Green Girl Bakeshop - Reishi Chocolate Plant-Based Superfood Gelato - Oct. 29, 2022

Chocolate of the Day

Green Girl Bakeshop

Reishi Plant-Based Superfood Gelato 

Good 

Weight: 1/2 cup (118 mL) / 1 Pint (473 mL) in total container

Calories: 200 calories in 1/2 cup serving

Cost: $8.89 for 1 container

Purchased from: Country Sun Natural Foods, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #7 of Chocolate and Mushroom Theme Week and Day #2 of Chocolate and Umami Theme Week.

Today's Reishi* Chocolate Plant-Based Superfood Gelato was from Green Girl Bakeshop (San Leandro, CA). 

The aroma profile for this gelato included: dark chocolate coconut milk ice cream with woodsy, bitter notes.

The bitter flavor was slightly less than in the aroma. (I'm assuming this tough-to-love flavor came from the reishi mushrooms and not the chocolate.) The rougher, albeit authentic, woody earth (Reishi) mushroom taste contrasted with the smoother, creamy, sweet dark chocolate, plant (coconut milk)-based gelato base. 

I really enjoy umami flavors. The umami in this blend comes from the mushrooms (and nuts I added). (Both mushrooms and nuts contain glutamate/glutamic acid--a common amino acid that vegetable and animal-based umami rich foods share.) I topped this chocolate frozen dessert with some Organic almonds and sea salt, for a little extra umami flavor. 

This bitter-sweet gelato flavor was interesting; but I'm not sure I'd recommend it to people just looking for a culinary highlight. However, it might excite novelty-seekers who are also interested in the possible health benefits of certain mushrooms. 

Props to Green Girl Bakeshop for continuing to offer allergy-friendly gelato flavors with a short list of quality ingredients. (Today's Reishi Chocolate flavor contained/listed just 4 ingredients.)

Ingredients: Organic coconut milk, Organic maple syrup, Organic cacao powder, Organic reishi mushroom.

Allergen-related information: Contains coconut. "Made in a dedicated facility free from dairy, gluten, grains, peanuts, egg, and soy."

*Reishi mushrooms (Ganoderma lucidum) are currently a popular medicinal mushroom (often available in powder and/or extract form) in the U.S. Ganoderma are often used in traditional Chinese medicine. Their earthy, tree bark-like flavor makes them a bit less appealing as a culinary mushroom.

Vosges Haut-Chocolat - Walnut and Chanterelle 80% Cacao (bar) - Oct. 28, 2022

Chocolate of the Day

Vosges Haut-Chocolat 
Walnut and Chanterelle 80% Cacao (bar)
Good ++ - Good +++
Weight: 1 oz. (28.3 g.) / 2 oz. (57 g.) in total bar
Calories: 180 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $7.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Vosges, online order 

Welcome to Day #6 of Chocolate and Mushroom Theme Week; and Day #1 of Chocolate and Umami Theme Week.

Today's attractively-packaged Walnut and Chanterelle* 80% Cacao (bar) was from Vosges Haut-Chocolat (Vosges IP, LLC, Chicago, IL). 

The bar was part of the company's LAB collection, and was made using the entire cacao pod (fiber, fruit and seed) and no refined sugars.

The aroma notes for this ultra-dark bar included: freshly baked walnut fudge brownies, roasted cacao nibs, and faint diffuse fruit. 

This well-tempered bar had a crunchy, almost stoneground, texture that worked very effectively. A variety of very tiny flavor bits (including cacao nibs ("seeds")) harmonized nicely and created flavor and textural depth.

There was enough cocoa butter (number one ingredient) to create a pleasing sensation on the palette. (It prevented the feeling of a dry, grainy texture that occasionally occurs in chocolates with a coarser grind (or shorter conch times), while still preserving intact flavors.

It was difficult to single out specific chanterelle mushroom flavor in this blend. However, a very light sparkle of sea salt and walnut "flour" contributed to a subtly satisfying umami experience.

Ingredients: Cocoa butter, unsweetened chocolate processed with alkali, coconut sugar, defatted walnut flour, cacao berry (cacao berry fiber, cacao berry flour), vanilla (maltodextrin, vanilla), cacao fruit puree, chanterelle mushroom powder, Baja Gold salt.

Allergen-related information: "Contains: Walnuts, coconut." "Processed on equipment that also processes milk, soy, wheat, eggs, peanuts and tree nuts."

*Chanterelle mushrooms are popular (and relatively expensive) culinary mushrooms. The golden sun-colored floral trumpet-shaped like fungi are usually eaten cooked (less likely to cause upset stomach if eaten cooked). They have a meaty (umami) texture, and sometimes unique faint yellow stone-fruit (apricot, peach) aroma/flavor notes. 

