Crazy Monkey Baking - Dark Chocolate Chip Granola Cookie Crunch - Dec. 6, 2017

Chocolate of the Day: 

Crazy Monkey Baking, LLC
Dark Chocolate Chip - Granola Cookie Crunch
Good
Weight: 2/3 cup (60 g.) / 7.5 oz. (213 g.) in total package
Calories: 300 calories in 2 servings
Cost: $5.99 (estimate) for 1 package
Purchased from: The Market, Indianapolis, IN

Welcome to Day #2 of Chocolate Snacks Theme Week.

I'm not opposed to mixing animal characters and clever names with chocolate. So, today's Dark Chocolate Chip Granola Cookie Crunch from Crazy Monkey Baking, LLC (Ashland, OH) seemed like a natural item to feature this week.

The only downside: I keep smiling as I imagine a group of manic monkeys flying around a kitchen baking things.

The company makes a few different flavor versions of their Granola Cookie Crunch, but the Dark Chocolate Chip was the original and is, according to the company's website, still the most popular flavor.

These oat and cornmeal based cookie-granola snacks were made with 60% cacao bittersweet chocolate chips, and evoked the aroma and flavor of home-baked oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.

This tasty snack was uniformly crunchy and good. Some pieces were intact cookie-shaped rounds; and the rest were smaller, more granola-like chunks.

The PocketMonkey measuring device used for scale (see photo to the right) is about 3 1/8-inches (8 cm) long.

Rex's Outrageous, LLC - Road Crew Crunch Peanut Butter Pass Dark Chocolate Detour - Dec. 5, 2017

Chocolate of the Day: 

Distributed by Rex's Outrageous, LLC
(A Portfolio Company of Halen Brands Inc.)
Road Crew Crunch - Peanut Butter Pass + Dark Chocolate Detour
Good
Weight: 2 oz. (56.6 g.) / 16 oz. (454 g.) in total package
Calories: 280 calories in 2 servings
Cost: $4.99 for 1 package
Purchased from: Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, Palo Alto, CA

Hello and welcome to the first day of Chocolate Snacks Theme Week—an investigation of snack bars, confections, mixes, cookies, etc. that contain chocolate.

Today's Road Crew Crunch snack mix was a merge(r) of two different snack flavors: Peanut Butter Pass and Dark Chocolate Detour. Together, you had your choice of dark chocolate and/or milk chocolate covered, crunchy hunks containing peanuts, rice puffs and (gluten free) pretzels.

The snack market in the U.S. covers a wide variety of packaged items, including healthy and "indulgent" snacks. Annual total snack sales run in the billions of U.S. dollars.

While not all chocolates are considered "snacks," the total chocolate market in the U.S. is estimated to reach $24 billion or so in sales in 2017. (Sales of salty snacks reached an estimated $27.7 billion in the U.S. this year (April 2017).*)

If each different chocolate item in the world had a different bar code, and the total number of bar codes were printed on a truck (one per semi-truck), the resulting line of connected transport vehicles would stretch 142 miles from the Earth (allowing the trucks to reach into space and back to Earth again with a few miles to spare).** Granted, road construction in space is difficult; but you get the gist.

It's starting to rain and snow here in the Golden State, which means more road repairs ahead. We love our cars in California and have thousands of miles of road (394,608*** lane miles in 2013) to maintain. Today's Road Crew Crunch mix distributed by Rex's Outrageous, LLC (A Portfolio Company of Halen Brands Inc., Fairfield, NJ) might be a good, hearty snack for anyone outdoors doing road construction or other work.

*Source: www.statista.com
***Source: cubit planning blog (http://blog.cubitplanning.com/2010/02/road-miles-by-state/)
**Calculation for chocolate trucks to reach from the Earth to space and back:
75 ft. semi-truck + trailer x 10,000 (bar codes) = 750,000 feet, or 142 miles (228 km).
(It's roughly 238,900 miles from the Earth to the Moon, but "only" 62 miles from the Earth to the beginning of "space.").

