Fu Wan Chocolate - Taiwan #3 Ping Tung Black Sugar Chocolate 70% Dark (bar) - Feb. ??, 2023

Chocolate of the Day

Fu Wan Chocolate
Taiwan #3 Ping Tung Black Sugar Chocolate 70% Dark (bar)
Good ++ - Good +++
Weight: 1.59 oz. (45 g.) in total bar
Calories: 248 calories in 1 bar 
Cost: $12.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

Welcome to Day #6 of Chocolate and Golden Sugars Theme Week.

Today's Taiwan #3 Ping Tung Black Sugar Chocolate 70% Dark (bar) was from Fu Wan Chocolate (Taiwan, R.O.C.).

The cacao (harvested in 2019) used to make this "tree to bar" chocolate was grown in (southern) Taiwan.

The rich aroma notes for this 70% dark chocolate included: flavorful deep dark sugars (molasses), thoroughly toasted marshmallow (well done, slightly beyond golden to charred territory), dark chocolate, subtle sweet, almost marshy green, dried fruit (dates), brown sugar, and faint, freshly baked yeast bread, and very faint, fleeting red wine. and savory Japanese rice cracker.

The texture of this well-tempered bar was pleasing. The melt and mouthfeel were close to being pillowy and velvety, while at the same time having a very low level of light granular astringency.

Flavor notes mirrored the rich variety of aroma notes mentioned above with dark brown sugar, date, and raisin notes. There was something almost sweet and savory about this chocolate (like small, golden brown, sweet and salty, Japanese rice crackers), and almost herbal (dark, sweet black licorice).

I loved the complexity of this chocolate and the dark, almost smoky-sweet "black sugar" flavor. This would make a great ganache, and would pair well with coffee--adding flavor depth as well as sweetness. 

In fact, one can already buy black sugar flavored (boba) teas, black sugar flavored coffee drinks, and frozen desserts with black sugar at Asian markets and other specialty markets/stores in the San Francisco Bay Area. However, these black sugar sweetened items are rarely paired with rich, single origin dark chocolate.

So why aren't we tasting more chocolates with more flavorful sugars? White cane sugar's relative blandness is why it is often selected by bean-to-bar chocolate makers--over golden (or black) sugars. More flavorful cooked sugars (or less processed sugars) can alter (or diminish) the inherent fruity, nutty, floral and other flavor present in fine, single origin cacao beans.

With today's Ping Tung Black Sugar chocolate, Fu Wan makers have shown us that some concerns about using darker sugars may have been overblown. That is, when skillfully crafted, chocolates can contain a complementary blend of flavorful sugars and flavorful cacao and can be fully enjoyed without the tastier sugars wiping out/distorting the fine cacao flavors and vice versa.

Maker's tasting notes: "Raisin, Licorice, Milk Tea, Brandy, Coffee"

Ingredients: Cacao bean, black sugar, cacao butter

Allergen-related information: "May contain traces of nuts and peanuts."

Woodside Chocolate Company - Caramel chocolate (bar) - Feb. 19, 2023

Chocolate of the Day

Woodside Chocolate Company
Caramel chocolate bar (with gold accents)
Good + 
Weight: .5 oz. (14.1 g.) / 3 oz. (85 g.) (estimate) total bar 
Calories: 75 calories (estimate) in .5 oz. (14.1 g.) piece of bar
Cost: $ Missing information
Purchased from: The Village Bakery, Woodside, CA

Welcome to Day #5 of Chocolate and Golden Sugars Week, featuring chocolates with caramel, toffee, honeycomb toffee and other forms cooked sugar(s). 

Today's caramel flavored chocolate (bar) from Woodside Chocolate Company (Woodside, CA) was also decorated with edible gold (pieces of gold leaf sheeting used to decorate high-end desserts). 

This elegant-looking chocolate bar was quite sweet and had small, softly crunchy bits (possibly caramel/toffee flecks and/or very thin flecks of almond) incorporated into what tasted like a sweet, dark milk chocolate base.* 

If one took inspiration from the flavor of a Cadbury's Caramello bar from one's childhood...and decided to make the most grown-up, upscale version possible of a caramel chocolate bar, this is what it look and taste like. 

It was a bit too much sugar for this dark fan, but this locally-made bar would make an attractive and impressively gilded chocolate gift for those with a sweet tooth.

