Soklet - Dark Milk Chocolate with Ghee 55% (bar) - Feb. 14, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Soklet

Dark Milk Chocolate with Ghee 55% (bar)

Good +

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

Calories: 251.5 calories in 1 bar

Cost: $8.00 for 1 bar + shipping

Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

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

Today's Soklet Dark Milk Chocolate with Ghee 55% (bar) was manufactured by Regal Foods and Beverages (Pollachi, Tamil Nadu, India).

The aroma of this 55% dark milk chocolate bar had chocolate, malt, cereal, brown sugar, very faint green, rice, fruit (goji berry, mango), butter oil and spice notes, and most of these notes carried over into the flavor as well.

The texture of this chocolate was smooth with a creamy melt, thanks in part due to the ghee* and skim milk powder.

The flavor notes included brown sugar, chocolate, cereal and fruit (goji berry, mango, mangosteen, tropical fruit), and these lightly lingered into the finish along with a sustained cocoa note at the end. 

This tree-to-bar Soklet chocolate was created from cacao grown on plantations in the foothills of the Anamalais in Tamil Nadu, in Southern India. The chocolate was quite low in bitterness, and the fruit acidity that was present was balanced and sweet.

Ingredients: Cacao beans, cacao butter, sugar, ghee, skimmed milk powder

*Ghee is clarified butter made from cow or buffalo milk that may have a faint nutty flavor. The heating and clarifying process reduces the milk protein(s), whey/lactose and water in the butter making it potentially easier to digest for some. Ghee is often used in cooking in South Asia, as it has a higher smoke point (it doesn't burn/smoke as easily once the proteins have been skimmed off).

Soklet - 100% Dark Chocolate India Origin (bar) - Feb. 13, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Soklet
Dark Chocolate 100% India Origin (bar)
Good ++
Weight: .88 oz. (25 g.) / 1.76 oz. (50 g.) in total bar
Calories: 272.5 calories in 1 bar
Cost: $8.00 for 1 bar + shipping
Purchased from: Bar and Cacao, online order

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

Today's Soklet 100% Dark Chocolate India Origin (bar) was manufactured by Regal Foods and Beverages (Pollachi, Tamil Nadu, India).

This complex, ultra-dark chocolate was also very approachable for a 100% cacao bar, with no sharp spikes or "off" notes. 

The aroma of this chocolate took me on a whirl around the chocolate tasting wheel. It started with a fleeting floral note, quickly evolved to spice blend, followed by brown sugar, nutty, and then green floral perfume and green coconut notes. 

The texture was thick and hearty, a satisfying thick cacao mass (think stiff, freshly ground peanut butter with less oil and no sugar).

The flavor of this one-ingredient (100% cacao beans) bar, like most unsweetened chocolate bars, was a bit different than the aroma. Deep, concentrated cacao flavor notes with very balanced (fruit) acidity and bitterness, with fleeting malt and green rice notes.

Ingredients: Cacao beans

Soklet - Peanut Butter Crunch 60% Dark (bar) - Feb. 12, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Soklet
Peanut Butter Crunch - 60% Dark Chocolate (bar)
Good + - Good ++
Weight: 1.76 oz. (50 g.) in total bar
Calories: 271 calories in 1 bar
Cost: $8.00 for 1 bar + shipping
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

Welcome to Day #4 of Chocolate and India Theme Week. 

Today's Soklet Peanut Butter Crunch - 60% Dark Chocolate (bar) was manufactured by Regal Foods and Beverages (Pollachi, Tamil Nadu, India).

This vegan bar had smooth dark chocolate aroma and flavor with balanced nutty notes; creamy texture; and a pleasing finish. It was not too sweet (thank you!). 

The cacao was grown in the green hills of the Anamalais in Tamil Nadu, India. The resulting tree-to-bar Soklet, Indian Origin, chocolate in this bar was low in acidity and bitterness, made even more so by a perfectly balanced amount (subtle touch) of roasted peanuts and sea salt. Loved the subtlety of the flavor accents. This is my favorite Soklet bar so far.

