ChocolateBet: October 7, 2010

Chocolate of the Day:

1/3 bar
Bubble Chocolate, LLC
Milk Chocolate (38% Cocoa) bar
Good - Good +
Weight: .94 oz. (26.6 g.) / 2.82 oz. (80 g.) total bar
Calories: 146.6 calories in 1/3 bar
Cost: $3.29 total bar
Purchased from: BevMo, in Mountain View, CA


Welcome to Day #1 of Chocolate and Air Theme Week! Bubble Chocolate's Milk Chocolate bar kicked off this theme week. A cross-section of this (38% Cocoa) milk chocolate bar (showing the "Bubbles Wrapped in Chocolate") is shown at right. This bar did have a unique light, melty mouth-feel/texture and taste. Tomorrow, I will try the (60% Cocoa) dark chocolate version of this bar.

ChocolateBet: October 6, 2010

Chocolate of the Day:

1 serving
Cocoa Diva's Chocolate Bar
"Pairs with Port" tasting chocolates
Very Good
Weight: 1.4 oz. (40 g.) / 3.5 oz. (100 g.) (estimates) for 1 rectangular tin
Calories: 190 calories (estimate) for 1 serving
Cost: $7.00 donation (bought at an event)
Purchased from: Cocoa Diva's booth, at the Waterfront Festival - Art, Wine, and Chocolate, in Suisan Bay, CA

Cocoa Diva's specialty is pairing wines and chocolates. Their rectangular tins were chock full of small, round pieces of chocolate specially formulated to pair well with specific red wines. In this case, the 54% cocoa chocolate discs were paired to go with port.

To test this claim, I did a port pairing. Conclusion: these small chocolate rounds did, in fact, go well with the port; and they were also quite good by themselves. Cocoa Diva's founder, La Wanda Smith, and associate, pictured above, at their booth at last weekend's Waterfront Art, Wine and Chocolate festival in Suisan Bay.

ChocolateBet: October 5, 2010

Chocolate of the Day:

1/3 bar
NewTree America Inc.
Granola 31% Cocoa - Milk Chocolate with Lime and Green Tea
Good+
Weight: .94 oz. (26.6 g.) / 2.82 oz. (80 g.) total bar
Calories: 107 calories in 1/3 bar
Cost: $4.99 for total bar
Purchased from: BevMo!, in Mountain View, CA

NewTree's Milk Chocolate (31% Cocoa) Granola bar, with very subtle lime and green tea flavors, was today's selection for (Day #8 of) Chocolate and Lime (+ Ginger) Theme Week. NewTree also offers a Ginger chocolate bar, which I had eaten previously. I would have been happy to pair the ginger bar with this lime bar; but I bowed to the tyranny of the new here. So, the "+ Ginger" component was provided by a small mug of homemade, hot ginger tea.

Lab note: I also experimented with a lime ice cream float/soda, with the help of staff at Rick's Rather Rich Ice Cream. It made a lot of fizz, and showed some promise. I'll have to work on refining this formula in the next few days, in time for Chocolate and Air Theme Week.

ChocolateBet: October 4, 2010

Chocolate of the Day:
1 small chocolate "bottle"
Anthon Berg
Sauza Tequila Gold - dark chocolate bottle
Good
Weight: .55 oz. (15.6 g.) / 8.8 oz. (250 g.) total package of 16 bottles
Calories: 80 calories in 1 bottle
Cost: $14.99 total package of 16 bottles
Purchased from: BevMo, in Mountain View, CA

Today was Day #7 of Chocolate and Lime (+ Ginger) Theme Week. One of the simplest way to combine these elements that I could think of involved unwrapping a tiny dark chocolate bottle of spirits -- Anthon Berg's version of Sauza Tequila Gold to be precise -- and pairing this chocolate with a fresh lime, and the tiniest piece of fresh ginger.

I've become fond of fresh lime wedges, slices and juice this week. But, now it is time to move on to other types of chocolates. Tune in tomorrow, for one more chocolate with lime. And then it's on to a new category in a few days. What will it be? How about Chocolate and Air Theme Week? No, really.

