Gamesformotion - Candy Land Chocolate Edition - Dec. 12, 2014

Chocolate of the Day: 

Gamesformotion
Candy Land - Chocolate Edition
Good
Weight: .176 oz. (5 g.) / 5.4 oz. (154 g.) in total package
Calories: 26.5 calories (estimate) in 1 piece
Cost: $9.99 in total box/game
Purchased from: CVS Pharmacy, Mountain View, CA

Today was Day #2 of Chocolates in Toyland Theme Week.

Candy Land, a popular children's board game from Milton Bradley was a childhood favorite and chocolate was a favorite childhood flavor. Together, in today's chocsimile* of the board game from the mid-1900s, this novelty item evoked a certain amount of candy-sweet nostalgia.

Candy Land -- the Chocolate Edition -- consisted of a game board, 4 paper pawns, and 32 milk chocolates (two-sided playing "cards") that allow players to race around the board; and one golden trophy (round gold foil covered medallion).

Today's Candy Land game was made by Gamesformotion (in Deventer, Netherlands).
The company, through licensing agreements, also produces chocolate editions of other popular games, such as Monopoly, Trivial Pursuit, Twister, Scrabble, Pictionary, etc.

The milk chocolate square (inside a purple tile marked playing "card" wrapper) was eaten before I could advance to the next purple square on the board; but it was fun to play this game.

*A chocsimile is a chocolate facsimile of a person, animal, place or thing. 

Ghirardelli - Milk Chocolate Nutcracker - Dec. 11, 2014

Ghirardelli website

Chocolate of the Day:

Ghirardelli Chocolate Company
Milk Chocolate Nutcracker
Good
Weight: 1 oz. (28.3 g.) / 4.5 oz. (127 g.) total item
Calories: 150 calories (estimate) in 1 oz. piece
Cost: $4.99 for 1 nutcracker novelty item
Purchased from: Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, Palo Alto, CA

Today kicked off the first day of Chocolates in Toyland Theme Week; and I'll be sampling several holiday novelty chocolate items, most of them neatly encased in festively colorful and fancifully illustrated foil wrappings.

Kicking this week off was the milk chocolate Nutcracker chocsimile* from Ghirardelli Chocolate (San Leandro, CA). Ghirardelli was one of the pioneer chocolate makers in the San Francisco area. The company started making chocolate in San Francisco in 1852.

The dilemma: Is it more polite to bite off the boots or the head first? I went with the boots. While hollow inside, the milk chocolate walls were generously thick, and the boots broke off with a snap and a thunk. The chocolate was smooth and sweet.

The Nutcracker character features prominently in a famous ballet of the same name that's still popular during the Christmas holiday season in the U.S.

It's hard to imagine this 7-inch tall nutcracker magically transforming into a 7-foot tall nutcracker soldier and crossing swords with a man-sized rat king. However, it might make a fun Christmas stocking stuffer.

*A chocsimile is a chocolate facsimile of a person, place or thing.

Claudio Corallo - Chocolate with grapes - Dec. 10, 2014

Chocolate of the Day:

Claudio Corallo
Ubric 1 - chocolate comme passas de uva
Very Good +
Weight: 1.75 oz. (50 g.) / 3.5 oz. (100 g.) in total box
Calories: 255 calories (estimate) for 1/2 box
Cost: $26.00 for 1 box
Purchased from: Alegio Chocolate, Berkeley, CA

Today was Day #8 of Chocolate and Africa Theme Week.

Perhaps no mention of chocolate from Africa would be complete without mentioning Claudio Corallo.

The man, and the chocolate maker, have merged into one, if for no other reason than his complete devotion to making great chocolate, in country, from tree-to-bar, in the small African island nation of Sao Tome et Principe, located West of Gabon and slightly north of the Equator).

This chocolate, with the long name (Ubric 1 - chocolate comme passas de uva e destilado de polpa de cacau) and the high price ($26 for 1 box), was worthy of attention for at least two reasons. First there is no other chocolate quite like this one, with robust chocolate and rum raisin flavor that comes from grapes and cacao pulp/fruit*. Second, it tastes intriguing and delicious.

There are only a few places in the U.S. that carry Claudio Corallo chocolates; Alegio Chocolate in the San Francisco Bay Area (Berkeley and Palo Alto) is one.

*The white pulpy fruit surrounding the core of seeds in a cacao pod, is full of flavor, but ferments very quickly, and you are unlikely to find fresh cacao pods or fruit in a store to taste. When incorporated correctly into chocolate (see also Madre Chocolate's Triple Cacao bar with cacao fruit, nibs and chocolate), and it can be wonderful.

