Indahphoria - Coconut Nectar bar - January 16, 2013

Chocolate of the Day:

Indahphoria Chocolate
Coconut Nectar bar
Very Good
Weight: .625 oz. (17.5 g.) / 1.25 oz. (35 g.) total bar
Calories: 93 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $N/A - part of a larger package
Purchased from: online

Today was the second day of Chocolate and Coconut Theme Week.

This Coconut Nectar bar from Indahphoria Chocolate (Bend, OR) was vegan, gluten free, soy free and dairy free.

Anyone leery of a bar with so many "withouts?" No need for concern. Made of coconut milk chocolate (65% cacao), this organic and fair trade, smooth and rich dark bar had great flavor overall, with just the right amount of acidity (citrus fruit notes) to balance the sweet (coconut sugar). The coconut flavor was subtle; one side of the bar was sprinkled with coconut shreds; the other side was imprinted with the Indahphoria logo (a ship tethered to either a large kite sail or hot air ballon). I look forward to trying other Indahphoria bars in the future.

Fiorello's - Coconut Almond Chip Gelato - January 15, 2013

Chocolate(s) of the Day:

Fiorello's
Coconut Almond Chip Gelato
Good
Weight: 1/2 cup (115 g.) serving/ 1 Pint (473 mL) container
Calories: 330 calories in 1/2 cup serving
Cost: $7.99 for 1 Pint
Purchased from: Piazza's Fine Foods, Palo Alto, CA

Today marked Day #1 of Chocolate and Coconut Theme Week. While the popularity of the coconut seems to wax and wane in haute cuisine, there seemed to be a bounty of coconut and chocolate items available in bar, truffle and many other forms.

Cool coconut 

Today's first chocolate choice came straight from my freezer -- a scoop of Coconut Almond Chip gelato from Fiorello's (San Rafael, CA).

According to the label, 1/2 cup of this gelato clocked in at 330 calories, probably due to its dense cream base, coconut cream and egg yolks. It was rich enough that I left off the fudge topping, and opted for chopped, roasted, unsalted almonds instead. The chocolate chips/flakes embedded in this gelato added some subtle chocolate flavor that helped balance the cream and coconut.

And to warm things up...

Later in the evening I sampled two Coconut Rum truffles (pictured at right) with a chocolate ganache interior, and a white chocolate and tropical orange exterior, from Laderach's truffle and praline collection. I enjoyed their festive color and crescent shape, as well as just a hint of rum flavor. 

Wonka - Chipperberry Swirl ice cream - January 14, 2013

Chocolate of the Day:


Dreyer's / Nestle
Wonka - Chipperberry Swirl ice cream
Good + - Very Good
Weight: 1/4 cup (43.5 g.) serving/ 14 oz. (414 mL) container
Calories: 105 calories in 1/4 cup
Cost: $3.99 (estimate)
Purchased from: Safeway, in Palo Alto, CA

Today was Day #7 of Chocolate, Seeds and Berries Theme Week.

It was a frosty January day today, but the sun was shining. So it seemed like a good day for some ice cream. Wonka Chipperberry Swirl -- black raspberry and vanilla ice cream with chocolatey chips, from Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream (Oakland, CA) -- to be precise.

Designed to sit, and be read, upside down, this Wonka just-shy-of-a-pint-size-container was covered with snazzy berry colored swirls. The ice cream inside was a more soothing and edible version of this swirl pattern, with authentic tasting black raspberry and vanilla ice cream -- the kind I remember from childhood, peppered with small chocolate flecks.

Topped with fresh berries, and a few sunflower and pumpkin seeds, and I was ready to call this dessert.

The Tea Room - Raspberry Rooibos Dark bar - January 13, 2013

Chocolate of the Day:

The Tea Room
Raspberry Rooibos Dark Chocolate bar
Good
Weight: .36 oz. (10.2 g.) / 1.8 oz. (51 g.) total bar
Calories: 56 calories in 1/5 bar
Cost: $3.29 for 1 bar
Purchased from: The Tea Room

This Raspberry Rooibos organic, dark chocolate 60% cacao bar from The Tea Room (San Leandro, CA), was part of a line of colorfully packaged tea and chocolate bars.  And, the company sells flavored tea, drinking chocolate, and tea-infused chocolate truffles, as well.

The relatively thin (good for accessing flavors) dark bar, had a good snap to it. The bar was made with organic dark chocolate from Europe, and organic red raspberry rooibos tea from South Africa. Rooibos is a shrub (native to South Africa) that is naturally caffeine free and lower in tannic acid than black tea, and contains relatively high levels of flavonoids (beneficial compounds found in plants that are often associated with antioxidant properties). The flavors I detected were more than raspberry -- a mix of flavors, and possibly an extract, that were faintly fruity and tea-like, but hard to pin down.