ChocolateBet: October 3, 2010

Chocolate of the Day:

1 bar
BonBonBar
Ginger Bar
Very Good +
Weight: 1.4 oz. (40 g.) in 1 bar
Calories: 196 calories (estimate)
Cost: $4.99 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Andronico's market, in Berkeley, CA

Today was Day #6 of Chocolate and Lime (+ Ginger) Theme Week.

BonBonBar makes delicious candy bars. Some are more geared to adults -- for example, the company's Single Malt Scotch chocolate bar. This Ginger Bar (with a strip of candied ginger and a very light almond nougat filling flavored with lemon, honey and orange blossom) would be great for anyone.

For the "Lime" portion of the day's theme, I enjoyed this Ginger Bar with a Raspberry Lime Rickey drink from AJ Stephans. This Boston drink-maker also makes Ginger Beer.

ChocolateBet: October 2, 2010

Chocolate(s) of the Day:

50 jelly beans
Jelly Belly Candy Company
1.) Sunkist (R) Lime jelly beans - Very Good (refreshing)
2.) Chocolate Devotion jelly beans - Good - Good +
3.) Dark Chocolate jelly beans - Good + - Very Good
4.) Mojito jelly bean - Good +
Calories: 200 calories (estimate)
Cost: Approximately $4.50 total
Purchased from: Jelly Belly Candy Company, Fairfield, CA

After attending the Suisan Bay Waterfront Art, Wine and Chocolate
Festival today (more on chocolate finds from this fest later), I visited the Jelly Belly Candy Company Factory a few miles away in Fairfield, CA.

I enjoyed the Jelly Belly factory tour; and then spent a good deal of time in the Jelly Belly Visitor Center store examining a dazzling  number of flavored beans and other candies. Unfortunately, I just missed being able to eat at the Jelly Belly Cafe (which closed at 3 p.m.), where I could have had a jelly bean-shaped hamburger. (Jelly bean shaped pizzas were also available, in different sizes.)

Today was Day #5 of Chocolate and Lime (+ Ginger) Theme Week. It took only minutes to find lime and chocolate flavors at the Jelly Belly store and sample bar. I later mixed Sunkist Lime and Chocolate Devotion and Dark Chocolate chocolate flavored jelly beans together (with a single sample Mojito bean), in a "recipe"* for what I imagined might approximate key lime pie with a chocolate cookie crust. (The ginger addition came in the form of unsweetened Yogi brand Ginger that helped dilute the sugar rush.)

*Note: Jelly Belly literature and packaging include recipes for various food and drink creations customers can make by combining various jelly bean flavors. There is also a second Jelly Belly factory tour location available in Wisconsin in the U.S.

ChocolateBet: October 1, 2010

Chocolate of the Day:

2 small bars
Trader Joe's
Semisweet Chocolate Minis (bars) 65% Cocoa
Good +
Weight: .8 oz. (24 g.) / 5 oz. (144 g.) total package of 12
Calories: 132 calories (estimate, based on wrapper info.)
Cost: $1.99 for package of 12 small bars + other ingredients
Purchased from: Trader Joe's, in Palo Alto, CA

It's important to keep things simple -- in chocolate, as in life. This is advice I should follow more often. Today's chocolate was a small bar from Trader Joe's wide selection. The individually-wrapped "minis" are a great size for a light snack or a bag lunch. It wasn't may favorite Trader Joe's dark chocolate bar; although, to be fair, most Trader Joe's chocolates are very good, so the bar was set high. Maybe it was the added vanilla?

Then, I decided to chuck the "keep it simple" rule out the window, once again, because today was Day #4 of Chocolate and Lime (+ Ginger) Theme Week. After I tasted a few squares of this bar, I made a dessert that incorporated this chocolate and other Trader Joe's products involving lime and ginger. See resulting frozen parfait (right). And that was fun. However, at the end of the day, the focus was still on the chocolate.