Brown-Haley - Mountain Thins Peanut Butter - Aug. 31, 2017

Chocolate of the Day: 

Brown-Haley
Mountain Thins - Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter
Good
Weight: 1.4 oz. (40 g.) / 5.3 oz. (150 g.) in total bar
Calories: 210 calories in 1 serving
Cost: $3.45 for 1 package/bag
Purchased from: Safeway, Alameda, CA

Welcome to Day #9 of Chocolate and the Wild West and Day #2 of Chocolate and Peanuts Theme Week.

To all you cowboys and cowgirls out there: sadly, this Wild West week is ending too soon. There are still so many good wild west themed chocolates and western towns not covered yet. There will have to be another Western week sometime in the future.

One thing we like about the west, and it's worth mentioning again this week, are the mountains: Sierra Nevada, Cascade Mountains, Rockies, Alaska Range and many more rugged peaks and valleys.

Today's Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Mountain Thins were from Brown and Haley (Brown-Haley) (Tacoma, WA), a company probably most well-known for their Almond Roca confections. (On a clear day, company employees may see Mount Rainier (formerly known as Mount Tacoma), the tallest mountain in Washington state and in the Cascade Range, and an active volcano to boot.)

The name "Mountain Thins" is a tie in with the Brown and Haley Mountain Bar line that first debuted with the Mount Tacoma Bar in 1915. (In 1923, the name Tacoma was dropped.) Conventional chocolate "thins" are generally flat rectangles or squares; but today's thins had a more, well, mountainous surface.

Chocolate and peanut butter are natural partners in edible crime. Together, with some crunchy peanuts and the right dose of sea salt and sugar, these Mountain Thins formed a potentially addictive snack.

The Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Thins had a roasted peanut aroma and well-rounded peanut flavor. And the sweet milk chocolate had a touch of creamy touch of peanut butter-like melt and consistency.

Kate's Real Food Grizzly Bar - Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate Trail Mix - Aug. 30, 2017

Chocolate of the Day: 

Tram Bars, LLC
Kate's Real Food - Grizzly Bar
Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate Trail Mix
Good
Weight: 3 oz. (85 g.) in total bar
Calories: 360 calories in 1 bar
Cost: $2.99 (estimate) for 1 bar
Purchased from: missing information

Welcome to Day #8 of Chocolate and Wild West Week, and Day #1 of Chocolate and Peanuts Theme Week.

This morning I felt fueled and ready to go, after finishing a Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate Trail Mix Grizzly Bear Pocket Meal from Kate's* Real Food (Victor, ID).


The once abundant grizzly bears have been driven out of most of the Western U.S. The last of these big, magnificent bears are in the northwest (Alaska, Wyoming, Montana and Idaho).

Ingredients for this big substantial oat bar included: Organic Oats, Organic Honey, Organic Peanut Butter, Rice Nuggets, Organic Dark Chocolate.

The bar was slightly chewy and had just the amount of moistness and compressed heft to hang together during the eating process. There was a good balance between peanutty, fruity and oaty flavors. And, while not the shining star in this bar, a hint of rich chocolate added flavor depth. Rice nuggets provided some nice crunch. And, my favorite part: it wasn't too sweet. (Thank you!)

*The eponymous Kate first moved to Jackson Hole, WY, and was a skier. (Being active outdoors in the mountains of the wild west makes you more conscious of good food.) Eventually, with a mindful focus on ingredients, Kate's Real Food was born and along with it a line of trail mix bars.

Oberto - Trail Mix Original Beef with Semi-Sweet Chocolate - Aug. 29, 2017

Chocolate of the Day: 

Oberto
Trail Mix - Original Beef
Good +
Weight: 1 oz. (28.3 g.) / 2 oz. (57 g.) total package
Calories: 135 calories in 1/2 package
Cost: $3.59 for 1 package
Purchased from: CBH Travel Center (store, gas station), Belle Fourche, SD

Welcome to Day #7 of Chocolate and the Wild West Theme Week.

Trail mix is wonderful to take camping, hiking, mountaineering or anywhere else lacking immediate access to a stove or other kitchen amenities. Trail mix can be a snack or a meal in a bag. Leave it up to folks in the wild west to beef up trail mix.

Today's Original Beef Trail Mix was from Oberto Sausage Company (Kent, WA). The company is probably best known for Oberto Beef Jerky (original and other flavors); so it made sense to include small pieces of their jerky in a trail mix.

The mix contained nuts (walnuts and pecans), fruit (dried cranberries, golden raisins), seeds (pumpkin, sunflower) and beef jerky; and it had 12 grams of protein, no artificial ingredients and was gluten free. Oh, and small squares of semi-sweet chocolate.

It was a well-balanced mix that wasn't too sweet or salty. Next time I'll try the Sweet and Spicy Beef with pieces of spicy dark chocolate, or the Teriyaki Chicken flavor with dark chocolate pieces. (All flavors carry a gluten free tag.)

