Baru - Chocolate Fluffy Marshmallow Bars - Nov. 3, 2016

Chocolate(s) of the Day: 

Baru NV

Chocolate Fluffy Marshmallow Bar
Dark Chocolate and Nutty Sea Salt Caramel
Good - Good +
Weight: 1.06 oz. (30 g.) in total bar
Calories: 200 calories in 1 bar
Cost: $missing information
Purchased from: missing information

Chocolate Fluffy Marshmallow Bar
Milk Chocolate and Chai Latte
Good - Good +
Weight: 1.06 oz. (30 g.) in total bar
Calories: 210 calories in 1 bar
Cost: $missing information
Purchased from: missing information

Welcome to Day #6 of Trick or Treat Theme Week.

Is it possible to have a high-end candy bar? There are several candy bars that cater to more sophisticated palettes.

Today's two Chocolate Fluffy Marshmallow Bars were from Baru NV (Diepenbeek, Belgium). One was covered with dark chocolate and lightly flavored with sea salt and caramel. And the second was coated with milk chocolate and flavored with a hint of chai seasonings.

These candy bars was quite sweet (as marshmallows are), but would make a nice addition to any Halloween candy collection, or as sophisticated treats.

Little Secrets - dark and milk chocolate candies - Nov. 2, 2016

Chocolate of the Day: 

Little Secrets
Classic Dark - Dark Chocolate Candies
Good - Good +
Weight: 1.5 oz. (42.5 g.) in one package
Calories: 200 calories in 1 package
Cost: $1.99 for 1 package
Purchased from: Whole Foods Market, Cupertino, CA

Little Secrets
Milk Chocolate Smooth and Creamy Candies
Good - Good +
Weight: 1.5 oz. (42.5 g.) in 1 package
Calories: 210 calories in 1 package
Cost: $1.99 for 1 package
Purchased from: Whole Foods Market, Cupertino, CA

Welcome to Day #5 of Trick or Treat Week.

With each passing Halloween, I've been able to include more organic, fair trade and preservative-free chocolate items—or at least ones without a lot of additives or artificial colors and flavors. It's great to have more choices.

Today's crunchy and chocolatey Classic Dark Chocolate Candies (55% fair trade cocoa) and Milk Chocolate Candies (40% cocoa content) distributed by Little Secrets, LLC (Boulder, CO) contained "no artificial anything." Instead of artificial flavors or colorings, natural food-based colors from plants such as beets and spirulina were used instead.

The purplish and orange yam-colored candies shown here contained an extra layer/coating of dark chocolate, and so were a bit larger than the red and blue milk chocolate pieces.

The Tea Room - Organic Milk Chocolate Skull Lollipop - Nov. 1, 2016

Chocolate of the Day: 

The Tea Room
Organic Milk Chocolate Skull Lollipop
Good +
Weight: 1.7 oz. (48 g.) in 1 skull
Calories: 255 calories (estimate) in 1 skull
Cost: $3.19 (estimate) for 1 skull
Purchased from: Country Sun Natural Foods, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #4 of Trick or Treat Theme Week. Halloween was yesterday; but I have plenty of treats leftover for the rest of this week.

Skeletons are always in fashion for Halloween. However, today's Organic Milk Chocolate Skull from The Tea Room (San Leandro, CA) might be just as fitting for the Day of the Dead, or Dia de los Muertos*.

This celebration of the dead originated in Mexico and spans two days (today and tomorrow). The occasion conjures up images of skeletons and decorated sugar skulls and—increasingly as we've adopted some elements of this traditional holiday in the U.S.—chocolate skulls.

The Tea Room specializes in chocolates flavored with a variety of different teas.

At first bite, this milk chocolate skull on a stick with protruding jelly bean eyes tasted like conventional milk chocolate. However, the initial flavor gradually evolved into one with caramel overtones. This chocolate with infused with the company's "Caramel Blend" with organic honeybush tea and caramel oil which gave it an authentic caramel warmth and flavor.

*The origins of the Dia de Los Muertos celebration dates back to the Aztecs, as far back as 3,000 years ago. The original, longer, celebration took place during the 9th month of the Aztec calendar (closer to August-September) and honored a goddess, the "Lady of the Dead."

Snickers - Pumpkin - Oct. 31, 2016

Chocolate of the Day: 

Mars
Snickers - Pumpkin
Good
Weight: 1.1 oz. (31.2 g.) in 1 package
Calories: 160 calories in 1 package
Cost: $0.66 for 1 package /(3 for $2.00 - sale price)
Purchased from: Safeway, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #3 of Trick or Treat Theme Week, and to one of the biggest candy and chocolate days of the year. Happy Halloween!

I have fond memories of childhood Halloween nights skipping (as well as one could in a mask and bulky costume) along roads dimly lit by candle-filled, carved pumpkins, and coming home with sacks of tri-colored candy corn, tiny wax teeth and bottles filled with sweet syrup, and the occasional sucker or Tootsie Pop.

However, candy bars, such as today's Snickers bar from Mars (Hackettstown, NJ), were among the most prized treasures.

