Ritter Rum Trauben Nuss bar - April 21, 2013

Chocolate of the Day:

Ritter (Alfred Ritter GmbH & Co.)
Rum Trauben Nuss bar
Good
Weight: .875 oz. (25 g.) in 1/4 bar / 3.5 oz. (100 g.) in total bar
Calories: 128 calories for 1/4 bar
Cost: $2.29 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Crossroads World Market, Palo Alto, CA

Rum, brandy, tequila, Scotch, bourbon, exotic liqueurs...most people who enjoy pairing chocolates with spirits have their favorite.

Today's Rum Trauben Nuss (rum raisin with hazelnut) bar from Ritter (Waldenbuch, Germany) mixes it up with a touch of Jamaican rum, and California raisins.

This milk chocolate (30% min.) bar looked and tasted fresh; and contained hazelnut pieces that added some crunchy texture.

Note: Because this bar does contain a small amount of alcohol, you may find it more challenging to find this flavor where other Ritter Sport bars are sold in the U.S. I found this one at a smaller, international market that carried specialty items, including chocolates and desserts.

Today was Day #7 of Chocolate and Spirits Theme Week.

Chocolates + Liquor - April 20, 2013

Chocolate(s) of the Day:

1.) Roshen Confectionery Corporation
Cherry in Liqueur
Weight: .5 oz. (14.28 g.) (estimate) for 1 piece
Calories: 75.7 calories (estimate) for 1 piece
Cost: $0.19 (estimate), sold by weight ($5.99/lb.)
Purchased from: Crossroads World Market, Palo Alto, CA

2.) Solidarnosc
Caffe
Weight: .6 oz. (17.46 g.) (estimate) for 1 piece
Calories: 92.5 calories (estimate) for 1 piece
Cost: $0.23 (estimate), sold by weight ($5.99/lb.)
Purchased from: Crossroads World Market, Palo Alto, CA

Today's individually wrapped chocolates hailed from Eastern Europe -- and arrived in my neighborhood via Crossworlds World Market, an international store that stocks interesting foods from Russia, Ukraine, Poland, and other exotic (for many Californians at least) locales.

The first item: a chocolate covered cherry bathed in a liquor-flavored, liquid center that was made by Roshen Confectionery Corporation (Kiev City, Ukraine).

The second "Caffe" chocolate with a creamy, caramel-like center (also flavored with liquor) was from Solidarnosc (Firma Cukiernicza "Solidarnosc - rok zalazania 1952" Sp. z o.o.; Lublin, Poland)

Trying to decipher the text on these chocolates (sold in individual pieces, by the pound) was a fun adventure, complete with geography lesson. (No, Ukraine is not the same as Russia).

However, the flavors of chocolate needed no translation. Spirits-soaked, sweet centers were harmoniously balanced with and within their chocolate skins.

Today was Day #6 of Chocolate and Spirits Theme Week.

Hazelnut and Walnut bar - April 19, 2013

Chocolate of the Day:

E. Wedel (LOTTE/Wedel sp. z o.o.)
Maestria Hazelnuts and Walnuts Dark 55% bar
Good +
Weight: 1.4 oz. (40 g.) in 2/5 bar / 3.5 oz. (100 g.) in total bar
Calories: 212 calories (estimate) in 2/5 bar
Cost: $2.99 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Crossroads World Market, Palo Alto, CA

Today was Day #5 of Chocolate and Spirits Theme Week.

This E. Wedel (now part of LOTTE/Wedel) Hazelnuts and Walnuts bar (from Poland) was good by itself; and it played well with other food and drink items -- in the way that 55% cocoa, or dark milk, chocolate often does.

Specifically, the earthy, nutty and sweet flavors in this chocolate matched very nicely with an iced tea cocktail I made: 2 parts chilled Tazo Chai iced tea and 1 part Frangelico (hazelnut liqueur from Italy).

My hunch is that a similar cocktail with green walnut liqueur (liqueur de noix or Nocino), also from Italy), would be a good pairing with this chocolate as well.

This bar might also be a natural fit with fruit, cheese and nuts, and other dessert plate items with a tiny snifter of brandy or port.

Oakland Chocolate - Rum Barrel - April 18, 2013

Chocolate of the Day:

The Oakland Chocolate Co, LLC
Barrel - Rum Raisin, Sweet Curry Milk
Weight: .4 oz. (11.32 g.) (estimate) for 1 barrel
Calories: 60 calories (estimate) for 1 barrel
Cost: $N/A - part of a previous assortment
Purchased from: The Oakland Chocolate Company, Oakland, CA

Today was Day #4 of Chocolate and Spirits Theme Week.

The Oakland Chocolate Co, LLC is a small company, based in Oakland, CA. Chief chocolate maker, Nancy Nadel, uses cocoa beans from St. Mary's Parish in Jamaica.

While there are dozens of women chocolatiers in the San Francisco Bay Area, Nadel is one of the few women who are making chocolate from cocoa beans (bean to bar, and in this case from bean to bar to bonbon), rather than buying blocks of chocolate to make her bonbons, rolled truffles and chocolate leaves.

She describes her Jamaican-based chocolate as having chocolate brownie and plum notes, and this is consistent with flavors I tasted in her dark (70 - 72% cacao) chocolates (part of an assortment box), including an oak leaf and a chocolate barrel that I imagined was filled with Jamaican rum. It was either rum raisin, sweet curry milk -- or both. In any case, the flavor of this soft golden filling was quite tasty.