This bar fit in well with my red raspberry infused brunch: raspberry tea; a gluten-free sesame seed bagel with seedless red raspberry spread; fresh raspberries; and a few sections of this smooth, dark raspberry rooibos bar. And, for more seeds in today's entry, one need to look no further than the chocolate itself -- made from the seeds of the cacao fruit from theobroma cacao trees.

Today was Day #6 of Chocolate, Seeds and Berries Theme Week.

Louks - Dark Chocolate Sesame Snaps - January 12, 2013

Chocolate of the Day:

Loucks
Dark Chocolate Sesame Snaps
Good
Weight: 1.4 oz. (40 g.) in 1 package (3 pieces)
Calories: 206 calories in 1 package
Cost: $N/A - holiday gift
Purchased from: N/A - holiday gift

Today was Day #5 of Chocolate, Seeds and Berries Theme Week.

Made in Poland, and imported by BC Imports (Puyallup, WA), these sweet, chewy sesame thins were frosted with diagonal stripes of dark chocolate, and the pressed bar format was a great way to enjoy a concentrated burst of the almost nut-like flavor of these seeds.

These Dark Chocolate Sesame Snaps made for a great international snack, especially when paired with some fresh, organic, red raspberries, grown near the central coast of California.

Ghirardelli - Cabernet Matinee bar - January 11, 2013

Chocolate of the Day: 

Ghirardelli Chocolate
Cabernet Matinee bar
Good
Weight: .4 oz. (12.6 g.)/ 3.5 oz. (100 g.) total bar
Calories: 60 calories in 1 section/square
Cost: $4.95 for 1 bar
Purchased from: de Young Museum Store, San Francisco, CA

Today was Day #4 of Chocolate, Seeds and Berries Theme Week.

The de Young Museum in San Francisco was promoting an upcoming exhibit featuring the famous painting "The Girl with a Pearl Earring" by Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer. Through an agreement with the Ghirardelli Chocolate Company (San Leandro, CA), the de Young Museum store was selling a specially packaged Ghirardelli Cabernet Matinee dark chocolate bar that was clothed in a limited edition outer wrapper -- with a reproduction of the famous painting.

Part of the Ghirardelli "Intense Dark" series, the Cabernet Matinee bar was infused with "a hint of natural blackberry and cabernet flavor." I did not care for the added flavoring(s). In fairness, both wine and berry flavors are tricky to manufacture and integrate with chocolate. I've found chocolate is often better eaten with, or paired with, whole food or beverage items in the same tasting, but not in the same chocolate.

To test this theory, I paired this bar with a small glass of California Cabernet (red wine), fresh blackberries, and a small tapas plate of almonds, and pumpkin and black sesame seeds. The dark chocolate was smooth, and paired nicely with the Cabernet wine and the fresh blackberries. This pairing also seemed to improve the flavor of this bar.

Ghirardelli also has some recipes and pairings on their site worth a look.

With apologies to a certain musical: Life is a cabernet my friend, life is a cabernet. And a little chocolate doesn't hurt either.

Odwalla - Dark Chocolate Chip Walnut bar - January 10, 2013

Chocolate of the Day: 

Odwalla, Inc.
Dark Chocolate Chip Walnut - Fiber Bar
Good
Weight: 2 oz. (56 g.) in 1 bar
Calories: 220 calories in 1 bar
Cost: $0.99
Purchased from: Miki's Farm Fresh Market, Palo Alto, CA

Today was Day #3 of Chocolate, Seeds and Berries Theme Week. Featured in an all California product line-up today: Dark Chocolate Chip Walnut Fiber Bar from Odwalla, Inc. (Half Moon Bay, CA, with a plant in Dinuba, CA). Also included today as a companion dish: a raspberry yogurt sundae.

The Odwalla fiber bar was "made with fruit and whole cereal grains." The good news for those eating gluten free: no wheat or barley. The bar is made with plenty of oats (rolled oats, oat fiber, organic oat flour); and it contains flaxseed, as well as plum and date purees. I found it to be chewy, without being too dry.

The semisweet chocolate chips took a backseat to the other flavors and textures, which was fine in this case. I enjoyed the fact that the bar was not overly sweet (not too much brown rice syrup). The fiber in the oats left me feeling satisfied.

Thank you to Odwalla for their "No GMO" choice on this bar, and for including organic fruits and grains where possible (36% organic ingredients in this bar).

As a complement to this dark chocolate chip bar, I enjoyed a Straus organic, nonfat Greek yogurt sundae -- topped with organic Seedless Red Raspberry (gluten-free) fruit spread from Santa Cruz Organics and a few organic, fresh red raspberries. Who says healthy food doesn't taste good?

Note: Odwalla also produces a Berries GoMega juice smoothie, with Omega 3 from flaxseed, (and a Berries GoMega bar), that would be berry nice companion(s) to the Dark Chocolate Chip Walnut bar.