The short film "142 Miles from Monday" might be a better, more metaphorical analogy for Chocolate Banquet and Walking-the-Bay research projects.
***Source: cubit planning blog (http://blog.cubitplanning.com/2010/02/road-miles-by-state/)

Chuao Chocolatier - Bright and Sunny Honey dark chocolate bar - Dec. 4, 2017

Chocolate of the Day: 

Chuao Chocolatier

Bright and Sunny Honey dark chocolate bar

Good - Good +

Weight: 1.4 oz. (40 g.) / 2.8 oz. (80 g.) in total bar

Calories: 220 calories in 1/2 bar

Cost: $2.49 for 1 bar

Purchased from: Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, CA

Welcome to Day #8 of Chocolate and California Dreaming Theme Week.

This Bright and Sunny Honey dark chocolate, California Collective* bar was from Chuao Chocolatier (Carlsbad, CA). Good name for this bar. It really was, as far as dark chocolate goes, bright and sunny, thanks to the incorporation of tiny bits of honey toffee and roasted almonds.

Happy winter sunshine and blue skies, to all those who have access to them today. And if you're trapped inside, this bar will bring a bit of Southern California sunshine indoors.

*Chuao Chocolatier's Master Chocolatier and Chef, Michael Antonorsi, is living the California dream; and his recent California Collective collection of bars inspired by California living and flavors includes three bars featured in this week's theme week, and a few others.

Chuao Chocolatier - Sun Kissed Coconut milk chocolate bar - Dec. 3, 2017

Chocolate of the Day: 

Chuao Chocolatier

Sun Kissed Coconut milk chocolate bar

Good - Good +

Weight: 1.4 oz. (40 g.) / 2.8 oz. (80 g.) in total bar

Calories: 220 calories in 1/2 bar

Cost: $2.49 for 1 bar

Purchased from: Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, CA

Welcome to Day #7 of Chocolate and California Dreaming Theme Week.

Today's Sun Kissed Coconut milk chocolate bar from Chuao Chocolatier (Carlsbad, CA) was one of a series of California Collective bars from the company.

The company's headquarters (Carlsbad) in Southern California (north of San Diego) is located in a lovely coastal area, near beaches, palm trees and southern California pastimes like surfing, paddle-boarding and swimming. Sounds like a California city that lives up to the dream.

This Sun Kissed Coconut bar was made with tiny pieces of roasted almonds and flecks of toasted coconut. Its sweet, smooth milk chocolate coconut flavor and texture put it closer on the chocolate spectrum to a high-end confection than bar, but it was still enjoyable.

Chuao Chocolatier - Sea Salt Surf dark bar - Dec. 2, 2017

Chocolate of the Day: 

Chuao Chocolatier

Sea Salt Surf dark chocolate sea salt bar

Good - Good +

Weight: .93 oz. (26.6 g.) / 2.8 oz. (80 g.) in total bar

Calories: 147 calories in 1/3 bar

Cost: $2.49 for 1 bar

Purchased from: Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, CA

Welcome to Day #6 of Chocolate and California Dreaming Theme Week.

The Sea Salt Surf dark chocolate sea salt bar from Chuao Chocolatier (Carlsbad, CA) was made with Fair Trade Certified cacao and gluten free* ingredients. It was also Kosher Certified.

"Chew, wow, chuao**, giggle, sweet and desire." Those were the six words etched into six squares (1/3 bar). There was one word per square, so you could pick a few and create your own expressions.

The chocolate had a relatively complex, but balanced flavor profile, with subtle green, salty leather, sweet dark chocolate and nutty aroma and flavor notes.

The bar broke into pieces with a good snap, mostly along the scored lines; and the chocolate had a creamy even melt and a relatively mellow finish with a light trace of salt.

Chuao Master Chocolatier and Chef Michael Antonorsi is living the California dream. Originally from Venezuela, he fell in love with California in college and, after culinary school in Paris, returned to the state and made it his home. "From paddle boarding with my daughters to enjoying the sunset and a glass of wine with my wife, the spirit of the golden state is all around me," he notes.

