Goodio Craft Chocolate - Ginger and Lemongrass 59% bar - Apr. 24, 2019

Chocolate of the Day: 

Goodio Craft Chocolate
Ginger and Lemongrass 59% Cacao (bar)
Good - Good +
Weight: .85 oz. (24 g.) / 1.7 oz. (48 g.) in total bar
Calories: 124.5 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $8.50 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Chocolate Covered, San Francisco, CA

Welcome to Day #10 of Chocolate, Plants and Herbs Theme Week.

Today's Ginger and Lemongrass 59% Cacao (bar) was made by Goodio Craft Chocolate (Helsinki, Finland).

The authentic aroma of lemongrass in this raw, organic and vegan bar was heady and wonderful without being overwhelming. It smelled like a favorite Thai soup.

Although the brain started thinking savory, the flavor  of this bar (lightly sweetened with coconut palm sugar) brought our awareness back to chocolate. Ginger and lemongrass gave this chocolate a bright flavor lift, without the harsher processed sugar buzz.

This bar was labeled raw, organic and vegan.

Goodio Craft Chocolate - Metsa Chocolate topped with birch leaves, forest crystals 70% (bar) - Apr. 23, 2019

Chocolate of the Day: 

Goodio Craft Chocolate
Metsa - "Forrest" - Chocolate topped with birch leaves, forest crystals...70% (bar)
Good - Good +
Weight: .848 oz. (24 g.) / 1.69 oz. (48 g.) in total bar
Calories: 125 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $ (part of a 4-pack of Nordic Flavours bar collection)
Purchased from: GoodioChocolate.com, online order

Welcome to Day #9 of Chocolate, Plants and Herbs Theme Week.

Today's Metsa (bar) from Goodio Craft Chocolate (Helsinki, Finland) was chocolate topped with birch leaves and forest crystals.

The aroma and flavor had slight bitter dark chocolate and faint herbal flavor notes, respectively. The dark chocolate (made with Arriba cacao) tasted slightly darker than 70 percent.

Seeing the term "forest crystals" was delightfully intriguing. What might this peaceful field of green bits adorning this bar be? The forest crystals/inclusions included tiny pieces of green birch leaves, birch sugar crystals and powdered organic spruce sprouts "collected near the Arctic circle."

Among the faintly herbal forest flavors, were periodic delicate citrus/floral pine notes.
A light sprinkling of birch sugar crystals added some botanical sugar sparkle and slight crunchy texture.

Goodio Craft Chocolate - Marja - Chocolate with Wild Berries and blackcurrant leaves 71% bar - Apr. 22, 2019

Chocolate of the Day: 

Goodio Craft Chocolate
Marja - Berry - Chocolate Topped with Wild Berries, blackcurrant leaves 71% Cacao (bar)
Good +
Weight: .848 oz. (24 g.) / 1.69 oz. (48 g.) in total bar
Calories: 130.8 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $ (part of a 4-pack of Nordic flavours bar collection)
Purchased from: Goodio Chocolate, online order

Welcome to Day #8 of Chocolate, Plants and Herbs Theme Week.

Today's Marja (Berry) bar - Chocolate Topped with Wild Berries 71% Cacao bar was from Goodio Craft Chocolate (Helsinki, Finland).

The blackcurrant leaves* in this plant-based blend seemed like an interesting new ingredient add to the ("Chocolate and What?") list on ChocolateBanquet.com. And the splay of green leaf bits and colorful orange and scarlet red berry pieces created a beautiful back-of-bar still life.

The chocolate had a dark chocolate and coconut sugar** aroma, and dark, very slightly bitter (but not unpleasant) and herbal flavors—balanced by small bursts of tart-sweet wild berry notes. It was a satisfying bar and not too sweet (thank you!).

*Ingredients: organic cacao beans, organic coconut palm sugar, organic cacao butter, dried blackcurrant leaves, dried wild berries (wild strawberries, sea buckthorne, lingonberries), and organic crushed sea buckthorne. 

**Goodio does not use white sugar in their bars.

Knipschildt Chocolatier - Chocolate Robin's Eggs - Apr. 21, 2019

Chocolate of the Day: 

Knipschildt Chocolatier
Chocolate Robin's Eggs
Good - Good +
Weight: .6 oz. (17.01 g.) / 5.4 oz. (153.09 g.) in total container of 18 eggs
Calories: 132 calories in 2 eggs
Cost: $28.00 for 1 container of 18 eggs
Purchased from: Chocolate Covered, San Francisco, CA

Welcome. We interrupt the Chocolate, Plants and Herbs Theme Week to celebrate Easter. Happy Easter to all who celebrate.

Birds and hatchlings are everywhere this week, so it seemed appropriate to celebrate Easter with some chocolate eggs.

Today's Chocolate Robin's Eggs were from Knipschildt Chocolatier (Norwalk, CT).