The joys of childhood don't always carry over into adulthood. And more's the pity for it, mostly. I'm more conscious of what I eat now; and I prefer simpler, more natural foods, including chocolates. Reading labels and finding lactose, hydrogenated oils, palm oil, artificial flavor, etc. can be off-putting.

However, tonight I made an exception and I enjoyed this gooey, crunchy sweet, nutty, chocolatey pumpkin-shaped candy, a variation on the classic Snickers bar. Childhood memories are powerful things.

Nestle - Butterfinger Peanut Butter Skull - Oct. 30, 2016

Chocolate of the Day:

Nestle
Butterfinger Peanut Butter Cups - Skull
Good
Weight: 1.2 oz. (34 g.) in 1 package
Calories: 190 calories in 1 package
Cost: 2 for $1.00 (sale)/ $0.50 for 1 package
Purchased from: Safeway, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #2 of Trick or Treat Week. On this day before Halloween (and pre-Day of the Dead weekend), what better way to celebrate than a skull-shaped chocolate peanut butter cup. A "Smooth and Crunchy Skull" no less.

Wait, what is that apparition coming out of the candy mist? As it materialized, this spooky Butterfinger Halloween skull from Nestle seemed to say: "Arrgh. Dead men tell no tales." (Well, they don't after you bite off their jaws.) And, how kind this grinning skull was to let me feast on its chocolate bones and peanut butter and crunchy, peanut toffee brains.

The list of ingredients for this skull was long and included some items I'd rather not be haunted by (lactose, palm oil, hydrogenated oils, etc.). However, what a treat to see that Nestle has done away with artificial flavors and colors, and used natural colorings (paprika and annatto).

In February 2015, the company pledged to take this step with some popular candy offerings—including Butterfinger, Crunch and Baby Ruth bars—by the end of 2015.

*The Butterfinger candy bar was developed by the Curtis Candy Company in Chicago in the 1920s, and was eventually sold (in 1990) to Nestle. 

Ghirardelli - Milk Chocolate Pumpkin Spice Squares - Oct. 29, 2016

Chocolate of the Day: 

Ghirardelli Chocolate Company
Squares - Milk Chocolate Pumpkin Spice Caramel
Good
Weight: 1.06 oz. (30 g.) / 5.32 oz. (151 g.) in total package
Calories: 140 calories in 2 squares
Cost: $3.50 (sale price) for 1 package of 10 squares
Purchased from: Safeway, Albany, CA

Welcome to Day #7 of Chocolate, Sugar and Spice Theme Week, and Day #1 of Trick or Treat Theme Week.

Today's Milk Chocolate Pumpkin Spice Caramel Squares from Ghirardelli Chocolate Company (San Leandro, CA) were composed of sweet milk chocolate.

Take a bite and soft, golden-colored, pumpkin spice-flavored caramel will ooze out. On a hot day, when caramel loves to escape its bonds, you'll be glad these squares come individually wrapped in attractively shiny, sealed packaging, especially if you've forgotten one in your pocket.

Domingo Ghirardelli (1817-1894) was a successful San Francisco chocolatier. The view over the Bay Area from Domingo Ghirardelli's mausoleum up in the Oakland hills (at the Mountain View Cemetery) is beautiful.

As Halloween approaches, I wonder what the company founder might have thought of this modern chocolate world and Halloween trick or treaters* below this week.

*Halloween is celebrated in the U.S. with small children dressed up in costumes who visit neighbors, asking "trick or treat" when neighbors answer the door. Children are most often rewarded with treats—a handful of small candies or chocolates. 

Fun facts found on the Internet: Of the 600 million pounds of candy sold each year in the U.S., approximately 90 million pounds are chocolate items. Americans spend $1.9 billion on Halloween each year.


Note: These squares were the first chocolate item I've seen with a statement (on the packaging) that read: "Partially produced with genetic engineering." Transparency is good.

SOMA Chocolate - Ginger Dark Mini Bar - Oct. 28, 2016

Chocolate of the Day: 

SOMA Chocolate
Ginger Dark Chocolate Mini Bar
Good ++
Weight: 1.23 oz. (35 g.) in total bar
Calories: 185 calories (estimate) in 1 bar
Cost: $ missing info
Purchased from: The Chocolate Garage, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #6 of Chocolate, Sugar and Spice Theme Week.

Today's Ginger Dark Chocolate Mini Bar was from SOMA Chocolate (Toronto, Canada).

Over the years, SOMA has offered bean-to-bar and other chocolate items (bars, drinking chocolate, filled/flavored chocolates and inspired, high-quality novelties, such as their "twig" and/or "branch" chocolates).

I have fond memories of my first visit to the SOMA location nestled in a brick complex that used to house a distillery in Toronto, and buying and tasting items there.

In today's dark mini bar, ginger was the dominant flavor. The small hunks of candied ginger with a soft chew were flavorful, and had a very slight soapiness that ginger can sometimes have, that seemed to dissipate after the first chew.

The dark chocolate was smooth, and on one side was emblazoned with a downsized version of the same lovely botanical print found on larger SOMA bars.

The mini bar was a great size for a single serving, high-end chocolate dessert or snack.

This bar's ingredients: cocoa mass, sugar, ginger, cacao butter, natural vanilla, soy lecithin.