Obolo Chocolate - 70% Cacao con Sal de Cahuil (bar) - Jan. 20, 2020

Chocolate of the Day: 

Obolo Chocolate
70 percent Cacao con Sal de Cahuil (bar)
Good
Weight: .88 oz. (25 g.) / 1.76 oz. (50 g.) in total bar
Calories: 142.5 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $12.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Chocolate Covered, San Francisco, CA

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

Today's 70 percent Cacao with Cahuil Salt dark chocolate bar was from Obolo Chocolate (Santiago, Chile).

This organic three-ingredient* bar had a pleasing fudge brownie, slightly earthy dark chocolate aroma and initial flavor, followed by a few seconds of tart acidity (acetic acid/vinegar).** It also contained a touch of salt (from Cahuil, Chile).

I paired this bar with warm ginger tea (fresh sliced ginger, honey and hot water). And something very interesting happened. The ginger tea seemed to soften and neutralize the tart acidity mentioned above.

Paired flavors often complement each other nicely. Only occasionally do they rise above this level to create something better than what had existing before. And even more rarely, one item seems to "fix" a potential flaw in the other. Such was the case here.

*Ingredients: organic cacao beans, organic cane sugar, Cahuil salt. (Cahuil is a village in Chile known for its salt production.)

**This tartness often can be traced back to choices made in the cacao fermentation phase of chocolate making. Sometimes it may even be a deliberate choice to create some tartness; although too much is generally undesirable.

Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate - Pumpkin Spice Latte Truffle bar - Jan. 19, 2020

Chocolate of the Day: 

Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate Company
Milk Chocolate Pumpkin Spice Latte Truffle bar
Good
Weight: 1.75 oz. (49.5 g.) / 3.5 oz. (99 g.) in total bar
Calories: 225 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $6.75 for 1 bar
Purchased from Z. Cioccolato, San Francisco, CA


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

Today's Pumpkin Spice Latte Truffle bar was from Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate Company (St. Louis, MO).

Pumpkin spice blends almost always include ginger. Today's sweet, filled 34 percent cocoa milk chocolate bar was no exception.*

Sweet milk chocolate surrounded a sweet, velvety ganache. This confection of a bar had a subtle pumpkin spice aroma and flavor. The touch of coffee ("latte") flavor* was very subtle, and overshadowed by sweetness.

*Ingredients: Milk chocolate (fair trade certified cane sugar, milk powder, fair trade certified cocoa butter, fair trade certified chocolate liquor, soy lecithin, natural flavors); fair trade certified cane sugar, corn syrup, white chocolate (sugar, fair trade certified cocoa butter, whole milk, non-fat dry milk, milk fat, soy lecithin and natural vanilla flavor; fresh whipping cream; whey powder; natural flavor; glucose syrup; burnt sugar; 2% coffee extract; modified starch; pumpkin; cinnamon; allspice; nutmeg; ginger; mace; cloves; invertase.

Libeert - Organic Dark Chocolate Lemon and Ginger (bar) - Jan. 18, 2020

Chocolate of the Day:

Libeert - Belgian Chocolate Creators
Organic Dark Chocolate Lemon and Ginger (bar)
Good - Good +
Weight: 1.76 oz. (50 g.) / 3.5 oz. (100 g.) in total bar
Calories: 266 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $2.99 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #4 of Chocolate and Ginger Theme Week

Today's Organic Dark Chocolate Lemon and Ginger bar was from Libeert (Comines, Belgium).

Libeert (founded in 1923) offers a range of chocolate figures, tablets (bars) and pralines; and they produce their chocolates using what they call "The Family Recipe"—a description that includes not just constituent ingredients, but also how they do business in a broader context.

This Lemon and Ginger dark bar consisted of a smooth (in flavor and texture) organic dark chocolate base that was embedded with tiny micro-bursts of flavor—bits of refreshing sweet, slightly tart lemon and hints of spicy ginger.

Divine - Organic Dark Chocolate 85% Cocoa (Sao Tome) with Turmeric and Ginger bar - Jan. 17, 2020

Chocolate of the Day:

Divine Chocolate

Organic Rich Dark Chocolate 85% Cocoa (Sao Tome) with Turmeric and Ginger bar

Good +

Weight: 1.4 oz. (40 g.) / 2.8 oz. (80 g.) in total bar

Calories: 226 calories in 1/2 bar

Cost: $4.75 for 1 bar

Purchased from: Easy Foods Company, Mountain View, CA

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

Today's Organic Dark Chocolate with Turmeric and Ginger 85% Cocoa bar made in Germany and was from Divine Chocolate (London, UK).

