ChocolateBet: June 9, 2011

Chocolate of the Day:


1/4 bar
ChocoLate Organiko
Organic Dark Chocolate 56% Cocoa with Green Anise (bar)
Very Good
Weight: .6 oz. (17.5 g.) / 2.4 oz. (70 g.) total bar
Calories: 191 calories
Cost: $0 - sample
Purchased from: N/A - The Chocolate Garage, in Palo Alto, CA

Today was Day #8 of Chocolate and Mediterranean Theme Week; I needed more opportunities to combine pistachios, fennel/licorice, and olive oil with chocolate. Fennel grows wild where I live; it came from southern Europe and now grows like a weed in the San Francisco baylands and nearby hills. And if you snap off some of the feathery greens (see picture taken yesterday above), you get a sweet licorice flavor.

And so today, while I was roasting artichokes with olive oil, lemon, garlic and Ouzo (more licorice flavor), I made myself a small (Talenti Gelato) Sicilian Pistachio Gelato sundae, and also had some of this organic dark bar with green anise from ChocoLate Organiko (Spain). Anise is similar to fennel in that it also has a licorice flavor, but comes from a different family.

First, a shout out to Talenti Gelato; their pistachio gelato had a very natural, authentic flavor of roasted pistachio nuts. I contemplated melting this anise dark bar to make sauce for this gelato sundae, but I really enjoyed eating these two items separately.

I enjoyed the ChocoLate Organiko 56% Cocoa bar for it's unusual flavor; the consistency was dark and smooth, not too sweet and not so dark as to obscure the green anise notes. This same company also makes a dark 70% organic bar (bar in darker green packaging seen in background above) with extra virgin olive oil. I'm saving that for later.

ChocolateBet: June 8, 2011

Chocolate of the Day:

2/5 bar
Artisan du Chocolat
Black Cardamom dark chocolate bar
Very Good
Weight: .636 oz. (18 g.) / 1.59 oz. (45 g.) total bar
Calories: 94 calories (estimate)
Cost: $6.00
Purchased from: The Chocolate Garage, in Palo Alto, CA

Today's featured chocolate was Artisan du Chocolat's dark chocolate (70% Cocoa) Black Cardamom bar. This bar (that contains both black and green cardamom from India) is nicely compatible with other Mediterranean flavors, such as fresh oranges or orange peel, and fresh green fennel, as well as other spices you might find in chai tea (cinnamon, cloves, star anise, allspice, pepper, etc.).

I sampled in the same sitting, but not mixed together, this cardamom bar with two tiny flavored (gluten-free) chocolate cakes: one orange cake with orange/rose flavored frosting, and one almond (with almond paste filling) cake.

I enjoyed reading "gerard's notes," on the back of the Artisan du Chocolate package. The first part of his write-up appears below. 

"Queen of spices, cardamom oozes sensuality and opulence. Cleopatra found its scent so enticing that she would bathe in cardamom infused water and burn the crushed pods instead of incense to welcome her lover."

Too bad Cleopatra didn't live long enough to discover cacao from the new world. This bar may have been one of her favorites.

Today was Day #7 of Chocolate and Mediterranean Theme Week. However, I may have to extend this theme week a few more days. A region with twenty plus countries is too much to cover in 7 days. Plus I haven't even gotten to the savory dishes and salads with cacao nibs yet. 

ChocolateBet: June 7, 2011

Chocolate(s) of the Day:
4 truffles
Surfing Goat Dairy
1.) Tahitian Lime Truffle
2.) Lime #2 Truffle
3.) Kona Coffee Truffle
4.) Cinnamon/Chipotle Truffle
Weight: 1.6 oz. (45.28 g.), if each truffle is .4 oz.
Calories: 240 calories (estimate)
Cost: $28 for box of 12 truffles (plus any applicable shipping and handling)
Purchased from: Surfing Goat Dairy, in Kula (Maui), Hawaii

Today was Day #6 of Chocolate and Mediterranean Theme Week. Goats are hardy animals, able to live in warm, dry climates... such as Greece, France, and many other Mediterranean countries. And so we have feta cheese, chevre, and other variants of goat cheese.

And, then you have the Surfing Goat Dairy in Hawaii; the company (with the motto "Da Feta Mo' Betta") produces dozens of different types of specialty goat cheeses (such as the goat cheese wrapped in grape leaves, dolma style, shown here) and also a variety of soft goat cheeses (a few are shown here: O Sole Mio, Garden Fantasia, and Ivory Coast on gluten-free toast squares). Oh, and did I mention, the Surfing Goat Dairy also makes chocolate truffles? They were good. I tried to pick flavors that might be seen in the Mediterranean. Coffee originally came from Ethiopia, but travelled to Egypt, Turkey and the rest of the Mediterranean countries over the years, as did limes (from Southeast Asia), and spices (such as cinnamon).

I couldn't really taste any goat cheese in this batch of truffles, but, those who are super tasters might be able to catch a faint hint of this flavor. The Surfing Goat Dairy is located in Kula (Maui) in Hawaii. 

