Baiani Chocolates - 70% chocolate bar - Aug. 29, 2018

Chocolate of the Day: 

Baiani Chocolates
70% Mild Roast chocolate bar
Good +++ - Very Good
Weight: 1.02 oz. (29 g.) / 2.04 oz. (58 g.) in total bar
Calories: 142 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $ missing information for 1 bar
Purchased from: The Chocolate Garage, Palo Alto, CA

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

Today's 70% Mild Roast Terroir Lagoa bar from Baiani Chocolates (Vale Potumuju, Bahia, Brazil)
was a very nicely balanced, dark chocolate bar with fruit, cream and dark notes. It was smooth but also had depth and some complexity as well.

This Brazilian (tree-to-bar) company has roots in cacao, and their small team (listed on the inside of the packaging) is producing some great chocolate.

Baiani Chocolates - Trinitarios Dark Milk 57% chocolate bar - Aug. 28, 2018

Chocolate of the Day: 

Baiani Chocolates
Trinitarios Dark Milk 57% (Milk 7%) bar
Good +++
Weight: 1.02 oz. (29 g.) / 2.04 oz. (58 g.) in total bar
Calories: 145 calories in 2 1/2 squares (1/2 bar)
Cost: $10.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: The Chocolate Garage, CA

Welcome to Day #1 of Chocolate and Brazil Theme Week.

Today's Trinitarios Dark Milk 57% bar was made tree-to-bar by Brazilian craft chocolate makers at Baiani Chocolates (Brazil).

This flavorful dark milk chocolate Brasileiro bar had a smooth, fairly creamy melt, and true chocolate and milk notes. (The chocolate contained: 57% (cacao) and 7% milk.)

In the past decade, Brazil has been making a cacao comeback. In the 1980s and 1990s, a fungus decimated cacao trees in Brazil. The country had been one of the top cacao producers; and the state of Bahia (in NE Brazil, bordering the Atlantic Ocean) was at the center of production.

The owners of Baiani came from a line of cacao farmers and producers. Juliana Pinheiro Aquino remembers what happened. Cacao had become a very important fruit crop. "My father was depressed. He was very sad," she said.

Fortunately, in the last decade yields are up again in Bahia; and it is easier to find Brazilian chocolate.

Like many of the best chocolate makers, Juliana and Tuta Aquino continue to improve their craft.  (E.g., they consulted "cacao whisperer" Dan O'Doherty of Cacao Services to improve their growing and processing methods, including transforming their traditional drying area into a solar drying tunnel.)

Ki'Xocolatl - Milk Chocolate, Sea Salt & Baked Peanuts bar (Mexico) - Aug. 27, 2018

Chocolate of the Day: 

Ki'Xocolatl
Milk Chocolate, Sea Salt and Baked Peanuts bar
Good++
Weight: 1.41 oz. (40 g.) / 2.82 oz. (80 g.) in total bar
Calories: 238 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $N/A - gift (Thank you Eileen!)
Purchased from: N/A - gift (purchased in Mexico)

Welcome to the last day (Day #8) of Chocolate Surprise Theme Week.

Today's Milk Chocolate with Sea Salt and Baked Peanuts from Quintana Roo bar—created by Ki'Xocolatl (Merida, Yucatan, Mexico)—was brought back to the U.S. as a gift. (Many thanks to Eileen.)

This 50% Cacao milk chocolate bar from Mexico had a satisfying, smooth dark milk chocolate and balanced nut aroma, flavor and texture, with a creamy melt. The sea salt was beautifully subtle and not overwhelming.

Go Raw Organic Chocolate Plant Protein bar + Spiru-Tein Chocolate Mix - Aug. 26, 2018

Chocolate(s) of the Day: 

Go Raw (Freeland Foods)
Organic Dark Chocolate Sprouted Grow Raw Plant Protein Bar
Good
Weight: 1.9 oz. (55 g.) in total bar
Calories: 240 calories in 1 bar
Cost: $2.99 for 1 bar
Purchased from: New Leaf Community Market, Half Moon Bay, CA

Natures Plus
Spiru-Tein Simply Natural Chocolate (Unsweetened) Mix
OK +++ - Good
Weight: .4 oz. (11.5 g.) / .8 oz. (23 g.) packet
Calories: 40 calories in 1/2 packet (dry mix)
Cost: $1.99 for 1 packet
Purchased from: Piazza's Fine Foods, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #7 of Chocolate Surprise Theme Week.

