Ranger Chocolate Company - Specialty Bar Cherry and Vanilla Sea Salt - June 27, 2020

Chocolate of the Day: 

Ranger Chocolate Company
Specialty Bar - Cherry and Vanilla Sea Salt
Good ++
Weight: .49 oz. (13.8 g.) (estimate) in total square
Calories: 72 calories (estimate) in 1 square
Cost: $3.00 for 1 square
Purchased from: Ranger Chocolate, online order

Welcome to Day #2 of Chocolate and Red Fruits Theme Week.

Today's Specialty Bar - Cherry, Vanilla Sea Salt (a small, individually-wrapped square) was made by Ranger Chocolate Company (Portland, OR) was topped with a dried Hood River cherry and vanilla sea salt.

The cherry had multi-layered, naturally sweet, fruity and tart, aroma, flavor and texture; it was the star here. A beautiful example of tasty condensed (dried) red fruit flavor, atop a piece of high-end chocolate. Ranger chocolate makers could have stopped there. But, they added a sprinkle of coarse, flavored sea salt crystals, that played very nicely with the chocolate and cherry.

Flavored sea salts are not unusual; and the flavors usually lean toward the savory or smoky side. Vanilla infused sea salt was interesting and unusual; it integrated a traditionally "sweet" flavor with salt.

I saw and tasted the crystals of sea salt. but I might have been missed the fact that the subtle vanilla was part of the sea salt and not part of the chocolate or cherry. All harmonized well.

Several wonderful flavors were distilled down into a tiny block of real estate in today's square. The only trouble with this small size was that it was difficult to go back and re-taste this chocolate over a period of an hour or two (when flavors can shift and unfold).

Sprouts Farmers Market - Dark Chocolate Cherry Granola (with honey) - June 26, 2020

Chocolate of the Day: 

Sprouts Farmers Market

Dark Chocolate Cherry Granola (with honey)

Good - Good +

Weight: 1 cup (60 g.) (2 servings) / 12 oz. (340 g.) in total package

Calories: 240 calories in 1 cup (2 servings)

Cost: $5.99 for 1 package

Purchased from: Sprouts Farmers Market, Mountain View, CA

Welcome to Day #8 of Chocolate, Bees and Trees Theme Week; and Day #1 of Chocolate and Red Fruit Theme Week. (The red fruits featured today were cherries and red plums.)

Today's Dark Chocolate Cherry Granola was made for Sprouts Farmers Market(s) (based in Phoenix, AZ).

This granola had a light, satisfying crunchy texture and was full of sweet chocolate and oat flavors, with spikes of dried cherry. This granola also was sweetened with honey. (Thank you bees.) 

I enjoyed 1 serving of this dark chocolate granola for breakfast. Later in the day I enjoyed a second serving, in the form of a tasty homemade ice cream parfait with this granola as one of three layers. 

The other two layers were: 1.) vanilla, hazelnut and chocolate fudge ice cream with a touch of whiskey, and 2.) red plums--freshly picked from a tree, washed and simmered with pine tree honey to make a red fruit sauce/topping. (Thanks Bill for sharing your plum harvest/windfall.) Bees seem to like these plum trees as well.* The fresh, cooked red plums with pine honey was a great complementary flavor and added some rich magenta red color.

Add a few blueberries and you might enjoy this red, white and blue (and chocolate) all-American dessert next week as part of the 4th of July Independence Day holiday here in the U.S.  

*Insects (including bees) and the wind pollinate many fruit trees, including cacao fruit trees and plum trees. Caca trees are primarily pollinated by midges--small insects that resemble tiny flies or mosquitos.

5,000 Different Chocolates and Counting - Thank you all!

5,000 Different Chocolates and Counting

Last month I sampled my 5,000th chocolate. Thank you to all who have made this possible.
To put the number 5,000 into perspective, I've included some thoughts below.

Many chocolates, many hands - The 5,000 different chocolates I've featured, were products from more than 1,500 different companies or suppliers--ranging from large corporations to small craft chocolate makers.

