Sunfood Superfoods - Raw Organic Superfood Smoothie Mix - June 4, 2017

Chocolate of the Day: 

Sunfood Superfoods
Raw Organic Superfood Smoothie Mix
Good
Weight: 1.23 oz. (35 g.) / 8 oz. (227 g.) in total package
Calories: 140 calories in 1 (3 TB) serving
Cost: $7.99 (guesstimate) for 1 package
Purchased from: Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #8 of Chocolate and Berries Theme Week.

Today's Raw Organic Superfood Smoothie Mix from Sunfood Superfoods (El Cajon, CA) contained so many berries (maqui, goji, acai, banana*) that it single handedly supercharged this berry theme week.

And, yes, along with many other ingredients (brown rice protein, chia seed powder, lucuma powder, camu camu (fruit) powder, organic vanilla powder, pink Himalayan salt, etc.), this mix contained organic cacao powder.

The powered form provided a convenient way to ingest berries and cocoa. Next time I'd probably boost this smoothie mix (made just with water today) with some fresh berries/fruit to make life more interesting. As the package suggests, this blend can be used as a base for other inclusions and/or milks of your choice.

However, in case you just want to shake up some mix with water to drink on the go, the chia seed powder helped provide some binder that held the smoothie components together, preventing residue from coating the glass and making cleanup a breeze.

This smoothie mix was gluten free, organic, Non GMO, raw, vegan and kosher.

*Bananas are technically berries

TCHO - Triple Berry bar - June 3, 2017

Chocolate of the Day: 

TCHO
Triple Berry bar
Good+++
Weight: .83 oz. (23.3 g.) / 2.5 oz. (70 g.) in total bar
Calories: 140 calories in 1/3 bar
Cost: $5.29 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Draeger's Market, Los Altos, CA

Greetings and a berry good day to you all. Welcome to Day #7 of Chocolate and Berries Theme Week.

This Triple Berry bar from TCHO (Berkeley, CA) had robust but smooth 64% dark chocolate and berry fruit flavor—supplied by a blend of tiny berry bits (freeze-dried strawberries, freeze-dried raspberries and freeze-dried blueberries).

The Triple Berry bar had the complex cacao aroma of a much darker bar, but it was more friendly (less harsh) than anticipated, without being too sweet or watered down. A better than expected bar with well-balanced flavors and textures.

Today's bar contained no wheat or gluten ingredients and was made with 55% Fair Trade Certified ingredients. The cacao beans, cocoa butter, cane sugar and vanilla beans were organic. (Cocoa butter and soy lecithin were added to this bar.)

Dilettante Chocolates - Chocolate Covered Blueberries - June 2, 2017

Chocolate of the Day: 

Dilettante Chocolates
Chocolate Covered Blueberries
Good
Weight: .706 oz. (20 g.) / 8 oz. (227 g.) in total package
Calories: 100 calories in 1/2 serving
Cost: $1.99 for 1 package
Purchased from: Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, Palo Alto, CA

Greetings and welcome to Day #6 of Chocolate and Berries Theme Week.

Today we're returning to blueberries—Chocolate Covered Blueberries from Dilettante Chocolates (Kent, WA). The company has a long family history in chocolate, and has continued to create new chocolates in the last few decades.

These milk chocolate covered berries used dried blueberries from the Pacific Northwest. The finished shiny round pieces were fairly sweet with a hint of earthy blueberry flavor.

For those with food sensitivities, these berry confections contained no wheat/gluten ingredients (that I could see). They contained milk and soy, and artificial food coloring.

Chocolate Naive - Berries bar - June 1, 2017

Chocolate of the Day:

Chocolate Naive
Berries - Organic Dark Chocolate bar
Good ++
Weight: .646 oz. (18.3 g.) / 1.94 oz. (55 g.) in total bar
Calories: 97 calories (estimate) in 1/3 bar
Cost: $7.99 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Village Market, SF Ferry Building, San Francisco, CA

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

Today's Berries Organic Dark Chocolate bar was made by the award-winning bean-to-bar company, Chocolate Naive  fromVilnius, Lithuania.