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch...Old Dog Ranch, Torn Ranch chocolate items - Aug. 28, 2017

Chocolate(s) of the Day: 

Old Dog Ranch
Chocolate Walnuts
Good +
Weight: 3 oz. (84.9 g.) / 6 oz. (169.8 g.) in total package
Calories: 495 calories (estimate) in 1/2 package
Cost: $9.00 for 1 package
Purchased from: Cavallo Point Mercantile, Ft. Baker, Sausalito, CA


Torn Ranch
Dark Chocolate - The Original Chocolate Caviar
Good +
Weight: 1 oz. (28.3 g.) / 1.75 oz. (50 g.) in total tin
Calories: 142 calories in 1 oz. (28.3 g.)
Cost: $N/A - gift
Purchased from: N/A - gift

Welcome to Day #6 of Chocolate and Wild West Theme Week.

Ranches were part of the wild west. My siblings and I grew up in a single-story ranch house in the Western suburbs. Many families felt they had a piece of their own ranch, even though most of these houses were part of early tract home developments in the 1900s. We played in tall walnut trees and ate apricots from trees that were remnants of farms and ranches from a previous era.

Today's two chocolates hail from two different ranches in parts of California with some open space left. While these two ranches may not employ the cowboys of yesteryear, they do produce great edibles.

Old Dog Ranch - Chocolate Walnuts
The Old Dog Ranch (Linden, CA) is the closest to a real ranch. This Northern California operation has been a family farm since 1912; and the company produces sustainably grown, organic Chandler* Walnuts, used to make today's chocolate offering.

And boy, do high-quality ingredients matter. These walnuts had delicious, mild (but complex) 3D nut flavor—with a subtle, very pleasing freshly cut wood note, and without any bitterness that some associate with walnuts. The dusting of chocolate (organic sugar, cocoa powder, salt) served as a subtle accent flavor here adding just a touch of sweetness but not too much.

Torn Ranch - Dark Chocolate Caviar
The Dark Chocolate Caviar with a very subtle hint of vanilla hailed from Torn Ranch (Petaluma, CA) provided a complementary counterpoint to today's Old Dog Ranch walnuts. (Torn Ranch also sells fruits, nuts, baked goods and other chocolates.)

Billed as the "original chocolate caviar" these glossy, dark peals or mild, dark chocolate goodness were enjoyable as an a la carte snack; and could be paired with good food, tea, coffee or adult beverages (brandy, whiskey, wine, etc.) as well.

Thank you GreenTown Los Altos (and Present gift shop, Los Altos) for this Torn Ranch tin (part of a gift basket received earlier).

*California, a large exporter of walnuts, has their own native California Black Walnut tree, which is occasionally used as root stock for other walnuts. However, most of the roughly 500,000 tons of walnuts commercially grown in the state each year are cultivars of Persian (English) walnuts. This includes the popular Chandler walnut, which was introduced by (and named after W.H. Chandler, a Professor at) the University of California, Davis, CA in 1979. 

Mostly Chocolates Dark Buffalo and Chubby Chipmunk pattys; Aug. 27, 2017

Chocolate of the Day: 

Mostly Chocolates, LLC
Dark Chocolate Bison/Buffalo piece
Good + - Good ++
Weight: 1.5 g. (42 g.) (estimate) / 5-6 oz. (estimate)  in total piece
Calories: 225 calories (estimate) in 1.5 oz. piece
Cost: $11.95 for 1 piece
Purchased from: Mostly Chocolates, Rapid City, South Dakota

Chubby Chipmunk
Dark Salty Patty - Good - Good +
Turtle Patty - Good
Weight: Unknown
Calories: Unknown
Cost: $8.00 (estimate) for 2 pieces
Purchased from: Sugar Sweet Candy Store, Rapid City, SD

Welcome to Day #5 of Chocolate and Wild West Theme Week.

Today's chocolates were from South Dakota.

Mostly Chocolates - Dark Chocolate buffalo
First, there was a large, molded dark chocolate* iconic bison (buffalo) from Mostly Chocolates (Rapid City, SD). This buffalo was dark, delicious and almost creamy in texture.

Chubby Chipmunk, Deadwood, SD
Second, were two chocolate "pattys" from Chubby Chipmunk (Deadwood, SD)—part of a 4-patty series made by this chocolatier based in one of the wildest gold rush towns (at least in the 1800s) in the west.

I enjoyed the Dark Salty Patty (dark chocolate base, caramel in the middle and topped with a mass of dark lines chocolate to contain the buttery, rich caramel and a light touch of salt.

The second Turtle Patty was made with milk chocolate, caramel and pecans and had the flavor and soft chew of a classic caramel milk chocolate and nut turtle confection.