Ingredients: Cacao beans, cane sugar, roasted peanuts, cacao butter, sea salt

Soklet - Filter Kaapi 55% Dark Milk Coffee and Chicory Root (bar) - Feb. 11, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Soklet
"Filter Kaapi" 55% Dark Milk Chocolate Arabica Coffee and Chicory Root (bar)
Good 
Weight: 1.76 oz. (50 g.) in total bar
Calories: 261 calories in 1 bar
Cost: $9.00 (+ shipping) for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order 

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

Today's Soklet Filter Kaapi 55% Dark Milk Chocolate Arabica Coffee (and) Chicory Root (bar) was manufactured by Regal Food and Beverages (Pollachi, Tamil Nadu, India).

We can thank Soklet co-founders, Harish Manoj Kumar (farmer, fermenter) and Karthi (Karthikeyan Palaniswamy) for the array of tree-to-bar Indian Origin chocolate bars featured on Chocolate Banquet this week (as well as small chocolate shops and distributors now carrying more bars from India).

Today's chocolate was inspired by South Indian filter coffee (filter kaapi/kappi).* It contained a rich, complex blend of aromas and flavors, with dark chocolate, green (spiced lentils, green coconut, green nut), spices (aromatic black pepper, black cardamom, licorice), chicory (with roasted root with slightly woodsy notes), and coffee, browned butter, and faint charcoal and  oxidized malted cocoa notes.

The sweetness level was subtle and not too sweet (thank you!)--allowing the full spectrum of flavors listed above to shine through.

The melt and mouthfeel were fairly smooth and creamy, enabled by judicious, well-balanced, amounts of cacao butter, ghee, and skim milk powder. 

The finish mellowed into a long tail of softer, flavorful cacao and sweet coffee.

The cacao used to make this bar was grown in plantations in the foothills of the Anamalais (hills), where cacao is intercropped with (grown with/under) coconut palm trees.

Ingredients: Cacao beans, cacao butter, cane sugar, ghee, skimmed milk powder, Arabica coffee, chicory root powder.

*Today's bar contained "Chickmagalur" (Arabica) coffee (presumably from Chikmagalur in the neighboring State of Karnataka (formerly Mysore), often considered the birthplace of coffee in India, with cultivation beginning in the early 1600s). (Cacao arrived in Tamil Nadu in 1798.)

Filter coffee in India is made with a blend of ground coffee and chicory root powder, that may be left to filter overnight and with hot, full fat milk and sugar added.

Chicory (a dandelion relative) is sometimes known as "coffeeweed." The roots are roasted and ground and used as a coffee supplement and/or substitute. It has also been used as a medicinal plant.

The French helped popularize and spread coffee with chicory blends worldwide. (In the U.S., we see this influence with Cafe du Monde chicory coffee in New Orleans typically served with hot milk.) An added bonus in India, 90% of cow (and buffalo) milk there contains A2 beta casein (milk protein) vs. milk in most of the U.S., Europe and Australia containing A1 beta casein protein. The A2 milk is thought to be easier to digest.

Soklet - Spiced Chocolate Bar 60% Limited Edition (bar)

Chocolate of the Day

Soklet
Spiced Chocolate Bar 60% Limited Edition (bar)
Good 
Weight: 1.76 oz. (50 g.) in 1 bar
Calories: 239 calories in 1 bar
Cost: $9.00 (+ shipping) for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

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

Today's Soklet Limited Edition Spiced Chocolate 60% (bar) was manufactured by Regal Foods and Beverages (Pollachi, Tamil Nadu, India).

When I think of culinary India, I think of spices and bold flavors. However, in the two tree-to-bar Soklet chocolates I have tried so far this week, there is a mastery of nuances. Today's Indian Origin 60% chocolate bar contained a warm, subtle spice blend that included cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, clove, nutmeg and mace.

The base chocolate had a relatively mild chocolately flavor with a low level of tart fruit acidity, almost no bitterness, and a slightly oxidized, malted cereal note. The level of sweetness was just right, not too sweet (thank you).

The light, lingering chocolate finish was relatively delicate with very faint traces of charcoal and wood ash notes that somehow conjured romantic notions of an artisan chocolate forge on the edge of a lush green forest.

