Arete Fine Chocolate - 100% Guatemala Lachua Microlot Dark Chocolate bar - May 4, 2018

Chocolate of the Day: 

Arete Fine Chocolate

100% Guatemala Lachua Microlot Dark Chocolate bar

Good +++

Weight: 1.15 oz. (32.5 g.) / 2.3 oz. (65 g.) in total bar

Calories: 184 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar

Cost: $11.00 (estimate) for 1 bar

Purchased from: The Chocolate Garage, Palo Alto, CA 

Welcome to Day #3 of 100% Cacao Theme Week.

Today's 100% Guatemala Lachua Microlot Dark Chocolate bar from Arete Fine Chocolate* was one of the most approachable 100% bars you'll find.

The bar had a pleasant aroma with dried fruit and faint molasses notes and a creamy melt and texture. The ultra dark chocolate flavor was smooth with very light and well balanced bitter notes and aftertaste with a flicker of high-end green tea.

*Arete Fine Chocolate owners David and Leslie Senk, are moving their company from Milpitas, CA to Tennessee and will re-open mid-2018 in their new location, with a freshly minted chocolate for sale, at that time.

Slitti Cacao Pregiati - GranCacao 100% bar - May 3, 2018

Chocolate of the Day:

Slitti Cacao Pregiati

GranCacao 100% bar

Good - Good +

Weight: .583 oz. (16.6 g.) / 3.5 oz. (100 g.) in total bar

Calories: 99 calories (per label) calories in 1/6 of bar

Cost: $11.00 for 1 bar

Purchased from: Chocolate Covered, San Francisco, CA

Welcome to Day #2 of 100% Cacao Theme Week.

Today's GranCacao 100% bar was made in Italy by Slitti Cacao Pregiati (Tuscany, Italy) using a "blend of fine cocoas originating from Central America."

This soy and gluten free, ultra-dark bar had an aroma and flavor, with slight bitter, sour and earth notes, characteristic of many 100% cacao bars. However, it was a bit smoother than some other 100%ers.

I thought this relative smoothness (by 100% standards) might be due to a nicer blend of beans and some extra cocoa butter, but it was difficult to tell; the ingredient information listed only "100% cocoa mass").

This 100% cacao bar had a lingering aftertaste (100% cacao that can "stun" our taste buds for a minute or two) and a slight green note at the tail end, after about 30+ seconds.

Bisou Chocolate - Noir Chuao 100% dark bar - May 2, 2018

Chocolate of the Day: 

Bisou Chocolate
Noir Chuao 100% Dark Chocolate bar
Good
Weight: .5 oz. (15 g.) / 1 oz. (30 g.) (per label) in total bar
Calories: 72 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $N/A - gift (Thank you Michelle!)
Purchased from: N/A - gift (Farmers Market)

Welcome to Day #1 of 100% Cacao Theme Week.

Today's Noir Chuao 100% Dark Chocolate bar was from Bisou Chocolate (Berkeley/Oakland, CA). Bisou offers small batch, bean-to-bar chocolate that can be purchased online or at Farmers' Markets in the San Francisco Bay Area. Their primary focus has been single origin bars.

This 100% cacao bar had one ingredient: cacao beans, grown in the Chuao region of Venezuela, known for its fine cacao. Fortunately for chocolate lovers, despite current challenges in Venezuela, cacao is still finding its way to the U.S.

The chocolate had a deep, dark aroma, and bitter and sour flavor notes (fruit acidity) interspersed with interesting, fleeting cacao notes. A very long and faint finish eventually led to a small uptick in sweeter cacao after-taste (about five minutes after eating a bite).

One hundred percent cacao bars are not for the faint of heart, but it's always interesting to taste cacao in unadulterated form. Bean quality and ideal fermentation are key, as there is no sugar, lecithin, vanilla or flavor additions to hide behind or to mellow out harsher notes in the chocolate.

Bisou's attractively packaged bars were imprinted with a botanically-shaped cacao pod and leaf segment design. And they were wrapped in attractive colored inner foils, surrounded by black outer wrappers with Art Nouveau-inspired design and lettering.

Haagen-Dazs - White Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Ice Cream - May 1, 2018

Chocolate of the Day: 

Haagen-Dazs

Raspberry White Chocolate Truffle Ice Cream

Good?

Weight: 1/2 cup (104 g.) / 14 fl. oz. (414 mL) in total container

Calories: 280 calories in 1 (1/2 cup) serving

Cost: $5.39 for 1 container

Purchased from: Draeger's Market, Los Altos, CA

Today's final day (Day #8) of Chocolate and Raspberry Theme Week featured two frozen treats. The first was: Haagen-Dazs* Raspberry White Chocolate Truffle Ice Cream, and the second was a Raspberry frozen pop. Both had short ingredients lists and were long on flavor.

Sweet, rich white chocolate ice cream contained bits of chocolate truffles and a subtle swirl of raspberry flavor and color. Haagen-Dazs also makes white chocolate raspberry ice cream bars with milk chocolate with dark chocolate drizzle.**

The second item today didn't contain chocolate, but it was deliciously full of natural raspberry flavor and color. It was a Chloe's Pops Raspberry frozen bar from Chloe's Soft Serve Fruit Co.; and it contained only three ingredients: fruit juice, water and sugar.