Sadly, I missed getting Chubby Chipmunk's "Calamity Patty," (a reference to famous Deadwood resident, Calamity Jane) with caramel and toffee. And, more sadly still, I lost my camera and memory card that contained pictures of these chocolates and part of the trip.

*The bison (buffalo) was made from Guittard chocolate.

Texas Rattlesnake chocolate; Cactus Trail Mix - Aug. 26, 2017

Chocolate(s) of the Day: 

(Made for Paradies Shops*)
Texas Rattlesnake Poop
Good
Weight: 1 oz. (28.3 g.) / 7.8 oz. (221 g.) in total container
Calories: 165 calories (estimate) in 1 oz. serving
Cost: $7.99 for 1 container
Purchased from: Airport shop, DFW Airport, Dallas, TX

Arizona Cowboy Foods
Cactus Trail Mix
Good - Good +
Weight: 4 oz. (113.2 g.) in total package
Calories: 560 calories (estimate) in 1 package
Cost: $4.99 for 1 package
Purchased from: Airport shop at PHX Airport, Phoenix, AZ

Welcome to Day #4 of Chocolate and Wild West Theme Week.

Travel to South and North Dakota this week meant no photos today. Being in these states presented the opportunity to see jackalopes (at Wall Drug and elsewhere), and to stray into Wyoming to visit Devils Tower. I resisted the urge to buy chocolate jackalope poop on the at Devils Tower Trading Post (Devils Tower, WY), in part because I'd already picked up some Chocolate Texas Rattlesnake Poop in Dallas, TX.

Today's Texas Rattlesnake Poop pieces (sorry, no photos) were, in fact, chocolate-covered sunflower seeds. There were no real rattlesnake ingredients, just compound** chocolate, seeds and other ingredients one might expect with high-volume, novelty items.

I paired theses chocolate seeds with a Western-themed Cactus Trail Mix from Arizona Cowboy Foods (Phoenix, AZ). The mix did not contain chocolate, but it too came from an airport (Phoenix). Airports in multiple states were a great source of Western-themed chocolates this week.

This relatively conventional trail mix contained nuts (peanuts, almonds) and dried fruits (cranberries). It also included pumpkin seeds, banana chips with honey, pineapple bits, dried papaya, and real (prickly pear) cactus candy pieces, which were quite nice (sweet but slightly lighter with more floral flavor than the other dried fruits).

*Paradies Shops, now known as Paradies Lagardere, has travel retail shops in several airports. 

Airport and travel-related shops seem to carry an abundance of chocolate scat pretending to be from local animals these days; and several of these have been featured on Chocolate Banquet in years past. It isn't always clear who is manufacturing all these chocolate-covered droppings (likely several different companies who prefer to private label or remain anonymous); but it must be a big, high-profit business.

** Compound chocolate is made with cocoa, vegetable fat and sweeteners. Today's chocolate ingredients list included: partially hydrogenated palm kernel oil, lactose, cocoa powder, reduced mineral whey powder, non-fat milk powder, soy lecithin and vanillin.

Cocoa Parlor - Cowboy Up 70% Roasted Almonds, Salt bar - Aug. 25, 2017

Chocolate of the Day: 

Cocoa Parlor
Cowboy Up 70 Dark Chocolate bar
Good +
Weight: 1.41 oz. (40 g.) / 2.82 oz. (80 g.) in total bar
Calories: 219 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $5.99 (estimate) for 1 bar
Purchased from: Missing Information

Welcome to Day #3 of Chocolate and Wild West Theme Week.

Today's Organic and vegan Cowboy Up 70% Cacao Dark Chocolate bar was from Cocoa Parlor (Laguna Niguel, CA) and offered a good well-balanced, down to earth ride.

The Roasted Almonds and Salt bar had a pleasing dark chocolate aroma, a smooth and almost creamy texture; and subtle, pleasing nutty and earthy roasted flavor notes. The roasted almond bits provided a bit of crunchy texture now and then. The amount of salt was just right, and the chocolate* and the salt prevented the bar from being too sweet (thank you!).

I savored this bar on my (car) ride across the plains and hills and into Deadwood, South Dakota, one of a handful of towns west of the Missouri River that epitomized the Wild West.*

*Deadwood became a lively boomtown full of larger than life characters like Wild Bill Hickok (lawman, wild west showman who was shot in Deadwood while playing poker), Calamity Jane (horsewoman, stagecoach driver, wild west show participant and more), Charlie Utter (close friend of Wild Bill Hickok who wrote an epitath on Wild Bill's wood gravestone), Con Stapleton (Deadwood Marshal), Seth Bullock, Potato Creek Johnny, Poker Alice Tubbs; and George Hearst (father of a mining and publishing empire) after gold was discovered there in the 1870s. The entire community is listed on the National Historic Register.