5,000 cocoa beans - It takes approximately 5,000 cocoa beans to produce 10 pounds of chocolate. The 5,000 chocolates I've sampled weighed more than 313 pounds (141 kg.), meaning I may have consumed more than 156,000 cocoa beans over this past 13+ years.

Busy Bees - Since I've been talking about bees and honey this week, here's an interesting statistic that puts this my milestone number in perspective: Bees can visit up to 5,000 flowers--in one day.* It's mind-opening to think these important pollinators work this hard. By comparison, I look like a slow-moving slug. It took me more than 13 years to track down and eat 5,000 different chocolates.

Chocolate exports - Shipments of chocolate have gone up and down across the globe in the last few centuries, mostly up, as the shift from drinking chocolate to finished chocolate bars and confections progressed. Exports of chocolate from Switzerland to France increased from less than 1,200 tons in 1913 to nearly 5,000 U.S. tons by 1917.

A century later, Switzerland's chocolate exports (to the world) are north of 132,000 U.S. tons; 2018 estimate). In 2019, France still had a healthy trading relationship with its chocolate neighbor...France imported $106.4 million (USD) worth of chocolate(s) from Switzerland, despite growing imports from other European countries in this area over time.

5,000 pound candy bar - Earlier this year (Jan. 2020), Hershey's Chocolate Co. announced a record-setting chocolate-nut (Reese's Take 5) bar that weighed 5,943 pounds (2,695 kilos). It was 2.74 meters long--or 9 feet x 5.5 feet in size. That's a lot of chocolate, any way you slice it. I'm sure another large chocolate producer is already working to break this chocolate-nut bar record, if they haven't already.

$5,000 bills - Trivia item - At one time the U.S. printed $5,000 dollar bills. They are now collector's items. I am hoping I find one. That would almost cover a year's worth of daily chocolates and chocolate-related expenses. (Craft chocolate bars range from $8.00 - $14.00 each.)

*Source for the up to 5,000 bee visits per day to flowers number: beehealth.bayer.us website - Bee Facts - Bee Health.

Square Organics, Inc. - Chocolate Coated Nuts and Sea Salt Organic Protein Bar - June 25, 2020

Chocolate of the Day: 

Square Organics, Inc.

Chocolate Coated Nuts and Sea Salt Organic Protein Bar

Good 

Weight: 1.6 oz. (44 g.) / 18.6 oz. (528 g.) in total box of 12 bars

Calories: 210 calories in 1 bar

Cost: $7.99 for 1 bar

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

Welcome to Day #7 of Chocolate, Bees and Trees Theme Week.

Today's Chocolate Coated Nuts and Sea Salt Organic Protein Bar was distributed by Square Organics, Inc. (Oakland, CA).

This individually-wrapped bar had a light mildly nutty, coconut caramel cookie aroma. The chocolate coating had a smooth, relatively rapid melt and relatively velvety mouthfeel. 

The sweet chocolate complemented a satisfying, sweet oat and nut cookie-like filling with a soft chew. Brown rice protein added some heft; and a hint of sea salt helped balance the sweetness. The bar had a relatively mild and clean finish.

Why feature this bar as part of a Chocolate, Bees and Trees Theme Week?

The number one ingredient* in this vegan protein bar was organic coconut nectar (the sweetener made from coconut blossom sap), gathered by farmers high up in the under-canopy of coconut trees.**

*Ingredients: Organic Coconut Nectar, Organic Whole Grain Brown Rice Protein, Organic Dark Chocolate (Organic Cocoa Liquor, Organic Dried Cane Syrup, Organic Cocoa Butter, Organic Almond Butter, Organic Oats, Organic Cashews, Organic Coconut Oil, Organic Cocoa Liquor, Organic Almonds, Sunflower Lecithin, Sea Salt"

**Coconut Palm Tree Sugar

In Northeast North America, maple-leafed maple sugar candies are venerated confections. The impossibly sweet, amber brown-sugar colored candies, made from maple tree sap, had a velvety texture and melt. (Honeybees are also attracted to maple trees--to their tiny flowers and sap.) And maple sugar/syrup also provide a flavorful sweetener for certain chocolates.

