Casa de Chocolates - Organic Peruvian Espresso bar - May 22, 2015

Chocolate of the Day:

Casa de Chocolates
Organic Peruvian Espresso bar
Good
Weight: .5 oz. (14.1 g.) / 2.89 oz. (81.7 g.) in total bar
Calories: 75 calories (estimate) in .5 oz. (14.1 g.) of bar
Cost: $8.00 (estimate) for 1 bar
Purchased from: Casa de Chocolates

Welcome to Day #3 of Chocolate and Organic Theme Week. Many chocolatiers and chocolate makers are concerned about sustainable farming practices and manufacturing processes, and choosing organic cacao beans and other ingredients may be part of that philosophy. Today's bar was a good example.

This Organic Peruvian Espresso 61% cacao bar was "hecho a mano" (made by hand) by Casa de Chocolates (Berkeley, CA). The company specializes in sustainable chocolates (many are organic) with Latin American inspired themes and flavor inclusions.

Today's vegan and gluten-free bar had the nicely balanced blend of smooth, sweet dark chocolate and coffee (espresso) flavor and texture (the ground coffee bits were not too gritty). 

The Chocolate Conspiracy - Dark 74% bar - May 21, 2015

Chocolate of the Day:

The Chocolate Conspiracy
Dark Bar - 74% Cacao
Good
Weight: 1 oz. (28.3 g.) / 2 oz. (56 g.) in total bar
Calories: 150 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $8.95 for 1 bar
Purchased from: SweetE Organic, Mill Valley, CA

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

Yesterday I kicked off "Organic" Week by featuring a raw, organic bar made with Peruvian cacao.

Today's 74% Cacao Dark Bar from The Chocolate Conspiracy (Salt Lake City, UT) was also a raw, organic chocolate bar, but with some taste and texture differences. This dark bar had a creamy mouth feel and even, smooth chocolate flavor, with relative low acidity. It was sweetened with wildflower honey; and the honey gave the bar a pleasant, lilting sweetness.

According to the packaging, the company sources cacao from different regions -- all raw, organic, fair trade and kosher -- and notes a low microbe count in their cacao (addressing a concern that some people have about raw cacao).

As with other raw cacao vendors, processing times and steps that could raise the temperature of the cacao (fermentation, roasting, conching, etc.) are either kept to a minimum and operated at more controlled, lower/slower levels. Some beans the company sources are either lightly fermented, or non-fermented and air-dried to preserve freshly picked cacao bean flavor.

Certain flavors will be harder to develop with lower temperatures and without fermentation and roasting. However, I continue to enjoy sampling raw and/or raw + lower-glycemic chocolates. Some are very smooth and flavorful, and many raw chocolates also seem to have less of a sugar rush and chocolate flush -- which I like.

SweetE Organic
Thankfully, there are many more places to buy good, organic raw chocolates than when I started this website in 2006.

I bought this chocolate bar at SweetE Organic, north of San Francisco. Elana Turchon, owner of SweetE Organic (Mill Valley, CA), has seen the organic market evolve. She founded SweetE Organic to be inclusive, to offer organic sweets and gifts that would serve everyone in the community, including those with food allergies. She offers organic, raw, gluten-free, nut-free and vegan/dairy-free options in her shop, and now online. 

Santosha Chocolate - Single Origin Peru bar - May 20, 2015

Chocolate of the Day:

Santosha Chocolate
Single Origin Peru bar
OK + - Good
Weight: .5 oz. (14.1 g.) / 1 oz. (29 g.) (per packaging)
Calories: 65 calories for 1/2 bar
Cost: $3.99 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Piazza's Fine Foods, Palo Alto, CA

Bienenidos a Day #1 of Chocolate and Organic Theme Week.

I'm continuing last week's Chocolate and Peru Week Theme with today's Organic, Single Origin Peru bar from Santosha* Chocolate (Asheville, NC).

A Word About Organic...
Back in 2006, when I started ChocolateBanquet.com, it was harder to find organic chocolate. Now, happily, there are more organic offerings, even in large chocolate company product lines.

It should be noted that many craft chocolate bars may be made with organic cacao, but certifications are expensive, and some makers choose to do without -- meaning bars aren't labeled as organic; and no certification seals appear on packaging. It's good to ask about the maker's cacao sources if you have questions. Regardless of their answer, you'll learn more about their practices and their supply chain.

Back to today's bar...
The first bite of today's raw 85% cacao bar was relatively flavorful and smooth. It sweetened with organic, low-glycemic coconut palm sugar and was fairly sweet for an 85% dark bar. However, subsequent bites went a bit funny in terms of texture (a little grainier feel) and flavor (a bit of sourness). I'm not sure what caused this. When making chocolate (organic or not) from scratch, many things can happen during the dozen or more steps that are part of the process.

My hat is off to all chocolate-makers; it's a craft that's always as challenging as it is rewarding. Santosha founder, Don Rowe, started by selling his organic, raw bars in local farmers markets several years ago, and the business grew from there. His raw, vegan and certified organic bars are free of nuts, soy, dairy and gluten, and are made without emulsifiers.

*"Santosha" roughly translates as being content in the moment with what you have; not requiring more than you have in the moment to achieve contentment.

Lillie Belle Farms - Sunshine Daydream 45% bar - May 19, 2015

Chocolate of the Day: 

Lillie Belle Farms
Sunshine Daydream 45% Milk Chocolate bar
Good - Good +
Weight: 2.5 oz. (70 g.) in total bar
Calories: 375 calories in 1 bar
Cost: $8.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Lillie Belle Farms, Central Point, OR

Welcome to "bonus" Day #8 of Chocolate and Peru Theme Week.