This 85 percent cacao dark bar was made with cacao grown in Sao Tome.* It had an authentic fresh ginger aroma, a very slight granular texture (from the spices) and a rich chocolate, ginger and turmeric flavor.

While most 85 percent bars are quite bold and dark, this organic and fair trade chocolate tasted relatively smooth and mild. (A blind taste test might result in a guess of 70 percent cocoa solids. However, the sweet ginger granules** offered a slight sweet uptick.)

*Sao Tome is part of the two-island nation (Sao Tome and Principe) on the Equator, on the central African west coast (Gulf of Guinea). 

**Ingredients: Organic cocoa mass, organic sugar, 9 percent ginger granules (sugar, 30 percent organic ginger), organic cocoa butter, organic turmeric powder, organic ginger extract.

Honey's Mama's - Ginger Cardamom Cacao Nectar Bar - Jan. 16, 2020

Chocolate of the Day: 

Honey Mama's 

Ginger Cardamom Cacao Nectar Bar

Good - Good +

Weight: 2.5 oz. (70.75 g.) in 1 bar

Calories: 351 calories in 1 bar

Cost: $6.99 (estimate) for 1 bar

Purchased from: New Leaf Markets, Half Moon Bay, CA

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

Iced ginger ale and iced ginger beverages offer bracing refreshment in the summer. However, ginger is also a welcome, warming spice in winter.

Today's Honey Mama's Ginger Cardamom Cacao Nectar Bar was from Portland, Oregon. This gluten-free vegan bar had a light chocolate and ginger spice cookie aroma, and a velvety melt and texture (coconut oil and honey).

If refrigerated or left in a cold room it might develop a soft, slight chew (a situation where you might notice the shredded coconut surrounded by relatively mild/smooth alkalized Organic cocoa.

A balanced hint of Himalayan pink salt rounded out the flavor arc in this bar.

Homemade Chocolate Ginger Spumoni - Jan. 15, 2020

Chocolate of the Day: 

California Spumoni desserts
1.) Homemade Chocolate Ginger fudge sauce - Good - Good +
2.) Signature Select Ginger Zinger Trail Mix - Good
Weight: 4 oz. (113.2 g.) in 1 serving (small bowl)
Calories: 226 calories (estimate) for 1 small bowl
Cost: $N/A - various ingredients
Purchased from: Safeway, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #8 of Chocolate and Hazelnuts Theme Week and Day #1 of Chocolate and Ginger Theme Week.

Today's ice cream might be best described as California spumoni ice cream, with cherries (fresh and dried) nuts and chocolate...and with a wake-up zing of spicy ginger.

Authentic spumoni ice cream is often a layered parfait of cherry pinks, pistachio greens and cream-colored chocolate (and possibly vanilla), interspersed with bits of fruits and nuts.

Today's homemade ice cream sundae with Ginger Zinger Trail Mix and chocolate ginger sauce, as well as a homemade frozen parfait could be considered California-style Spumoni deserts.

The latter contained dried cherries, hazelnuts and candied ginger (provided by the same Ginger Zinger Trail Mix + some chopped frozen cherries).

Jason Scott LLC - Christmas Cocoa Assortment; Belgian Chocolates- Jan. 14, 2020

Chocolate(s) of the Day: 

Jason Scott LLC
Christmas Cocoa Assortment (3 flavors)
Vanilla with Hazelnut
Good - Good +
Weight: 1 oz. (28 g.) / 3 oz. (84 g.) in total package of 3 flavors
Calories: 100 calories in 1 packet
Cost: $2.99 for 1 package of 3 flavors
Purchased from: Ross Stores in Mountain View, CA

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

Today's Christmas Cocoa Assortment of three festively packaged miniature mixes was from Jason Scott LLC (Boca Raton, FL). Nothing warms one up quite like a good cup of hot chocolate. The vanilla (mix) added comfort and joy to a sweet hot cocoa sipping experience.

Belgian Chocolate Assortment 
I also sampled four filled chocolate truffles from a Belgian chocolate assortment holiday box.

While they mentioned hazelnut fillings, none of the chocolates I sampled had extremely strong hazelnut flavor.

See photo (at right) for a picture of the four flavors that seemed to have the most detectable hazelnut flavor.

Unlike many similar chocolate assortments, these did not contain gluten/wheat ingredients.