Chocolate blends well with other plants like fruits, nuts, seeds—and, surprise, even greens. Today's two chocolate items incorporate plant proteins ranging from watermelon seeds to spirulina.*

Today's first item, the Go Raw Organic Dark Chocolate plant protein bar was made by Freeland Foods (San Jose, CA). The first ingredient listed was watermelon seeds, followed by dates, cacao, chocolate extract, vanilla extract, Celtic sea salt and rosemary extract.

This vegan, gluten-free bar contained 12 grams of protein, and tasted better than many other protein bars. (I liked the short ingredient list, and I'm guessing the chocolate extract could be omitted. Quality cacao by itself is usually sufficient to impart rich flavor; but it wasn't too bad.)

The second item, was Natural Chocolate Spiru-Tein mix that contained a blend of rice, pea and soy protein (as well as spirulina, added vitamins and minerals, and a long list of other ingredients). The dry powder had a mild chocolate and vanilla aroma. It was unsweetened (which I liked) and readily mixed with liquids. The taste was slightly malty and not unpleasant.

*Spirulina is a Cyanobacteria (once classified as micro-algae) that grows in alkaline (mineral-rich) ponds and lakes in warmer climates, and is harvested and used as a food supplement.

Blissful Baking - Chocolate Space Adventure Cookies - Aug. 25, 2018

Chocolate of the Day: 

Blissful Baking 

(Imported by Bahlsen North America Inc.)

Chocolate - Space Adventure Cookies

OK ++ - Good

Weight: .05 oz. (1.5 g.) / 5.3 oz. (150 g.) in total package

Calories: 7.3 calories in 1 serving (1 small cookie)

Cost: $ missing information 

Purchased from: missing information

Welcome to Day #5 of Chocolate Surprise Theme Week.

Today's Certified Gluten Free Space Adventure Cookies from Blissful Baking were Imported by Bahlsen North America Inc. (East Hanover, NJ). 

Who doesn't want to answer exhortations like "Zip up your spacesuit!" and "Strap on your jetpack!" with a resounding yes!?

The package pictured five different small cookies shapes: astronaut boy, astronaut girl, planet, rocket ship and a handsome moon. Surprise! The package also contained some bonus shapes: a sun, a shooting star and what might have been a UFO, providing characters for many possible space adventure scenarios.

The small crunchy cookies had a light chocolate flavor and, unfortunately, an artificial aroma to them, perhaps due to the fact that they were already expired when I bought them. Too bad I can't climb into the tiny rocket ship (or UFO) and go back in time. 

Instead, I'll enjoy the full moon shining through the trees branches in my backyard and will imagine what it might be like to live on a beautiful planet with giant cacao trees. 

Four Sigmatic - Mushroom Hot Cacao Mix - Aug. 24, 2018

Chocolate of the Day: 

Four Sigmatic

Mushroom Hot Cacao Mix

Good

Weight: .2 oz. (6 g.) / 2.16 oz. (60 g.) in total box of 10

Calories: 25 calories in 1 packet

Cost: $20.00 for 1 box of 10 packets

Purchased from: (online)

Welcome to Day #5 of Chocolate Surprise Theme Week.

Mushrooms in your hot chocolate? The folks at Four Sigmatic (Finland) believe in the benefits of drinking mushrooms and superfoods; and they offer a range of tea, coffee and cacao mixes with different mushroom inclusions.

Today's Mushroom Hot Cacao Mix contained cacao powder, coconut palm sugar, reishi mushroom extract, cinnamon, cardamom and stevia. Reishi mushrooms are thought to help support "sleep and occasional stress."

The organic, vegan, paleo, decaf mix was made with "pure Peruvian cacao" and contained 500 grams of organic, linden log-grown red reishi mushroom (Ganoderma lucidum) per serving. 

One serving single-serving packet of dry mix was only 25 calories (more if you neutralize the health benefits and add cream of course). 

Santomiele - Dark Chocolate bar - Aug. 23, 2018

Chocolate of the Day: 

Santomiele s.r.l.
Dark Chocolate bar
Good +
Weight: 1 oz. (28.3 g.) / 3 oz. (85 g.) in total bar
Calories: 150 calories (estimate) in 1/3 bar
Cost: $N/A - gift (Thank you Maya!)
Purchased from: N/A - gift (from Italy)

Welcome to Day #4 of Chocolate Surprise Theme Week.

Thank you to Maya who carefully transported today's bar back to the U.S. after a trip to Italy, where she found this dark chocolate (50.8%) bar from Santomiele s.r.l. (Prignano Cilento, Salerno, Italy).

Wrapped in packaging printed with an attractive watercolor illustration of an ancient amphitheater, and tied with a chocolate brown ribbon, this chocolate bar had classic, smooth, even dark chocolate flavor with a subtle hint of warm vanilla.