Loving Earth - Chocolate 72% Raw bar + Nina Coconut bar - Apr. 14, 2020

Chocolate(s) of the Day: 

Loving Earth
Dark Organic Chocolate with 72% Raw Ashaninka Cacao with Coconut Sugar, Amazon (bar)
Good
Weight: 1.25 oz. (35 g.) / 2.5 oz. (70 g.) in total bar
Calories: 200 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $2.99 (estimate) for 1 bar
Purchased from: Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #11 of Chocolate and Coconut Theme Week, and Day #1 of Chocolate and Peru Theme Week. We celebrated this day with two chocolate bars with ties to Amazonian and Peruvian cacao culture, and unique origin stories.

Peru is one of the Central and South American countries were cacao was first cultivated by indigenous people thousands of years ago.

Today's Dark Organic Chocolate with 72% Raw Ashaninka Cacao (Peruvian Amazon) bar with coconut sugar (bar) was from Loving Earth Inc., Upper St. Clair, PA (and was made in Australia).

This relatively light bar had a light coconut and nutty flavor. The chocolate was made with raw cacao (that tends to have a milder flavor due to low temperature constraints (no roasting)). There was no added cacao butter. Rather, there was an interesting melt and nutty smoothness from finely ground nuts/nut butter ingredients: cashews, hazelnuts and almonds.

The cacao beans used to make this vegan bean-to-bar chocolate "traveled 100 miles by canoe to get to the nearest road. From the remote Rio Ene, one of the main sources of the Amazon River, they are an indigenous wild variety of criollo cacao, harvested from the Amazon jungle by the Ashaninko people of the Kemito Ene Cooperative."

Maker's tasting notes for this chocolate printed on the package read as follows: (notes of) aniseed and fennel (and...) toffee notes (from the) coconut sugar...to create a unique flavor with hints of coffee."

Nina* Fine Chocolate Macambo + Coconut bar
I also enjoyed (re-tasted) a bit of a Nina* Chocolates 45% Cacao Macambo (Majambo) + Coconut (bar) (originally featured here on Chocolate Banquet last year).

This bar was made, from tree to bar, in Peru, using single origin cacao from Chazuta (a village and district, in the San Martin province/region, in north central Peru at the edge of the Amazon basin). Majambo (Theobroma bicolor) is a cacao (Theobroma cacao) relative.

*"Nina is a Qoya, the Amazon Princess, wife of the Inca, who was instructed to meet the world invisible to our eyes. Her name in Quechua translates as fire and in the Peruvian Amazon symbolizes: initiation, transformation and purification. She knows the hidden secret of the cacao seed, its spirit and also its great nutritional power. And by just impregnating the seed with the breath of her sacred fire on full moon nights, it is transformed into chocolate, releasing a myriad of delicate tastes." 

Libeert - Organic Milk Chocolate - Coconut and Yoghurt (bar) - Apr. 13, 2020

Chocolate of the Day:

Libeert
Organic Milk Chocolate - Coconut and Yoghurt (bar)
Good
Weight: 3.5 oz. (100 g.) in total bar
Calories: 540 calories (estimate) in 1 bar
Cost: $2.99 (estimate) for 1 bar
Purchased from: Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, Palo Alto, CA

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

Today's Coconut and Yoghurt Organic Milk Chocolate (bar) was manufactured by Libeert s.a. (Comines, Belgium).

This creamy milk chocolate with crunchy flecks of coconut had a coconut aroma; sweet milk chocolate and coconut flavor with a slight nuttiness; and a light, lingering coconut finish. Yogurt flavoring added a very subtle sweet tartness that helped balance out a relatively high sugar content.

Leaving aside the coconut for a moment...Not only do many milk chocolate bars have a lower percent of cocoa in them, but they also, by definition, have a higher percentage of milk and sugar. Milk and sugar often introduce caramel or candy notes and can mute or mask cacao flavor constituents, such as: fruit, nut, earth, spice, green or dark brownie/fudge notes. These flavor notes often correspond to cacao species, geological origin, soil and fermentation characteristics. (Adding milk and sugar might improve poor quality or bitter cacao, but as a rule fine cacao will be less adulterated.)

Looking for subtle chocolate flavor characteristics in bars with less than 40% cocoa solids becomes quite challenging. Today's milk chocolate contained 38.5% cocoa solids. The chocolate flavor that did poke through seemed rich and mild. (No cacao origin was specified on the packaging for this bar.)

Ingredients: milk chocolate (organic cane sugar, organic cocoa butter, organic dry whole milk, organic chocolate liquor; organic coconut flakes; coconut and yogurt flavor.

Venchi - Coconut in Black Cube - Apr. 12, 2020

Chocolate of the Day: 

Venchi
Coconut in Black Cube
Good
Weight: .353 oz. (10 g.) in 1 cube/piece
Calories: 53 calories (estimate) in 1 cube
Cost: $1.60 for 1 cube
Purchased from: Chocosphere.com, online order

Buona Pasqua (Happy Easter) and welcome to Day #9 of Chocolate and Coconut Theme Week.