I celebrate chocolates in unique combinations with edible items. This Limited Edition Sunshine Daydream 45% Bean-To-Bar Milk Chocolate bar from Lillie Belle Farms (Central Point, OR) was made with powdered cultured buttermilk instead of "regular" powdered milk. This caught my attention.

The description on the packaging read as follows: "...Using extremely fruity (organic) cacao beans from Peru in combination with some organic sugar, powdered buttermilk, and a hint of (organic) vanilla bean, we created a rich and just a bit tangy (bar)."

I'd say this was accurately described. This rich, fairly creamy bar did indeed have a very subtle tangy flavor, and very mild, not unpleasant dark/sour fruit and bitter undertones (likely from the cacao and not the buttermilk). Short of a side-by-side tasting with a bar made from the same ingredients + regular powdered milk, it's hard to know. It was an interesting and fun bar to try.

Lillie Belle Farms - Perfect Illusion 65% bar - May 18, 2015

Chocolate of the Day: 

Lillie Belle Farms
Perfect Illusion 65% bar
Good++
Weight: 2.06 oz. (57.75 g.) / 2.75 oz. (77 g.) in total bar
Calories: 309 calories (estimate) in 3/4 bar
Cost: $8.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Lillie Belle Farms, Central Point, OR

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

Lillie Belle Farms' (Central Point, OR) makes bars and confections. The company's Perfect Illusion 65% Bean-to-Bar Dark Chocolate bar was crafted with just two ingredients (cocoa beans and sugar) using "rare White Beans from the remote valleys of Peru."

The maker description states that these mysterious (organic, fair trade) white beans "...are so special that we had to promise not to reveal exactly how we got them..."

The white beans have mild but complex flavor and seem to lack the bitter grapefruit twist that some other Peruvian beans seem to have. More cacao trees with fruit containing these white beans have been planted in the last several years; but it can take five years or more before harvests from trees become reliable/bountiful.

So, we may be seeing and tasting more of these beans in our chocolate in the future; but, in the meantime we can enjoy bars like this one.

So, how was it?

This very thick, gluten-free and vegan bar was well tempered and broke with a hard snap. It was smooth throughout the tasting experience, albeit with a slightly slower melt due to the bar's thickness. As the flavors were released they were varied and subtle -- with hints of dried fruit, cafe mocha/latte (there was no milk in this bar), and molasses. The bar was intriguingly complex; but no one flavor note jumped out as being too strong or visible. It all was unfolding slightly below the surface.

"Is it an illusion? Or is this just the best chocolate you have ever eaten?" the bar's packaging notes ask the reader? I don't know. You'll have to try this Good Food Awards winning bar to decide.

Patric Chocolate - Piura dark milk bar - May 17, 2015

Chocolate of the Day: 

Patric Chocolate
Piura Dark Milk bar
Weight: 2.3 oz. (65 g.) in total bar
Calories: 348 calories (estimate) in 1 bar
Cost: $13.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: The Chocolate Garage, Palo Alto, CA

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

Alan "Patric" McClure's painstaking hand-sorting, and careful slow-roasting, of cocoa beans pays off. His single origin, blended and flavored bars are some of the best in the U.S.

Blending cacao with milk, sugar, emulsifiers, vanilla and other added ingredients can dilute or dull cacao flavors substantially. But, today's Piura* Dark Milk chocolate bar from Patric Chocolate (Columbia, MO) was a good example of a milk chocolate bar that can maintain a great flavor profile.

This carefully crafted "dark milk chocolate" bar had even and consistent caramel and sea-salted toffee notes throughout, and was buttery smooth. The slightly bitter flavor that I seemed to taste in most of the dark chocolate Peru bars this week, was instead more similar to "ruby red grapefruit" in this bar, as the tasting notes indicated.

*Piura is a coastal region in northwest Peru, one of several areas of the country where cacao is grown. (The capital city of Piura was founded by Spanish explorer Francisco Pizarro in 1532.) Prized, white Porcelana cacao beans come from a valley in the Piura region. These cacao trees/beans were "re-discovered" this century and are being replanted elsewhere in the past several years as demand for fine-flavored cacao has continued to increase.

Timothy Adams - Machu Picchu Sipping Chocolate - May 16, 2015

Chocolate of the Day: 

Timothy Adams Chocolates
65% Machu Picchu Peru Sipping Chocolate
Very Good
Weight: 8 fl. oz. (estimate) for 1 serving
Calories: 150 calories (estimate) for 1 serving
Cost: $5.75 for 1 serving
Purchased from: Timothy Adams Chocolates, Palo Alto, CA

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

Timothy Adams Chocolates (Palo Alto, CA) is a local Bay Area chocolate shop run by creative duo Timothy Woods and Adams Hollands.

Today I tried their drinking chocolate for the first time -- an iced, 65% Machu Picchu* Peru Sipping Chocolate made with non-fat milk that was served in a slender glass bottle with a straw over ice.

Customers select the milk of their choice for their chocolate beverage. I chose cow's milk over hazelnut "milk." The hazelnut did sound tempting, but I wanted to be able to taste the 65% Peruvian chocolate flavor.

It may have been my imagination, but I thought I detected the same slightly bitter (grapefruit?) note as I've been tasting all week with other chocolates made from Peruvian cacao beans. Unique and unpleasant, this characteristic was part of a nicely well-balanced complex flavor profile in each chilled sip. It was very good, and very satisfying.

I look forward to tasting more hand-crafted truffles and Sipping Chocolate flavors from Timothy Adams in the future.

*Machu Picchu is an impressive, ancient (Inca) city. Ruins of this city, located in the Andes mountains of Peru, attract a large number of visitors and/or tourists).