Dick Taylor - Pepperming Drinking Chocolate - Nov. 23, 2018

Chocolate of the Day: 

Dick Taylor 

Peppermint Drinking Chocolate 

Good +

Weight: 1 oz. (28.3 g.) / 8 oz. (227 g.) in total package

Calories: 150 calories (estimate) in 1 serving

Cost: $19.00 for 1 package

Purchased from: Dick Taylor, online order

Welcome to Day #12 of Chocolate and Mint Theme Week.

This morning's Peppermint Drinking Chocolate was created by Adam Dick and Dustin Taylor, the multi-talented duo behind Dick Taylor Craft Chocolate (Eureka, CA ). 

This drinking chocolate was made with Dick Taylor 72% cacao Madagascar Sambirano chocolate. What makes that special? First using a high percentage, single origin cacao will likely give drinking chocolate a more distinguished and/or distinguishable flavor profile. 

Cacao grown in Madagascar typically has fruity, slight acidic (tart red berries, citrus) flavor notes. In addition to naturally occurring fruit notes, today's chocolate contained added (powdered)* organic apple, black currant and black carrot in the dry mix. 

The peppermint (supplied by peppermint candy bits and natural peppermint flavor) was relatively low key. The fruit and vegetable inclusions seemed to have mellowed both cacao and peppermint.

*In the past few years, Dick Taylor has offered select/special edition chocolate bars with freeze-dried, fruit inclusions. (The 2018 Valentines Day special Vanilla Raspberry bar with freeze-dried organic raspberry powder featured earlier this year was tasty, well balanced and colorful.)

TCHO - Peppermint Mocha bar - Nov. 22, 2018

Chocolate of the Day: 

TCHO
Peppermint Mocha - milk chocolate with espresso and peppermint bar
Good ++
Weight: 1.25 oz. (35 g.) / 2.5 oz. (70 g.) in total bar
Calories: 200 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $3.79 for 1 bar
Purchased from: The Market, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #11 of Chocolate and Mint Theme Week; and Happy Thanksgiving* to all in the U.S.!

Today's creatively-constructed Peppermint Mocha - milk chocolate with espresso and peppermint bar was from TCHO (Berkeley, CA). It allowed us to lean into the holidays, and feel thankful for local Bay Area chocolate makers, all in one delicious fell swoop.

The organic, 45% cacao chocolate was embedded with a bold but very nicely balanced blend of milk chocolate, espresso and peppermint oil and mint in the form of freeze-dried mint gelato (creative!).

*We felt thankful for freshly rain-washed air and blue skies, after being swallowed up by hazardous air and haze for the past few weeks due to California wildfires. Even chocolate couldn't brighten up the apocalyptic conditions. Hoping all who were displaced from their homes have found shelter. 

Falize - Mint Dark Chocolate bar - Nov. 21, 2018

Chocolate of the Day: 

Falize (DIPA Carole Martin)

Mint Dark Chocolate bar

Good +

Weight: 1.06 oz. (30 g.) / 3.52 oz. (100 g.) in total bar

Calories: 165 calories in 3 squares of bar

Cost: $1.99 for 1 bar

Purchased from: Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #10 of Chocolate and Mint Theme Week.

Today's Falize Mint Dark Chocolate bar was made in France (DIPA Carole Martin, Cedex, France) and was similar to other, smooth dark chocolate mint bars featured this week.

This chocolate broke with a well-tempered* snap and had a pleasing aroma. The bar had the richness of dark chocolate (cacao percent was not listed) suffused with sweetness (sugar was the number one ingredient) and refreshing "natural mint flavor." It did contain some milk fat as well.**

*Well tempered refers to the process of heating and cooling chocolate in such a manner that in its final state it (the cocoa butter) possesses a stable crystalline structure (generally form V crystals) which produces chocolate with a longer shelf life as well as other desirable qualities. One of the characteristics of a well-tempered chocolate bar is that it breaks with a hard snap.

**Ingredients: sugar, unsweetened chocolate, anhydrous milk fat, cocoa butter, sunflower lecithin (emulsifier), natural mint flavor 0.4%, natural vanilla flavor. 

