Elements Truffles - Peppermint Lavender - March 23, 2018

Chocolate of the Day: 

Elements Truffles

Peppermint Lavender 

Good ++

Weight: 1 oz. (28.3 g.) / 2 oz. (56 g.) in total package

Calories: 130 calories in 1/2 package

Cost: $6.99 for 1 package

Purchased from: Country Sun Natural Foods, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #14 of Chocolate and Mint Theme Week, and Day #1 of Chocolate and Flowers Theme Week.

What do you do as a follow-up act when you're a high-powered trader on Wall Street? Start making chocolate might not be the most obvious answer to this question. But, fortunately for us, this is just what Alak Vasa, founder of Elements Truffles (Kearny, NJ) did.*

Vasa created a line of raw, Ayurveda Inspired Artisanal Chocolate. Her chocolates are handmade in small batches, with no refined sugar, dairy, soy/emulsifiers or preservatives; and they're sweetened with local honey. She used Fair Trade organic cacao sourced from Peru in today's bar.

Today's 70% cacao Peppermint infused with Lavender bar was made with raw cacao butter, raw honey, raw cacao powder, peppermint essential oil, lavender essential oil, organic lavender flowers, and Himalayan sea salt.

This relaxing, but invigorating (is this possible?) chocolate was firm (it broke with a snap); yet, had the buttery melt of a truffle. Lavender buds and oil were well balanced with the mint and provided a natural tasting, balanced floral and herbal experience. The chocolate had a pleasing lavender finish, and was designed to support Vata and Pitta ayurveda doshas.

Loved that it was not ultra-sweet. The amount of honey used was just right, and didn't overpower the other elements/inclusions.

*25% of proceeds go towards education of underprivileged children. 

Divine - 70% Dark Chocolate with Mint Crisp; Easter Egg - March 22, 2018

Chocolate(s) of the Day: 

Divine 

70% Dark Chocolate with Mint Crisp bar

Good+

Weight: 1.6 oz. (45 g.) / 3.2 oz. (22.5 g.) in total bar

Calories: 260 calories in 1/2 bar

Cost: $5.99 for 1 bar

Purchased from: Piazza's Fine Foods, Palo Alto, CA

Divine 

Easter Egg Dark Chocolate 70% cocoa

Good+

Weight: .95 oz. (27.5 g.) / 1.99 oz. (55 g.) in total package

Calories: 160 calories in 1/2 package

Cost: $1.99 (guess) for 1 package

Purchased from: Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #13 of Chocolate and Mint Theme Week. Today's two featured 70% dark chocolates were both produced in the UK and distributed by Divine Chocolate Inc. (Washington, D.C.). The first was a Dark Chocolate with Mint Crisp bar and the second was a Dark Chocolate Easter Egg.

These relatively new offerings included new packaging and design elements as well. 

Divine Chocolate is unique in that cocoa farmers own 44% of the company and share in the profits. (Fairtrade cocoa is grown by family farmers in Ghana.)

Divine 70% Mint Crisp Bar

The Divine 70% Dark Chocolate with Mint Crisp bar had a relatively strong, but balanced peppermint aroma. The flavorful, slightly earthy, chocolately base dark chocolate shone through.

A similar (but not identical) Divine mint chocolate bar was previously featured on this site. It was segmented into scored, rectangular pieces and the packaging, adorned with green and gold African-inspired symbols, covered the entire bar.

This new bar, decorated by a fine smattering of small mint crisp bits, was designed as uniform chocolate bar (longer segmented into rectangles), and was viewable through a clear window.

The company name "Divine" was printed in a repeating pattern on the back of the bar. 

Divine 70% Easter Egg

Because Easter is upon us, it seemed appropriate to include a 70% Dark Chocolate Easter Egg, also from Divine. The sunny yellow box design incorporated an attractive array of large gold pattern symbols. 

The hollow egg was carefully broken, and shards of egg were sampled and enjoyed.

The 70% cocoa dark chocolate for this second chocolate, however, tasted very different than the more bold 70% cocoa Mint bar above. The Easter Egg had hints of coconut, milk chocolate toffee. (It contained vanilla; but there was no milk, coconut or toffee in this chocolate.) 

LetterPress Chocolate - San Juan Mint 70% Dark bar - March 21, 2018

Chocolate of the Day: 

LetterPress Chocolate LLC

San Juan Estate Mint 70% Dark Chocolate bar

Good + - Good ++

Weight: 1.15 oz. (32.5 g.) / 2.3 oz. (65 g.) in total bar

Calories: 172 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar

Cost: $10.00 (estimate) for 1 bar

Purchased from: Chocolate Covered, San Francisco, CA

Welcome to Day #12 of Chocolate and Mint Theme Week.

Today's small batch San Juan Estate Mint 70% Dark Chocolate bar (Batch 0072) was crafted by bean-to-bar maker LetterPress Chocolate LLC (Los Angeles, CA).

And it was another very aromatically mint dark bar. The menthol notes eclipsed the subtleties of the chocolate flavor, and gave the bar a "clean" tasting, lasting finish and conveyed more sweetness than likely was actually present in this 70% cacao bar.

Tasting Notes printed on the packaging read: mint, marshmallow, vanilla. Ingredients: organic cacao beans, organic unrefined sugar, organic cocoa butter, organic mint oil.

The Trinitario cacao used to make this bar was grown in the Gran Couva area of central Trinidad.* And this Trinitario cacao was "the first to be made into a single estate bar by the Valrhona Chocolate company." Careful cultivation by early chocolate makers like Valrhona has contributed to today's stock used by craft chocolate makers like LetterPress.