In warmer climates, sugars are derived from different palm trees, including 1.) Sugar palms (Arenga pinnata, aka areng palm or black sugar palm); 2.) Coconut palm sugar/nectar trees (Cocos nucifera); and 3.) Date palm trees (Phoenix dactylifera)--where date sugar is extracted from the fruit (date) instead of the tree's sap or nectar. 

Today's featured sweetener, coconut palm sugar is made by heating , stirring, and reducing nectar down to a thick sweet syrup. The steps are similar to the maple syrup/sugar making process; although in Southeast Asia large woks are sometimes used instead of large pots to condense the liquid sap.

When I was traveling through Vietnam (where cacao also grows) and Cambodia, I noticed someone using a bamboo "ladder" to climb a very tall coconut tree near an old stone temple. This coconut nectar farmer worked with very minimal equipment (safety or otherwise) to harvest the sweet liquid. Farmers bring up and attach bamboo or plastic "pails," then bring down these containers containing liquid nectar from the flower bearing part of the tree which may be made into syrup or sugar or coconut candy.

Like many unprocessed sugars, coconut sugar can add a slight warmth or faint caramel flavor to chocolate, which worked nicely with today's protein bar. (It also scores lower on the glycemic index than white cane or beet sugars.)

Ranger Chocolate - 66% Cacao with Maple Sugar (bar) - June 24, 2020

Chocolate of the Day: 

Ranger Chocolate
66% Cacao with Maple Sugar (bar)
Good +
Weight: 1.125 oz. (32 g.)/ 2.25 oz. (64 g.) in total bar
Calories: 169 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $12.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Ranger Chocolate, online order

Welcome to Day #6 of Chocolate, Bees and Trees Theme Week.

Today's 66% Cacao with Maple Sugar (bar) was from Ranger Chocolate (Portland, OR)--a company that has a tree graphic as part of their logo.

The company has paired sweet maple sugar crystals (made from maple tree sap) with a "bold, fruit forward Trinitario cacao." 

This thick, aromatic bar smelled great. It had a rich chocolate and authentic maple sugar aroma and flavor with faint molasses, spice and fruit notes.

The melt was long and smooth and became more creamy in texture as you could get your mouth around each relatively thick bite. Patience was rewarded. And the finish was clean, fading with a light trace of maple and faint spice. Given the potentially cloying flavor of maple sugar, this was relatively well balanced in terms of flavors and the Trinitario cacao fruitiness was able to shine through a bit, enhanced by the maple.

Maker's tasting notes read: "strawberry and maple syrup."

Tree sugars
Most chocolate bars and confections in the U.S. are flavored with cane sugar and perhaps beet sugar.

Honey from beehives in trees, tree fruit and blossoms, and and tree sap(s) also have been time-honored sweeteners. Maple sugar (from tree sap) and palm coconut sugar (made from the sap of flower buds) are two examples of the latter. It's been a treat to feature chocolates with some of these "tree" related sweeteners this week.

Nordi - Juniper and Amber Caramel Dark Chocolate (bar) - June 23, 2020

Chocolate of the Day: 

Fazer Confectionery
Nordi Juniper and Amber Caramel Naturally Flavored Dark Chocolate (bar)
Good 
Weight: 1.67 oz. (47.5 g.) / 3.35 oz. (95 g.) in total bar
Calories: 255 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $1.99 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #5 of Chocolate, Bees and Trees Theme Week.

Today's Nordi Juniper and Amber Caramel Naturally Flavored Dark Chocolate (bar) was from Fazer Confectionery (Vantaa, Finland).

Fazer is a large Finnish company that produces a range of baked goods (e.g. organic rye bread), confectionery items (e.g. chocolate sandwich and other cookies) and chocolate bars and confections.

The aroma of today's 70% cocoa, Non-GMO project verified dark chocolate bar was both simple and complex. Different intervals yielded different notes -- simple, smooth dark chocolate at one pass, then sweet, almost savory (salt) and vaguely herbal floral and fruit related aromas. Every third bite or so yielded a faint hint of natural juniper*/pine aroma/flavor.

The smooth dark chocolate base was punctuated with sweet sparkles of crunchy caramel (sugar, glucose).