Dolfin - Dark Chocolate with Mint Leaves bar - Nov. 20, 2018

Chocolate of the Day: 

Dolfin SA

Dark Chocolate with Mint Leaves bar 

Good - Good +

Weight: 1.235 oz. (35 g.) / 2.47 oz. (70 g.) in total bar

Calories: 190 calories in 1/2 bar

Cost: $4.95 for 1 bar

Purchased from: Chocosphere, online order

Goedemorgen and Bonjour. We're taking a virtual chocolate voyage to Europe this morning.


Belgian chocolate roots run deep
Chocolate fans in the U.S. can be forgiven for thinking that chocolate originated in Switzerland or Belgium.

Both countries played an important role in the rise of popularity of chocolate as we know it in the past century or two. Belgium's association with chocolate began almost four centuries ago, when the country was under Spanish occupation—after Spanish explorers brought cacao to Europe from the Americas, and were consuming chocolate in beverage form.

Eventually, chocolate dynasties and prestigious houses of chocolate arose, and many are still on the scene. Creamy chocolate pralines (bonbons) appeared in Belgium in the early 1900s and quickly spread elsewhere.

Dolfin Chocolate appeared on the scene years later, but honors Belgian chocolate manufacturing traditions.

Welcome to Day #9 of Chocolate and Mint Theme Week. Today's Dark Chocolate with Mint Leaves bar hailed from Dolfin SA (Wauthier-Braine, Belgium).

This well-packaged, made-in-Belgium chocolate bar was well-tempered and broke with a hard snap. It had a slightly natural, slightly artificial aroma of mint and was a balanced, relatively sweet I'm guessing 60% cacao chocolate. (The cacao percent of this blended-origin bar was not disclosed on the label.)

Lindt and Sprungli - Lindt Excellence Intense Mint Dark bar - Nov. 19, 2018

Chocolate of the Day: 

Lindt and Sprungli

Lindt Excellence - Intense Mint Dark bar

Good - Good +

Weight: .7 oz. (20 g.) / 3.5 oz. (100 g.) in total bar

Calories: 95 calories in 1/5 bar

Cost: $2.99 (estimate) for 1 bar

Purchased from: Stanford Theatre, Palo Alto, CA

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

Today's Lindt Excellence Intense Mint Dark bar made by Lindt and Sprungli (USA) Inc. (Stratham, NH). 

The bar broke with a snap, had a slow, smooth melt and dark chocolate base flavor—bolstered by a peppermint flavor and finish.

Zing - Dark Chocolate Mint Vitality bar - Nov. 18, 2018

Chocolate of the Day: 

Zing Bars

Dark Chocolate Mint Vitality bar

Good + - Good++

Weight: 1.76 oz. (50 g.) in 1 bar

Calories: 210 calories in 1 bar

Cost: $2.99 for 1 bar 

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

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

Today's Dark Chocolate Mint Vitality bar from Zing Bars (Seattle, WA) helped to power a walk around the Palo Alto, CA Baylands Nature Preserve—a city-owned strip of park with trails that offers a welcome dose of nature.

This slightly chewy, vegan, gluten free, and soy free "vitality" bar was relatively high in protein (10 g.) and it tasted relatively low in sugar. (Most Zing bars contain only 8-9 g. of sugars (thank you!)).

Humboldt Creamery - Organic Mint Chip Ice Cream - Nov. 17, 2018

Chocolate of the Day: 

Humboldt Creamery*
Organic Mint Chip Ice Cream
Good +++
Weight: 1/2 cup (82 g.) / 1 Pint (473 mL) in total container
Calories: 220 calories in 1/2 cup serving
Cost: $ missing information
Purchased from: missing information

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

Today's Organic Mint Chip Ice Cream was from Humboldt Creamery* (Modesto, CA).

The base, mint ice cream tasted fresh and creamy and the mint flavoring was refreshing without being too strong (thank you).

The dark chocolate "fudge" pieces/chips were not overly hard or waxy (as they can sometimes taste in other frozen desserts). They had the mouthfeel and flavor of authentic dark chocolate.

*Humboldt Creamery was formed in the 1920s as a 152-farm dairy marketing co-op in northern California. It is now owned by Foster Farms Dairy (Modesto, CA).