*Ingredients: (None listed on package)

Allergen-related information: (None listed on packaging)

Godiva - Caramel Embrace ice cream - Feb. 18, 2023

Chocolate of the Day

Godiva
Caramel Embrace Ice Cream
Good + 
Weight: 2/3 cup (114 g.) / 14 fl. oz. (414 mL) in total container
Calories: 280 calories in 1 (2/3 cup) serving 
Cost: $6.49 for 1 container
Purchased from: Safeway, Mountain View, CA

Welcome to Day #4 of Chocolate and Golden Sugars Theme Week.

Today's Godiva Caramel Embrace ice cream was distributed by Boardwalk Frozen Treats, LLC (Lafayette, CA).*

Years ago, I wrote about Godiva's Caramel Embrace chocolate(s). This ice cream cousin was ensconced in a cheery golden and white colored container; and it was part of a line of ice creams inspired by Godiva confections.

Aroma notes for this ice cream included faint caramel, vanilla and cocoa. 

A creamy ice cream base with layered caramel, vanilla and chocolate flavors. Tiny chocolate caramel "cups" almost had a soft crunch in frozen form.

As one might expect, this rich ice cream studded with caramel and chocolate caramel confections was quite sweet. Layering of textures and flavors added enough appeal and unfolding differentiation that this Caramel Embrace didn't feel over-sugared.

Ingredients: Milk, cream, sugar, caramel cups (sugar, coconut oil, corn syrup, sweetened condensed milk (whole milk, sugar), nonfat dry milk, whole milk powder, alkalized cocoa, heavy cream, butter, soy lecithin, salt, natural flavors), caramel swirl (nonfat milk, sugar, unsalted butter, agar agar, baking soda, potassium sorbate (preservative)), skim milk, corn syrup, water, sweetened condensed skim milk, egg yolks, chocolate, butter (cream, salt), stabilizer (guar gum, tara gum, locust bean gum), natural flavor, carageenan, baking soda. 

Allergen-related information: Contains: milk, egg, soy.

*Under license from Godiva Chocolatier, Inc. 

TCHO - Toffee Time Creamy Oat Milk Chocolate w/ Plant Based Toffee & Sea Salt - Feb. 17, 2023

Chocolate of the Day

TCHO
Toffee Time - Creamy Oat Milk Chocolate (bar)
Good + - Good ++
Weight: 1.65 oz. (46.2 g.) small bar / 2.5 oz. (70 g.) total package of 3 bars
Calories: 260 calories in 2 small bars
Cost: $ N/A - free sample from TCHO
Purchased from: N/A - part of tour and tasting

Welcome to Day #3 of Chocolate and Golden Sugars Theme Week, including chocolates containing caramel and/or toffee.

Today's Toffee Time Creamy Oat Milk Chocolate With Bits of Plant Based Toffee and Sea Salt (bar) was from TCHO Ventures Inc. (Berkeley, CA). It was part of a set of 3 smaller individually-wrapped bars, nestled inside the company's traditional square package size.

Aroma and flavor notes for this creamy and mildly crunchy, plant-based, bar included: sweet milk chocolate, faint oat cereal, very faint warm spice and "buttery" toffee. 

This balanced, Organic, 53% cacao, sweet toffee oat milk chocolate bar--made with fair trade ingredients--was worth trying. When TCHO surveyed to their customers in recent years, they found that many were requesting plant-based, dairy free and gluten free chocolates; and today's bar  and others were created to respond to these requests.

TCHO description: "Caramely and Perfectly Salty" 

Ingredients: Organic cacao beans, organic cocoa butter, coconut sugar, organic gluten free oat flour (organic whole oat flour, natural Vitamin E [added to maintain freshness]), organic cashew butter, organic toffee (organic cane sugar, organic rice syrup, organic coconut oil, baking soda, sea salt, organic sunflower lecithin), organic cane sugar, sea salt, organic sunflower lecithin.

Allergen-related information: (Contains cashews, coconut.) May contain soy, milk and other tree nuts.

Whimsy Chocolates - Toffee (pieces) - Feb. 16, 2023

Chocolate of the Day

Whimsy Chocolates
Toffee (pieces)
Good + - Good ++
Weight: .416 oz. (11.8 g.) / 2.5 oz. (70.87 g.) in total package
Calories: 72 calories (estimate) in 1 piece
Cost: $12.50 for 1 package of 6 pieces
Purchased from: Sweet Shop, Los Altos, CA

Welcome to Day #1 of Chocolate, Caramel and Golden Sugars Theme Week, featuring chocolate items with caramel, toffee, and other heated or golden-hued/flavored sugars.

Today's chocolate covered Toffee (pieces) were from Whimsy Chocolates (Battle Ground, WA).

These attractive, classic confections were each decorated with a diagonal brush stroke of shiny gold.

Aroma and flavor notes were fairly straight-forward and included: sweet dark chocolate and golden caramel/toffee.

