ChocolateBet: April 17, 2012

Chocolate of the Day:

Food On Purpose
Choco Roonies
Good
Weight: .5 oz. (14.1 g.) (estimate)/ 3 oz. (85 g.) total package
Calories: 70 calories (estimate)
Cost: $6.99 total package/bag
Purchased from: Gluten Free Grocery, in San Francisco, CA

Today was Day #4 of Chocolate and Coconut Theme Week.
Since I believe in a balanced diet, I had one Choco Roonie and one "Bird In The Nest" -- both diminutive raw macaroons from Food On Purpose (Santa Fe, New Mexico). These mostly organic, gluten free, dairy free bite-sized coconut treats were sweetened using agave rather than refined sugars.

The Choco Roonie macaroon was a wee bit dry, but good; and it contained a barely detectable pinch of maca powder and Celtic sea salt.

The Bird in the Nest macaroon (seen stacked on top of the Choco Roonie in picture at right) was made with raspberries and coconut, and contained no chocolate. It was quite good -- not too sweet, a quality I always appreciate.

ChocolateBet: April 16, 2012

Chocolate of the Day: 

Alter Eco
Dark Coconut Toffee Organic Chocolate bar
Good + - Very Good
Weight: 1.128 oz. (32 g.)/ 2.82 oz. (80 g.) total bar
Calories: 168 calories
Cost: $3.99 total bar
Purchased from: Whole Foods, in Los Altos, CA

This Dark Coconut Toffee (47% cocoa) Organic Chocolate bar from Alter Eco (San Francisco, CA) was well liked by friends and family. Made with bits of dried coconut, raw cane sugar, and a touch of butter and sea salt rounded off things nicely.


I gave extra points to Alter Eco's work with cacao cooperatives in South America. This chocolate originated from "organic trees in the Peruvian Amazon." This Fair Trade, GMO free bar was made with milk, but "no soy or gluten ingredients," artificial flavors or emulsifiers.

Also extra points for the monkey hanging onto the UPC code on the back of the package because, what the heck, I just like monkeys.

Today was Day #3 of Chocolate and Coconut Theme Week.

ChocolateBet: April 15, 2012

Chocolate of the Day: 

Jennies Gluten Free Bakery
Chocolate Sugar Free Macaroons
Good++
Weight: .56 oz. (16 g.) / 8 oz. (226 g.) total container
Calories: 70 calories in 1 macaroon
Cost: $ close-out sale price
Purchased from: Andronicos, Palo Alto, CA (now closed)

Today was Day #2 of Chocolate and Coconut Theme Week.

These Chocolate Sugar Free Macaroons, from Jennies Gluten Free Bakery (Moosic, PA), were free of a number of things (lactose, wheat, gluten, casein, soy), but packed with surprisingly good taste and texture.

I enjoyed the fresh coconut taste of these macaroons, and a slight, but very appealing, crunchiness from flax seeds/meal. Sweetened with maltitol (a type of sugar alcohol), I detected no artificial flavor that I've experienced with some other sugar free products.

ChocolateBet: April 14, 2012

Chocolate(s) of the Day: 

1.) Mars, Incorporated
Dark Chocolate MandM's - Bunny Mix
Good
Weight: .5 oz. (14.1 g.) / 12.6 oz. (357.2 g.) total package
Calories: 69.3 calories
Cost: Alas, this information is lost to history
Purchased from: ...this info bit also remains unfound 

Today's chocolates evoke Spring holidays of yesterweek.

First, unearthed just in time from the chocolate vault, were these Easter-leaning dark chocolate, Bunny MandM's from Mars, festively dressed in pastel-colored shells. Some were decorated with tiny sheep, chicks and rabbits using the famous "m" as part of the motif.

Oops, not quite. Easter was last weekend, and these were from last Easter. But, no matter. This "Bunny Mix" was well preserved. A cautionary note: to those wanting to avoid extra helpings of milk sugar, these dark chocolate MandM's do contain lactose, and milkfat.

And now, a word from the cacao ghost of Passover past. In a word: macaroons.

2.) Manischewitz
Chocolate Almond Macaroons
Good +
Weight: .1 oz. (2.8 g.) / 10 oz. (284 g.) total container
Calories: 12 calories (estimate)
Cost: ?
Purchased from: Safeway, in Palo Alto, CA

For the second chocolate of the day, I indulged in more big M and Ms -- in the form of Manischewitz Macaroons -- Chocolate Almond (unsulfured coconut) macaroons, to be precise. L'Chaim! (To Life!). Yes! However, please note: this batch of macaroons contained gluten (matzo meal), so I was limited to tasting a very tiny bite. I'm assuming the "almond" flavoring may have been added, since there were no visible pieces of almond in these tiny, chocolate-hued treats.

Today was Day #1 of Chocolate and Coconut Theme Week.

ChocolateBet: April 13, 2012

Chocolate of the Day:

Xocolatl de David
Olive Oil bar
Good + - Very Good
Weight: 2.2 oz. (62 g.) total bar
Calories: 330 calories (estimate)
Cost: $8.95 total bar
Purchased from: Fog City News, in San Francisco, CA

Chocolate is highly mixable. Olive oil is another great mixer. Combine the two, and what do you get?

The result may not quite as popular as peanut butter + chocolate, but it's still smooth and satisfying. Xocolatl de David (Portland, OR) has blended a darkish chocolate 68% cacao (Bolivia) bar with extra virgin olive oil, and a touch of butter and fleur de sel (salt). What's not to like?

Now, if only the company's Chicharrones bar wasn't out of stock...

ChocolateBet: April 12, 2012

Chocolate of the Day: 

Askinosie Chocolate
San Jose Del Tombo bar
Good +
Weight: .5 oz. (14.1 g.)/ 3 oz. (85 g.) total bar
Calories: 72 calories
Cost: $9.00 total bar
Purchased from: The Chocolate Garage, in Palo Alto, CA

This farmer-forward, 70% dark chocolate bar from Askinosie Chocolate (Springfield, Missouri), broke with a hard snap. And chocolate was smooth and rich, with a relatively tame flavor arc -- without any strong acidic, or harsh notes.

Askinosie Chocolate founder and chocolate maker, Shawn Askinosie, stresses "real people, real places" -- and the picture you'll see on this package is a likeness of Vitaliano Saravia, who "helped gather and ferment the cocoa beans" in Ecuador for this bar (Lot #052511, made with Arriba Nacional variety cacao beans).

Last, but not least, I do like the letter tile mold for Askinosie bars. One day I'll purchase enough bars to play a game of chocolate scrabble with a few fellow chocolate lovers.

ChocolateBet: April 11, 2012

Chocolate of the Day:

Donnelly Chocolates
Chinese Five Spice bar
Good - Good +
Weight: .4 oz. (11.25 g.) / 1.6 oz. (45 g.) total bar
Calories: 58 calories (estimate)
Cost: $6.25 total bar (estimate)
Purchased from: Fog City News, San Francisco, CA


This beautifully wrapped Five Spice bar with a hard snap was crafted by Donnelly Chocolates (Santa Cruz, CA). Chinese Five Spice is a combination of, you guessed it, five spices, typically: powdered star anise, cloves, cinnamon, Sichuan pepper and ground fennel seeds (with occasional variations that might include anise seed, ginger root, or cassia bark).

I'd like to fiddle around with the spices to see if I could come up with a favorite blend of two or more of these. Five different flavors made for an interesting mix with this dark chocolate bar, but was almost too much.