Cocanu - Holy Wood and Gardel bars - Sept. 5, 2016

Chocolate(s) of the Day:

Cocanu Chocolate

Holy Wood
Dark chocolate and palo santo 70% bar
Good - Good +
Weight: .8 oz. (25 g.) in 1 bar
Calories: 132 calories (estimate) in 1 bar
Cost: $5.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Cacao at The Heathman, Portland, OR

Gardel
Dark chocolate, hazelnuts, fernet 72% bar
Good +
Weight: .8 oz. (25 g.) in 1 bar
Calories: 132 calories (estimate) in 1 bar
Cost: $5.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: The Meadow (original Mississippi location), Portland, OR

Welcome to the last day of Chocolate, Fruit and Botanicals Month, and the first day of Ecuadorian Cacao Theme Week.

Today's two relatively sweet dark bars hailed from Cocanu Chocolate (Portland, OR). I bought them at two different specialty retail shops in Portland (Cacao and The Meadow—both great sources for interesting, high-quality chocolates).

Cocanu's 70% cacao Holy Wood bar was made with Nacional cacao from Ecuador and infused with aromatic Palo Santo wood, also from Ecuador. The wood's flavor was so subtle, I failed to detect it. Could it be that this flavor is part of the terroir that I already associate with Ecuador? Another possibility: I dulled my palette with something I ate or drank earlier.

The company's 72% Gardel bar did have a subtle, pleasing overall hazelnut taste, with a few tiny crunchy nut bits embedded in it. The "fernet"—Fernet Branca (a botanical liqueur popular in Europe— was so subtle that, like the bar above, I missed it.

Both square bars (sealed with a fleur de lis wax stamp) were thick enough to provide a substantial bite, and thin enough to make flavors accessible, in other words just the right thickness for tasting in my opinion.

Endorfin - Dark Mylk Chocolate with Anise and Wormwood - Sept. 4, 2016

Chocolate of the Day: 

Endorfin Foods
Dark Mylk Chocolate with Anise and Wormwood bar
Good +++
Weight: 1.4 oz. (40 g.) in total bar
Calories: 210 calories in 1 bar
Cost: $5.00 for 1 bar (9 bar box for $45.00)
Purchased from: Endorfin Foods, Oakland, CA

Welcome to Day #28 of Chocolate, Fruits and Botanicals Month.

Today's organic dark chocolate Absinthe bar from Endorfin Foods (Oakland, CA) was inspired by the botanical liqueur of the same name. Absinthe, also known as the green fairy (or La Fee Verte), was banned for a time due to concerns over its intoxicating, and possible toxic, properties.

Most of the concern was over a chemical called thujone* found in wormwood (a primary ingredient in absinthe).

The Endorfin team crafted their absinthe flavor blend from recipes found in historical European literature.

The chocolate was made from unroasted cacao, coconut sugar and coconut. And botanical essential oils used to flavor this dark "mylk" bar included Grand Wormwood, Anise, Sweet Fennel, Melissa (Lemon Balm), and Mugwort. (The wormwood and mugwort were wild-harvested.)

"We have labored extensively to find the purest, unadulterated essential oils of these incredible plants to give you the fullest bouquet of flavor and aroma."
-- Endorfin Foods

I also want to thank Endorfin for their packaging. Not only is the design attractive. The sealed wrapper is functional as well.

*Thujone levels in absinthe liqueur (beverages using Artemisia/wormwood) are now much lower, or, in the case of U.S. restrictions, absent altogether. St. George Spirits (Alameda, CA) was the first to release a legal Absinthe, with their own take on the historic blend of botanicals, after restrictions were lifted in 2007.

Macro Greens - Chocolate Cinnamon bar - Sept. 3, 2016

Chocolate of the Day:

MacroLife Naturals, Inc.
Macro Greens
Chocolate Cinnamon bar
Good
Weight: 1.5 oz. (42 g.) in 1 bar
Calories: 190 calories in 1 bar
Cost: $1.49 for 1 bar
Purchased from:  Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #27 of Chocolate, Fruit and Botanicals Month.

Today's organic, Macro Greens Chocolate Cinnamon "superfoods" bar from MacroLife Naturals, Inc., (Culver City, CA) had a slightly chewy compressed texture.

The flavor was nutty (Brazil nuts were the first ingredient listed), with gentle hints of cacao and cinnamon. Both cacao powder and cocoa butter were incorporated into this bar. The bar was lightly sweetened with dates and agave.

If you failed to look carefully at the wrapper, you might miss seeing that you're also receiving some nutritional benefits from a Macro Greens Blend of vegetables/greens from spinach, spirulina, carrots, barley grass powder, beetroot...and parsley. Some added protein came from rice protein and flax seed powder.

This bar was gluten free and vegan, and contained raw ingredients and probiotics.