Ingredients: "cacao beans, cacao butter, unrefined cane sugar, a blend of Indian spices" 

Soklet - Coconut Crunch - 60% Coconut Milk Chocolate (bar) - Feb. 9, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Soklet 
Coconut Crunch - 60% Coconut Milk Chocolate (bar)
Good 
Weight: 1.76 oz. (50 g.) in total bar
Calories: 270 calories in 1 bar
Cost: $8.00 (+ shipping) for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

Welcome to Day #11 of Chocolate and Coconut Theme Week, and Day #1 of Chocolate and India Theme Week. 

Today's Soklet (pronounced 'sohk let) Coconut Crunch 60% Coconut Milk Chocolate bar was made from tree to bar in India, manufactured by Regal Foods and Beverages (Pollachi, Tamil Nadu, India). 

Happily, in the past decade more single origin bars made with Indian cacao have become available in the U.S., including a series of Soklet bars featured this week. 

Cacao is grown in four southern states in India: Andhra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala--typically with other crops (e.g. palm and coconut trees) that can provide the smaller cacao trees with some shade. The cacao used to make this bar was grown in the foothills of the Anamalai(s) (also known as the Elephant Mountains) in Tamil Nadu.

This vegan milk chocolate bar had a pleasant aroma with coconut rice pudding, light sweet (coconut palm sugar/brown sugar/light molasses) and chocolate notes. 

It was a polite 60% chocolate, very low in fruit acidity and bitterness. And the bar was not overly sweet (thank you). 

This chocolate had a bit of an oxidized, cereal box/malt flavor--a taste that can develop during the cacao fermentation process--with sweet chocolate, faint floral honey, light coconut milk, nutty, and barely detectable spice notes (whispers of cinnamon, ginger, cardamom and saffron).

I'm guessing the maker(s) either used a mild cacao variety, or the coconut milk (and the constellation of tiny, embedded coconut flakes) effectively neutralized any strong cacao flavors.* (There was, however, a slight uptick of nutty cocoa flavor a minute or two into the finish.)

Ingredients: Cacao beans, cacao butter, coconut sugar, dehydrated coconut milk powder.

*In fairness to all concerned, when I opened the well-sealed inner gold packaging, it looked like there may have been some exposure to heat at some point during the shipping process, something that can influence the flavor a bit.

Nature's Path Foods - Love Crunch - Organic Dark Chocolate Macaroon granola bar - Feb. 8, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Nature's Path Foods

Love Crunch Premium Organic Granola Bars - Dark Chocolate Macaroon

Good

Weight: 1.06 oz. (30 g.) / 6.35 oz. (180 g.) in total box of 6 bars 

Calories: 150 calories in 1 granola bar

Cost: $0.99 for 1 box of 6 granola bars 

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

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

Today's Love Crunch Organic Granola Bars Dark Chocolate Macaroon (bar) was distributed by Nature's Path Foods (Blaine, WA). 

The company offers a variety of cereals, granolas, oatmeals and snack bars including a Love Crunch granola and granola bar(s) with chocolate. (Happy Valentines Day month to you all.)

Today's individually-wrapped, Love Crunch Dark Chocolate Macaroon granola bar (that came in a box of 6 bars) was light, crunchy and conveniently portable with a sweet, oat-y aroma and flavor with coconut and chocolate accents (drizzle, chunks). 

The overall sugar level of this bar was a bit sweet for me; but I appreciated the bar's lighter, crunchy texture (think freshly baked oat granola), and the organic ingredients.*

This Organic bar had the satisfying texture of a crunchy cookie without the heavy, corn syrup-like sweetness of a chocolate drizzled coconut macaroon, or the excess butter or oils found in some cookies.

Ingredients: Whole grain rolled oats,* cane sugar,* sunflower oil,* Fair Trade dark chocolate chunks* (cane sugar,* unsweetened chocolate,* cocoa butter,* vanilla*), dark cocoa coating* (cane sugar,* palm kernel oil,* Fair Trade cocoa powder* (processed with alkali), sunflower lecithin,* vanilla,* milk), dried coconut,* invert cane syrup,* honey,* Fair Trade cocoa powder,* oat fiber,* oat syrup solids* (oat syrup solids,* tocopherols (Vitamin E), sea salt, coconut flavor,* tocopherols (Vitamin E).

*An asterisk above indicated Organic ingredients.