The flavors were relatively subtle and well balanced. I wouldn't have minded tasting a version that had a bit more juniper and a pinch of sea salt. 

*Junipers are needle-leafed evergreens that range from large shrubs to tall trees up to 40 feet (13 meters) in temperate zones. They can be found spread throughout northern latitudes. Juniper berries (the female seed cones produced by many juniper species) are the most commonly eaten part of a juniper tree and these berries have been used by Europeans and Native Americans in food and medicines for centuries. 

For the epicurious: Juniper berries are used in meat and stew recipes, in marinades, syrups, and as a flavoring for gin and other beverages. 

Trees in general provide many edible items that can be paired with chocolate. Spruce, pine and birch (downy and silver) trees are commonly encountered trees in Finland (where this chocolate bar was made). In many countries pine nuts, pine needles and pine bark have been consumed; so juniper berries would not have been such a great leap from here. (Sahti beer in Finland includes a juniper flavoring.)

Vosges - Raw Honey Cacao Chocolate bar - June 22, 2020

Chocolate of the Day: 

Vosges IP, LLC
Raw Honey Cacao Chocolate bar
Good 
Weight: 1 oz. (28 g.) / 3 oz. (85 g.) in total bar
Calories: 140 calories in 1/3 bar
Cost: $8.00 (plus shipping) for 1 bar
Purchased from: VosgesChocolate.com online order

Welcome to Day #4 of Chocolate, Bees and Trees Theme Week.

Today's Raw Honey Cacao bar was from Vosges IP, LLC (Chicago, IL), a company founded by well-traveled chocolatier, Katrina Markoff. (Her first creation was the Naga truffle, inspired by the flavors of India.)

Vosges Chocolate (aka Vosges Haut Chocolat) is a successful brand, known for their innovative, beautiful packaging (with designs and images suitable for framing, and perhaps inspired by fashion, makeup, food stylists and photos); their lovely descriptions of natural and exotic flavor inclusions--and, unfortunately, not for their chocolate. (In fairness, the company have not represented themselves as a single origin, bean-to-bar craft chocolate company that is source-transparent either.)

Today's 100% cacao chocolate base was made with cacao that was alkalized--a process, often used by large, bulk chocolate manufacturers to cut acidity and create a much milder chocolate flavor. This process also hides flaws in lower grade cacao, by neutralizing strong or objectionable flavor elements. Unfortunately,  desirable fruit, floral and other cacao flavor notes are also lost. Think American-style powdered hot chocolate made with alkalized cocoa vs. thick, dark and flavorful South American drinking chocolate. Some prefer the former for its predictable, mild cocoa flavor, usually mixed with a healthy dose of sugar and a comforting hint of added vanillin or vanilla extract or marshmallows.

The chocolate used for Vosges and Wild Ophelia bars has a bulk, commercial taste to it, often with a slightly waxy melt. The focus seems to let the (quite wonderful) flavor inclusions shine. Less flavorful chocolate doesn't overwhelm the featured flavors. Or it could be that the Vosges customer base doesn't care for the stronger taste of bean-to-bar chocolate. Or, it could be that using bulk chocolate is just a lot more economical. (Financial risks tend to be higher for bean-to-bar chocolate makers.) There is very little information about where the cacao or chocolate comes from on the Vosges website.

Today's raw honey bar was described as being: "Divinely decadent, Midwestern raw honey wildflower nectar harmonizes the intensity of the 100% cacao experience." 

It was certainly the tamest "100% cacao" bar I'd ever tasted. It had a mild cocoa aroma with a faint coconut note. The honey* did sweeten this chocolate nicely, I'm not sure how it could be labeled "100% Cacao" with honey in it, but that is another topic. (Perhaps the 100% label could be legally allowable if the honey is only a tiny percent by weight.)

In keeping with the Bees and Trees theme this week, I will also mention that Vosges offers a Tree Mylk bar (made with hazelnuts), in addition to bars and truffles with honey. Again, the flavor combinations are always wonderful. I hope there might be a higher end chocolate one day to match Katrina's inspired blends of spices, flowers, fruits, and other lovelies.

*Ingredients: Unsweetened chocolate processed with alkali, raw honey, cocoa butter