Happily, chocolate consumers benefit from cumulative expertise and sharing of knowledge.

*The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is a two-island nation located in the southern Caribbean Sea. Three varieties of cacao dominate most of the chocolate world. This bar was made with Trinitario cacao, a hybrid of Forastero and Criollo cacao, and likely first evolved in this part of the Caribbean.

Summerdown Mint - Chocolate Peppermint Cream Dominoes - March 20, 2018

Chocolate of the Day:

Summerdown Farms Ltd
Summerdown Mint 

Chocolate Peppermint Cream Dominoes

Good +

Weight: 1.174 oz. (33.3 g.) / 7.05 oz. (200 g.) in total package

Calories: 159 calories in 3 pieces 

Cost: $18.00 for 1 box/pkg. of 18 pieces

Purchased from: Chocolate Covered, San Francisco, CA

Welcome to Day #11 of Chocolate and Mint Theme Week.

Today's Chocolate Peppermint Cream Dominoes were from Summerdown Farms Ltd. (Hampshire, UK).

The company is known for its farm, where pure English single estate Mitcham peppermint is grown in the foothills of the Hampshire Downs. This mint is also used to make chocolates and herbal teas.

The thin, domino-shaped pieces (embossed with a mint sprig design) had a very minty aroma that was detectable before the box was even opened. And each piece contained an ultra-thin, light-colored sweet, creamy peppermint-infused filling.

Ingredients: sugar, cocoa mass, glucose syrup, invert syrup, emulsifier, humectant: glycerol, Black Mitcham Peppermint

Living Raw - Power Mint Patty - Chocolate Chip - March 19, 2018

Chocolate of the Day: 

Living Raw

Power Mint Patty - Chocolate Chip

Good + 

Weight: .84 oz. (24 g.) in total bar

Calories: 140 calories in 1 package 

Cost: $3.29 for 1 package

Purchased from: Piazza's Fine Foods, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #10 of Chocolate and Mint Theme Week.

Today's PowerMint Patty (Chocolate Chip flavor) was from Living Raw (Franklin, TN).

This single patty was a variation on the PowerMint Patty (Original Dark flavor) featured two days ago, with slightly less chocolate and slightly more mint-infused "coconut butter" visible in the filling.

It was, like its PowerMint Patty sibling, sweetened with coconut sugar; vegan, paleo friendly, gluten free, dairy free and soy free; and was made using fair trade and Non GMO ingredients.

The Chocolate Conspiracy - Mint Chip Chocolate Bar - March 18, 2018

Chocolate of the Day: 

The Chocolate Conspiracy  

Mint Chip Chocolate Bar 75% cacao

Good ++dark chocolate

Weight: .625 oz. (17.5 g.) / 1.25 oz. (35 g.) in total bar

Calories: 110 calories in 1/2 bar

Cost: $8.50 for 1 bar

Purchased from: Chocolate Covered, San Francisco, CA

Welcome to Day #9 of Chocolate and Mint Theme Week.

Today's Mint Chip Chocolate Bar from The Chocolate Conspiracy (Salt Lake City, UT)

Utah's state emblem is a beehive. Today's dual-star-shaped dark chocolate 75% cacao bar was scored into hexagonal sections. 

And it was sweetened with honey, that gave the chocolate a subtle sweetness. The honey also interacted with the smooth chocolate and fresh mint flavor in such a way that it gave it a little warm floral/spice zing. 

Cocoa nibs on the back of the bar added some crunchy texture.

Zokoko - Goddess Dark Chocolate Mint bar - March 17, 2018

Chocolate(s) of the Day: 

Zokoko
Goddess Dark Chocolate with Mint bar
Good ++
Weight: 1.145 oz. (32.5 g.) / 2.29 oz. (65 g.) in total bar
Calories: 170 calories in 1/2 bar (2 1/2 segments)
Cost: $11.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Chocolate Covered, San Francisco, CA

Welcome to Day #8 of Chocolate and Mint Theme Week.
Happy St. Patrick's Day to all who celebrate this green-themed holiday. Great timing too. We still have green lawns here in California in winter.

Today's Goddess Dark Chocolate with Mint bar was created by Zokoko (Emu Heights, Australia).

This bar consisted of a creamy, flavorful dark chocolate with "deep cocoa notes" with a hint of "crisp mint" flavor.

Urban Remedy
Raw Cacao Mousse
Good ++
Weight: .5 oz. (14.1 g.) / 4.06 oz. (115 g.) in total container
Calories: 30 calories (estimate) in 1 bite
Cost: $N/A - gift bite (Thank you Megan!)
Purchased from: N/A - gift (Whole Foods Market)

This Raw Cacao Mousse from Urban Remedy (Richmond, CA) was a bonus for St. Patrick's Day.  While, it was already featured back in December 2017, it was a gift, and it contained Irish Moss.

Like the company's other desserts, this creamy, organic mousse was free of grain, gluten, dairy and white sugar. It was made with almond milk, date syrup, coconut oil, raw cacao powder, vanilla, Irish Moss, sunflower lecithin and Himalayan salt instead.

After an unsuccessful search for 4-leaf clovers in the yard, we enjoyed bites of this naturally sweet mousse.  (For those desiring more green, Urban Remedy also makes a Grasshopper Pie dessert flavored with cacao and mint, and colored with spinach and actual greens.)