Cello Chocolate - Ghana with sea salt bar - Dec. 9, 2014

Chocolate of the Day: 

Cello Chocolate
70% Ghana with Sea Salt bar
Good - Good ++
Weight: .4 oz. (11.4 g.) / 2 oz. (57 g.) in 1 bar
Calories: 60 calories (estimate) in 1/5 bar
Cost: $36.00 for 6-pack of 6 single origin bars
Purchased from: Cello Chocolate (online order)

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

Today we return to Ghana, one of the top cocoa exporting countries in the world. Cacao beans from this West African country were used to make this 70% cacao Ghana bar with sea salt by the chocolate maker(s) at Cello Chocolate (Nevada City, CA).

Cello Chocolate offers a line of handcrafted dark chocolate bars from various source countries. Today's Ghana bar was part of a single origin, 6-pack that included: Ghana, Peru, Venezuela, Bolivia, Dominican Republic and Ecuador bars.

As described in the tasting notes, this bar had smooth, "deep classic, straight-forward cocoa flavor." The light, evenly distributed sprinkle of sea salt was just right.

Dick Taylor - 72% Madagascar Sambirano bar - Dec. 8, 2014

Chocolate of the Day: 

Dick Taylor Chocolate
72% Madagascar Sambirano bar
Very Good
Weight: 1.5 oz. ( g.) / 2 oz. (56.6 g.) in total bar
Calories: 225 calories (estimate) in 3/4 bar
Cost: $12.00 (estimate) for 1 bar
Purchased from: The Chocolate Garage, Palo Alto, CA

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

Chalk up another one for Madagascar... Today's 72% cacao Madagascar Sambirano single origin bar was crafted by Dick Taylor Craft Chocolate (Arcata, CA). Dick-Taylor founders and owners are Adam Dick + Dustin Taylor.

The bar was made with just two ingredients: organic cacao beans and organic cane sugar -- with no vanilla or emulsifiers. And it had beautiful robust "fruit" flavor (think citrus and berries) all the way through.

24 Blackbirds - Madagascar 75% bar - Dec. 7, 2014

Chocolate of the Day: 

twenty-four blackbirds chocolates, LLC
Madagascar 75% bar
Good ++
Weight: .7 oz. (20 g.) / 1.41 oz. (40 g.) in total bar
Calories: 105 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $6.75 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Sweet Shop, Los Altos, CA

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

After 8 years of trying different chocolates, it's always fun to try new bars. Today's bar comes from a bean-to-bar maker located on the South Central Coast of California.

The Madagascar 75% cacao bar from twenty-four blackbirds chocolate (Santa Barbara, CA) had a complex and interesting flavor arc. I'm convinced I might pick up slightly different nuances if I re-tasted this bar again. However, this first time, I picked up a slight bitterness, sour-tart fruit (berries, citrus) flavor, with a very faint hint of licorice.

The maker(s) at twenty-four blackbirds crafted this bar with organic Malagasy cacao beans from Akesson's plantation in the Ambanja region of Madagascar, and organic cane sugar. The bar broke with a hard snap and had a smooth texture.

Today I took a hike in Napa county where I'd seen one of the biggest flocks of (mixed) blackbirds I ever remember seeing a few years ago. I saw a dozen or so blackbirds on a telephone wire -- reminiscent of the simple, elegantly designed paper packaging for twenty-four blackbirds chocolate bars.

Trader Joe's - Sao Tome 70% bar - Dec. 6, 2014

Chocolate of the Day:

Trader Joe's
Sao Tome 70% bar
Good ++
Weight: .8 oz. (22.5 g.) / 1.6 oz. (45 g.) in total bar
Calories: 115 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $9.99 for 1 pack of 8 bars
Purchased from: Trader Joe's, Palo Alto, CA

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

This Sao Tome 70% cacao bar from Trader Joe's (Monrovia, CA) was part of a larger 8-bar Chocolate Passport tasting pack that I purchased at a local Trader Joe's store.

This was the third of three single origin bars from Africa included in this Chocolate Passport pack. Sao Tome (part of the Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe) is a small island nation off the western coast of Africa (just north of the equator) where cocoa is a top export.

The tasting notes printed on the bar's label described the bar this way: "intense cocoa flavor with an exciting bitterness." I found it had bittersweet fruit and faint earth notes; and, like the other bars in this pack that I've tried so far, had a relatively smooth and creamy melt and texture. 

Because these tasting packs of single origin bars seem to appear for a limited time each year -- and sell out quickly at the Trader Joe's locations near where I live -- these collections of bars always seems relatively fresh -- a big plus. While these bars have a relatively long shelf life; nothing beats fresh off the production line.