Today's Coconut in Black Cube (Cubotti* Coco) was from Venchi (Piedmont, Italy).
The company was founded by chocolatier Silvano Venchi, and was established in Turin, Italy, in 1878.

Early on Venchi became known for their dark chocolate covered nougatine (made with caramelized hazelnuts). They now produce a variety of chocolate offerings, including bars, confections...and cubotti* (small "abundances" or cubes of extra dark chocolate with flavored cream fillings).

This coconut-filled dark chocolate cube was simple and elegant, and might be found in a high-end Easter basket, or a Venchi spring chocolate gift box.

*Cubotti (according to my online dictionary) translates to "abundance(s)." It also seems to be a name for small cube-shaped dessert items. (Cubo is the Italian word for cube (singular), and cubi (or occasionally cubetti) in Italian means cubes (plural).) 

Domori - Cocco recoperto di cioccolato al latte - Apr. 11, 2020

Chocolate of the Day: 

Domori

Cocco recoperto di cioccolato al latte 

(Coconut (pieces) covered with milk chocolate)

Good  

Weight: 1.41 oz. (40 g.) in total package

Calories: 224 calories in 1 pkg.  

Cost: $3.75 for 1 package

Purchased from: Chocosphere.com, online order 

Welcome to Day #7? of Chocolate and Coconut Theme Week.

Today's gluten-free Coconut (pieces) Covered in 50% Milk Chocolate was from Domori srl (None, Italy).

These sweet little milk chocolate and coconut confectionery orbs made for a pleasing snack.

Ingredients: milk chocolate (50% cocoa min.) cane sugar, cocoa butter, cocoa mass, milk powder, emulsifier, soy lecithin, natural vanilla extract), dehydrated coconut (sugar, coconut, sulfur dioxide), sugar syrup (water, sugar, glucose syrup, thickening agent - arabic gum).

Only Child Chocolate - Best Fronds Forever Milk Chocolate Bar - Apr. 10, 2020

Chocolate of the Day: 

Only Child Chocolate
Best Fronds Forever - Milk Chocolate with Peanuts, Coconut, Fennel and Cayenne bar
Good +
Weight: 1.7 oz. (48 g.) in total bar
Calories: 256 calories (estimate) in 1 bar
Cost: $8.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Chocosphere.com, online order

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

This thick, sweet, creamy milk chocolate bar was redolent with botanical aromas; and I wondered how were all these flavor inclusions going to mesh? The answer: surprisingly well.

Relatively whole chunks of ingredients* visible on the back of the bar gave this chocolate an attractive look; and, more important, allowed flavors to take turns in the spotlight. (A finely ground, homogeneous blend of all these ingredients would not have worked as well.)

One bite featured crunchy peanuts with milk chocolate, another bite coconut and milk chocolate, the next bite a hint of fennel, and the final bite a polite but firm sizzle of cayenne, which was harmonizing with the nuts, chocolate and coconut. All the ingredients* tasted fresh. A hint of salt (from the peanuts) tied up this sweet and savory package with a bow.

*Ingredients: 38% milk chocolate (cane sugar, whole milk, cocoa butter, cacao beans, sunflower lecithin, vanilla beans), peanuts (peanuts, vegetable oil, salt), coconut oil, dried coconut pieces, fennel seed, cayenne pepper.

Cafe-Tasse - Lait Noix de Coco 35% mini bars - April 9, 2020

Chocolate of the Day: 

Cafe-Tasse
Lait Noix de Coco 35% Cacao mini bar
Good +
Weight: .31 oz. (9 g.) in 1 mini bar x 2 bars
Calories: 100 calories (estimate) in 2 mini bars
Cost: $1.90 for 2 mini bars
Purchased from: Chocosphere.com, online order

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

Today's Lait Noix de Coco mini bars were from Cafe-Tasse (Belgium).

These creamy, sweet (35% cacao) milk chocolate confections were perfumed with coconut aroma and flavor. The miniature coconut milk bars provided a few small, sweet bites--just the right dose. A larger size bar this sweet would have been too much.

Flax4Life - Toasted Coconut Brownies - Apr. 8, 2020

Chocolate of the Day: 

Flax4Life
Toasted Coconut Brownie(s)
Good +
Weight: 2.33 oz. (66 g.) / 14 oz. (396 g.) in total container
Calories: 280 calories in 2 mini muffin brownies (1 serving)
Cost: $5.49 for 1 container of 12 brownies
Purchased from: Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, Palo Alto, CA

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

Today's mini muffin shaped Toasted Coconut Brownies were from Flax4Life (Bellingham, WA).
Flax4Life offers a line of gluten free flax muffins, granola, buns and brownies.

These moist and flavorful gluten free toasted coconut chocolate brownies were quite good, especially for gluten-free baked goods. They had a soft, loft to them that were lacking in early versions of gluten-free cakes and muffins. Fortunately, brownies don't seem to suffer much from lack of gluten.

And, yes, these Flax4Life brownies did contain flaxseeds...that added fiber, anti-oxidants and alpha linolenic acid (ALA), Omega 3 fatty acids and protein.