*There were no gluten free ingredients in this bar; however, the chocolate was manufactured in a facility "that uses milk, soy, tree nuts and wheat on shared equipment."

**The town of Chuao is located near the northern coast of Venezuela. Chocolate lovers will recognize it as an area that is famous for its fine flavored cacao. If you meld the two English words "chew + wow" together, the result is close to the Spanish pronunciation of the word "chuao."

Chocolino - Double Dark Chocolate 55% bar - Dec. 1, 2017

Chocolate of the Day: 

"Artfully Crafted for Chocolino"
Double Dark Chocolate 55% Cacao bar
Good - Good+
Weight: 2.14 oz. (60 g.) in total bar
Calories: 330 calories in 1 bar
Cost: $2.15 for 1 bar
Purchased from: CVS Pharmacy, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #5 of Chocolate and California Dreaming Theme Week.

Today we head south to the Central Valley (Fresno, CA) where today's Chocolino* La Dolce Vita Double Dark Chocolate 55% Cacao bar had its origins.

While not mentioned on the packaging (and despite the somewhat confusing "Artfully Crafted for Chocolino" tagline), I believe G. Debbas Chocolatier, a private label manufacturer with a shop in Fresno, produced this bar.

California's Central Valley is a tremendous source of agricultural food exports for the Golden State. Beautiful fruit posters drew immigrants with dreams of the good life in the past. Food is grown on a massive scale in the Valley. Not cacao perhaps. But, it is a region where food and beverages are appreciated.

The "Double Chocolate" designation refers to a blend of two dark chocolates, one perhaps a bit more flavorful. There was a trace of green (the relatively light, forest-like blend of green tea, green stalks and green floral) notes—and lots of popular, sweet dark chocolate flavor.

The overall aroma and flavor was consistent and a small step above most bulk, commercial chocolates. The chocolate broke with a snap, and had an even melt. The incorporation of whole milk powder made it slightly smoother.

The bar contained a standard disclaimer** that often appears on packaging for chocolates produced in a larger/shared facility with multiple-ingredient product lines.

*Chocolino showed up as a registered wordmark of SSI G. Debbas Chocolatier, LLC (Fresno, CA) (or at least the application showed up to be one in a google search -- filing date was March 2016)
Business was listed as chocolates, confections, chocolate bars, etc.

A Chocolino Facebook page for them showed a phone number with an 818 area code. 

**May contain peanuts, tree nuts, wheat.

Dick Taylor - 70% Lanquin Guatemala bar - Nov. 30, 2017

Chocolate of the Day: 

Dick Taylor Craft Chocolate
70% Lanquin, Guatemala bar
Good ++
Weight: 1 oz. (28.3 g.) / 2 oz. (57 g.) in total bar
Calories: 150 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $9.00 (estimate) for 1 bar
Purchased from: missing information

Welcome to Day #4 of Chocolate and California Dreaming Theme Week.

There are dozens of chocolate makers and hundreds of chocolatiers in the Golden State. So, it's unlikely we can do a California-themed chocolate week justice in just eight* days.

However, before heading south from the San Francisco Bay Area, we're heading north, to the less crowded half of California, where artisans labor over high-quality foods, furniture and boats, and bean-to-bar chocolate, and where most locals don't mind the relative lack of traffic and crowds.

If you're Adam Dick and Justin Taylor, your dreams come true might involve crafts mentioned above. The duo behind Dick Taylor Craft Chocolate (Eureka, CA) started out as boat-makers and seem to be serial craftsmen.

Producing great, award-winning chocolate bars from scratch may be their latest endeavor, but likely not their last.

The cacao used to make this two-ingredient dark bar (cacao and organic cane sugar) was grown in Guatemala (Origin: "Single Estate - Lanquin A.V.") in the Alta Verapaz region, an area with a rich cacao history.

This 70% dark bar had roasted coffee/espresso and fruit/berry notes. Dick Taylor tasting notes (aroma/flavor/finish): "plumeria (tropical flower), blackberry peach cobbler, espresso"

*Chocolate weeks are often longer than conventional calendar weeks on Chocolate Banquet.com.