Simply Enjoy - Crispy Almond Milk Chocolate bar - June 16, 2015

Chocolate of the Day: 

Simply Enjoy
Crispy Almond Belgian Milk Chocolate bar
OK + - Good
Weight: 1.34 oz. (38 g.) / 3.5 oz. (100 g.) in total bar
Calories: 210 calories for 3 squares
Cost: $1.99 (estimate) for 1 bar
Purchased from: Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, Palo Alto, CA

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

This generously sized Simply Enjoy Crispy Almond Belgian Milk Chocolate bar was fairly smooth and quite sweet. The bar was made with Utz Certified cocoa -- a program geared toward helping farmers and promoting sustainable farming methods.

Some whiteish spots had formed around bits of embedded almond in the bar. I'm assuming this was due to a phenomenon known as "bloom."

When "Bloom" Happens
The best place to store chocolate is in a cool (not cold) dark place. If chocolate is stored at a colder or hotter temperature than recommended, the surface of a bar may develop bloom, a slightly white, splotchy appearance. Many times these changes are merely cosmetic. Other times, white splotches can signal a degradation in flavor quality or texture.

Chocolate bars are "tempered" using carefully controlled heating and cooling processes, to achieve a perfect crystalline structure. Particles of cocoa fat or butter become aligned with cocoa solids, helping to ensure that a chocolate bar breaks with a hard snap and has a longer-lasting, stable configuration.

If hot weather can melt chocolate and/or create "fat bloom," then storing chocolate in the moist fridge can result in "sugar bloom" where the sugar starts to crystallize out a bit. If there are flavor additions, like the almond bits in today's bar, and these nuts have been dipped in sugar or were roasted in oil (or both sugar and oil/fat), then it's possible that the sugar could crystallize differently around the nuts under certain conditions.

In the case of today's bar, the bloom (slightly whiteish discolored spots) did not influence the taste. This is often true, but it's better to be safe and adhere to proper storage methods and temperature if you have control over such things.

Bloom can be caused by a less than perfect temper, but more likely (in my experience) bloom is due to fluctuations in temperature and moisture, which can occur on a loading dock, warehouse, or in a delivery truck.

If it's any consolation, you can always use the affected chocolate to make chocolate fondue.

Perugina - Milk Chocolate Almonds bar - June 15, 2015

Chocolate of the Day: 

Perugina
Milk Chocolate Almonds bar
Good
Weight: 1.4 oz. (39.68 g.) / 3.5 oz. (99.2 g.) in total bar
Calories: 220 calories in 4 squares, or 2/5 bar
Cost: $3.50 for 1 bar
Purchased from: The Greedy Ant, Belmont, CA

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

This Perugina Milk Chocolate with Almonds bar was good for the sweet tooth. It was very sweet, making it difficult to pick out any particular chocolate or almond flavor notes. The smoothness of the chocolate was difficult to isolate as well, due to the riot of tiny caramelized almond bits so profusely present in every bite of this bar. The bar had a smooth finish. There were certainly no harsh flavors, and there was very little aftertaste.

Perugina was founded in 1907 in Perugia in central Italy. The Perugina brand now belongs to Nestle (Vevey, Switzerland). However, to this day there is a sense of pride about the company's Italian roots and base. (This bar was made in Italy by Nestle Italiana S.P.A., and distributed in the U.S. by Colavita USA.)

The Greedy Ant, the wonderful, small deli-style store where I bought this bar, was brimming with Italian-American origin stories, with most of the chocolates in stock having an Italian connection.

Tout Sweet - Chocolate Almonds - June 14, 2015

Chocolate of the Day: 

Tout Sweet Patisserie
Crunchy Caramel Chocolate Coated Almonds
Good+
Weight: .5 oz. (14.1 g.) / 3 oz. (84.9 g.) in total container
Calories: 75 calories (estimate) in 1/2 oz. serving
Cost: $7.00 for 1 container
Purchased from: Tout Sweet Patisserie, Palo Alto, CA

It's always wonderful to find new chocolate makers or chocolatiers with new chocolate items to try. Yesterday I stumbled upon the new Palo Alto location of Tout Sweet Patisserie (San Francisco).

Entering into the shop, I was confronted with a visual feast. Colorful pyramids of gluten-free macarons, and impressive looking cakes and pastries, large and small all beckoned. I bought some small gluten-free cake/pastry items to take to a graduation celebration, and they were all very good. Look forward to featuring those and more chocolate items from this store in the future.

It was only as I turned to leave, bag of cakes in hand, when I saw today's Crunchy Caramel and Double Chocolate Coated Almonds, and realized they'd be perfect for this week's almond-themed chocolate week.

These chocolate covered almonds featured perfectly roasted/toasted almonds that were attractively dusted with cocoa powder. No gooey "caramel" here, but the nuts perfectly done, and the star of the show. The chocolate played second fiddle.