Chocolate Naive's Porcini mushroom bar was the first bar to catch my eye. That bar was delicious. The company also makes several other bars with unique and well-balanced flavor inclusions.*

Today's smooth dark chocolate bar had a subtle dark, slightly smoky/earthy cocoa + very light berry balsamic aroma. The bar was created using organic fine cocoa 65% (direct trade) with a hint of creamy cocoa butter. Embedded in the chocolate was very smooth, slightly muted, authentic berry flavor—from freeze-dried strawberries, blueberries and black currants. Perfect blend for me. It wasn't too sweet, (not too berry or sugar forward), and had a nutty umami and black currant finish.

The addition of black currant was lovely. (Unfortunately, while black currants are popular in Europe, our exposure to this fruit in the U.S. is often limited to throat lozenges.)

*Speaking of berries and unique flavors, Chocolate Naive also produces a Dark Chocolate with Incan Berries bar. (Incan berries are a South American fruit also known as Peruvian groundcherries, Cape gooseberries, and Physalis).

Torn Ranch - Organic Dark Chocolate Covered Blueberries - May 31, 2017

Chocolate of the Day: 

Torn Ranch
Organic Dark Chocolate Covered Blueberries
Good +
Weight: 1.33 oz. (37.6 g.) / 4 oz. (113 g.) in total package
Calories: 180 calories in 1/3 package
Cost: $N/A - part of a gift package (Thank you GreenTown!)
Purchased from: N/A - part of a gift package

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

Today's Organic Dark Chocolate Covered Blueberries were from Torn Ranch (Petaluma, CA). Dried, whole organic blueberries were enveloped in 72% cacao organic dark chocolate.

I liked these round, glossy pieces; they weren't too sweet. The blueberries also yielded a deeper, earthier fruit flavor than the chocolates with raspberry had earlier this week.

Charlotte's - Raspberry Belgian Dark Chocolate bar - May 30, 2017

Chocolate of the Day: 

Charlotte's Confections
Raspberry Belgian Dark Chocolate bar
Good - Good +
Weight: .2 oz. (5.6 g.) / 3 oz. (85 g.) in total bar
Calories: 26.6 calories in 1/15 bar
Cost: $4.39 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Nob Hill Foods, Mountain View, CA

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

Today's Raspberry Belgian Dark Chocolate bar was from Charlotte's Confections (South San Francisco*, CA). This bar had a pleasant raspberry aroma; and tiny bursts of sweet raspberry flavor were embedded evenly throughout the bar

So far, raspberries are pulling ahead of the other berries. No surprise. Chocolate and raspberries pair very well together. However, there are still more chocolates, and more berries, left to discuss this week.

*This bar was manufactured in Napa, using Belgian dark chocolate, for Charlotte's Confections.

Stone Grindz Chocolate - Raspberry bar - May 29, 2017

Chocolate of the Day: 

Stone Grindz Chocolate
Red Raspberry bar
Good +++ - Very Good
Weight: .66 oz. (18.86 g.) / 2 oz. (56.6 g.) in total bar
Calories: 99 calories (estimate) in 1/3 bar
Cost: $7.95 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Stone Grindz Chocolate, online order

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

Today's Red Raspberry bar was carefully made from scratch, from bean to bar, by Stone Grindz Chocolate (Scottsdale, AZ).

Seventy percent dark chocolate was blended with real berries. And the result was a medium bodied dark bar with a very pleasing, authentic, luscious red raspberry jam flavor.

Stone Grindz Chocolate makes small batch, high-quality organic chocolate in their workshop in one of the hottest metro areas of the U.S. Triple digit temperatures are a regular occurrence in the warm months. Air conditioning is a must have. (Either that or one might explore solar power to run the operation.)