These speckled and spattered, multi-colored blue and greenish-yellow mini eggs were a blend of white chocolate, filled with dark chocolate ganache (filling).

They had a pleasant cocoa/chocolate aroma and a very smooth, almost creamy melt and mouthfeel.

These chocolates were a bit sweet, but they were fun and better quality than many Easter chocolates sold in stores.

Veggimins - CBD Chocolate Bar - Organic 70% Raw Cacao - Apr. 20, 2019

Chocolate of the Day: 

Windy City Organics, LLC
Veggimins - CBD Chocolate Bar - Organic 70% Raw Cacao
Good
Weight: 1.1 oz. (30 g.) in 1 bar
Calories: 170 calories in 1 bar
Cost: $6.95 for 1 bar
Purchased from: SweetE Organic, Mill Valley, CA

Welcome to Day #6 of Chocolate, Plants and Herbs Theme Week.

Today's Veggimins CBD Chocolate Bar was produced by Windy City Organics, LLC (Northbrook, IL). This family-owned company is committed to making sustainable, healthy foods, included several different items with cacao.

The raw,* organic, chocolate was made with stoneground cacao and was sweetened with coconut sugar. This bar may have contained CBD (the component in hemp without the psychoactive properties of THC), but all we could taste was a pleasant, stoneground, raw 70% cacao bars with coconut sugar.

That is, CBD did not impart flavor or any obvious effect. Why include it? It's thought that CBD may have the ability to relax the consumer. One wonders, might this counteract the stimulants (theobromine, caffeine) in chocolate? The idea of balancing or package a stimulant with a relaxant is not a new concept, but it's an interesting one when you think about it.

*Raw chocolate has a slightly different taste profile than chocolate made with roasted cacao beans. Roasting cacao can impart strong, roasted and bitter notes. Some like the stronger flavors of espresso roast coffee beans, and roasted cacao; taste preferences may vary in cacao just like coffee or wine. 

Unroasted cacao can be slightly milder (although raw cacao may have earthy or other flavor notes). Although flavors differ, most raw cacao illustrates a preference for preservation of certain compounds and flavor notes.

Veggimins - Dark Chocoalte Hearts with CBD - Apr. 19, 2019

Chocolate of the Day:

Windy City Organics, LLC
Veggimins
Dark Chocolate Hearts with CBD
Good
Weight: .07 oz. (2 g.) / 2 oz. (56 g.) in total jar
Calories: 8 calories in 1 heart (piece)
Cost: $24.00 for 1 jar
Purchased from: SweetE Organic, Mill Valley, CA

Welcome to Day #5 of Chocolate, Plants and Herbs Theme Week.

Today's Veggimin Dark Chocolate Hearts with CBD were from Windy City Organics, LLC (Glenview, IL).

This coconut-sugar sweetened, tiny, dark chocolate heart Veggimin sounded like it might be a vitamin, but contained no significant amounts of vitamins or minerals (at least in the tiny heart-shaped piece (serving) we tried).

This chocolate did contain a small amount of CBD* from hemp oil. This is part of a trend of infusing chocolates with CBD, now that parts of the hemp plant are more available to chocolatiers and consumers.

To be clear, this heart did not contain any substance that will make you high. (We noticed no effects.)

It had the aroma and taste of a dark chocolate sweetened with coconut sugar.

*CBD (cannabidiol) and is not the same as THC (tetrahydrocannabinol)—the compound in marijuana that has psycho-active properties.

Antidote Chocolate - Almond + Fennel 73% (bar) - Apr. 18, 2019

Chocolate of the Day: 

Antidote Chocolate
Artemis: Almond + Fennel 73% slow roasted cacao (bar)
Good +
Weight: 1.15 oz. (32.5 g.) / 2.3 oz. (65 g.) in total bar
Calories: 190 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $9.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Chocolate Covered, San Francisco, CA

Welcome to Day #4 of Chocolate, Plants and Herbs Theme Week.

Today's Artemis: Almond + Fennel 73% slow roasted cacao bar was from Antidote Chocolate (Brooklyn, NY).

The chocolate (made with slow roasted Arriba Nacional cacao) had a deeper, darker flavor than most 70ish-percent bars.

Almond pieces gave this dark chocolate a slightly nutty aroma and flavor. And the sprinkle of fennel seeds gave this dark chocolate a faint savory herb aroma and crunchy, seedy texture.

By comparison, in yesterday's bar fennel was incorporated into a date filling, and had a sweeter, more prominent licorice flavor. For those that don't care as much for licorice, the more subtle fennel flavor in these seeds might be more to your liking.

Shown at left is a fennel plant with green fronds sprouting in the spring. Fennel is an edible plant (bulb, shoots and seeds) that looks like dill and the new green fronds taste quite sweet with a strong licorice flavor.