Standout Chocolate - Nordic Nature Porcini 67% (bar) - Oct. 27, 2022

Chocolate of the Day

Standout Chocolate
Nordic Nature Porcini 67% (bar)
Good ++ 
Weight: .88 oz. (25 g.) / 1.76 oz. (50 g.) in total bar
Calories: 150.75 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $11.50 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

Welcome to Day #5 of Chocolate and Mushroom Theme Week, featuring cacao-based items blended with a range of edible, non-psychoactive fungi, including: chaga, chanterelle, cordyceps, lion's mane, porcini, reishi, shitake, and others.

Today's Nordic Nature Porcini 67% (bar) was made by Standout Chocolate (Kallered, Sweden).

The rich blend of aroma notes for this Swedish craft chocolate dark bar included: dark, sweet chocolate; cream of mushroom soup; faint nut and fruit (dark ripe berry); and almost undetectable roasted red bell pepper notes. The texture (in cool weather) was thick and creamy.

Flavor notes included robust, fruit (berry) forward dark, slightly earthy, chocolate (more like a 75% cacao chocolate than a 67%). Any mushroom notes were relegated to the back seat--other than a very faint, fleeting whisp of nutty cream soup. 

The finish of this flavorful bar was more like a dessert course, with clearer, sweet, dark berry-bright and acidic notes.

Creating this well executed bar, made with cacao produced by Oko Caribe in the Duarte Province of the Dominican Republic, must have involved a balancing act between too sweet and too dark, between showcasing the relatively bold and fruity flavors of the DR cacao and allowing some smooth and satisfying mushroom umami notes to shine through. We enjoyed the end product.

Ingredients: Organic cacao beans, organic cane sugar, organic cacao butter, organic porcini 

Allergen-related information: May contain traces of milk.

*Porcini mushrooms (Boletus edulis)--"piglets" in Italian--likely due to their plump or chubby appearance--can be found growing in countries across the Northern hemisphere (including Europe, North America), and cooler countries in the Southern Hemisphere (such as New Zealand). They grow at the base of trees in forests and at the edge of forest clearings. 

They are a bit more flavorful than common mushrooms, with a meaty texture and woodsy, earthy and slightly nutty notes; and they're used in a variety of pasta, rice and other savory dishes.

 

Herbal Cacao - Chaga and Cacao Medicinal Drinking Chocolate - Oct. 26, 2022

Chocolate of the Day

Herbal Cacao 
Chaga and Cacao Medicinal Drinking Chocolate
Good +
Weight : .35 oz. (10 g.) / 3.5 oz. (100 g.) in total package
Calories: 60 calories in 1 wedge (1/10 package)
Cost: $19.00 for 1 package
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

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

Today's Chaga and Cacao Medicinal Drinking Chocolate was from Herbal Cacao (Groningen, NL).

Aroma notes for this chocolate blend included: forest (wood), very faint green (stalks, wood), subtle, fleeting diffuse dark red berry, cacao, and vegetable (red bell pepper/ripe red tomato, mushroom red sauce). (Later, after the chocolate sat on a plate in the open air for a few hours, very light spice (cinnamon) and vanilla became more detectable.)

Flavor notes for the chaga,* cacao and spice blend included fibrous plant/wood, dried chilis, fruit (apple), fleeting bitter cacao notes--suffused with a hot, spicy kick (cayenne pepper).

Once melted and whisked, the texture was smoother than expected, almost velvety. (I melted this slowly in a small quantity of warm water.)

The un-sweet chocolate (think a 100% cacao bar or drinking chocolate with flavor inclusions) had an untamed complexity about it that transported me to a Central American jungle in Southern Belize. This was a two forest fiesta. (The cacao was from Belize (warm forest); the chaga* was harvested in Siberia (cold forest.) Ceylon cinnamon, cayenne pepper and vanilla added authentic flavor depth and interest.

Overall, this unsweetened blend grew on me over time. However, sweetening it a bit--with a bite of another, smoother, stevia-sweetened dark chocolate--made the woody and wild notes recede a little, and made the drinking chocolate more approachable. I could see this as a flavorful addition to other items. (While the directions advise against boiling it as some of the health benefits may diminish, perhaps it could be chopped and melted on warm breads or low-sugar brownies.)

Ingredients: Cacao beans, Inonotuus Obliguus (chaga mushroom powder), ceylon cinnamon, cayenne pepper, vanilla

Allergen-related information: (None listed on packaging.)

*Chaga mushrooms are described as having an earthy, slightly bitter flavor; and as containing a form of natural vanilla-adjacent flavor. Some have described them as having a coffee-like flavor.

As with other mushroom flavor inclusions this week, this fungus is non-psychoactive. (Note: chaga mushrooms contain antioxidants and have health benefits, but are also high in oxalates, which are not great for those with kidney issues/prone to kidney stones.)

Chaga is native to colder climates in the Northern Hemisphere (Canada, Alaska, Russia, Northern Europe). It appears as a dark protrusion on (birch and other) trees.

