit and Botanicals Month.

Today's Goji Berries, Ginger and Ashwagandha Root bar from Santosha Chocolate (Asheville, NC) was made with Raw, Organic 70% cacao.

This dark, raw bar—made from fair trade, "heirloom variety" Peruvian cacao beans—was vegan, and low-glycemic (made with coconut palm sugar.) It was also nut, soy and gluten free.

The flavor inclusions were subtle. I couldn't really taste the ginger. Occasional whole goji berries provided pleasing mild fruit flavor. Ashwagandha is a bit of an acquired taste, but is said to offer certain health benefits.

I bought this bar in Dec. 2014; but it still tasted fine in 2016—in part due to the bar's sealed silver wrapper and careful storage (in a cool, dry place).  That said, I wouldn't recommend keeping most chocolate bars this long.

Even though well-tempered dark chocolate bars can last up to 18-24 months, it's almost always best to eat chocolate as soon as you can.* (And, some chocolates, e.g. truffles, should be eaten within a week or purchase date.)

*Some might actually benefit from a little "resting" or aging during the making process; but that time usually occurs in the early stages, before you purchase a bar.

Himalania - Cacao Dusted Dark Chocolate Goji Berries - Aug. 27, 2016

Chocolate(s) of the Day:

BrandStorm, Inc.
Himalania
Cacao Dusted Dark Chocolate Goji Berries
Good+
Weight: 1.4 oz. (40 g.) / 6 oz. (170 g.) in total package
Calories: 170 calories in 1 serving
Cost: $3.99 for 1 package
Purchased from: Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #20 of Chocolate, Fruit and Botanicals Theme Week.

Himalania Cacao Dusted Dark Chocolate Goji Berries were distributed by BrandStorm, Inc.* (Los Angeles, CA). These dried berries that have mild red fruit, molasses and tea/floral notes were dusted with dark chocolate (alkalinized cocoa powder).

*Thierry Ollivier is the founder, CEO and president of Natierra. In 2014 Natierra became the umbrella for Himalania and Nature's All Foods lines/brands, which Ollivier had previously created. One of the first BrainStorm Himalania offerings was goji berries. 

New Earth Superfoods, Inc.

I also enjoyed trying two raw, organic chocolate offerings from New Earth Superfoods, Inc. (San Luis Obispo, CA).

I sampled: 1.) Probiotic Chocolate Truffles (Goji), and 2.) Probiotic Chocolate Bars (Goji Cream flavor).

(Thanks David and Katy for sharing these not too sweet, non-GMO chocolates with a quick, slightly velvety melt.)