ChocolateBet: June 6, 2011

Chocolate(s) of the Day:

Bites of different chocolate cakes
King Arthur Flour (brand)
Gluten Free Chocolate Cake Mix
Very Good
Weight: Mix: 22 oz. (1 lb., 6 oz.) (624 g.) total box
Calories: 400 calories (estimate)
Cost: $various ingredients, flavorings, liqueurs - $28 (estimate)
Purchased from: Whole Foods, in Los Altos, CA

This chocolate cake was used to make several small cakes, including:
1.) Chocolate Orange, Rose and Pomegranate cake
2.) Chocolate Absinthe cake
3.) Chocolate Fernet Branca cake

Today was Day #5 of Chocolate and Mediterranean Theme Week, and I feel like I'm just getting started. I may have to extend this theme week. Today, I focused on Mediterranean-inspired liquid flavorings -- some non-alcoholic, and some not -- to flavor several different, single-serving sized chocolate cakes that I made from King Arthur Flour's Gluten Free Chocolate Cake Mix.

Since there are so many countries that share a piece of the Mediterranean coast, I have included ingredients and ideas from France, Greece, Turkey, Italy, and a few other countries today.

I like floral flavors, so the main act in this three-ring cake circus was the moist, chocolate cake flavored with orange flower water, rosewater, rose preserves, and orange preserves, and a smidge of pomegranate syrup. I ate this cake with some Greek pomegranate yogurt and seeds, and a little orange peel. Lovely flavors. This evening I was up too late trying to make some matching orange rose frosting, but time ran out. I'll have to add a picture later if my guesstimate-based recipe works.

I also made small chocolate cupcake sized cakes flavored with the infamous green Absinthe from France (the version without much Wormwood); and also a Fermet versions of the cakes, a "bitter" mixer/drink with lively herbal flavors; and will try these later. (A small chocolate Amaretto and almond paste cakelet, and an Ouzo chocolate banana fruit cake, will be featured later this week.)

ChocolateBet: June 5, 2011

Chocolate of the Day:

1 bar
Poco Dolce
Olive Oil Sea Salt Bar
Very Good
Weight: 1.763 oz. (50 g.)
Calories: 264 calories (estimate)
Cost: $5.00
Purchased from: Poco Dolce

Today was Day #4 of Chocolate and Mediterranean Theme Week. Olives are a prominent culinary motif in Mediterranean countries. Olives were often cured in salt water from the sea. Given the tsunami of chocolate flavor pairings, mixing chocolate or cacao with olives, or more commonly olive oil, was inevitable.

Today's Olive Oil bittersweet chocolate bar from Poco Dolce  (San Francisco) was flavored with a feather-light sprinkle of tiny crystals of grey sea salt (embedded in the underside of the bar). Poco Dolce, in English, translates as just a little, or not too sweet. This bar was very smooth, almost buttery -- likely a result of the olive oil, in addition to cocoa butter and soy lecithin.

I wish I had saved some of this ultra-smooth bar to melt down to make an Ouzo-flavored fondue. Maybe later. Visions of chocolate cakes with almond flour, orange, and olive oil swam around in my head today as well.

Other possible Mediterranean-inspired savory side dishes to experiment with: an olive tapenade (flavored with either cacao nibs, or a dash of unsweetened chocolate) on gluten-free toasted bread; or maybe an eggplant, mushroom and olive dish with nibs over rice or polenta. 

ChocolateBet: June 4, 2011

Chocolate of the Day:

1 oz. package
The Oakland Chocolate Company
Candied Tangerine Peel
Very Good - Very Good +
Weight: 1 oz. (28.35 g.) package
Calories: 129 calories (estimate)
Cost: $2.50
Purchased from: The Oakland Chocolate Company, Oakland, CA

Today was Day #3 of Chocolate and Mediterranean Theme Week. Morocco seemed like an interesting place to investigate today, and so I made some pomegranate seeds with cinnamon, sugar, and orange flower water, sipped some Moroccan Mint tea, and enjoyed two different kinds of fresh tangerines. Tangerines are rumored to have been so named after the port city of Tangiers. Apparently, this was the point of entry (from China) to Europe for this mandarin orange fruit.

Tangerines have taken root in the citrus growing regions of the U.S., such as California. Today's chocolate was a package of small slivers of candied tangerine peel coated with 70% dark chocolate (from Jamaica) from The Oakland Chocolate Company. 

ChocolateBet: June 3, 2011

Chocolate of the Day:
1 dessert/postre
Iberia Restaurant
Higos Rellenos (stuffed figs)
Very Good
Weight: unknown
Calories: unknown
Cost: $6.75
Purchased from: Iberia Restaurant, in Menlo Park, CA

Today was Day #2 of Chocolate and Mediterranean Theme Week, and I chose to visit Spain, or the closest I could come to being there. I went to dinner with family to celebrate my dad's birthday at Iberia Restaurant -- located near the Menlo Park train station (south of San Francisco). It was not hard to imagine being in Spain, with dishes like Gazpacho MalagueÑo; Paella; and Lamb with Honey and Spanish Fries. And for postres (desserts) with chocolate, choices included Brazo de Gitano, Pan con Chocolate and Higos Rellenos. Not being able to eat wheat, I chose the higos (figs).

If you like figs and chocolate, this dish is a winner. The description of this dish reads as follows:
"Higos Rellenos: (3) dried figs poached in port wine and stuffed with a mixture of chopped walnuts, pistachios and chocolate. Drizzled with a port reduction." (Oh, and maybe a bit of whipped cream.)

Buen Provecho! all.

The runner-up chocolate choice for today was (making) a Valencia orange almond and chocolate cake at home. I'll save this idea for next year's Chocolate and Mediterranean Theme Week.

Thank you to Alec for doing a great job of capturing a picture of the higos in a dark restaurant with a cell phone camera.