Dogpatch chocolate field trip - April 17, 2013

Chocolate(s) of the Day:

Chocolate Lab
Ice-Cream Sundae
Very Good
Weight: unknown
Calories: unknown
Cost: $9.00 for 1 sundae
Purchased from: Chocolate Lab, San Francisco, CA

Today was Day #3 of Chocolate and Spirits Theme Week. A friend and I took a field trip to San Francisco today to search for good food, interesting places, and chocolates in this category.

We went to Dogpatch (east of the Mission District and adjacent to Potrero Hill), a relatively small neighborhood in San Francisco with a very high chocolate Intelligence Quotient (IQ), thanks to a long list of creative entrepreneurs and establishments.

I chose two chocolate + spirits items, from 1.) Michael Recchiuti (Chocolate Lab and Little Nib), and 2.) Ian Flores and Annabelle Topacio (aka the ice cream power couple behind Mr. and Mrs. Miscellaneous).


Other notable chocolatiers and chocolate makers in the up-and-coming Dogpatch area include Poco Dolce, Kika's Treats, Alter Eco, and the ghosts of Joseph Schmidt (which disappeared after Hershey's bought them several years ago) and Dandelion Chocolate (moved to the Mission District of San Francisco); and the list goes on.

Not Just Any Ice Cream Sundae
The "Ice-Cream Sundae" at the Chocolate Lab was not your typical ice cream sundae. Three small scoops of Burnt Caramel ice cream were topped with an assortment of Recchuiti chocolate covered hazelnuts, almonds and peanut butter pearls, and house made (lightly roasted) marshmallows. The sundae was served with a little white pitcher of extra bitter chocolate sauce to pour over the ice cream.

I also asked for a tiny side of Fee Brothers Aztec Chocolate Bitters (the type used in cocktails), that (in very small doses - 1 drop at a time) was an interesting complement to the sundae. (This chocolate hued flavoring agent contributed some extra "spirits" to this already complex and wonderfully flavorful sundae.) Thank you to the Chocolate Lab staff, once again, for humoring me and enabling small tasting experiments.

And, Even More Ice Cream
We couldn't leave Dogpatch without a visit to Mr. and Mrs. Miscellaneous, a high-end ice cream (and baked goods) shop that opened in 2010 with a fresh, creative twist -- including a few ice creams with alcohol, spirits or liqueurs. The closest flavor with both chocolate (or something with a cacao origin) + spirits on today's menu: the ice cream version of the "Pink Squirrel" -- a cocktail made with Creme de Cacao, Creme de Noyaux (think bitter almonds, or Amaretto) and cream. This Pink Squirrel ice cream was a delicate pastel pink (from the Creme de Noyaux) and had a smooth, almond kernel flavor.

Poco Dolce Whiskey bon bons - April 16, 2013

Chocolate of the Day: 

Poco Dolce
Whiskey Bon Bons
Good + - Very Good
Weight: .8 oz. (22.6 g.) (estimate for 2 bon bons) / 3.6 oz. (101.8 g.) (estimate) for box of 9
Calories: 120 calories (estimate for 2 bon bons)
Cost: $20.00 for box of 9 bon bons
Purchased from: Poco Dolce, San Francisco, CA

I visited Poco Dolce's storefront in (the Dogpatch area of) San Francisco last month. Dogpatch is an "up and coming" neighborhood that is East of the Mission District, another area with notable nouveau chocolate activity.

Today's box of 9 bon bons were filled with creamy chocolate ganache infused with Irish whiskey. They had a wonderful round full flavor, like you might get from a sip of whiskey, balanced by just the right amount of bittersweet chocolate.

I hadn't seen these attractively glossy, pinched domes before. I found out later the whiskey flavor is available by special order. (I may have gotten lucky the day I visited their store; they happened to have a stack on the shelf.)

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

Socola Jameson Whiskey truffle - April 15, 2013

Chocolate of the Day:

Socola Chocolatier
Jameson Whiskey truffle
Good - Good +
Weight: .375 oz. (10.6 g.) in 1 truffle / 4.5 oz. (127 g.) in total 12-piece box
Calories: 112 calories (estimate) for 2 pieces
Cost: $24.95 for 12-piece box
Purchased from: Socola Chocolatier table at SF Chocolate Salon, San Francisco, CA

Happy April 15th -- more commonly known as tax filing deadline day in the U.S. Turning to sweeter things, today was also the first day of Chocolate and Spirits Theme Week.

Whether you're celebrating a refund or writing a check to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), you might be able to celebrate with a wee taste of Whiskey today, in chocolate form. I recently picked up a "Hat Trick Collection" box of attractive, bite-sized truffles from Socola Chocolatier (San Francisco, CA) that contained three flavors: Jameson Whiskey*, Bacon and Stout Beer.

The Jameson Whiskey truffle was decorated with a light "Socola" green paisley pattern across the top, and had a creamy dark chocolate ganache infused with whiskey notes.

*One caveat: Jameson Whiskey may be a seasonal flavor; and if so, I'm happy to have caught the last train to chocolate and whiskey happyland. 

The Bacon truffles in this box were very good. I believe this truffle was the same as, or a close relative of, Socola's "Notorious HOG" truffles, that burst on the scene a few years ago (featured here in 2011).


I did not taste the third flavor, Stout Beer Truffles (decorated with white strokes); however, much enjoyment ensued when sharing these with others.

If these flavors don't excite you, I suggest checking out Socola's Give it to Me Guava (which I look forward to featuring in the future), and their Jasmine truffle (available as part of a tea collection box) which is wonderful if you like floral flavors.

Thank you Wendy, Susan and Harriett (the inspirational flying llama)!