Cherie Sweet Heart - Cacao and Reishi - Oct. 25, 2022

Chocolate of the Day

Cherie Sweet Heart 

Cacao and Reishi

Good - Good +

Weight: 2 Tablespoons (15 g.) / 8 oz. (227 g.) in total package

Calories: 60 calories in 1 serving

Cost: $5.99 for 1 package

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

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

Today's Cherie Sweet Heart Organic Cacao and Reishi* (mushroom) blend was manufactured for Sweet Heart Group Ltd (City of Industry, CA).

Aroma notes for this blend included: subtle, slightly savory (mushroom soup) note and cocoa.

After a few minutes of stirring this powdered blend with water and letting it sit for a while, the resulting beverage was smooth, with no powdery grit.

This unsweetened, two-ingredient blend was unadorned with any sugars, sweeteners or fillers, and it had bold cacao and earthy mushroom flavor with a slightly bitter finish. (It was hard to tell whether this bitterness was from the cacao or the mushroom powder, or both.)

Ingredients: Organic cacao powder, organic reishi mushroom powder

Allergen-related information: (None listed/found on packaging.) "Organic, Non-GMO, Plant-based"

*Reishi mushrooms (Ganoderma lucidum) are non-psychoactive mushrooms, native to East Asia but also found in the Americas and elsewhere, that have an earthy, somewhat bitter flavor. 

They have a relatively tough texture, and look like semi-circular shelf fungus (bracket fungus)--typically growing on the side of hardwood and conifer trees. (As with any wild foraging, make sure you consult an expert before hunting for yourself.)

The taste has been described using words like "tree bark-like." This may explain why you won't see the reishi mushroom on many restaurant menus. Instead, it may be listed more in medicinal and health-related items. (Note: reishi may lower blood pressure and increase blood clotting time; so consult your health professional if you're on medication(s) or have questions.)

Four Sigmatic - "Perform" Mushroom Cacao Mix with Cordyceps - Oct. 24, 2022

Chocolate of the Day

Four Sigmatic 

"Perform" - Mushroom Cacao Mix with Cordyceps 

Good +

Weight: .21 oz. (6 g.) in 1 packet

Calories: 25 calories in 1 single-serving packet

Cost: $2.09 for 1 packet

Purchased from: Country Sun Natural Foods, Palo Alto, CA

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

Today's "Perform" Mushroom Cacao Mix with Cordyceps was manufactured for Four Sigmatic Foods Inc. (Santa Monica, CA).

Aroma notes for this dairy-free cacao blend included: gentle warm spice, light citrus, very faint sweet warm mint/menthol, and subtle cocoa.

This lightly sweetened (coconut sugar), subtle warm cocoa was livened up with the spicy flavor of ginger. I did feel a little lift after drinking this; it may have been from the ginger.

I did not detect any noticeable texture or flavor from the added cordyceps mushroom extract. Mushrooms, in general, often have a slightly savory, umami flavor with earthy and/or nutty notes. Cordyceps mushrooms tend to have a more mild flavor, sometimes with a very slightly sweet finish.

Ingredients: Organic cacao powder, organic coconut palm sugar, organic cordyceps extract (500 mg), organic ginger powder.

Allergen-related information: "Contains Tree Nuts (Coconut)."

Dream Pops - Chocolate Lion Pops - Oct. 23, 2022

Chocolate of the Day

Dream Pops LLC

Chocolate Lion (frozen pops)

Good ++ 

Weight: 1.42 fl. oz. (42 mL) / 5.68 fl. oz. (168 mL) in total package of 4 pops

Calories: 80 calories in 1 pop

Cost: $ (N/A - bought by a friend; thank you Don!)

Purchased from: Piazza's, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #1 of Chocolate, Mushroom and Umami* Theme Week.

Today's Chocolate Lion Dream Pops were from Dream Pops LLC (Los Angeles, CA), a company offering a line of frozen, non-dairy, plant-based frozen desserts. These coconut milk-based chocolate frozen pops contained Lion's Mane mushroom powder.

These pops reminded me of the frozen fudge Popsicle (Fudgesicle Fudge Pops) and similar chocolate pops I enjoyed as a child. Both had a smooth, frozen creamy texture, and frozen hot cocoa flavor. 

If I didn't know these dairy-free, gluten-free and soy-free chocolate pops contained mushroom, I might have missed this fact. The mushroom powder had a very faint, mild flavor--barely detectable toward the "finish," as ingredients warmed and melted in the mouth.* The coconut milk also had a very faint flavor. 

Props to Dream Pops for creating these tasty, relatively low sugar (coconut sugar) frozen pops, with a short list of ingredients, and no artificial ingredients, gums or emulsifiers listed.

Ingredients: Coconut milk, organic coconut sugar, cacao powder, lion's mane mushroom powder, chocolate extract, vanilla extract.

Allergen-related information: "Contains: Coconut."

*Lion's mane mushrooms have mild sweet earthy flavor, that some liken to seafood (lobster or crab). Most people I know suggest eating it cooked. (In its uncooked form, this almost fluffy-looking ivory-colored fungus looks a little like a lion's mane.)