The texture and taste were toffee forward. A relatively thin layer of smooth dark chocolate covered a square of crunchy toffee with fine-grained golden sugars (and butter). 

The buttery crunch of this golden toffee center was well executed. Yes, it was firm and sweet. But not so firm that you feared a broken tooth, nor so sweet that it stuck excessively in teeth. It will please those who like sweets. 

Ingredients: Chocolate (unsweetened chocolate, sugar, cocoa butter, soy lecithin added as an emulsifier, natural vanilla flavor); butter (milk, natural flavor); sugar; corn syrup (light corn syrup, water, high fructose corn syrup, salt, vanilla); titanium dioxide; iron oxide; carmine and mica.

Allergen-related information: "Made in a facility that handles peanuts and tree nuts..."

Noi Sirius - Milk Chocolate with Caramelized Almonds - Feb. 15?, 2023

Chocolate of the Day

Noi Sirius

Milk Chocolate with Caramelized Almonds and Icelandic Sea Salt (bar)

Good +

Weight: 1.76 oz. (50 g.) / 3.52 oz. (100 g.) in total bar

Calories: 283.5 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: Missing information
Purchased from: Missing information (purchased at store in Iceland)

Welcome to Day #8 of Chocolate and Almonds Week, and Day #1 of Chocolate, Caramel and Golden Sugars Week. 

Today's Milk Chocolate with Caramelized Almonds and Icelandic Sea Salt (bar) was produced by Noi Sirius (Reykjavik, Iceland)--a large family-owned chocolate and confection company founded in 1920.

The aroma of this bar was relatively subtle. (I also sampled this in a cold room. Cold chocolates/foods are sometimes less aromatic.)

Aroma and flavor notes included smooth milk chocolate and cream caramel. A generous helping of nut (almond) bits were incorporated into thick, creamy milk chocolate; and the nuts contributed a crispy-crunchy texture.

The sweet-salt balance between sea salt and caramelized sugar was approaching "addictive snack" territory. (Caution: I wouldn't recommend trying this bar if you're overly hungry.) 

One of my favorite things about this bar was the Icelandic milk. The whole milk and skim milk powders and the almonds helped to balance the sweetness in a lower percentage (33%) cacao chocolate, and contributed to a sense of satisfying fullness.

Ingredients: Milk chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, whole milk powder, skimmed milk powder, cocoa mass, emulsifier (soya lecithin), bourbon vanilla; cocoa solids: minimum 33%), caramelized almonds (14%) (almonds, sugar), sea salt (1%).

Allergen-related information: (Contains milk, soy, tree nuts (almonds).) "Produced in a factory which works with milk, soya, tree nuts and wheat."

Vosges - Raw Almond Butter 80% Cacao (bar) - Feb. 14, 2023

Chocolate of the Day

Vosges
Raw Almond Butter (bar)
Good + - Good ++
Weight: 1 oz. (28.3 g.) / 2 oz. (57 g.) in total bar
Calories: 190 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $7.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Vosges, online order 

Happy Valentines Day to all who celebrate this holiday. And welcome to Day #7 of Chocolate and Almonds Theme Week.

Today's Raw Almond Butter (bar) was from Vosges IP, LLC (Chicago, IL). This 80% cacao chocolate was part of the company's LAB VHC collection of bars that contain "whole cacao" constituents including: "cacao berry (cacao berry fiber, cacao berry flour) and cacao fruit puree."

Aroma notes for this bar included: both deep, dark dense, roasted chocolate, as well as a simultaneous aroma of sweeter, more nuanced chocolate (with faint fruit and sweet nut notes), and a barely there hint of vanilla. 

The ebony-hued chocolate had both smooth and crunchy, integrated particulate elements. There were also occasional light-colored flecks of what could have been either lucuma or almond.

The balanced flavors mirrored the aroma notes mentioned above. Subtle, crunchy sparkles of flavor fruit, berry, nut (almond) and vanilla contributed lightness and flavor depth to a deeper, flatter cacao base--a tamed Forastero-like cacao variety that had been roasted and alkalized (to bring down acidity, harshness) but still had bold, roasted flavor.

I enjoyed the playful fine-grained blend of flavors and textures, and the choice to go light on the sweeteners (judicious amounts of coconut sugar, lucuma, cacao fruit), and a trace of salt.

Ingredients: Cocoa butter, unsweetened chocolate (processed with alkali), coconut sugar, organic almond butter, vanilla bean, lucuma powder, Baja Gold salt, cacao berry (cacao berry fiber, cacao berry flour), cacao fruit puree. 

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