Trader Joe's - Chocolate Covered Almonds - June 13, 2015

Chocolate(s) of the Day: 

Trader Joe's

Dark Chocolate Almond Toffee
Good - Good +
Weight: 1 oz. (28.3 g.) / 2 oz. (57 g.) in 1 package
Calories: 155 calories in 1 oz. (28.3 g.) serving
Cost: $1.49 for 1 package/bag
Purchased from: Trader Joe's, Daly City, CA

Dark Chocolate Covered Almonds
Good
Weight: 1.4 oz. (40 g.) / 3 oz. (85 g.) in total package/bag
Calories: 230 calories in 1 serving
Cost: $0.99 for 1 package/bag
Purchased from: Trader Joe's, Daly City, CA

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

These two dark chocolate covered almonds snack-sized packages from Trader Joe's (Monrovia, CA) were fun. The first one, Dark Chocolate Almond Toffee -- round chocolate spheres with crunchy sweet toffee and roasted California almonds at the center -- was quite good. Sweet, without being cloyingly so.

The second package was filled with dry roasted almonds coated with dark chocolate. The almonds contributed a pleasant, roasted nut crunch and flavor. The surrounding dark chocolate had a very slight bitter or burned flavor, that was not entirely unpleasant -- but rather a contrast with the sweeter toffee almonds.

Ghirardelli Chocolate - Creamy Almond Crunch bar - June 12, 2015

Chocolate of the Day: 

Ghirardelli Chocolate Company
Creamy Almond Crunch bar
Good
Weight: 1.67 oz. (47.5 g.) / 3.34 oz. (95 g.) in total bar
Calories: 253.3 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $2.99 (sale) for 1 bar
Purchased from: Walgreens, Los Altos, CA

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

Aptly named, the Creamy Almond Crunch Bar from Ghirardelli Chocolate Company (San Leandro, CA) melted in my mouth. The buttery milk chocolate was balanced by a creamy and slightly crunchy almond filling -- advertised as a "creamy roasted almond filling blended with caramelized almond pieces." There's that word creamy again.

It's creamy, slightly nutty flavor and texture appealed to me today. My only quibble was with the ingredients list, i.e. a there were a few ingredients I'd rather not see, such as "natural and artificial flavors, soy lecithin -- an emulsifier, corn starch, salt, vanilla, TBHQ -- an antioxidant, and corn syrup."

Ghirardelli has a long history when it comes to making and selling chocolates -- beginning in 1852 in the Gold Rush era in San Francisco. Ghirardelli is the oldest continuously operating chocolate maker in the San Francisco Bay Area (and perhaps the U.S). Etienne Guittard soon followed. Both Ghirardelli and Guittard are still making chocolate in the San Francisco Bay Area in San Leandro and South San Francisco, respectively.

Bissinger's - Chocolate and Almonds bar - June 11, 2015

Chocolate of the Day: 

Bissinger's
Chocolate and Almonds bar
Good - Good +
Weight: 1.5 oz. (43 g.) / 3 oz. (85 g.) in total bar
Calories: 240 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $ lost information
Purchased from: Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, Palo Alto, CA

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

This Chocolate and Almonds bar from Bissinger's (St. Louis, MO) was an attractive bar, with the "B" for Bissinger's elegantly embossed on each square of the bar's front side. On the reverse side, whole California almonds were pressed into a 60% dark chocolate base.

The Bissinger family name has a long history in chocolate. The company had its origins in France (Paris in the 1600s), and was established in in the U.S. in 1845.

The Art of Nuts
Nuts handled well can be heavenly. But, like any flavor addition, care needs to be taken to achieve a successful complementary taste and texture balance between nuts and chocolate. Sometimes the underlying chocolate may be too strong for more delicate nut flavors. Under-roasted or over-roasted nuts can distract from an otherwise great experience; too much or too little salt in some chocolate and nut blends might be a consideration.

How big should flavor addition pieces be, nuts or otherwise, to created a layering of flavors? While pulverized herbs may release more flavor, not so with most nuts. Some chocolate bars with almonds will incorporate the nuts as tiny pieces, giving the bar a uniform mild crunch, but while adding texture, more delicate flavors may be lost.

Today's Bissinger's bar with whole roasted almonds gave the bar a more noticeable crunch, and made it easier to actually taste the slightly sweet, nutty flavor of the almonds, even with an otherwise smooth dark chocolate base with slightly bitter and earth notes.

I also liked that this bar wasn't too sweet. Too much sugar can also overpower subtle flavors.

This Chocolate and Almonds bar was made with Rainforest Alliance Certified cacao from the Ivory Coast, and was gluten free, and contained, from what I could tell, mostly Non-GMO ingredients.

Toblerone - Swiss Milk Salted Almonds bar - June 10, 2015

Chocolate of the Day: 

Toblerone*
Swiss Milk Chocolate with Salted Caramelized Almonds and Honey and Almond Nougat
Good
Weight: 1.16 oz. (33 g.) / 3.52 oz. (100 g.) in total bar
Calories: 180 calories in 1/3 bar
Cost: $0.97 (estimate) (sale price)
Purchased from: Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, Palo Alto, CA

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

Toblerone Swiss Milk Chocolate bars come in several flavors, including today's big Toblerone bar with the big (or at least long) name: "Swiss Milk Chocolate with Salted Caramelized Almonds and Honey and Almond Nougat" (bar).

The unique triangular shape of the Toblerone bar was developed in Berne, Switzerland, more than 100 years ago. The bar's resemblance to mountain peaks reminded me of the Swiss Alps when I was younger.

Note: The Toblerone brand is part of Kraft Foods.