*Distributed by Nestle Dreyer's Ice Cream Company (Oakland, CA).
** These Haagen-Dazs ice cream bars were featured previously, on 3/20/17, on this site.

Magnum - Dark Chocolate Raspberry ice cream - April 30, 2018

Chocolate of the Day: 

Magnum

Dark Chocolate Raspberry ice cream

Good ++

Weight: 2/3 cup (110 g.) / 14.8 fl. oz. (440 mL)

Calories: 340 calories in 1 (2/3 cup) serving

Cost: $4.49 (estimate) for 1 container

Purchased from: Piazza's Fine Foods, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #7 of Chocolate and Raspberry Theme Week.

Today's Magnum* Dark Chocolate Raspberry ice cream was from Unilever (Englewood Cliffs, NJ).

The container of natural-tasting raspberry ice cream was surrounded by a layer of solid 65% chocolate (that actually smelled like real dark chocolate). 

The novelty of this item was that one squeezed the container to crack the layer of chocolate and then ate both parts together.

*The Magnum brand is part of Unilever. This ice cream was a product of Hungary.

Dick Taylor - Vanilla Raspberry bar - April 29, 2018

Chocolate of the Day: 

Dick Taylor Craft Chocolate

Vanilla Raspberry 73% Dark Chocolate bar

Very Good

Weight: .5 oz. (14.15 g.) / 1 oz. (28.3 g.) in total bar

Calories: 75 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar

Cost: $10.00 for 1 bar

Purchased from: The Chocolate Garage, Palo Alto, CA 

Welcome to Day #6 of Chocolate and Raspberry Theme Week.

Today's Vanilla Raspberry 73% Dark Chocolate bar from Dick Taylor Craft Chocolate (Eureka, CA) was debuted in time for Valentines Day 2018. Happily there were still a few left this spring.

This five-ingredient, 2017 Great Taste Award-winning bar contained: organic cacao, organic cane sugar, organic freeze-dried raspberries, organic vanilla coconut palm sugar, organic vanilla bean.

The makers used their 2018 Good Food Award winning 73% "Northerner Blend" (Madagascan and Brazilian cacao) chocolate to craft this bar. The back side was sprinkled with a layer of organic, freeze-dried raspberries and vanilla coconut palm sugar.

The solid, deep raspberry pink layer of color complemented the flip/front side—a dark mahagony nautically-themed design with the Dick Taylor logo.

The above-mentioned awards were on the mark. This well executed bar was crafted to perfection. The underlying chocolate was full of complex fruit flavor and the raspberry took it up a notch. What a great ride. As the makers said: "The tartness of the raspberry is a stark contrast to the ripe fruit flavors in the Northerner Blend." And the vanilla coconut sugar blended with the raspberries added a very slight, well-rounded sweetness.

Because the duo behind this company embody craftsmanship in all they do: The bar's wrapper "was designed and printed in-house on our letter press, including that hand carved raspberry and the hand lettering on (the) front." 

Breyers Raspberry Fudge Swirl Low Fat Ice Cream - April 28, 2018

Chocolate of the Day: 

Breyers

Breyers Delights - Raspberry Fudge Swirl Low Fat Ice Cream

Good

Weight: 2/3 cup (96 g.) / 1 Pint (473 mL) in total container

Calories: 110 calories in 1 (2/3 cup) serving 

Cost: $4.49 for 1 container

Purchased from: Safeway, Palo Alto, CA

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

Today's Breyers Delights Raspberry Fudge Swirl Low Fat Ice Cream from Breyers* (Englewood Cliffs, NJ).

Products with an ingredients list with longer than 5 items don't usually fare better than their simpler counterparts. For example, ice creams without vegetable gums taste better to us and seem to be easier to digest.

Today's low fat raspberry ice cream was created to respond to changing public tastes, and most of those changes seem to be for the better. In addition to being lower in fat and sugar and higher in protein, this ice cream was infused with natural tasting raspberry juice and flavor that seemed to be lacking in artificial flavoring or coloring. 

A light fudge swirl added a touch of chocolate flavor and rich texture. It was incorporated into an ice cream base that had a very slightly granular texture (due to lower fat and a little extra (milk) protein (about 6.6 g. per serving or 20 g. per container). 

The ice cream was also lighter in terms of sugar. It was sweetened with a combination of corn-based sweeteners and stevia. 

The nutrition labeling was printed large enough to be read and understood. At 110 calories per 2/3 cup serving (approximately 1/3 the calories of many premium ice creams), consumers might be more tempted to each a whole pint vs. just one serving. But, then, that is an issue on the consumer side and not on the producer side.

*Breyers, a brand of frozen desserts/ice cream sold in the U.S. and Canada, was originally founded in 1866 by William A. Breyer, and later became part of Kraft, and then ice cream giant, Unilever.