Spokandy - Milk Chocolate Vanilla Sea Salt bar - Sept. 2, 2016

Chocolate(s) of the Day:

Spokandy
Milk Chocolate Madagascar Vanilla Sea Salt bar
Good - Good +
Weight: .5 oz. (13.8) / 1.5 oz. (41.53 g.) in total bar
Calories: 77 calories (estimate) in 1/3 bar
Cost: $3.99 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Vista House Crown Point, OR

Welcome to Day #26 of Chocolate, Fruit and Botanicals Month. And today is Vanilla Day.

Chocolate and vanilla have a long history together. Vanilla orchids originated in what is now Mexico and Guatemala, an area where the Mayan people flavored their drinking cacao with vanilla hundreds of years ago.

Now vanilla is grown around the world, including Madagascar.

I've always considered vanilla an upbeat, happy spice that has a special affinity with milk and cream. Today I'm celebrating the magic of chocolate and vanilla with a series of treats.

The first item was a Milk Chocolate Madagascar Vanilla Sea Salt bar from Spokandy (Spokane, WA), a company that has been producing chocolates/confections since 1913.


This rich chocolate milk bar with ground vanilla bits and sparkles of sea salt was good by itself and melted over Madagascar Vanilla ice cream.

And speaking of vanilla ice cream, I enjoyed a mini breakfast banana and ice cream sundae, topped with a Planters Turtle Sundae Mix, with nuts and chocolate caramel and vanilla yogurt covered pieces.

I also made my favorite vanilla ice cream by mixing in more happy spices: freshly ground nutmeg and cardamom. (If I'd added saffron, I might have become terminally blissful.)

Last, but not least, the previous vanilla treats were joined by two, indvidually-wrapped, silky cubes of chocolate with a truly creamy and indulgent melt. The Vanilla Sea Salt and Lemon Vanilla  Olive Oil Meltaway chocolates from Ethereal Confections were made with a buttery Manzanillo olive oil.

Little Bird Chocolates - Fire Bites - Sept. 1, 2016

Chocolate of the Day:

Little Bird Curious Confections
(Little Bird Chocolates)
Dark Chocolate Fire Bites
Good
Weight: .3 oz. (8.5 g.) (estimate) in 1 small piece
Calories: 42 calories (estimate) in 1 small piece
Cost: N/A - samples
Purchased from: N/A - samples

Welcome to Day #25 of Chocolate, Fruit and Botanicals Month. Peppers are a fruit too.

Today's sample size Dark Chocolate Fire Bite from Little Bird Curious Confections (Plainview, NY) contained hot jalapeno pepper pieces.

Little Bird founders Corey and Sara Meyer know a thing or two about hot peppers. Their products regularly attain breath-takingly high scores on the Scoville Scale (designed to measure spicy hot foods).

This was a fun chocolate to try. The heat from the first small bite of this Fire Bite was almost tolerable, but the whole piece was a little overwhelming.

The company offers Dark and Milk Chocolate versions of these bites, as well as candied jalapeno pepper products without chocolate.

Heart of Shasta - Spicy Cayenne Ginger Love bar - Aug. 31, 2016

Chocolate of the Day:

Heart of Shasta
Spicy Cayenne Ginger Love bar
Good - Good ++
Weight: 1.1 oz. (31.13 g.) in total bar
Calories: 165 calories (estimate) in 1 bar
Cost: $3.95 for 1 bar
Purchased from: SweetE Organic, Mill Valley, CA

Welcome to Day #24 of Chocolate, Fruits and Botanicals Month.

The Spicy Cayenne Ginger Love bar from Heart of Shasta (Mount Shasta, CA) had a great tasting arc. It started with a light honey sweetness and moved to an authentic ginger spiciness. And then, wait for it, it finished with a spicy cayenne heat that receded after a polite interval.

Heart of Shasta specializes in dairy, soy and gluten free organic, raw chocolates (confections and bars).

The ingredients list for today's bar: 100% cacao powder, cacao butter, honey, coconut oil, cayenne pepper and crystallized ginger.

MilkBoy - Lemon and Ginger bar - Aug. 30, 2016

Chocolate of the Day:

Menrose GmbH
MilkBoy Lemon and Ginger chocolate bar
Good - Good +
Weight: .7 oz. (20 g.) / 3.5 oz. (100 g.) total bar
Calories: 110 calories in 1/5 bar
Cost: $5.29 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Piazza's Fine Foods, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #23 of Chocolate, Fruit and Botanicals Month.

Today's sunny Lemon and Ginger bar was from MilkBoy (Zurich, Switzerland). Sweet, creamy 33% cacao milk chocolate was stuffed full of lemony crunchy bits. I'm assuming the bits were tiny granules of candied ginger, with some twinkles of vanilla pod. The ginger flavor was very subtle.

This blend with essential lemon oil resulted a pleasant lemon cookie aroma and flavor, reminiscent of Lemon Snap cookies from my childhood. Dark chocolate aficionados may consider this more baked good than bar, but if you like the authentic flavor of lemon blended with milk chocolate it's worth a try.